The Elwells - a Pioneer Family

by Karen Davis, Groveland Genealogy Chat Group

Charles H. Elwell, a sailor born in Massachusetts in 1818 married Rosa Ann Cory in San Francisco before moving into the Groveland area in the late 1850s. “Rose” was born in Vermont in 1829 and her father, James Cory of Massachusetts, lived with she and Charles for several years before his death in 1885.

Charles was a pioneer miner of the Groveland area for several years before establishing a wayside stop where teamsters could purchase a hot meal. This stopover, located at what was commonly called Colfax Springs, became a toll station of the Yosemite Turnpike Road Company and when the Big Oak Flat-Yosemite Turnpike Road was completed (about 1874) he enlarged his holdings and built the Eagle Hotel.

Charles died in 1896 and his wife Rose in 1910. Both are buried in Section 3 of the Divide Cemetery (as is her father James Cory).

Census reports indicate that the children of Charles and Rose include: Charles (born about 1857), Francis J. (born about 1859), Lewis C. (born June 1860), Eugene M. (born September, 1862 ), Frank and Edmund (born about 1863), John (born about 1865) and Rosa May (born April 1869). What is known about these children follows.

• Lewis C. Elwell eventually took over operation of the Eagle Hotel. He also worked as a toll keeper at the Groveland-Crocker Station Toll station before moving to La Grange in the early 1900s.
• Eugene M. Elwell married and had at least one son before dying in 1908. He and a baby boy are buried near his parents in the Divide Cemetery.
• Rosa May Elwell married Walter Joseph Coyle and raised several children in the Groveland area. She’s buried in the Mariposa Cemetery.
• Edna Margaret Coyle, the daughter of Rosa and Walter Coyle, was born in March 1889. She married Henry L. Argall and four of their children were born in Groveland between 1910 and 1920. Henry L. Argall, who was born in New Jersey in 1857 died in 1944. Edna died in 1963 and both of them are buried in the Mariposa Cemetery. Henry L. Argall had two sons from a prior marriage when he married Edna Coyle. His son Elgin Miranda Argall died here in 1940 and it is believed that his other son John William Henry Argall moved out of the area prior to 1920.

Please contact the Groveland Yosemite Gateway Museum (962-4408) if you have additional information on the Elwell (or any other pioneer) family. We look forward to hearing from you.