William Rule, the son of James Rule and Mary Mills, was baptized on 13 February 1830 at Camborne, Cornwall, England, and died 23 March 1889 at Lake Linden, Michigan. He married Caroline Hethier on 9 April 1855 at Camborne, the daughter of James Heither and Elizabeth Cock, she was baptized 3 May 1828 in Camborne, and died 1 May 1912 in Butte, Montana.
William and Caroline
William and Caroline Rule were the grandparents of my grandfather, Ernest August Rule. This research is based on a letter from Ernie’s sister Emily Rule to my mother, Jeannine Rule. Some of the information in the letter was accurate, and other information was probably just family story.
What follows is information that I have found on this family using credible sources. If you are interested in a footnoted version of this work, contact me through the “contribute a story link.”
William's Childhood
William was born to James Rule (baptized 1796) and Mary Mills Rule (born about 1801). James worked as a miner and the family lived at Gwithian on the Cornwall coast at the time of William’s baptism 13 February 1830. By 1841, the Rule family had moved to College Street in Camborne. The move was could have been caused when tin production slowed and the Trevascus Mine in Gwithian closed. The family was comprised of parents, James and Mary, and their children.
Joseph Rule, born July 1817
James Rule, born November 1819
Richard Rule, born March 1823
Mary Rule, born August 1827
William Rule, born January 1830
Henry Rule, born July 1831
George Rule April 1833
Amelia Rule, born 1835
Emily Decephus Rule, born 1838
The life of children in Cornwall was difficult. Boys and girls of around eight years old began working at the surface of the mines, dressing the ore. By the time they were eleven, the boys had moved to working in more dangerous jobs both above and underground. One of these tasks was transporting the ore to collecting areas and moving it to the surface.
William Henry was employed in the mines at twelve. His job was driving a donkey cart. By this time, he had most likely been working in mining for over four years. As boys working in the mines grew older, they took on more dangerous work underground. By the time they were adults, they were highly skilled miners.
A report written in 1842 on the employment of children in the mines of Cornwall, describes a typical day.
A boy or girl, from nine to twelve years old, is obliged to rise at about four o'clock in the morning, gets a hasty breakfast, and after a walk of half an hour or more - three or four miles - reaches the mine at six. Work is continued till twelve, without intermission or refreshment, save what may be got by stealth. Half an hour is then employed in taking dinner. The child then works without interruption till eight; gets home, after repeating the walk of the morning, and may have had supper, and get to bed about ten. It is chiefly the younger children who are called upon to begin their work at six o'clock, the process on which they are engaged being preparatory for the others.
Carolines Childhood
William’s wife, Caroline Hethier, the daughter of James and Elizabeth Hethier, was baptized on 3 May 1828. Her father was a miner, and the family lived at Croon, a small village near Camborne. In 1841 Caroline, age 15, was living with her parents, siblings and grandmother. Caroline’s father James worked as a miner
When Caroline was 15 years old worked as a mine girl. The Cornish word for mine girl is Bal Maiden. Women and girls did not work below the surface of mines, but above ground, usually processing the ore. This was hard physical work done by teams of women and girls. Some of their duties were “spalling” or breaking up the ore using long-handled hammers, “stamping” or crushing the ore with water, and moving the ore in wheelbarrows above ground.
There is some great background information on Bal Maidens at http://www.balmaiden.co.uk/
A Folk Tune about Bal Maidens
William and Caroline's Marriage
William Rule and Caroline Hethier married 9 April 1855 in the parish church, St. Martin and St. Meriadocus, on Church Street in Camborne. He was 25 years old, working as a miner, and living at Centenary Row in Camborne at the time of the marriage. His father James Rule, also a miner, was deceased. Caroline was 27 years old (although her marriage record says she is 21), lived on Fore Street, and her father James Hethier, miner, was also deceased at the time of the marriage. The mark of both William and Caroline signed the entry of marriage at the general register office, indicating that they were likely illiterate.
Their first three children were born in quick succession with son Joseph born ten months after the marriage on 7 February 1856. Unfortunately, Joseph died four years later of pneumonia. Their second child, daughter Caroline Jane, was born in 1857. Their third child, William James, was born in 1860.
William's Immigration to Michigan
The collapse of mining in Cornwall and lack of jobs caused emigration from Cornwall. Cornish expertise and mining skill were highly valued, and foreign mining companies sent agents to recruit employees from Cornish mines to Australia, South America, and the United States. By the 1860s the slump in Cornish copper mining had created a major economic depression, just as mining was expanding on the booming Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan. In early September 1862, William Sr. left his family and traveled to the United States to work in those mines, arriving in New York aboard the S.S. Victory.
Caroline and Family Follows
Thousands of wives and families were left behind because of the emigration of miners from Cornwall. The wives were often referred to as “married widows.” Wives stayed behind, maintained their homes and raised their families until their husbands returned, or they joined them in their new location.
Caroline, Caroline Jane, and William James remained in Cornwall. Baby William James died on February 6, 1863, of Scarlet Fever. Two months after William James’ death, a child conceived before William Sr. left Camborne was born. William Henry Rule was born on April 10, 1863, his father William Rule, copper miner and his mother Caroline Rule formerly Hethier.
Five years after William left home, Caroline and her children departed Cornwall to join him. Caroline, Caroline Jane, and William Henry made the journey aboard the SS City of Paris, arriving in New York on October 5, 1868. The family reunited in Michigan and William met his four-year-old son, William Henry, for the first time.
Copper Falls Michigan
In 1870 the family lived at the Copper Falls Mine with the addition of son Joseph, then nine months old. The Copper Falls Mine was prosperous and the town had homes for the miners, boarding houses, a stamp mill, and a sawmill. A series of accidents at the mine stopped production for an entire year in 1878. This is perhaps when the family moved to Clifton, the location of the Cliff Mine.
Clifton Michigan
From 1878 to 1883 the Cliff mine operated under a tribute system. Tributers are skilled miners that bid for the right to work an area of a mine, usually called a pitch. They were paid by the amount of ore that they extracted. This centuries old Cornish contract mining method gave the Cornish miners status above the wage-earning miners in the Michigan mining communities. In 1880 the family was living in Clifton with the addition of their final child, David. The end of the tribute work in 1883 could have facilitated the families move to Lake Linden, Michigan.
Lake Linden Michigan
On March 23, 1889, William Sr. died at age 58 in Lake Linden, Michigan. His cause of death was listed as Pneumonia. Miners often died from Pneumonia that was caused by Pneumonconiosis which is a lung disease that is caused by breathing airborne dust in the mines.
His grave is in the Maple Hill Cemetery, Lake Linden, Michigan.
Leadville Colorado
As the mines in the Copper Country of Michigan became more mechanized, they were able to employ unskilled immigrants from non-mining backgrounds at lower wages. Skilled Cornish miners began leaving the area and traveling to developing mines in Colorado, Montana and Arizona.
William Henry left Michigan some time prior to 1886; he is found in the Leadville city directory in 1886 and 1887.
This is the only entry for any Rule in the Leadville city directory. William was working at the Carbonite mine, and living on Carbonite Hill, near the mine. I have no idea where the rest of the Rule family was living at this time.
Family story has it that William Henry and Louise Wechsung first met in Leadville, where William Henry was mining, and Louise was running a boarding house. I found no mention of Louise in the city directories during those years.
When the price of silver dropped, they moved to Butte, Montana, where mining was booming. They married in Butte Montana in 1888.
Butte America
Around 1893 Caroline arrived in Butte, Montana. Life must have been difficult for Caroline as she is found in the Paupers Rolls applying for aid in the form of groceries on 5 October 1896. Caroline was supporting herself by taking in laundry. In the letter of support, she is described as “a widow in destitute circumstances, we know her to be an honest and respectable lady and unavoidably in want.”
By 1899 Caroline was living with her son David in Butte as reflected by the Butte City Directories of 1899, 1905, and 1907. She died on 1 May 1912 of Pneumonia and was buried in the Mountain View Cemetery in Butte. Her obituary stated that “She came to the copper country, Michigan, 44 years ago. From there she came to this city, where she has resided for 17 years. Mrs. Rule has been an active Christian worker for more than 30 years. For 20 years she has made her home with her youngest son, David Rule.”
Children of William Rule and Caroline Hethier
- Joseph Rule, born 7 February 1856 at Camborne, England; died 15 March 1860 at Camborne, England.
- Caroline Jane Rule, born 26 July 1857 at Camborne, England; married Richard Gribble and David Edwards; died 1 April 1938 at Seattle, Washington.
- William James Rule, born 5 September 1860 at Camborne, England; died 6 February 1863 at Camborne, England.
- William Henry Rule, born 10 April 1863 at Camborne, England; married Louise Wechsung; died 21 October 1925 at Butte, Montana.
- Joseph Rule, no further information.
- David Rule, born 2 April 1871 at Central Mine, Michigan; married Margaret Crispin; died 20 March 1952 at Santa Clara, California.
The End
William and Caroline Rule left their home in Cornwall to find a better future. They suffered the loss of two sons and family separation as William established himself in the United States. William had a long and successful career as a miner in Michigan, and his children followed in his footsteps working in the mines of Colorado, Arizona, and Butte.