Daniel Sorensen died in the desert near Pahrump, Nevada. He met his untimely death as a result of an exploration of Death Valley in the summer of 1892. He lost his way and died from exposure. I have in my possession a copy that is 5 pages long that details the death of Daniel. He was able to pen some notes upon his death. These notes indicate that he wanted his family taken care of, and that he kept notebooks. The article which details his death refers to "this city" several times, and I am thinking the city is Anaheim. (Using my powers of deduction...haha.)
The wife he left behind is known as Sabina Mary Rooch or Roach. I have seen the last name spelled both ways, equally. From a copy of a write up about her:
"Sabina was born in Boston, Mass. on 28-Feb-1849. She was the 1st child of J. Frederick Rooch and Eva Marie Gunther. She had 1 sister and two brothers, 1 half sister and 1 half brother. She came to San Francisco in 1851 or 1852 and in 1860 went to Anaheim with the original colonists.
She married Daniel Sorensen on 17-May-1866 in Los Angeles and they had 7 children. They settled on the land that Daniel and his brothers Christian and Anton bought from Pio Pico, the last Spanish Governor of Calif. At this time this area was in the middle of no where and it was hot and dusty. Sabina was a city girl and this had to be a traumatic experience for her. She not only took care of her husband and children, but also took care of the household chores for her husbands two brothers and 6-8 ranch hands for the main meal in the afternoon.
Even with all the men around, she had trouble getting some things done. She would ask and ask for someone to cut some wood for her stove and she was usually ignored. One day she stopped asking and let the wood run out. That afternoon she went outside and clanged the bell for dinner and all the men came running for their meal. They came in the house and she was sitting in her chair. They all stood there silent looking at the table. It had one platter with a pigs tail on it. They turned to her and she said, "No wood, no dinner."
She was always having to chase the pigs from her vegetable garden because the pens needed fixing. Many times she asked for the pens to be fixed but to no avail. One day she saw them in her garden and instead of chasing them, she grabbed a gun, went outside and shot every one of them. She went into the house and say down. The men hearing the shots came running. They saw the dead pigs in the garden and went into the house to check on her. She said, "If someone will remove the dead pigs from the garden I will get a vegetable for our dinner but it will be a cold day in hell before we will have any pork."
Frustrations were many for this young girl. Needless to say it was a hard life for her and this is probably the reason Daniel sold his interests in this land to his brother. Sabina and family returned to Anaheim in 1876.
Two of her children, Fredrick and Willie, preceeded her death. Her daughter Sophie preferred a more cosmopolitan life and moved to San Francisco, though she maintained a home in Los Angeles also. The others remained in Southern California. She moved to Los Angeles about 1910 and remained there until her death on 25-Aug-1918. She is at the Inglewood Park Cemetary."
I don't know who wrote this. I believe it was one of her daughters, and it was passed down. I was able to find cousins from that line who graciously shared that information with me.
Her father, Fredrick Rooch seems to have died in 1859 in San Francisco. This is a note I have made myself. I (of course!) did not write down exactly where I got this information, but I also have this written down:
"Died or buried Dec 11 1959, age 38 yrs, 9 mos, 25 days. Buried in Lone Mountain Cemetery, San Fransisco, CA. Grave #4, tier 64, ridge."
Her mother, Eva Marie Gunther Rooch was born Setember 14, 1824 in Germany and died Jan 31 1891, buried in Anaheim Cemetery.
She remarried after her first husband's death to Henry Boldt (1825-1878)
Her Siblings:
Pauline Rooch (1853-1907)
Fredrick Lorenz Rooch (1855-1866)
John William Rooch (1857-1933)
Half Siblings:
Berth (Bertha?) Boldt (1864-1943)
Laurence Henry Boldt (1867-1937)
