(Initial draft of Allie-Sarah Timeline for John Mullan)
1830 – July 31st John Mullan born, the second child of Mary Bright Mullan and John Mullan Sr.
1833 – Mullan family moved to Annapolis, MD from Norfolk, VA
1839 – John Jr. enrolled in St. John’s College
1847 – Received his A.B. Degree from St. John’s College at 17 years old
1848 – June 3rd John arrived in New York for training at West Point
1850 – January 19th John and classmates John Forney, Hugh Fleming, and Alfred Latimer were caught playing cards, disregarding West Point’s Rule #114.
1850 – June 18th John receives his first furlough from West Point, going home for the summer. Returned to West Point August 28th.
1852 – John graduated from West Point (8th in his class)
1852 – July 1st John promoted to brevet second lieutenant in the First Artillery and stationed at Fort Columbus, New York
1853 – John meets Isaac Stevens for the first time
1853 – May 21st Mullan disembarked on his first surveying expedition to Washington Territory
1854 – April 19th Mullan meets Chief Ohwi of the Yakima Native American Tribe
1854 – May 21st Mullan went on an excursion to choose the better route between the
Clark Fork and Lake Pend Orelle between Ft. Benton and Colville.
1855 – Mullan arrived back on the east coast to lobby for $30,00 for the construction of the road.
1855 – Mullan’s title changed from Sergeant to Seamen
1855 – Mullan assigned to Company H, 2nd Regiment of the Artillery stationed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
1856 – January Mullan assigned to Company A, 2nd Regiment of the Artillery stationed at Fort McHenry
1856 – Mullan met his future wife Rebecca and the Williamson family.
1857 – Mullan returned to Washington DC to work with Isaac Stevens.
1858 – March 12 Mullan received a letter from Secretary of War John Floyd telling Mullan to get to Walla Walla and give him a better idea of the budget necessary to complete the road.
1858 – April 5 Mullan left New York on a ship to Panama, reaching the Dalles on May 15th.
1858 – July 25th Mullan reached Walla Walla
1858 – September 8 Mullan witnessed Horse Slaughter Camp and noted, “I know not when I have witnessed a more distressing sight.” (page 89)
1858 – August 13 Dysentery
1859 – August 14 Still dysentery, and suddenly passed
1859 – September Wrote a letter to Humphreys and told him they found gold.
1859- Visited Rebecca in Baltimore
1861 – October Isaac Stevens dies, most influential man in Mullan’s life
1862-1863 – Winter Became a politics man
1862 - October Mullan found out Isaac Stevens was killed in the Civil War, by telegraph in San Francisco
1863 - January “a group of businessmen incorporated the Walla Walla Railroad Company and appointed Mullan, then still in Washington DC as commissioner” (page 189) in order to start a railroad line
1863 – March 10 Congress approved that William Wallace as the first governor of Idaho, a position Mullan had sought
1863 – April 4th Mullan resigned from the army, exactly 1 month after Lincoln signed the act creating Idaho Territory.
1863 – April 28, 1863 John Mullan married Rebecca
1863 - August John and Rebecca arrived in Walla Walla to work on his 480 acre farm and sawmill that his brothers, Louis and Charles, had been running
1863 - October John and Rebecca hosted Father Pierre-Jean DeSmet at their home
1863 – December John’s father, John Sr. died
1864 - Spring the Mullan brothers involved in a lawsuit over the ownership of the farm, specifically Lewis sewing Charles and John, with Charles taking Lewis’ side
1864 - Fall John and Rebecca returned to Baltimore, as Mullan was bankrupted by his two brothers poor management of his farm and court cases brought against him from his brothers as well as others in the community
1865 - Mullane released his book, Miners and Travellers'Guide to Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado via the Missouri and Columbia Rivers
1865 - Summer Mullan moved West yet again and partnered with J. B. Francis of Boise to help with a stagecoach line from Boise, ID to Chico, CA
1865 - July Mullan led a group from Boise to Chico to make road improvements
1865 - October Mullan headed back to Baltimore to spend the winter with his wife and in-laws, but also to attempt to secure a mail contract from the federal government for his stagecoach company, eventually acquiring a $75,000 contract.
1866 - July 1 the mail contract went into effect and Mullan left on the first stagecoach at midnight. They arrived in Ruby Cidy, Idaho just 77 hours after leaving Chico, CA.
1866 - November 18 the stagecoach made its final journey to Idaho. The stagecoach ended because local Native Americans fought against the intrusion of their land by burning supply stations and equipment. Mullan was unable to supply the financial capital alone to keep the stagecoach up and running.
1866 - Winter Mullan’s wife and children joined him in San Francisco where he worked at a bank and the U.S. Surveyor’s Office
1867 - Mullan passed the California State Bar Examination to become an attorney
1868 - Mullan was working for the California Immigration Association as a Managing Agent
1868 - Mullan partnered with Frederick A. Hyde to create the Mullan and Hyde firm that labeled itself “Attorneys for Land Claimants, Dealer in Land Warrants and College Scrip, will perfect Titles and Procure Patents from the Senate and United States for all Kinds of Lands” (page 208). Generally a shady company swindling individuals as well as the government out of thousands of dollars.
1868 ???? – John’s mother, Mary died
1876 - September Mullan wrote to Henry Ellis, San Francisco Police Chief, to request police protection for a Democrat meeting demanding that Congress ban the entrance of Chinamen into the United States
1878 - November 1 California Governor Irwin selected Mullan to represent California in a lawsuit against the federal government for 5% of all federal land sales, dating back to the beginning of statehood, to get the money for school aid for the state of California.
1878 - November the Mullan family, now with three children (all born in San Francisco), permanently moved back east to Washington DC
1903 – Gustavus Sohon dies