Showing posts with label Virginia City. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Virginia City. Show all posts

Friday, January 26, 2024

Finding The Officially Recognized Photograph of Julia Bulette - Putting the Revisionist Ideas To Bed At Last!

 

1. Official Carte-de-Visite of Julia Bulette, Nevada Historical Society
2. Photograph of Alfred Doten, Nevada Historical Society 

Back in 2019, I covered the story of the Comstock's most famous courtesan, Julia Bulette in its entirety. From explaining and debunking fakelore surrounding her ever ellusive backstory, down to sharing the particulars surrounding her death and even her burial. As I explained in my blog, "The Comstock Courtesan, Part 1" and in the chapter (of the same name) in my book "More Stories of the Forgotten," no one knows exactly where Julia came from. This is a fact. 

Despite sharing all of this with the world, one thing seems to keep popping back up, the debate on what Julia Bulette looked like. This ongoing debate has gone on since at least the 1930s or 1940s, when the McBrides hung a photo in their "Bucket of Blood" Saloon, claiming to be the likeness of Julia Bulette and causing controversy.

FALSE PHOTO- NOT JULIA BULETTE
dated Circa 1880s

There's one problem. It's not Julia!  The photograph posted just above which I have titled "False Photo," was actually examined and dated by a professional, and it turned out that the woman in the photograph could not possibly be Julia, as it was determined to have been taken in the 1880s. 

According to Sheryln Hayez-Zorn, Curator of History at the Nevada Historical Society, the photo in question is not Julia Bulette. Given the fact the photo was dated to the 1880s, and Julia was murdered in 1867, this alone proves that specific photograph could not be our Julia. Anyone who knows the common dress and hairstyle of different time periods would know that, but still, it didn't stop the unknowledgable from making such claims.

Still, these debates have gone on for too long. So, today I am going to share with you what I have been trying to tell everyone for a very, very long time.  The only photograph of Julia Bulette known in existence is the one taken in the Sutterley Brothers studio in Virginia City.

Ms. Hayes-Zorn confirmed that the well-known carte-de-visite of a woman standing in the Sutterley Brothers portrait studion next to a fireman's hat in the dark dress is the ONLY officially recognized photograph of Julia Bulette. 

To add more credence to this, I have taken it upon myself to line up two photographs side by side for comparison at the top of this blog post. 

"The Alf Doten photo of him wearing the fireman's helmet and with the same background only adds to the authentication of her photograph. There are other's of the early Comstock time period that can be seen with the same background."-- Sheryln Hayes-Zorn, Curator of History, Nevada Historical Society

The first photograph on the left is of Julia Bulette, and was taken on the Fourth of July, 1866. The photograh to the right, is of Alfred Doten, taken on the Fourth of July, 1867. As you can see, they are both standing in the same studio with the same backdrop. The photos, taken one year apart show that they were taken around the same time period in history. 

The day that the photograph of Julia was taken was said to have been a very special day for her, as reports mention that she was chosen to be a honorary member of the Fire Company #1 on that date, and that was the day she was able to ride in the parade with them for the Fourth of July Festivities. 

The newspaper spoke of the entire city taking part in the festivities, including many different groups appearing in the parade. One mention was that "Virginia Engine Company No. 1 had a magnificent six-horse team attached to their engine, beautifully decorated with flowers and evergreens."

Think about that for a moment. Why wouldn't Julia have wanted a photograph to remember this special day? Especially given the fact that she wasn't rich and famous as many people have made her out to be over the years. This was her day to shine, and for once she wasn't just a prostitute, she was somebody even if just for the day, and for that day she was treated like a "somebody." I am sure that was a good memory for her. 

If you examine the photograph, you can see she is standing next to a fireman's hat, wearing a fireman belt buckle with the number 1 on it.  Her dress is plain, as was the attire of the period for any woman at that time. The belt buckle correlates her connection to Fire Company #1, whom cared for her so much that when she died, they were the ones who held her body until the day of her funeral, and they buried her in a plot that was reserved for the firemen in the original old Pioneers Cemetery, also known as Flowery Hill. 

That's another thing people don't seem to understand, in regards to why her grave is so far out there and why its location is virtually unknown today. So why bury her way out on Flowery Hill and not in the other cemeteries? Well, when Julia died, those other cemeteries didn’t exist yet. You have to remember, this was 1867. The only cemetery there at the time was the old Pioneer Cemetery or Boot Hill Cemetery which was known as “Flowery Hill.”

 According to “Mercantile Guide and Directory for Virginia City, Gold Hill, Silver City and American City,” compiled by Charles Collins, 1864-65, it states: “This city can now boast of a public burial place for the dead, the ground formerly known as the Flowery Hill Cemetery has been purchased for its owner, J.B. Wallard, by the city, at a cost of twenty-five hundred dollars. The City Council are taking the necessary steps to have the grounds, laid off in a manner which, when completed, will reflect credit on the good taste of its projectors. The tract contains 27 acres. A portion of the grounds has been reserved and laid off for the exclusive use of the firemen of this city.”— 

 Another publication “A History of the Virginia Exempt Firemen’s Association Cemetery” states “Although a firemen’s section had been laid out in the Pioneer Cemetery on Flowery Hill years before, in May of 1868 the Virginia Fire Department purchased a section of the Silver Terrace Cemetery for its use from undertakers Charles M. Brown and Josh W. Wilson for $50.00."

So, you can see the fire department loved her, because they buried her in their section of the cemetery that was reserved for them. The only reason they no longer buried their own in that same area was because two years later they purchased a different section of the newer Silver Terrace Cemetery, and the old pioneer cemetery became defunct and forgotten over time. 

Back to the subject...

Going back to the subject at hand, there are some who still question whether this carte-de-visite really was Julia, because she was dressed rather plainly for a prostitute.  

In reality, what do you think a prostitute looked like in 1867?

In my research, many times, I have found that prostitutes outside of their boudoir would dress the same as any other woman of the time period. It seems that the world has a romanticized view of what they think a prostitute looked or dressed like based on television and movies. 

I recall a historian telling me once many years ago that the only difference between a lady and a prostitute at that time period was that a lady didn't look up and stare a man in his face, as it was improper; However, a prostitute didn't have the fear of improprieties and would have no problem looking a man in the face as she spoke to him.  The point the historian was making was that during normal daily activities outside of the brothel, a prostitute would have dressed in the normal fashion of the day.

When I asked Ms. Hayes-Zorn on her opinion about this subject, she confirmed this with me by saying:

 "Julia and any other woman or prostitute that went outside of their bedroom or home, would dress according to Victorian standards on the types of activities or time of day. In her photograph, she is wearing good quality clothing but it is not competing with the fireman's belt or helmet.  You are correct, I believe people have a romanticized view of how a prostitute would dress or behave due to movies and television.  Women wouldn't stare at men or talk with strangers (men) without a formal introduction by friends and family, or be alone with a man without a chaperone."-- 

So, today we have discussed the facts that there is only one officially recognized photograph of Julia Bulette in existence, and the fact that just because she looked "plain Jane" in her photograph didn't mean it wasn't Julia, just because she didn't "look" like what some people think a prostitute should have looked like back then.

Writer, Susan James once said on the subject of Julia, "So little was known about her life that her attributes could be greatly enhanced without fear of contradiction…writers speculated about Julia’s ancestry. The fact that she might have lived in Louisiana was all they needed to transform the fair-skinned Englishwoman into an enticing New Orleans Creole. Exotic beauty was not among Julia’s assets, but it didn’t hurt to stretch the truth a bit.” --"Queen of Tarts"

In reality, we will never know for certain just where Julia Bulette came from. What we do know is what she looked like. No, she wasn't a dark skinned or mixed raced prostitute. She wasn't even remarkably beautiful by societal standards of the time, but she was cared for by those who chose to remember her and honor her after her death. 

In life, I do not believe she lived well, nor do I believe she was treated like a lady by any means, but I do believe that everyone deserves their stories to be told and we all owe the dead the truth. Julia lived a hard life in a time where life was hard enough as it was. She didn't make life any easier on herself chosing the oldest profession in the book, but that was the choice she made. Love her or hate her, she did however leave her mark in Virginia City, one that cannot easily be erased.

Rest in Peace, Julia Bulette.

(Copyright 2023 - J'aime Rubio, www.jaimerubiowriter.com) 

A big thanks to Sheryln Hayes-Zorn and the Nevada Historical Society for helping me with this additional project!

Some of my Sources:

"More Stories of the Forgotten," J'aime Rubio, 2019

Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]), 05 July 1866

Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, January 22, 1867

A History of the Virginia Exempt Firemen’s Association Cemetery, Steve Frady, 1980-1987

Mercantile Guide and Directory for Virginia City, Gold Hill, Silver City and American City, Charles Collins, 1864-65 

“Queen of Tarts,” by Susan James in Nevada Magazine, Sept/Oct 1984

Saturday, November 9, 2019

The Comstock Courtesan (Part 1)

Only recognized "official" photo of Julia Bulette
Courtesy of the Nevada Historical Society

Chapter 1. —- The Comstock Courtesan from "More Stories of the Forgotten" by J'aime Rubio. 

 In the historic ghost town of Virginia City, Nevada, just about everyone you talk to knows the name Julia Bulette. Unfortunately, most people only know the legend and lore surrounding her story and haven’t truly dug deep enough to know all the details surrounding her life and death. I have been intrigued by the story of Julia Bulette ever since reading about her alleged murderer’s hanging in an article published in an old Chicago newspaper archive. Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain and undeniably the father of classic American literature, penned the very emotional account of his experience in Virginia City witnessing the public hanging of her convicted murderer, John Millian. It was his words that sparked an interest in learning more about her death, and inevitably, her life, too.  

Over the years there have been many authors and journalists who have tried to weave a fantastic yarn full of folklore surrounding Julia’s life and her death. With so many writers choosing to immortalize Julia with over the top lore, her true story has been lost in the mix. Over the course of many years I have sought answers to various questions regarding Julia’s true background as far as her name, her family roots and her hometown, besides digging into the story of her murder. After studious research, I believe I have put the pieces together, all the while debunking a lot of the fabricated information that unfortunately has been passed on as fact. This chapter will not only expose the over embellished stories told (or literally made up) about Julia, as well as state to you, the reader, the real facts that are known about Julia. I will also share with you the details surrounding her gruesome death, all followed by cited sources so that you can form an educated opinion regarding what you choose to believe.

 Lack of Cited Sources! 

One thing that I always say is “cite your sources!”  If you read a book, an interview, or even a blog about Julia’s story (or any other person in our past for that matter), if the writer does not cite their sources within the text, or list them at the bottom of the text then that is a red flag that there is usually some sort of  fabrication or false history being shared. If the factual documentation exists, why suppress it from the public? Why not share it with your readers so they can verify your findings for themselves? In this effort to find the truth about Julia Bulette’s life and death, I have found that many times previous authors did not cite their sources, leaving us left only to take their word for it. I don’t know about you, but I don’t go for that! With that being said, I have gone to extra lengths with this chapter just to prove what I am sharing with you is factual and also to debunk and expose the false stories that have been fabricated about Julia’s life as previously told by other authors and historians who claim to know the real story of Julia Bulette. I will also dig even deeper to try to explain to you what I suspect are the origins behind some of these falsely told stories. I not only researched this story thoroughly, but I brought in several other genealogists and historians to do their own research on the subject, to have them double check or “fact check” my findings to make sure I left no stone unturned. All of my source citations will be in the back of the book, in the bibliography for reference purposes.

 I encourage you to always research, research, research!! A real historical writer who has nothing to hide will gladly provide you with the tools for you to verify their findings for your own peace of mind so that you can come to your own conclusions yourself. 

Debunking False History

 First and foremost, the details regarding Julia’s early life prior to her arriving in Virginia City has never been proven or verified. There have been various authors over the years who claimed to have revealed her true identity and past history, but after diligently researching said claims I have debunked them entirely. 

 So what claims are not backed up by real historical fact? Let me show you. For example, in the book, “Family Jules: The Life and Times of Julia C. Bulette,” author C.C. Haile claims that Julia was actually named Julia Goulette, from Morehouse Parish, Louisiana, and that she was a Quadroon (1/4 African-American).  The author never cites the documents or sources she used to come to her conclusions, but instead uses very vague references to her “extensive research” and weaves this story that Julia’s father’s family was from France and that her Creole background came from a black mistress with whom Julia’s paternal grandfather had children. This Creole mistress (who is unnamed) is allegedly the African-American whose bloodline she tries to tie to Julia.

 The problem with this story is that there are no documents to prove such a story exists, nor does the connection to this specific family. For one, the people she names in her first few chapters cannot be tied to Julia Bulette in any way, shape or form whatsoever. Even the girl, Julia Goulette whom the author tries to say is our Julia, could not possibly be the same Julia from Virginia City for several reasons.  First, this Julia Goulette was listed in the 1850 Census for Morehouse Parish as a Mulatto, not a Quadroon. Her mother (who is not listed) was black, and her father, Louis Goulette, the same side of the family the author claimed carried black heritage, was actually listed as being Caucasian, as was his brother. So, just because this young girl had a similar sounding name and was born around the same time period as our Julia, that alone is not enough to tie to Julia Bulette. Unfortunately, this did not stop her from continuing to push this story.

 I would also like to point out that there are no records to back up the early French “family history” of the Goulette, Boulette, Pulet, or Bulette family as told in that book.  In France, their census records didn’t have actual listed names for many years, just statistics, so there was no way the author could have discovered all that information with names, dates and births connecting Julia to that family as she claimed.

 There’s more. When we get deeper into the theorized backstory, I found even more errors, or you could say contradictions. For one, the author claimed that Julia left Morehouse Parish with her half-uncle Jules Bullett (again another spelling variation of the surname; we will get to him a little later in this chapter), to live in New Orleans in 1848. It was there that he supposedly set her up in a house to be a prostitute. But how could that be when this particular Julia Goulette was still living with her father in Morehouse Parish in August of 1850, as listed in the census? The information just doesn’t add up.

 More so, the author then claims that Julia left New Orleans to Chagres, Panama with her alleged cousin Paul Pulet aboard the vessel “Falcon” in March of 1850, crossing the Isthmus of Panama and then boarding the vessel “Northerner” where she allegedly arrived in in the port of San Francisco, May of 1850.  Again, there are too many errors here. 

 First off, there is a record of a J. Billett boarding the “Falcon” but not with anyone else, and there is no record of this person being male or female. Secondly, there is no record of Julia arriving on the Northerner. In fact, the Northerner didn’t arrive to San Francisco until August of 1850, and she wasn’t listed on the passenger list, nor was she listed on any of the other lists I searched during that entire year. I found a record of a P. Poulet (notice the different spelling) traveling on the Falcon from New Orleans to Chagres two weeks after J. Billett, but again, he or she was alone and there are no records that prove either of these two people were related or even knew one another.

 In my research to get to the bottom of this story, I asked three other genealogists to research Julia’s alleged backstory and to see if they came up with the same information as I did. I wanted to make sure that I really, thoroughly checked every possible lead. In all of the research I did, I have never found any concrete evidence that supports the “history” as told in Ms. Haile’s book.

 As fun as it may seem to believe an embellished and entertaining story, there are no facts to back it up.  When it came to tying the Bulette name to Julia Goulette, the author went on to claim her half-uncle, Jules was the one who basically took her under his wing and put her on the path she ended up living later on in life, prostitution. The author also claims that Julia took the name Jules as a nickname after her uncle. But who was this person Jules?

 The book “Family Jules” states that Jules Bulette arrived in the U.S. from Le Havre, France in 1837, on board the vessel Rubicon. Unfortunately, again, there are discrepancies we cannot ignore.  Genealogists Karen Ashworth, Amanda Trainor of “Digging up Roots,” and my friend and colleague, Shannon Bradley Byers, also known as the “Paranormal Genealogist,” all offered their help to confirm or debunk certain so-called facts or events as stated in the book. All three of them could not find any factual evidence to support any one of the events they were privately asked to research.

 Case in point, Shannon was the first to discover the passenger list records for the Rubicon, which shows that a person named “Jules, Bullett” (Surname listed as Jules) was on board the vessel but was listed as a family member of P. Francois. She also found The National Archives abstract which also lists him as B. Jules, traveling with the family of P. Francois. Again, there is no proof that this person Bullett Jules or B. Jules was related to the Goulette family of Morehouse Parish, or our Julia Bulette.

 The more we dug the more it became apparent that the story being pushed was not one of historical fact but instead historical fiction. As authors we are not supposed to weave a fantastic tale of an adventurous journey about a real person in history unless we have documented facts backed up by real sources to confirm these stories. Otherwise, it is only conjecture and nothing more. In the case of Julia Bulette, there just isn’t enough concrete information to state as a matter of fact how or when she arrived at the west coast, or what her early background was besides what the newspapers said at the time of her death (which we will get to later on).

 I reached out to the author of “Family Jules” with numerous questions with the hope to get some sort of answers. Ms. Haile offered her explanation to me by email. Although her answers were very vague, she admitted that the book was never meant to be taken as a scholarly text and that she published her book to be for entertainment purposes. After looking into her background, I found on her own Amazon “Author’s Page” her biography literally says that “her focus of late is centered in tales of the Wild West - some true, some embellished, and some just figments of an unharnessed imagination.”

 Let me make this very clear, Ms. Haile’s book is entertaining if you take it as a work of historical fiction, but it is in no way an historical or biographical book on the true life of Julia Bulette. If you enjoy romanticized novels much like Yellow Bird’s, ”Joaquin Murrieta”, then you would enjoy her book, but again, I advise you to take it all with a grain of salt.

 The real bone I have to pick is with other writers, historians and reenactors who have been spreading this false history about Julia online, despite the fact that they have been called on it and asked to cite their sources. These so-called experts still choose to push this revisionist history without citing any sources, besides using Ms. Haile’s book as their “gospel” on Julia’s life.  That is wrong on so many levels, not only ethically, but is a complete disrespect to Julia Bulette’s real legacy because they are ignoring the facts in order to prop up a fantasy. This wouldn’t be the first time though. In fact, this has been happening far too often and for far too long, especially in Julia’s case.

 After proving that Julia did not take the Falcon or the Northerner on her journey to California, and that she was not this Mulatto girl from Morehouse Parish, that leaves us with the questions, where did she come from? Who was the real Julia Bulette? And how did Julia get to the west coast? The answer, as disappointing as it may be is that there is no definitive answer. There just isn’t enough primary source documentation that proves Julia’s background beyond a shadow of a doubt. We cannot just search a historical record or index, pick a random name up out of a book and say, “that is the person I am looking for.”  

 So where did all the false information come from? To get to the origins of some of Julia’s fabricated past, we will have to go back even further than Ms. Haile’s book. Back to earlier retellings of Julia Bulette’s story by earlier authors who decided to sensationalize this woman’s life so much, that the true history behind Julia Bulette’s life was lost to history, at least for a while. Thanks to other truth seekers like myself, over the years there have been a few other authors and journalists who have delved into the facts and tried their best to set the record straight, too. They will be mentioned within this book, as am a huge believer of giving credit where credit is due.  I will also be placing blame on the other authors, writers and historians who have chosen to take the low road and continued spreading these fabrications over the years, which in turn has forever changed the world’s opinion or belief of just who Julia Bulette actually was.

 The Fabricators of History

 Earlier authors such as Lucius Beebe and Charles Clegg, along with others like Duncan Emrich, Oscar Lewis, Zeke Daniels (who was actually Effie Mona Mack) and George Lyman were the originators of sensationalizing or romanticizing Julia’s story and her background. They used what they could find in the newspapers at the time of her death and then over embellished, sensationalized and downright fabricated the rest of her story to the point it has been become legendary.

 First, assumptions were made by Lucius Beebe that she might have been Creole, and later other authors (and even self-proclaimed historians) changed her ancestry from Creole to Mulatto without any form of cited sources or documentation. Then came more fabrications. From the over-the-top statements by both Duncan Emrich and Beebe that Julia lived in her “palace” and hosted dinner parties with fine French wines and the best delicacies for some of the town’s high society making her house the “cultural center,” to the grossest fabrication, that she rode around in a lacquered brougham carriage, that I might add, had a crest of four aces, crowned by a lion couchant which had been imported across the Isthmus of Panama, covered in her fantastic furs and jewels, the story just kept getting bigger and bigger!

 Other stories have her nursing the sick and donating her money and time to help the community, as well as her well known generosity towards the fire department.  Nowhere is there any evidence of any of these conclusions these authors wrote in their books, yet they had no problem freely printing lies to push as fact. No, Julia was not Mulatto, or Creole, and there has never been any sort of documentation to suggest this besides an author’s wild ideas.

 As one of the few writers to successfully debunk the whole mixed-race or Creole theory, Susan James put it, “So little was known about her life that her attributes could be greatly enhanced without fear of contradiction…writers speculated about Julia’s ancestry. The fact that she might have lived in Louisiana was all they needed to transform the fair-skinned Englishwoman into an enticing New Orleans Creole. Exotic beauty was not among Julia’s assets, but it didn’t hurt to stretch the truth a bit.” 

 As far as Julia having hosted fancy dinners at her home, that is also a farce.  Her cottage consisted of just two small rooms with no in-door bathroom or kitchen. In fact, Julia depended on a neighbor, Gertrude to provide her with food, because she had no way of cooking it at her house. She did not live lavishly with fine furs, diamonds and extravagant carriages. She had some nice clothes and some jewelry, she also had a few decent pieces of furniture, but that was it. Her estate appraised for $517.00, and at auction it sold for $875.41. Her debts exceeded her assets, which totaled $790.00, plus $291.00 in legal fees. Facts don’t lie, and the facts show that Julia was a poor prostitute living just one step above squalor, and one who died in debt.

 Yes, she was known for her association with the fire department, and the newspaper did mention her generosity of helping out at times during a fire, but the story that she nursed the sick, or that she stuck with the menfolk when there was a threat of an Indian raid, did not take place because those events took place long before the Comstock had gained notoriety, and long before Julia had moved to Virginia City, and that has been proven by other writers over the years as well.

 What bothers me to no end is the fact that so much of the sensationalism written about Julia has been quoted over and over in one book after another, virtually sealing her legend in stone. The book, “The Old West: The Miners” which was one of a series of Time-Life books circulated in 1976, carried on the tradition of pushing fabrication over fact in its brief write up on Julia’s life. Stating adamantly that she was “so bewitching that she could command prices as high as $1,000.00 a night for her company. She served fine wines and a delightful French cuisine, and almost daily adorned her house with fresh flowers rushed from the Coast by the Wells, Fargo and Company express.” The lies don’t stop there. “When hundreds of miners became ill from drinking polluted water Julia turned her house into a hospital and herself into a nurse.”   

 The fact of the matter here is that none of these things ever happened and there is not one piece of documentation to prove that they did. My dear friend and historian, Kent Spottswood once told me, “It’s not a matter of making up a theory and saying prove me wrong.”  We are supposed to record and preserve history as told by documented facts, not what we wish the history to be. In the case of Julia Bulette, that seems to be the case, that a majority of writers and historians have chosen to over embellish or downright create a legend since her death, and they expect us to believe their “theories” as fact.

 Thankfully, because of other truth-seekers like myself, there have been a few journalists, authors and historians over the years who have uncovered the facts surrounding Julia’s life to the best of their abilities, such as former Nevada State Archivist and author, Guy Rocha. Another such truth seeker, Susan James, wrote a fantastic piece, “Queen of Tarts,” in Nevada Magazine (October 1984). I tracked down a copy of the publication on eBay for my own personal records during my research for this chapter and was so impressed to see that she came to the same conclusions that I did.

 Not only does James debunk most of the information I have mentioned earlier in this chapter, she also covers the infamous “imposter” photo that I also cover within this chapter. Another pair of writers who did their best to debunk a lot of the false information spread about Julia, are Vardis Fisher & Opal Holmes in their book, “Gold Rushes & Mining Camps of the Early American West,” in which they set out to completely debunk Duncan Emrich and Lucius Beebe’s highly sensationalized retelling of the story.

 Going back to the subject of the “imposter” photo, according to my research it seems that this photo first appeared at the Bucket of Blood Saloon back when the McBride’s owned it. Where or when they acquired the photograph is unknown, but it has been stated that the McBride’s hung it in their business to attract tourists Over the years self-proclaimed historians have used this photo as a means to concoct their “Mulatto” theory, claiming that this photo is proof that Julia Bulette was of mixed race. This story has been spread far and wide, ending up in books and even on Find-a-grave.  But that photo is not Julia.  



"Imposter" photo (NOT Julia!)
Courtesy of the Nevada Historical Society

 I contacted the Nevada State Archives about the photo in question, and they referred me to the Nevada Historical Society. After speaking with one of their curators, Sheryln Hayes-Zorn, she confirmed with me that the photo in question is not Julia Bulette. In fact, she also went on to mention that the photo, which shows a woman with darker skin and frizzy bangs, can be dated to the 1880’s, given the fashion and hairstyle. Julia Bulette was murdered in 1867, so the dating of the photo alone is proof enough that is not our Julia. Sheryln did confirm that the well-known carte-de-visite of Julia Bulette standing in the Sutterley Brothers portrait studio next to a fireman’s hat in the dark dress is the only recognized photograph of Julia Bulette.

 In my quest to fix this terrible mess that has been spread for too long, I reached out to the contributor on Find-a-grave who manages Julia’s memorial and had posted the false photo. Like others, she too had spoken to an old timer who claimed to have “knowledge” about Julia. In the end he went with the false stories that had been started by the McBride’s so many decades ago. Despite my best efforts to convince the contributor that she had posted the wrong photograph, and even after sharing with her the confirmation of my findings that I received from the Nevada Historical Society, she still refused to remove the photo. I then had to go around her and wrote Find-a-grave personally, sending them proof, and thankfully they removed the false photo.


It doesn’t end there. I also wrote several bloggers, writers and even a local Nevada Chautauquan who claims to be an expert on Julia’s life. First, I asked them where they got their information from and if they would mind sharing their sources. Some never responded to my email, and the Chautauquan gave a very vague description of her sources, which in the end turned out the only research she had done was reading C.C. Haile’s book, (the one I proved earlier is not actually historically accurate). After seeing that she didn’t really do her research thoroughly, I tried to convince her that the information she had been sharing on tours or online was not accurate, and after offering to share with her the factual history that I have uncovered, all I received back was a very haughty response and a complete unwillingness to accept facts over her own feelings.

 I reached out to another blogger who interviewed this “expert” and I explained to her that we owe the dead nothing but the truth, and it is our responsibility to get the history right, and that the information she was sharing on her site was erroneous. And her response? Basically, that she believed the woman she had interviewed, and she didn’t have any doubts about the authenticity of her research despite not having any cited sources back up her claims.It was disappointing to see so many people unwilling to accept that they had incorrect information that needed to be fixed. Sometimes in our life, we may have wrong information about a certain person, place or thing, and unknowingly we tell that wrong information. But, if after finding the correct information, we do not swallow our pride and fix these mistakes, how are we any different than history revisionists?

 In the end, I learned that these people really do not care about telling or sharing Julia’s true story, they just pretend to care.  The sad fact is that most people today who claim to care about our history really have little interest in whether they tell it correctly or not. It ends up being all about the notoriety they receive about the subject they are sharing, instead of about sharing the facts.

 So, now that I have cleared up all the fakelore that surrounds Julia’s early years, now I can finally share with you the rest of her story! ----TO READ THE CONCLUSION OF THIS CHAPTER, PLEASE PICK UP A COPY OF "More Stories of the Forgotten" on Amazon today! 

  (COPYRIGHT 2019, ISBN-13:  978-1979454049, J'aime Rubio, www.jaimerubiowriter.com)

 Thank you to the Nevada Historical Society for photo permissions.

 Sources:

Mark Twain’s letter to the Chicago Republican, May 2, 1868 (Published 5/31/1868); From the Journals of Alfred Doten, 1849-1903, a letter to the Plymouth Rock, 7/22/1867; “The Life and Confession of John Millian” by Charles De Long, 1868; “A History of the Exempt Virginia Fireman’s Association Cemetery”, by Steve Frady (1980-87); “Mercantile Guide & Directory for Virginia City, Gold Hill, Silver City, and American City,” compiled by Charles Collins, 1864-1865; 1850 United States Census, Morehouse Parish, Louisiana; National Archives; New Orleans Passenger Lists & Manifests; California Bound, The Daily Picayune, 3/16/1850; Maritime Heritage Project, Ship Passengers: 1846-1849; Papers Concerning the Estate of Julia Bulette, Storey County Courthouse, 1867-1868; Virginia City Trespass: 5/24/1867; Virginia Daily Union: 1/21/1867; Gold Hill News: 1/21/1867, 1/22/1867, 5/24/1867, 5/25/1867, 5/31/1867, 6/26/1867, 1/7/1868, 2/27/1868; Daily Alta California: 5/28/1867, 5/30/1867,4/28/1868; Twain Project, Fred Gooltz; Information cited regarding Guy Louis Rocha, former Nevada State Archivist’s research in “The Mythical West: An Encyclopedia of Legend, Lore and Popular Culture” by Richard Slatta; “Queen of Tarts,” by Susan James in Nevada Magazine, Sept/Oct 1984, No, 5 (pages 51-53); Nevada State Library Archives; Nevada Historical Society, courtesy of Sheryln Hayes-Zorn; “Gold Diggers & Silver Mines, Prostitution and Social Life on the Comstock Lode,” by Marion S. Goldman; “Gold Rush & Mining Camps of the Early American West,” by Vardis Fischer & Opal Holmes; “Legend of Julia Bulette and the Red Light Ladies of Nevada,” by Douglas McDonald, 1980; “Bawdy House Girls: A Look at the Brothels of the Old West,” by Alton Pryor; “Uncovering Nevada’s Past: A Primary Source History of the Silver State,” by John Bevis Reid & Ronald Michael James; “A Hike to the Location of Julia Bulette’s Gravesite, East of Virginia City, Nevada,” by Neil Mishalov.

 Disclaimer: The additional sources cited below  for Chapter One are for reference purposes ONLY! These publications listed below are examples of historical revisionism and/or over-embellishments of Julia Bulette’s story:  


Family Jules: The Life and Times of Julia C. Bulette,” by C.C. Haile; The Old West: The Miners, Time-Life, 1976; “Legends of the Comstock Lode,” by Lucius Beebe & Charles Clegg; “Julia Bulette: The Comstock’s First Cyprian,” by Lucius Beebe & edited by Charles Clegg and Duncan Emrich; “Life and Death of Julia Bulette: Queen of the Red Lights,” by Zeke Daniels (Effie Mona Mack); “Silver Kings,” Oscar Lewis; “The Saga of the Comstock Lode: Boom Days in Virginia City,” by George Lymon, 1934; “Immoral Queens of the Red Light District,”- by Marla Kiley, True West Magazine, 7/1997; “Julia Bulette, There’s More To Her Story,” by Karen Dustman, Clairitage Press Blog.