Starting in Colorado Springs

The story of Emily Sibley Watson's 1890 trip to California begins in Colorado Springs.  This letter from James Sibley Watson, sent from Mammoth Hot Springs, was sent to Emily in Colorado Springs.  From other letters, we know that her party included her son, J.G. Averell, her cousin Libbie (Elizabeth Louise Tyler), and her cousin Edward Duty Tyler and his wife Louisa Marie Bigelow Tyler.

It appears that Emily Averell was met in Colorado Springs by George Folger Canfield, possibly accompanied by his wife, Sarah.  Canfield was a New York city lawyer associated with the Atlanta & Charlotte Air Line Railway Сompany. Emily's brother, Hiram Watson Sibley, had been an officer and board member of that company.

Canfield was a good choice to oversee Emily Averell's divorce, as his two brothers were members of California's legal establishment: his oldest brother, Robert Bage Campbell, was a judge, and his next oldest brother Albert Warren Campbell, was also a lawyer.  Collectively, the Canfield family took Emily under their wing, as letters and photographs in George Eastman Museum's collections attest.