51 Facts About Nellie Cashman

Ellen Cashman was an Irish gold prospector, nurse, restaurateur, businesswoman and philanthropist in Arizona, Alaska, British Columbia and Yukon.

Nellie Cashman led a rescue party to miners to the Cassiar Country gold mine in the Cassiar Mountains of British Columbia.

In Tombstone, Arizona, Nellie Cashman raised money to build the Sacred Heart Catholic Church, and did charitable work with the Sisters of St Joseph.

Nellie Cashman went to the Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush for gold prospecting, working there until 1905.

Nellie Cashman became nationally known as a frontierswoman, with the Associated Press covering a later trip.

In 2006, Nellie Cashman was inducted into the Alaska Mining Hall of Fame.

Ellen "Nellie Cashman" O'Kissane was born in County Cork in the mid 1840s to Frances and Patrick O'Kissane.

Some sources give 1844 as her year of birth, while some other research indicates she was the Ellen Nellie Cashman baptised on 15 October 1845.

In 1874, Nellie Cashman joined a group of prospectors from Nevada.

Nellie Cashman left her family home in 1874 for the Cassiar Country in British Columbia.

Nellie Cashman set up a boarding house for miners at Telegraph Creek, asking for donations to the Sisters of St Anne in return for the services available at her boarding house.

Nellie Cashman used the talk in her boarding house to purchase promising claims at good times and learned elementary mining techniques and geology.

Nellie Cashman was travelling to Victoria to deliver 500 dollars to the sisters of St Anne when she heard that a snowstorm had descended on the Cassiar Mountains, stranding and injuring 26 miners, who were suffering from scurvy.

Nellie Cashman took charge of a six-man search party and collected food and medicine to take to the stranded miners.

An army trooper eventually found Nellie Cashman camped on the frozen surface of the Stikine River.

Some historical accounts credit Nellie Cashman with saving the lives of as many as 75 men.

Nellie Cashman administered a diet containing Vitamin C to restore the men to health.

Nellie Cashman was afterward fondly known in the region as the "Angel of the Cassiar".

Nellie Cashman went to Victoria again to deliver $543 to the Sisters of St Anne, which helped fund St Joseph's Hospital.

Nellie Cashman then went on to San Francisco, where her mother and sister still lived.

In 1879, Nellie Cashman left California to travel to Tucson, Arizona.

Nellie Cashman later opened another business, the Tombstone Cash Store.

The store was successful and Nellie Cashman bought out her friend.

In 1880, Nellie Cashman began raising money to build the Sacred Heart Catholic Church, which opened the next year.

Nellie Cashman became the treasurer of the Miners' Hospital Association and brought three Sisters of Mercy from Tucson to attend to the miners.

Nellie Cashman committed herself to charity work with the Sisters of St Joseph, taking a position as a nurse in a Cochise County hospital.

Nellie Cashman supported Irish causes, particularly the Irish National Land League.

Nellie Cashman briefly leased the Bisbee Hotel, but was unsuccessful, as Bisbee was not yet flourishing.

Nellie Cashman arranged for Fanny and her five children to join her in Tombstone.

In December 1881, Nellie Cashman sold her half of Russ House so she could care for Fanny, who was showing signs of tuberculosis.

In 1883, Cashman led a group of miners to Baja, where gold had been discovered.

One legend claims that Nellie Cashman met a priest, who begged her not to disclose the gold near his parish for the sake of his community.

Nellie Cashman returned to Tombstone, where she resumed running her businesses.

Nellie Cashman took up caring for her nieces and nephews, aged three to thirteen, and her mother.

Nellie Cashman supported the children's education, sending them away to religious institutions for further education.

The Tombstone Epitaph reported that Nellie Cashman was in "constant attendance" at the jail, where she joined clergy in visiting the men.

When Nellie Cashman learned that a medical school planned to exhume the bodies of the convicts for study, she enlisted two prospectors to stand watch over the Boot Hill Cemetery for 10 days.

Nellie Cashman opened and closed restaurants and boardinghouses and sold supplies in Nogales, Tucson, Kingston, New Mexico, Harquahala, Globe, and Yuma.

Nellie Cashman's prospecting brought her to Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and possibly South Africa.

In 1898, Nellie Cashman left Arizona for the Yukon in search of gold.

Nellie Cashman was one of the few women in Dawson to work her own claims.

Nellie Cashman established another restaurant, the Cassiar, a room called The Prospector's Haven of Retreat, and purchased a grocery store.

Nellie Cashman continued her charitable work in Dawson, raising funds for the local hospital to expand.

Nellie Cashman had several health problems while in Dawson, including a major surgery and a multi-month hospital stay.

Nellie Cashman's prospecting ventures took her to Klondike, Fairbanks and Nolan Creek in Yukon-Koyukuk County, Alaska.

Memoirist Clara Heinz Burke recalled that Nellie Cashman would raise funds by waiting at a saloon until a gambling jackpot was large, sweep the funds off the table, and tell the gamblers that if they had funds to gamble, they had the means to donate the money to the hospital.

In 1905, Nellie Cashman settled in Koyukuk, Alaska, along with other established miners.

In 1921, Nellie Cashman travelled south to attempt to raise funds for the machines needed for mining.

Nellie Cashman was admitted to St Joseph's Hospital in Fairbanks, where she was diagnosed with pneumonia and rheumatism.

Nellie Cashman was sent to Seattle and, realizing her illness, asked to be sent to the Sisters of St Anne, the same hospital which she had helped to build fifty-one years earlier.

Nellie Cashman died there, and was interred at Ross Bay Cemetery in Victoria, British Columbia.