A Legacy From Empire, NV. . . .
The fledgling town of Empire, Nevada was less than five years old when Ab (Charles Albert) Ambrose was born there in 1866. Ab’s father, known to all as “Dutch Nick,” was the high-flying founder of not only the local hotel and saloon, but the town itself.
With its profitable quartz mills and logging industry serving the nearby Comstock lode, Empire was a bustling place. When Ab was a boy, there were some fourteen saloons, nine hotels, two stores, and two butcher shops in town. Among the most prominent business establishments was Nick Ambrose’s station, offering meals and libations to travelers along the Emigrant Trail. And Empire seemed primed for even more expansion to come; at just three years old, Ab was held up to a window to witness the first V&T train to steam into town on its debut trip to Virginia City.
For locals, entertainments of the day included prize fights and gambling, roads shows and dances. But among the amusements, one activity in particular caught Ab’s attention. “[M]usic was scarce,” he would later say, “and [the price] came high.”
At eight years old, Ab taught himself to play the harmonica, quickly putting his new skill to work entertaining at dances. He took up the violin next, and soon found himself in even more demand. The hours could be long, but the pay was good. Dances sometimes lasted from 8 p.m. until dawn. But young Ab found he could take home as much as $60 for an evening’s work.
Ab’s father, Dutch Nick, had initially staked off his land claim at Empire in 1849. Returning from California in 1850 with provisions to sell to Gold Rush emigrants, he’d built himself a small willow-and-brush shack beside the Carson River and, with a dam and ditch, irrigated a small patch of land.
It had been a lonely existence for Nick until 1854, when Rebekah Oxendine arrived as part of a wagon train, forced to camp there for two months due to one of their party’s ill health. Nick somehow managed to convince Rebekah to make Empire her home, and the pair were married that October by a Mormon elder, with two members of the wagon party standing as witnesses. Nick and Rebekah would go on to have 9 children, six of whom (including Ab), survived to adulthood.
Nick recorded his first land claim in 1855, and eventually homesteaded four separate parcels, two on each side of the Carson River – a total of 370 acres. Other permanent settlers soon began arriving, and Nick started building, beginning with a large hotel and saloon, and (with partners) began selling off lots in the newly-founded town Empire about 1861.
In 1862, Nick built a large brick home for his growing family, in the style of a traditional Dutch merchant’s house. With a footprint forty feet square, it boasted a two main floors, a basement, an attic, and a gabled roof. The home’s solid brick construction came in handy when the nearby Carson River flooded, and the capacious basement made a practical space to store goods for Nick’s hotel and saloon.
But Nick was suffering from tuberculosis. Knowing his time on earth was limited, he encouraged his son, Ab, to develop marketable skills and to learn to read and write – an opportunity Nick himself never had.
As it turned out, Ab would enjoy just five years of schooling. His father passed away on May 22, 1880, when Ab was just 14.
Though still a young teen, Ab had to shoulder the responsibilities of a man. He helped prepare his father’s body for burial, and from the cemetery at the top of the hill above Empire, looked out over his father’s home, ranch, and townsite, knowing a good part of the responsibility for his mother and his siblings now fell to him. It wouldn’t be easy.
Despite Nick’s once-vast holdings, by the time he died Nick was deeply in debt. “Three sharpers from New York” had taken advantage of him, Ab would later recall, and Nick had lost another $200k to a Carson City bank failure (the equivalent of over $6 million dollars today). Nick also owned “enough worthless mining stock to paper several houses,” Ab added. “It all went as it came – easy.” So by the time of Nick’s funeral, the Ambrose family was not just out of money but deeply in debt. And, as if Fate were adding insult to injury, a fire consumed Nick’s famous hotel just a few months after his death.
Ab, his brothers, and their mother Rebekah moved into a smaller house on the ranch, and Ab rented out their large brick home as a way to produce income.
Ab continued playing for dance halls and at entertainments. He taught himself to play other musical instruments, making many of them himself from such recycled materials as a syrup can, a bath tub, and a clock. As luck would have it, one of the emporiums Ab played for was the Wiggins Dance Hall in Empire. It may (or may not) have been there that he met a miner’s daughter, Martha (Mattie) Wiggins. They were married in 1890, though their first children (twins, born the same year) did not survive.
In October, 1894, Ab purchased the old Ambrose ranch from his mother, and moved his wife and growing family into the original big brick home. He and Mattie would have at least 2 sons and 3 daughters who lived to adulthood, and all of them learned to play musical instruments. Together, the family became something of a traveling symphony.
Ab took on partners and attempted to irrigate his land beside the river. But he would spend years in legal battles attempting to establish his father’s original water rights. Without clear water rights, he found himself unable to sell or lease his land. Meanwhile, as the luster of the Comstock Lode dimmed, the town of Empire, too, began fading away. Ab brought in a meager income as a musician. His wife took in laundry to help the family make ends meet.
Ab’s mother, Rebekah, died in November, 1912, at the age of 78. She was buried beside her husband in the old Empire cemetery. By then, the town of Empire had largely vanished aside from the family’s stately brick home. But Ab hoped its fortunes would eventually return. He continued to amass property, snapping up assets at what he thought were bargain prices as people left town. These included three of the old mills, now considered virtually worthless, but on which he still had to pay taxes.
Finally, about 1919, Ab discovered what he described as a “missing link” — a document establishing his father’s water rights, stored in the attic above the Secretary of State’s office. In 1921, the State Engineer was able to confirm Ab’s water rights — the oldest on the Carson River – based on his father’s early water appropriation.
About this same time, Ab embarked on a fresh creative venture: a silent film he called “Pioneers of the West – 1849-1921.” Somehow, Ab convinced famous cinema photographer Horace D. Ashton to assist with his project; Ashton was in Reno at the time, getting a divorce.
“Pioneers of the West” would become one of the first motion pictures ever made in Carson City, Nevada, and Ab himself wrote and copyrighted the screenplay. The film included a recreation of his parents’ early marriage beside the Carson River, with the part of Rebekah played by Ab’s daughter, Mary Evelyn Ambrose Brown. Ab later wrote the music and lyrics for four songs to accompany the movie. To showcase his film, Ab organized a parade and celebration in Carson City that he called Pioneer Days – an event that continues today as Frontier Days.
With his water rights now finally firmly established, Ab attempted to sell the Ambrose Ranch in 1923 to a consortium of Japanese buyers planning to colonize and farm the land. It was a controversial move, as anti-Japanese sentiment was strong at the time. It’s unclear how the deal unraveled, but it seems the sale eventually fell through; Ab remained owner of the ranch.
By now, however, Ab was determined to embark on a new adventure. His wife and youngest daughter were living in San Francisco, and his older children were out on their own. On the last day of December, 1923, Ab donated 107 of his musical instruments to the Nevada Historical Society in Reno, along with a variety of artifacts from Empire City’s early days. It was the largest single donation the Historical Society had ever had.
All Ab had left now was a large touring car and his silent film. Beginning in 1924, Ab traveled the West, living as a nomad in his car and showing his film. He was still an entertainer, and he loved it!
After more than a year on the road, Ab returned to Reno in 1926 and parked his house-on-wheels by the river. Thieves made off with his tires. But by November 1929, Ab was back on the road again, this time touring Denver with his film. It was there that he suffered a sudden attack of paralysis (possibly a stroke). Ab returned to the home of his daughter, Mary Evelyn, in Reno. But the end was near.
Ab signed a will on November 30, 1929, leaving half of the Ambrose Ranch to his wife, Mattie, and splitting the other half among their five children. Three days later, on December 3, 1929, he passed away. Like his parents, Ab was buried at Empire Cemetery.
The old Ambrose home and ranch were sold by Ab’s heirs on September 18, 1933. But Ab’s legacy would continue in a surprising way.
In 1941, almost exactly twelve years to the day from Ab’s death, a new great-grandson was born. His name: Dennis Mitchell. And beginning in 2013, Dennis started researching his family. One thing led to another, and discovery followed discovery.
Dennis was thrilled to learn that his great-grandfather’s autobiographical notes and papers remain preserved at Nevada State Museum. Even more exciting, he discovered that Ab’s original film still survived and had been lovingly passed down through the family.
Dennis and his wife, Donna, have donated this rare century-old film to the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York. A portion of the film has now been digitized, and the original has been approved for expert restoration when funding is available. If you’d like to donate toward restoration of this ground-breaking piece of Nevada film history, contact Tyler Wallace, Administrator, Moving Image Department, Eastman Museum, 900 East Avenue, Rochester NY 14607 or contact them at (585) 327-4942 or lseischab@eastman.org.
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Many thanks to Ab’s great-grandson Dennis Mitchell, and his wife Donna, the author of “Ab’s Story: It Came As It Went, Easy,” for allowing me to share the information and pictures in this story!
To read more about Ab’s pioneering father, “Dutch Nick” Ambrose, and the founding of Empire, NV, see: https://www.clairitage.com/