Distant Indigo - Lorraine Passero

More than 50 years after her death, the story of Clara Mason Fox seemed lost to history until a box in an attic was found. This find would ultimately help in piecing together the narrative of a remarkable woman. Through her art, poetry, and writings, Clara was a storyteller of a past era. Now, at long last, it is time for her story to be told. 

California’s role in western expansion of the United States is most often defined by the discovery of gold and the covered wagon trains that followed. But in the 1880s, the West lured another wave of settlers who had the courage and determination to homestead land. A family would take a chance leaving behind home, friends, and everything familiar, to carve out a new life in a place known only through tales they heard. The Masons were one such family who left Illinois to move to Silverado Canyon in Orange County, California where settlers could lay claim to a piece of land with few requirements needed.

Clara, youngest of the three Mason children, had the strong pioneering spirit to pursue her dreams and attain a lifetime of accomplishments. In a time when women could not vote, few had a college education, and fewer possessed an identity of their own, Clara achieved a number of “firsts” during her 85 years. 

Distant Indigo - Clara Mason Fox: Pioneer, Painter, Poet of Orange County, California offers readers insights about Orange County’s homesteading days, living in turn-of-the- century New York City, and a young woman’s personal challenges. Excerpts from Clara’s letters and poetry, as well as her artistic originality, give us a close-up perspective into her talents and observations of life. 

In 2010, another discovery was made, not in a box but in cabinets filled with plant specimens at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in Claremont, California. More than 150 of Clara Mason Fox’s botanical watercolors, some dating as early as 1894, were found filed in the cabinet drawers. These watercolors became part of an exhibit, “When They Were Wild: Recapturing California’s Wildflower Heritage,” at the world famous Huntington Library in San Marino, California.