I am in Ireland and I am searching for any information on Thomas Kelly born in Ireland in 1834. He immigrated to California in 1853 and returned to Ireland in the second half of 1870. He married in Ireland in April 1871.

I have searching Californian records for him for some time and I presumed I had located him in the census of 1860 in Goodyear’s bar in Sierra County working as a miner age 25. Now I have a reference to another Thomas Kelly age 25 working as a miner in Township no 2, Tuolumne County. This Thomas Kelly has personal assets of $1000.  

My first question is what is meant by personal assets. Is it money in the bank?

I have been unable to locate him anywhere else. He is supposed to have worked for time on the railway. There is no record of him in the Railway Museum that I contacted.  He had land in California which he sold before returning to Ireland. He was granted US citizenship in 1868. There is no record of him obtaining a passport. The land he farmed was in San Joaquin valley. I had the land records of Sacramento and Costa contra Counties searched.  I am awaiting a reply from San Joaquin Historical Society. I asked for help in locating him in land records. I have written also to the Recorder in Tuolumne County hoping they might have information on mining in the County.

He seems to have been missed by the 1870 census. But, I have copy of gold bank graft drawn on the British Bank of North America San Francisco, its dated 2nd July 1870.  I also have copy of receipt from Wells Fargo. He converted his bank draft to bonds on the 20th July 1870 for shipping to Ireland by the Wells Fargo European Express.

My second question is there any easy way of getting the land records searched and are there any other sources that I could search.