Grahame Hardy Collection: Finding Aid

Finding aid prepared by Anne M. Reid, December 16, 2009.
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
Manuscripts Department
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2129
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
© 2009
The Huntington Library. All rights reserved.


Overview of the Collection

Title: Grahame Hardy Collection
Dates (inclusive): 1849-1909
Collection Number: mssHM 72670-72753
Creator: Hardy, Grahame H.
Extent: 85 items in 4 boxes
Repository: The Hunington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Manuscripts Department
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2129
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: This collection contains documents, manuscripts, correspondence, and ephemera assembled by author and collector Grahame H. Hardy reflecting a range of legal, administrative, municipal, and real estate-related transactions initiated by railroad and mining interests, businessmen, and municipalities in the San Francisco Bay area, Northern California, and western Nevada in the second half of the 19th century. The correspondence also contains letters between parties involved in the construction of the Nicaragua Canal.
Language: English.

Access

Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.

Administrative Information

Publication Rights

The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item]. Grahame Hardy Collection, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Provenance

Purchased from Grahame Hardy, May 1945, August 1946, and July 1953.

Cataloger's Note

The name of “B.F. Kenney,” which appears in 11 pieces of correspondence and one document, was written in various forms, such as “Kenny” and “Kinney.” We settled on using “Kenney,” a form that appears the greatest number of times, to avoid confusion and uphold standards of uniformity.

Scope and Content

The collection was assembled by author and collector Grahame H. Hardy, the chronologically-arranged collection is divided into three series: documents and manuscripts; correspondence; and ephemera.
The documents and manuscripts demonstrate the range of legal, administrative, municipal, and real estate-related transactions initiated by railroad and mining interests, businessmen, and municipalities in the San Francisco Bay area, Northern California, and western Nevada. Included in this series are legal proceedings, title deeds, mining reports and claims.
Correspondence includes business and personal letters to and from Northern California lawyers, railroad and mining entrepreneurs in California and Nevada, and parties involved in the construction of the Nicaragua Canal. Included in this series are letters pertaining to the case of Daniel Sill, a San Francisco-based blacksmith and the trial of A.J. Jackson, an African American tried and acquitted in Marysville, California.
Lastly, ephemera include four items: a Mission Homestead Association certificate of stock; one check payable to Jack H. Haverly, a promoter of minstrel shows, from theater producers and brothers, Gustave Frohman and Charles Frohman; the baptism certificate of Everett Loftus Saxondale Kenna; and an undated glossary of mining terms.
Prominent persons and organizations featured in the collection include:
  • California Academy of Sciences, founded in 1853 as the one of the first scientific academies west of the Atlantic seaboard.
  • Central Pacific Railroad Company, established in 1861 and financed in part by Leland Stanford and Collis P. Huntington, who are also mentioned in the collection.
  • William Heath Davis (1822-1909), San Francisco merchant and author, spouse of Maria de Jesús Estudillo, who played a key role in the founding of the California cities of Oakland and San Diego.
  • John Brooks Felton (1827-1877), San Francisco Bay Area lawyer and judge, as well as one-time mayor of Oakland, California.
  • Joseph Pendleton Hoge (1810-1891), former U.S. Representative of Illinois and later lawyer and judge of the San Francisco Superior Court.
  • M.G. Upton, former official reporter of the California Assembly and author of the urban planning critique, “The Plan of San Francisco” (1869).

Arrangement

The collection is divided into three series: Documents and manuscripts; Correspondence; and Ephemera. Arranged chronologically.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Huntington Library's Online Catalog.  

Subjects

Beideman, Jacob C., -1865.
Hardy, Grahame H., collector.
Huntington, Collis Potter, 1821-1900.
Lick, James, 1796-1876.
Mulford, Thomas W.
Selby, Thomas H., 1820-1875.
Sill, Daniel.
Stanford, Leland, 1824-1893 -- Trials, litigation, etc.
Central Pacific Railroad Company.
Mechanics' Institute (San Francisco, Calif.)
Nicaragua Canal Construction Company.
Sacramento Valley Railroad.
San Francisco Water Company.
San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad Company -- History -- Sources.
Triunfo Silver Mining and Commercial Company of Lower California.
Western Pacific Railroad Company.
African Americans -- California, Northern -- History -- 19th century -- Sources.
Electric railroads -- California, Northern.
Mines and mineral resources -- California.
Mines and mineral resources -- Nevada.
Ores -- Sampling and estimation.
Public works -- California -- San Francisco.
Quartz mines and mining -- California -- Mariposa County.
Railroads -- California.
Real property -- California.
Waterfronts -- California -- Oakland.
Alameda County (Calif.)
California -- History -- 19th century -- Sources.
California -- History -- 20th century -- Sources.
Nicaragua Canal (Nicaragua)
Oakland (Calif.) -- Trials, litigation, etc.
Placer County (Calif.)
San Francisco (Calif.)

Forms/Genres

Deeds -- California -- 19th century.
Ledgers (account books) -- California -- 19th century.
Legal documents -- California -- 19th century.
Letters (correspondence) -- California -- 19th century.
Letters (correspondence) -- California -- 20th century.
Manuscripts -- 19th century.

Additional Contributors

Crane, William W. (William Watrous)
Davis, William Heath, 1822-1909.
Felton, John Brooks, 1827-1877.
Frohman, Charles, 1860-1915.
Frohman, Gustave, 1854-1930.
Haight, Henry H., 1825-1878.
Haverly, Jack, 1837-1901, recipient.
Hoge, J. P. (Joseph Pendleton), 1810-1891.
Upton, M. G.
Bank of California.
California Academy of Sciences.
New Almaden Mining Company.


 

Documents and Manuscripts

Box 1

Documents and Manuscripts, 1849-1864, June 14

 

1849-1864. Abstract of Conveyances showing the Title of Jacob C. Beideman and John K. Moore to the piece of land known as the Beideman Tract. HM 72670

 

[After 1850]. Map of an Alameda County town. Note: the map shows properties in what is likely the cities of San Leandro and San Lorenzo. HM 72671

 

1858, May 5. County Court of the City and County of San Francisco. Copy of the petition and order to show cause in the case of the San Francisco Water Company vs. Cornelius De Boom, et al. HM 72672

 

1860, June 26. Finkler, Carl C. Copy of abstract of deeds, mortgages, judgments, leases, etc. for the Estudillo Family’s Rancho de San Leandro. HM 72673

 

1862, Mar. 8. California. District Court (6th Judicial District). Copy of plaintiff’s complaint in the case of the City and County of Sacramento vs. Sacramento Valley Railroad Company. HM 72674

 

1862, May 6-7. Deed from Jacob C. Beideman to Joseph Pendleton Hoge for a parcel of land in the City and County of San Francisco at Eddy and Larkin Streets. HM 72675

 

1864, June 10. Nevada. District Court (Storey County: 1st Judicial District). The testimony of E. L. Mason in the case of Gould & Curry Silver Mining Company vs. North Potosi Gold and Silver Mining Company. HM 72676

 

1864, June 14. Nevada. District Court (Storey County: 1st Judicial District). The testimony of R.E. Myers and H.C. Smith in the case of Gould & Curry Silver Mining Company vs. North Potosi Gold and Silver Mining Company. HM 72677

Box 2

Documents and Manuscripts, 1864, Aug. 29-1868

 

1864, Aug. 29. Placer County (Calif.). Office of the Recorder. Order of the Placer County Board of Supervisors to begin an inquiry into the finances of the Central Pacific Railroad. HM 72678

 

[After Aug. 1864]. Placer County (Calif.). Board of Supervisors. Inquiry into the finances of the Central Pacific Railroad Company. HM 72679

 

1864, Sep. 17. San Francisco (Calif.). Board of Supervisors. Request to Henry P. Coon to submit a petition for a rehearing in the case of The People ex rel. the Central Pacific Railroad of California vs. Henry P. Coon, et al. HM 72680

 

1864, Nov. 28. Copy of an affidavit given by James McMillan Shafter, Timothy Dame, E.N. Torrey, and A.H. Titcomb in the case of The People ex rel. the Central Pacific Railroad of California vs. the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco and Wilhelm Loewy, Clerk of the City and County of San Francisco. HM 72681

 

1864-1882. Account book of Leland & Harwood Lumber Company of Oakland, California. Note: the day book also includes what appears to be a transcript of the 1841 “Cruise of Brig O.C. Ramona;” an undated entry entitled “Thoughts on creation;” two entries about a South American journey; and an 1882 inventory of furniture. HM 72682

 

1866, Mar. 22. United States. Army. California Infantry Brigade, 2nd. Muster Roll of Captain John H. Adams’s Fifth Regiment, Second Brigade, Company E of Gilroy, California. HM 72683

 

1867, Oct. 7. Lundbom, David. Assay of a pulp specimen deposited by William Pardy. HM 72684

 

1867, Nov 21. Blanding, William. Verification of employment of B.F. Kenney at the Ophir Silver Mining Company in Virginia City, Nevada. HM 72685

 

1867, Dec. 30-Jan. 2, 1868. California. Governor (1867-1871: Haight). Appointment of Albert S. Evans as Aid de Camp and Lieutenant Colonel of the National Guard of the State of California. HM 72686

 

1868, Jan. 2. Copy of a certificate endorsing the transfer of Western Pacific Railroad Company stock to Edwin Bryant Crocker, Collis P. Huntington, and Leland Stanford. HM 72687

 

1868. Copy of an agreement between William Heath Davis and his wife, Maria de Jesus Estudillo, and Thomas W. Mulford concerning the San Leandro Rancho. Note: month and day unstated. HM 72688

 

1868-1880. Legal exhibits of resolutions, ordinances, deeds, and agreements reproduced for use in the lawsuit involving the City of Oakland, Oakland Water Front Company, and Horace W. Carpentier. HM 72689

Box 3

Documents and Manuscripts, 1869-1909

 

1869, Nov. 9. Agreement between William D. Bliss, et al. and Asbury Harpending concerning the Petaluma and Cloverdale Railroad Company. HM 72690

 

1871, Feb. 6-Feb. 23. California Academy of Sciences. Copy of the Certificate of Incorporation of the California Academy of Sciences. HM 72691

 

1872. Hoge, J. P. (Joseph Pendleton), 1810-1891. The demurrer of James Moore and W.L. Munson in the case of Collis P. Huntington, et al. vs. Central Pacific Railroad and Martin Corcoran, et al. HM 72692

 

1873, June 24. Library of Congress. Copyright Office. Copyrights issued to Henry A. Gaston and Harrison Johnson for documents related to the Order of American Farmers and Mechanics. HM 72693

 

1874, Apr. 21. Triunfo Silver Mining and Commercial Company of Lower California vs. Homiguera Mining Company: Bill of Equity. HM 72694

 

[After Oct. 1874]. Statement as to the average earnings of the Central Pacific Railroad from 1870 through 1873. HM 72695

 

1875, Sep. 23. Mechanics’ Institute (San Francisco, Calif.). Resolution of the Trustees of the Mechanics’ Institute to authorize its President to renounce the Institute’s rights under a deed of trust executed by James Lick to Thomas H. Selby, et al. HM 72696

 

1875, Sep. 25. Resolution of the Board of Trustees of the San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, concerning the deed of trust of James Lick, Richard S. Floyd, the California Academy of Sciences, et al. HM 72697

 

1876, Jul. 28-Aug. 17. California. District Court (4th Judicial District). Stipulations for the defendants in the case of John R. Robinson vs. Central Pacific Railroad, et al. Notes: signed by Attorneys Delos Lake and Alfred Andrew Cohen. HM 72698

 

1877, Feb. 28-Mar. 5. California. Superior Court (San Francisco City and County). Probate Dept. The claim of Sarah E. Hamer against John H. Lick, Administrator of the Estate of James Lick, deceased. HM 72699

 

1877, Apr. 26-May 1. California. District Court (19th Judicial District). Copy of the response of John H. Lick, Administrator of the Estate of James Lick, deceased, to the claim of Sarah E. Hamer. HM 72700

 

1877, Nov. 14. California. District Court (19th Judicial District). Testimony of witnesses in the case of Sarah E. Hamer vs. John H. Lick, Administrator of the Estate of James Lick, deceased. HM 72701

 

1877, Nov. 15. California. District Court (19th Judicial District). Copy of the Memorandum of Costs and Disbursements in the case of Sarah E. Hamer vs. John H. Lick, Administrator of the Estate of James Lick, deceased. HM 72702

 

1877, Dec. 31. California. District Court (19th Judicial District). Statement on motion for a new trial in the case of Sarah E. Hamer vs. John H. Lick, Administrator of the Estate of James Lick, deceased. HM 72703

 

1883, Jan. 8. Cain, Aquila. Notice of Location: Claim to the Boulder Mine in Esmeralda County, Nevada. HM 72704

 

1892, Nov. 11. Bank of California. Receipt of E.H. Vance and S.A. Vance, acknowledging the bank’s delivery of Nicaragua Canal Construction Company bonds and Maritime Canal Construction Company stock. Includes bonds from Nicaragua Canal Construction Company. HM 72705

 

[After 1895]. [New Almaden Mining Company]. Balance sheet of the Miners’ Fund, 1895. HM 72706

 

[Before 1900]. Baker, C.W. A report to Herbert R. Houghton and Isaac Trumbo of the agricultural and mineral resources of the areas between Mono Pass, California and Salt Lake City, Utah for the proposed construction of a railroad. HM 72707

 

1901, May 20. Grunsky, C. E. Report to the Board of Public Works of the City and County of San Francisco concerning Telegraph Hill and street improvements. HM 72708

 

1905, June 3. Copy of an agreement between Henry A, Butters and William M. Graves concerning the Chico Electric Railway Company. HM 72709

 

1909, Nov. 1. Galbraith, Malcolm M. Report on the Orange Blossom Extension Mine at Amboy, California. HM 72710

 

Correspondence and Ephemera

Box 4

Correspondence and Ephemera

 

1856, June 26. Hays, John Coffee, 1817-1883 and Richard Roman. 1 letter to David Smith Terry, 1823-1889. Note: includes a copy of letter. HM 72711

 

1859, Dec. 23. McQuaid, John A. 1 letter to Griffin Dobson. HM 72712

 

1859, Dec. 29. Wheeler, E.D. 1 letter to A.C. Whitcomb, Edward J. Pringle, and John Brooks Felton, 1827-1877. HM 72713

 

1864, Sep. 17. Robinson, S.S. 1 letter to John Brooks Felton, 1827-1877. HM 72714

 

1864, Oct. 15. Felton, John Brooks, 1827-1877. 1 draft letter to Frank McCoppin. HM 72715

 

1864, Nov. 5. Crane, William W. (William Watrous). 1 letter to Thomas W. Mulford. HM 72716

 

[After 1866]. Parsons, Levi. 1 letter to John Brooks Felton, 1827-1877. HM 72717

 

1867, May 3. Crane, James C. 1 letter to “Sir.” HM 72718

 

1869, June 7. Benham, Calhoun and Nathaniel Bennett, 1818-1886. 1 letter to William Maume. HM 72719

 

1871, Oct. 3. Robinson, Robert. 1 letter to John Brooks Felton, 1827-1877. HM 72720

 

1873, Oct. 19-Nov. 2. Upton, M.G. 6 letters to “Dear Mag.” HM 72721-72726.

 

1875, Feb. 19. Mosheimer, Joseph. 1 letter to “My Dear Sir.” HM 72727

 

1875, Mar. 4. McAllister, Hall, 1826-1888. 1 letter to John Brooks Felton, 1827-1877. HM 72728

 

1876, Aug. 28. Field, David Dudley, 1805-1894. 1 letter to John Brooks Felton, 1827-1877. HM 72729

 

1882, Jan. 2. Esmeralda County (Nev.). Office of the County Recorder. 1 letter to B.F. Kenney. HM 72730

 

1883, June 17-26. Beals, Thomas L. 3 letters to B.F. Kenney. HM 72731-72733.

 

1883, June 21. Ziehlsdorf, L. 2 letters to F.H. Smeade. HM 72734-72735.

 

1883, Jul. 5-Dec. 7. Beals, Thomas L. 3 letters to “Friend Frank.” Note: recipient may be Andrew H. Frank. HM 72736-72738.

 

1883, Jul. 25.-Nov. 30. Frank, Andrew H. 6 letters to B.F. Kenney. HM 72739-72744.

 

1886, Feb. 5. Taney, Joseph. 1 letter to B. F. Kenney. HM 72745

 

1892, Nov. 5. Merry, William Lawrence, 1842-1911. 1 letter to the Vance Brothers. Includes a transfer of two shares of Maritime Canal Company stock from Merry to E. H. Vance and S.A. Vance. HM 72746

 

1892, Nov. 15. Vance, E.H. and S.A. Vance. 1 letter to Bank of California. HM 72747

 

1900, May 4.-Oct. 9. Goble, Nehalem & Pacific Railroad Company. 3 letters to P.A. Gilbert. HM 72748-72750.

 

1901, Apr. 25. Nebraska Loan & Trust Company (Hastings, Neb.). 1 letter to P.A. Gilbert. HM 72751

 

1905, June 12. Jones, Albert F. 1 letter to Henry A. Butters. HM 72752

 

1905, June 30. Graves, W.M. 1 letter to F. M. Clough. Note: includes a cover letter dated July 7, 1905 from J.B. Robinson to Henry A. Butters. HM 72753

 

1867, Sep. 10. Mission Homestead Association. Certificate of stock in Mission Homestead Association issued to S.A. Vance.

 

1882, Jul. 4. Frohman, Gustave, 1854-1930 and Charles Frohman, 1860-1915. One check payable to J.H. Haverly for two thousand four hundred seventy nine pounds.

 

1883, Oct. 25. Baptism certificate of Everett Loftus Saxondale Kenna. [Undated]. Glossary of mining terms.