Finding aid of the William Boyd Latham Jr. Diary, 1851-1851

Kris Casler
The Society of California Pioneers
300 Fourth Street
San Francisco, CA 94107-1272
Phone: (415) 957-1849
Fax: (415) 957-9858
Email: pkeats@californiapioneers.org
URL: http://www.californiapioneers.org
© 2009
The Society of California Pioneers. All rights reserved.

Finding aid of the William Boyd Latham Jr. Diary, 1851-1851

Collection number:

The Society of California Pioneers

San Francisco, California
Processed by:
Kris Casler
Date Completed:
January 6, 2010
Encoded by:
Kris Casler
© 2009 The Society of California Pioneers. All rights reserved.

Descriptive Summary

Title: William Boyd Latham Jr. Diary, 1851-1851
Dates: 1851-1851
Collection Size: 1 folder
Repository: The Society of California Pioneers.
San Francisco, California 94107-1272
Abstract: This collection consists of the daily diary kept by William Boyd Latham, Jr. during the year of 1851. Entries were made inconsistently and pertain primarily to Latham's work for the Freeman and Company Western Express located in Sacramento, California. Latham frequently traveled between the company's offices in Sacramento and San Francisco on company business by way of steamships.
Physical location: Stored on-site at the Society of California Pioneers.
Languages: Languages represented in the collection: English

Access

Collection is open by appointment for research.

Publication Rights

Property rights reside with The Society of California Pioneers. All requests for permission to reproduce or publish must be submitted in writing to the Librarian.

Preferred Citation

William Boyd Latham Jr. Diary, 1851-1851. The Society of California Pioneers.

Biography / Administrative History

William Boyd Latham Jr. was born November 12, 1822 in Orange County, New York. He arrived in California, August 20, 1849 aboard the vessel "Strafford". Latham was an attorney and founding citizen in Marysville, CA. His other business ventures included notary public, insurance agent and real estate. He died December 7, 1910 in San Francisco.

Chronology

1851/1851 William Boyd Latham Junior Diary

Scope and Content of Collection

The diary contains notations by William B. Latham Jr. concerning daily events he felt worth recording during the year 1851 from January 1 to December 31. His diary was kept while working for Freeman and Company Western Express located in Sacramento at number 42 Second Street. Inside the front cover there is a clipping pasted that provides the postage rates for that year. Most of the notations detail the arrivals and departures of steamers to and from Sacramento and San Francisco that carried mail packets to be distributed by Freeman and Co. Approximate transit times are given for trips carrying packages to and from the Express office in Sacramento. Latham also notes many names of steamers that made the journey between San Francisco and Sacramento. Sometimes he notes the names of the steamer captains and sometimes he notes the express rider/driver�s name. Latham also gives brief weather details and sometimes notes events such as hangings, assaults on his person by customers, and dollar amounts that were moved by Freeman and Company by way of steamship or express. Of interest is a small newspaper clipping located between the pages with dates of September 22 an 27, 1851. On one side of the clipping is a poem entitled WOMAN and on the other side is a bit of an article about a woman named Sarah Chesham convicted of poisoning her own children, and attempting to poison other children as well, before being caught and convicted in 1851.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Pioneers -- California
Steamship mail
Steamship lines
Pony express stations -- California -- Sacramento
Latham Jr., William Boyd, 1822 -- 1910

Related Material

Biographical File; Manuscripts included