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Finding aid to the Faxon Dean Atherton family papers, 1852-1910,
MS 4129
MS
4129
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Table of contents
Title: Faxon Dean Atherton family papers
Date: 1852-1910
Collection Identifier: MS
4129
Creator:
Atherton, Faxon Dean, 1815-1877
Contributing Institution:
California Historical Society
678 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA, 94105-4014
(415) 357-1848
reference@calhist.org
URL: http://www.californiahistoricalsociety.org/
Abstract: Dated between 1852 and 1910, the bulk of the
collection consists of personal and business correspondence addressed to Faxon Dean
Atherton; business records generated by Atherton, his agents, and associates in
Valparaiso and California; and real estate records for land owned by Atherton in
Alameda, Contra Costa, Monterey, and Santa Cruz counties. The collection also
includes personalia and ephemera collected by Atherton family members; court
documents and probate records; income, state, and county tax documents; and other
papers.
CHS is not taking appointments for research at this time. Please check the Library's website updates:
https://californiahistoricalsociety.org/collections/north-baker-research-library/
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials
must be submitted in writing to the Director of the Library and Archives, North
Baker Research Library, California Historical Society, 678 Mission Street, San
Francisco, CA 94105. Consent is given on behalf of the California Historical Society
as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the
copyright owner. Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original
materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational
purposes.
[Identification of item], Faxon Dean Atherton family papers, MS 4129, California
Historical Society.
Related materials may be found in the Faxon Dean Atherton papers, Vault MS 5.
The collection is arranged in seven series: 1) Correspondence; 2) Personalia and
ephemera; 3) Business records; 4) Legal records; 5) Real estate records; 6) Income,
state, and county tax records; and 7) James Lick Trust records. Papers are arranged
in rough chronological order within series.
Processed by Marie Silva in 2011.
Faxon Dean Atherton was born in Dedham, Massachusetts, in 1815. He began his
commercial career in 1830 as an apprentice to his brother-in-law, Boston merchant
Charles T. Ward, and started his own hauling business in Boston in 1832. Atherton
first came to the Pacific Coast in 1833, securing a position with Loring & Co.
at their ship chandlery firm in Valparaiso, Chile, the following year. Around 1835,
he met George Henry Bowen, who would become his business partner and lifelong
friend.
From 1836 to 1838, Atherton worked as a clerk for Alpheus B. Thompson, a merchant
engaged in the hides and tallow trade on the California coast. During this period,
Atherton penned his California diary and formed friendships with many prominent
Californians, including Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo and Thomas O. Larkin (with whom he
was to be associated in several real estate and commercial ventures).
Atherton settled in Valparaiso around 1840 and became a successful merchant dealing
in hides and tallow, foodstuffs, and other commodities. In 1850, Atherton and Bowen
joined Loring & Co. as partners. Eventually, Atherton became one of the
wealthiest men on the Pacific Coast, making extensive investments in California
commerce and real estate. In 1853, he hired San Francisco agent Alexander B. Grogan
to represent his interests in California. After Atherton’s death, Grogan served as
the executor of his estate.
Around 1860, Atherton returned to California to settle permanently, liquidating his
assets in Valparaiso and reinvesting his money in the new state. Atherton's real
estate purchases included Valparaiso Park in San Mateo County; the land now forms
much of present-day Atherton. Other significant purchases in the 1850s and 1860s
included: San Cayetano, Corralitos, and Sal Si Puedes ranches in Santa Cruz County;
San Lorenzo Ranch and Hayward lots in Alameda County; and Milpitas Ranch in Monterey
County. Atherton also served on the Board of Trustees of the Lick Trust and played
an instrumental role in the construction of a railroad to Hayward.
Atherton married Dominga Goñi, daughter of a prominent Chileno family. They had seven
surviving children: Eulogia Isabel (wife of Enrique Edwards); Elena or Helena (wife
of Captain Fred Macondray and Percival W. Selby); María Alejandra (wife of Lawrence
Rathbone); Florence (wife of Ed Eyre); Faxon Dean Atherton, Jr. (husband of Jenny
Selby); George H. B. Atherton (husband of California author Gertrude Atherton); and
Francisco Atherton. Faxon Dean Atherton died at Valparaiso Park in 1877.
Dated between 1852 and 1910, the bulk of the collection consists of personal and
business correspondence addressed to Faxon Dean Atherton; business records generated
by Atherton, his agents, and associates in Valparaiso and California; and real
estate records for land owned by Atherton in Alameda, Contra Costa, Monterey, and
Santa Cruz counties. The collection also includes personalia and ephemera collected
by Atherton family members; court documents and probate records; income, state, and
county tax documents; and other papers.
Correspondence (1852-1896) documents Faxon Dean Atherton’s family life, as well as
his commercial and real estate ventures in Chile and California. Family
correspondence includes letters written to Faxon Dean Atherton by his sister and
brother-in-law, Amanda and Charles T. Ward; wife Dominga Goñi de Atherton (in
Spanish); children, George Atherton, Faxon Dean Atherton, Jr., Florence Atherton,
and Isabel Edwards; and son-in-law Enrique Edwards. Letters written by Atherton’s
friends and business associates document Atherton’s business activities in
Valparaiso in the 1850s; the business activities and disputes of other New England
merchants in Chile, including Loring & Co. and Samuel Crane & Co.; and
Atherton’s commercial and real estate investments in California in the 1850s, 1860s,
and 1870s, especially as recorded by his attorney James W. Thrift.
Business records (1852-1910) include accounts, receipts, invoices, and other
documents created or collected by Faxon Dean Atherton, his San Francisco agent
Alexander B. Grogan, and Dominga Goñi de Atherton, in Valparaiso and California.
These include billheads for a variety of mid-nineteenth-century Valparaiso and
California businesses, including Loring & Co. Other business records include
records for Dry Creek Tunnel & Fluming Co. in Shasta County and Fair Oaks Farm
Dairy, owned and operated by Atherton’s son-in-law Percival W. Selby.
Real estate records (1859-1882) include surveys, deeds, indentures, accounts, and
leases for California lands purchased by Faxon Dean Atherton, including San
Cayetano, Corralitos, and Sal Si Puedes ranches in Santa Cruz County; San Lorenzo
Ranch and Hayward lots in Alameda County; and Milpitas Ranch in Monterey County.
Other papers include report cards for Atherton’s children, including Florence
Atherton’s Mills Seminary records;
Faxon D. Atherton vs.
Fortoul et als.
court papers, documenting a land dispute between
Atherton and members of the Vallejo family; estate records for New England merchant
John Gorham Coffin, who died in Valparaiso; and two documents pertaining to the
James Lick Trust, for which Atherton served on the board of trustees.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Atherton family.
Billheads.
Businessmen--California.
Deeds.
Letters.
Merchants--California.
Merchants--Chile--Valparaíso.
Real estate investment--California.
Real property--California--Alameda County.
Real property--California--Contra Costa County.
Real property--California--Monterey County.
Real property--California--Santa Cruz County.
Receipts (financial records).