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Finding aid to the Faxon Dean Atherton family papers, 1852-1910,
MS 4129
MS 4129
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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.
Collection is open for research.
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).