Finding aid to the Faxon Dean Atherton family papers, 1852-1910,
MS 4129
Finding aid prepared by Marie Silva
California Historical Society
678 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA, 94105-4014
(415) 357-1848
reference@calhist.org
2011
Title: Faxon Dean Atherton family papers
Date: 1852-1910
Collection Identifier: MS 4129
Creator:
Atherton, Faxon Dean, 1815-1877
Extent:
2 boxes, 1 volume
(1.5 linear feet)
Contributing Institution:
California Historical Society
678 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA, 94105-4014
(415) 357-1848
reference@calhist.org
URL: http://www.californiahistoricalsociety.org/
Location of Materials: Collection is stored onsite.
Language of Materials: Collections materials are mostly in English, with some papers in Spanish.
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.
Access
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
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.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Faxon Dean Atherton family papers, MS 4129, California Historical Society.
Related Collections
Related materials may be found in the Faxon Dean Atherton papers, Vault MS 5.
System of Arrangement
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.
Processing Information
Processed by Marie Silva in 2011.
Biographical Information
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.
Scope and Contents
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).
Box 1, Folder 1
Finding aid to the Faxon Dean Atherton family papers
2011
Correspondence
1852-1896
Physical Description:
34.0 folders
Letters to and from Atherton family members
1857-1883
Physical Description:
7.0 folders
Box 1, Folder 2
Letters from Charles T. Ward and Amanda Ward (brother-in-law and sister of Faxon Dean Atherton) to Faxon Dean Atherton
1857,
1874-1876
Box 1, Folder 3
Letters to and from Dominga Goñi de Atherton (wife of Faxon Dean Atherton)
1874-1883
Language of Materials: Letters are in Spanish.
Box 1, Folder 4
Letters from George Atherton (son of Faxon Dean Atherton) to Faxon Dean Atherton
1868-1875
Box 1, Folder 5
Letters to and from Florence Atherton (daughter of Faxon Dean Atherton)
1874-1875
Scope and Contents
Consists of letters written to and by Florence Atherton while she was a student at Mills Seminary in Oakland, California.
Box 1, Folder 6
Letters from Isabel Edwards (daughter of Faxon Dean Atherton) to Faxon Dean Atherton
1864,
1874-1875
Box 1, Folder 7
Letters from Faxon Dean Atherton, Jr., to Faxon Dean Atherton
1874
Box 1, Folder 8
Letters form Enrique Edwards (son-in-law of Faxon Dean Atherton) to Faxon Dean Atherton
1874-1875
Letters to and from Faxon Dean Atherton's friends and business associates
1852-1896
Physical Description:
27.0 folders
Box 1, Folder 9
Letters to and from Samuel Crane regarding his dispute with Elisha T. Loring of Loring & Co.
1852-1856
Box 1, Folder 10
Letters from James Hall to Loring & Co.
1854
Box 1, Folder 11
Letters from Thomas K. Sanders to Faxon Dean Atherton
1854
Box 1, Folder 12
Letter from Joseph P. Thompson to Faxon Dean Atherton
1857
Box 1, Folder 13
Letters from W. W. Evans and Charles H. Hill to Faxon Dean Atherton regarding the Valparaiso railroad
1857
Box 1, Folders 14-21
Letters from James W. Thrift to Faxon Dean Atherton
1861-1874
Scope and Contents
Letters from Atherton's attorney James W. Thrift document Atherton's real estate investments in California in the 1860s and
1870s.
Box 1, Folder 22
Letters to and from Alex B. Grogan (Faxon Dean Atherton's San Francisco business agent)
1863,
1874-1878
Box 1, Folder 23
Letter from Loring & Co. to Faxon Dean Atherton
1866
Box 1, Folder 24
Letter from Antonio Agacio to Faxon Dean Atherton
1873
Box 1, Folder 25
Letters from Samuel D. Crane to Faxon Dean Atherton
1873-1874
Box 1, Folder 26
Letters from William Blain to Faxon Dean Atherton
1873-1874
Box 1, Folder 27
Letters from Edgar Briggs to Faxon Dean Atherton
1873-1876
Box 1, Folder 28
Letters from James W. Sturgis to Faxon Dean Atherton
1873-1876
Box 1, Folder 29
Letter from James T. Watkins to Faxon Dean Atherton regarding a tobacco venture in Lake County, California
1874
Box 1, Folder 30
Letters from John Brown to Faxon Dean Atherton
1874-1875
Box 1, Folder 31
Letters from Pelham W. Ames to Faxon Dean Atherton
1874-1875
Box 1, Folder 32
Letters from Edmund White to Faxon Dean Atherton
1874-1876
Box 1, Folder 33
Letters from Gustave Schulte to Faxon Dean Atherton
1875-1876
Box 1, Folder 34
Miscellaneous letters to Faxon Dean Atherton
1850-1874
Box 1, Folder 35
Miscellaneous letters to Faxon Dean Atherton
1875-1896,
undated
Personalia and ephemera
1868-1888, undated
Physical Description:
3.0 folders, 1 volume
Box 1, Folder 36
Business and calling cards
undated
Box 1, Folder 37
Report cards
1868,
1874-1875
Box 1, Folder 38
Miscellaneous ephemera
1868-1888
Volume 1
Harper's Statistical Gazetteer of the World, by J. Calvin Smith (signed by W. L. Atherton?)
1855
Business records
1852-1910
Physical Description:
13.0 folders
Accounts
1852-1880
Physical Description:
4.0 folders
Box 1, Folder 39
Faxon Dean Atherton accounts
1852-1858
Scope and Contents
Includes accounts with Alex B. Grogan and Samuel D. Crane & Co.
Box 2, Folder 1
Faxon Dean Atherton accounts
1861-1868
Scope and Contents
Includes accounts with Alex B. Grogan and Patterson and Stow.
Box 2, Folder 2
Faxon Dean Atherton accounts
1871-1877
Receipts and invoices
1853-1910
Physical Description:
7.0 folders
Box 2, Folder 4
Dominga Goñi de Atherton receipts, Valparaiso, Chile
1855
Box 2, Folder 5
Faxon Dean Atherton receipts, Valparaiso, Chile
1853-1856
Scope and Contents
Includes the billhead of Compro de Loring (Loring & Co.).
Box 2, Folder 6
Faxon Dean Atherton invoices and receipts, California
1857-1869
Box 2, Folder 7
Faxon Dean Atherton invoices and receipts, California and Valparaiso
1870-1877
Box 2, Folder 8
Alex B. Grogan invoices and receipts, California
1863-1878,
undated
Box 2, Folder 9
Expense bills to the Central Pacific and Southern Pacific Railroads
1873-1897
Box 2, Folder 10
Invoices and receipts
1879-circa 1910,
undated
Box 2, Folder 11
Dry Creek Tunnel & Fluming Co. (Shasta County) records
1871-1872
Box 2, Folder 12
Fair Oaks Farm Diary records (Percival W. Selby, proprietor)
1887-1891
Legal records
1853-1880
Physical Description:
3.0 folders
Box 2, Folder 13
John Gorham Coffin estate records
1853-1854
Language of Materials: Documents are in English and Spanish.
Scope and Contents
Consists of records of the Valparaiso estate of John Gorham Coffin, of which Faxon Dean Atherton was executor.
Box 2, Folder 14
Probate notices and other legal documents
1854-1880
Language of Materials: Documents are in English and Spanish.
Box 2, Folder 15
Faxon D. Atherton vs. Fortoul et als. complaints and memorandum
1864,
undated
Scope and Contents
Consists of a copy of a complaint and memorandum documenting the land dispute between Faxon D. Atherton and Maria de Jesus
Vallejo de Fortoul et als. (including Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo) over Rancho Bolsa de San Cayetano in Monterey County.
Real estate records
1859-1882
Physical Description:
9.0 folders
Box 2, Folder 16
Corralitos Ranch records
1859-1880
Box 2, Folder 17
Sal Si Puedes Ranch records
1860-1875
Box 2, Folder 18
Milpitas Ranch records
1861-1882
Box 2, Folder 19
Hayward real estate records
1863-1879
Box 2, Folders 20-21
San Lorenzo Ranch records
1864-1881
Box 2, Folder 22
Bolsa de San Cayetano Ranch records
1867-1880
Box 2, Folder 23
Contra Costa Water Company deed
1878
Box 2, Folder 24
Miscellaneous real estate records
1860-1875,
undated
Box 2, Folder 25
Income, state, and county tax records
1863-1875
Physical Description:
1.0 folder
Box 2, Folder 26
James Lick Trust records
1876-1877
Physical Description:
1.0 folder
