The contents of this folder are 35 photocopied pages from a daybook written by Governor Peter H. Burnett, recording property sales in Sacramento. The 35 pages are 3 sets of the same 12-pages. One set consists of black copies made in 1938. One of the sets of whitecopies does not contain the first page of the daybook (numbered in the upper-right hand corner). The pages are addressed to John A. Sutter, Jr., and range from January to July of 1849.

Peter Hardeman Burnett was born on November 15, 1807, in Nashville, Tennessee. He arrived in California on November 5, 1848 via overland route. He served as the first Governor of California, from December 20, 1849 – January 9, 1851. Before becoming governor he worked as a lawyer and was elected Judge of the Oregon Supreme Court, member of the Oregon Territorial Legislature, and appointed to the Superior Tribunal of California. While governor, he encourgaed the development of California’s legal code, and faced challenges such as raising revenue for state expenses and quelling Native American uprisings. After resigning as governor, he continued to work in the legal profession until he became President of the Pacific Bank of San Francisco. In 1880, he wrote Recollections and Opinions of an Old Pioneer. He died in San Francisco on May 17, 1895. Source: Gilbert & Melendy. The Governors of California: From Peter H. Burnett to Edmund G. Brown. (Georgetown, CA: Talisman, 1965.), 25-35. Print.

1.0 folder 1 daybook (35 pages)

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