Guide to the John T. Doyle Papers, 1855-1905
Processed by California Historical Society staff; supplementary encoding and revision supplied by Xiuzhi Zhou.
California Historical Society
North Baker Research Library
678 Mission Street
San Francisco, California 94105-4014
Phone: (415) 357-1848, ext. 220
Fax: (415) 357-1850
Email: reference@calhist.org
URL: http://www.californiahistoricalsociety.org/
© 2000
California Historical Society. All rights reserved.
Guide to the John T. Doyle Papers, 1855-1905
Collection number: MS 760
California Historical Society
North Baker Research Library
San Francisco, California
Contact Information:
- California Historical Society
- North Baker Research Library
- 678 Mission Street
- San Francisco, California 94105-4014
- Phone: (415) 357-1848, ext. 220
- Fax: (415) 357-1850
- Email: reference@calhist.org
- URL: http://www.californiahistoricalsociety.org/
- Processed by:
- California Historical Society staff
- Date Completed:
- May 1980
© 2000 California Historical Society. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: John T. Doyle Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1855-1905
Collection number: MS 760
Creator:
Doyle, John T. (John Thomas), 1819-1906
Extent: Linear feet: 2
Number of items: ca. 2000
Repository:
California Historical Society, North Baker Library
San Francisco, California 94105-4014
National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC) Identification Number:
NUCMC 82-372
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Donor
The records of John T. Doyle are of uncertain origin. It is possible that they were given by June Foster to California Historical
Society Library Manuscript Department. The date of their donation is also unknown.
Access
Publication Rights
Copyright has not been assigned to The North Baker Research Library. All requests for
permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing
to the Library Director. Permission for publication is given on behalf
of The North Baker Research Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended
to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be
obtained by the reader.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], John T. Doyle Papers. MS 760, California Historical Society, North Baker Research Library.
Biography
John T. Doyle was born in New York City on November 26, 1819, the son of John Doyle and Frances Glinden Doyle. In 1838, he
graduated as valedictorian from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Obtaining an A.M. in 1840, he began practicing law
in New York two years later and continued until 1851. Then, on a vacation in Nicaragua, he met "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt,
the shipping and railroad magnate, who was trying to fulfill his dream of a canal linking the Gulf of Mexico with the Pacific
Ocean. Inspired by the tycoon's vision, Doyle rushed back to New York, resigned his position, and returned to Nicaragua as
general agent for Vanderbilt's American Atlantic and Pacific Ship Canal Company. He spent a year making plans, none of which
came to fruition because the "Commodore" could not raise the money needed for construction costs. Doyle finally gave up and
headed for San Francisco. In 1853, he was admitted to the San Francisco bar, where he remained until 1888 as an active attorney.
It was not until 1889 that he received his L.L.D.
Doyle sought no public office, though he was appointed to two during his career. In 1868, he became one of the first members
of the board of regents of the University of California. A few years later, Governor Irwin made him a member of the Board
of Commissioners of Transportation. This was more to his liking, for he felt keenly the general resentment of the discriminatory
and onerous rates that the railroads charged. He became a crusader for thorough reform in railroad legislation. The Commissioners
agreed with his recommendations, but the corporations were less tractable. As he later recalled, "The railroads scented the
danger afar, and rallied their lobby to the defense of their prerogative of plunder." The House amended a reform bill so that
it legislated the Commissioners out of their jobs. A single Commissioner replaced them, but he too was superseded when the
Constitution of 1879 created a Board of Railroad Commissioners. This change did not please Doyle; he claimed that the state
was so apportioned that two of the three members of the board would remain under company control.
It was, however, as a legal advocate that Doyle was famed. He went through a succession of partnerships: Janes, Doyle, Barber
& Boyd; Doyle & Barber; Doyle, Barber & Scripture; Doyle, Galpin, Barber & Scripture; Doyle, Galpin & Scripture; Doyle, Galpin
& Ziegler; and after his retirement around 1890 (sources disagree as to the exact date) set up a practice on his own. It was
then that he won his greatest victory. In 1876, he had recovered from the Mexican government a judgment of $904,000 for interest
and capital held by Mexico for the Catholic Church in California. The case dragged on until 1902, when Doyle pleaded it before
the International Tribunal in the Hague -- the first case argued before it. The Court awarded the Church $1,426,000 which
included accruing interest. It decreed that henceforth Mexico must pay the church $43,000 a year forever.
In May, 1863, Doyle married Miss Antonia Pons, the daughter of a silk manufacturer in Lyons, France. They had eight children:
five sons and three daughters. Doyle himself was able to read Latin, French, Spanish and Italian -- an advantage in his profession
-- and in his spare time wrote a treatise explaining how consistent was the trial in Shakespeare's
Merchant of Venice with legal customs of the time. He was a founder of the Ethno-Historical Society in 1866, a precursor of California Historical
Society and he served two terms as first president of the latter, in 1887 and 1888.
At home "among his books and vines and fruit trees" in Menlo Park, a contemporary account commented, he spent a happy old
age. "Though impatient and irascible," it added, "he is good-natured at heart, and has materially aided many young members
of the profession, who have been indebted to him for encouragement, opportunity and guidance."
Doyle died at age 86 in 1906.
Scope and Content
The John T. Doyle papers touch on law cases in which Doyle or his partner -- or partners
they successively adopted -- concerned themselves. Most of the documents touch on civil disputes in the San Francisco Bay Area,
though some are connected to other places in California, notably Placerville, and other documents discuss mining claims and
companies in Nevada.
Scholars curious about legal practice in the late nineteenth century would find the material especially interesting. Here
may be found documents and official forms of every kind: papers on the process of probate, guardianship, damage suits, legal
arguments. Researchers fascinated with official forms used in the courts would find a study of the collection rewarding. Those
interested in politics, social and cultural history, economics, or stirring events, would not. Those curious about Doyle's
adventures in Nicaragua, his personal life, or his lawsuits in support of the Catholic church of California would also be
disappointed, for none of these are covered in the documents--though a few papers relate to William Walker, the filibuster
who tried to establish a personal empire in Nicaragua. None of the papers, however, discuss his ambitions or intentions.
The
personal correspondence includes discussions of domestic finance and the difficulties in arguing certain law cases. There are occasional remarks on
family matters and comments on farming conditions. J.L. Moffett, for example, notes of the Wabash River counties in Indiana,
"Those who live on the 'bottoms' along that stream look like ripe pumpkins after a time...." Others discuss premonitionary
dreams, crop failures, and the Presidential election of 1884 in Illinois. "The Germans are out for Cleveland," W.G. Griffith
comments, "and the Irish he loses can be put in the ye of that needle which the Camel could nearly pass through."
Most papers touch on legal cases, which is how the collection is assembled. One may find estates and probate cases, suits
for freight costs, actions to prevent the extension of Montgomery Street, account books, death certificates, explanations
of express rates, spare leaves from old ledgers, subpoenas, judgments, legal arguments, promissory notes, discussions of mine
speculations, writs of attachment, and legal forms. One such case is the Friedlander estate case. It has terms of indenture,
insurance premiums, IOU's, balance sheets, contracts, letters to the Bank of California negotiating a loan, sales receipts,
probate court orders, official charges, letters of guardianship, an inventory of cattle sold, with prices attached, announcements
of land sales, and summonses.
Other indexes included with this study will afford an explanation of both the chronology and characteristics of each case.
Chronological Arrangement
? |
Fenon vs. Barque
Emily Banning, Folder Number 21)
|
? |
Mariposa Land and Mining Company v. Brumagin (Folder Number 45) |
? |
Van Bokkelen (George) v. Botts (Folder Number 63) |
1855 |
Botts (Charles T.) v. Endicott (Samuel B.) (Folder Number 4) |
1855 |
Gross (Elisha S. v. Parrott (John) (Folder Number 33) |
1855-1857 |
Treadwell v. Payne (Folder Number 62) |
1856 |
Gauley v. City and County of San Francisco (Folder Number 28) |
1856 |
Starr to Goodale (Folder Number 59) |
1856 |
William Walker (Folder Number 64) |
1857 |
Keip v. Martin (Folder Number 37) |
1858 |
Fox v. Brisac (Folder Number 22) |
1858 |
MacDonald v. Garrison (Folder Number 42) |
1858-1861 |
Chadwick v.
Gauntlet (ship) (Folder Number 7)
|
1858-1861 |
San Francisco (miscellaneous) (Folder Number 57) |
1859 |
Ruis v. Lequelle (Folder Number 56) |
1859 |
Gaven v. Hagen (Folder Number 29) |
1859, 1876 |
Janes, Horace P. (estate) (Folder Number 35) |
1860 |
Levison et als. v. Glen (Folder Number 41) |
1860 |
Goodsell v. California Steam Navigation (Folder Number 32) |
1860 |
Mead v. Figel (Folder Number 46) |
1860-1861 |
Polhemus v. Maldonado (Folder Number 54) |
1861-1863 |
Rancho Tenescal (Folder Number 55) |
1862 |
Bushnell (Catherine Hayes) v. Brenham (Charles) (Folder Number 5) |
1863 |
Taylor v. 45 Boxes (Folder Number 60) |
1863-1864 |
Belloc (Benjamin) v. Eldredge (Albert S.) et a. (Folder Number 2) |
1863 |
People v. Pico (Folder Number 53) |
1864 |
Wheelwright v. Fletcher (Folder Number 66) |
1865-1866 |
Donahue v. Rochester Consolidated Gold and Silver Mining Company (Folder Number 16) |
1865 |
Goldstein v. Page et als. (Folder Number 31) |
1867 |
Montgomery Street Extension, no. 1 (Folder Number 48) |
1868 |
Montgomery Street Extension, no. 2 (Folder Number 49. 50) |
1868-1871 |
Donahue, W.E. and Mary Ann (estates) (Folder Number 14) |
1868-1871 |
Friedlander, Isaac (estate), no. 1 b (Folder Number 23) |
1870-1871 |
Ellis v. Imperial Fire Insurance Company (Folder Number 19) |
1870-1871 |
Slattery, James D. (estate) (Folder Number 57) |
1870-1874 |
Curry v. Alvarado (Folder Number 9) |
1872-1879 |
Make, Gustave (estate) (Folder Number 44) |
1872 |
Geary v. Billings (Folder Number 30) |
1872-1879 |
Donohue v. et als. (Folder Number 17) |
1872-1905 |
El Dorado county (Folder Number 18) |
1873 |
California v. New York and Eldorado Mining Co. (Folder Number 6) |
1873 |
Hoeber, Frederick (estate) (Folder Number 34) |
1873 |
Latour, Pierre (estate) (Folder Number 41) |
1874-1877 |
Dibble v. Douglass (Folder Number 12) |
1874 |
Merchants Exchange Bank v. Gilbert (Folder Number 47) |
1875 |
Curtis v. Rosseter (Folder Number 10) |
1875 |
Diggins v. Roper (Folder Number 13) |
1876 |
Townsend v. Adams (Folder Number 61) |
1877-1882 |
Donahue, W.E., and Mary Ann (estate), no. 2 (Folder Number 15) |
1878 |
Kugler v. Peterson (Folder Number 39) |
1878 |
Knox, William (estate) (Folder Number 38) |
1878 |
Friedlander, Isaac (estate), no. 2 (Folder Number 24) |
1878-1880 |
Ellis v. Imperial Fire Insurance Company (Folder Number 20) |
1879 |
Bent (Edward F.) v. London and San Francisco Bank (Folder Number 3) |
1879 |
Friedlander, Isaac (estate), no. 3 (Folder Number 25) |
1879 |
Kelly (Eugene) v. Daly (James) (Folder Number 36) |
1880 |
Clark, Margaret Teresa (estate) (Folder Number 8) |
1880 |
Friedlander, Isaac (estate), no. 4 (Folder Number 26) |
1880-1892 |
Nevada (state) (Folder Number 52) |
1881 |
Friedlander, Isaac (estate), no. 5 (Folder Number 27) |
1883 |
McGongale v. Hutchinson (Folder Number 43) |
1885 |
Smith v. Presidio and Ferris Railroad Company (Folder Number 58) |
1888 |
Desmarchais, Mrs. A. B. (Folder Number 11) |
1890 |
Wenden, John (estate) (Folder Number 66) |
1897 |
Murphy, Grant and Company v. Heald (Folder Number 51) |
Box 1, Folder 1
Doyle, John T. -- personal information
Folder 2
Belloc, Benjamin vs. Eldredge, Albert S. et als.
Folder 3
Bent, Edward F. vs. London and San Francisco Bank
Folder 4
Botts, Charles T. vs. Endicott, Samuel B.
Folder 5
Bushnell, Catherine Hays vs. Brenham, Charles J. et als.
Folder 6
California vs. New York and Eldorado Mining Co.
Folder 7
Chadwick vs.
Gauntlet (ship)
Folder 8
Clark, Margaret Teresa (estate)
Folder 11
Desmarchais, Mrs. A.B. (estate)
Folder 14
Donahue, W.E. and Mary Ann (estate), no. 1
Folder 15
Donahue, W.E. and Mary Ann (estate), no. 2
Folder 16
Donahue vs. Rochester Consolidated Gold and Silver Mining Company
Folder 19
Ellis vs. Imperial Fire Insurance Company, no. 1
Folder 20
Ellis vs. Imperial Fire Insurance Company, no. 2
Folder 21
Fenon vs. Barque
Emily Banning
Folder 23
Friedlander, Isaac (estate), no. 1
Folder 24
Friedlander, Isaac (estate), no. 2
Folder 25
Friedlander, Isaac (estate) no. 3
Folder 26
Friedlander, Isaac (estate), no. 4
Folder 27
Friedlander, Isaac (estate), no. 5
Box 3, Folder 28
Gauley vs. City and County of San Francisco
Folder 31
Goldstein vs. Page et als.
Folder 32
Goodsell vs. California Steam Navigation
Folder 33
Gross, Elisha S. vs. Parrott
Folder 34
Hoeber, Frederick (estate)
Folder 35
Janes, Horace P. (estate)
Folder 36
Kelly, Eugene vs. Daly, James
Folder 41
Lewiston et als. vs. Glen
Folder 45
Mariposa Land and Mining Company vs. Brumagin
Folder 47
Merchants' Exchange Bank vs. Gilbert
Folder 48
Montgomery Street extension, no. 1
Folder 49
Montgomery Street extension, no. 2
Box 4, Folder 50
Montgomery Street extension, no. 3
Folder 51
Murphy, Grant anc Co. vs. Heald
Folder 57
San Francisco (miscellaneous)
Folder 58
Slattery, James D. (estate)
Folder 59
Smith, Annie vs. Presidio and Ferries Railroad Company
Folder 60
Starr, Thomas N. to Goodale, Samuel Page
Folder 64
Van Bokkellen, George vs. Botts
Folder 67
Wheelwright, john vs. the Bark
Thomas Fletcher