Overview of the Collection
Access
Administrative Information
Biographical Note
Scope and Content
Indexing Terms
Overview of the Collection
Title: Henry Dalton Papers
Dates (inclusive): 1819-1942
Bulk dates: 1840-1883
Collection Number: mssDL 1-1196; mssFAC 682
Creator:
Dalton, Henry,
1803-1884
Extent:
2,430 pieces in 15 boxes; 40 bound volumes; 1 tan case; and 13 maps
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Manuscripts Department
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2129
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: This collection consists of the business and personal papers of rancher and businessman Henry Dalton (1803-1884) and his life
in early
Southern California, with the bulk dating from 1840-1883. Of note are land papers and maps related to Dalton's ranches: Rancho
Azusa, Rancho Santa Anita, Rancho San Francisquito, Rancho San José, and Rancho
Addition.
Language: English.
Access
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department.
For more information, contact Reader Services.
Administrative Information
Publication Rights
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from
or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The
responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining
necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item]. Henry Dalton Papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino,
California.
Provenance
Purchased from Mrs. Roger P. Dalton, January 24, 1958.
Biographical Note
Henry Dalton (1804-1884) was born in London, England, on October 8, 1804. On July 7, 1819,
at age 14, he was apprenticed to Winnall Thomas Dalton as merchant tailor for a period of
seven years. In 1827 Dalton was in Peru, where he purchased for $3000 certain articles in
corner Public House in Callao, apparently for commercial purposes. He engaged in coastal
trade and commerce in Peru and Mexico, extending his interests in Mexico when he contracted
for the purchase of the estate of the Marques de San Miguel de Aguayo. He acquired property in both San Pedro and Los Angeles
as early
as 1843, from which time he appears to have been definitely established in California. In
1844, he purchased Rancho Azusa from its original grantee Luis Arenas; thereafter Dalton interested
himself more in ranching than in shipping, although he maintained his commercial
establishment in Los Angeles as an outlet for the surplus production of his various ranches.
After 1846, when he charted a cargo vessel between Callao, Peru, and California, he seems to
have diminished his trading relations with Peru, but he never abandoned his Mexican
contacts.
Acquisition of land in California progressed rapidly after the Azusa purchase. In 1845, Pio
Pico granted two extensions to Rancho Azusa, one of which had been part of the San Gabriel
Mission lands. Dalton gradually accumulated properties until he was the owner of
five ranches: Azusa, San Francisquito, San Jose and Addition, and Santa Anita. Other
miscellaneous properties were acquired in and near Los Angeles. Santa Anita was sold in
1854; Francisquito was disposed of in small tracts between 1867 and 1875. Azusa was lost to
the squatters through a series of highly questionable court decisions. San Jose and Addition
became entangled in land litigation and were lost, while the miscellaneous property was
gradually sold or lost as well.
Dalton was married in 1847 to fifteen-year-old María Guadalupe Zamorano, daughter of María
Luisa Arguello de Zamorano and Agustín Vicente Zamorano. They had eleven children, seven of whom outlived their father: Winnall
Augustin, Luisa, Soyla, Henry Francisco, Elena, Valentine, and Joseph Russell.
Dalton had three major dedications during his lifetime after establishing himself in
California: the welfare of his family, his fight to keep his lands, and his efforts to
obtain an equitable settlement in his claims before the Mexican government. These Mexican
claims arose out of two events: damages to property sustained during the Mexican-American
war of 1845-1848, during which he not only was in sympathy with the Mexican cause, but
placed a considerable sum of money and supplies at the disposal of the Mexican governor of
California. He also suffered material damages, as well as the loss of livestock stolen from
ranchos Azusa and Santa Anita, when the troops of Fremont and Stockton entered Los Angeles.
The second event occasioning claims in Mexico stemmed from the purchase he had made in 1840
of the lands forming part of the estate of the Marques de Aguayo, but to which he had never
been given either clear title or possession. The Mexican government readily accepted the
validity of both claims, and made payment in bonds which proved to be unredeemable during
Dalton's lifetime because of the precarious condition of the Mexican economy. Thus the
Mexican claims, like the California land litigation lasted many years: the former from 1846
until after Henry Dalton's death, being continued by his heirs; the latter from the early
1850s, culminating in the loss of Azusa in 1881.
Dalton never abandoned the hope of recovering at least part of the lost lands, and
attempted on several occasions to repurchase sections of his ranches. This was an ambitious
project, since he was deeply mortgaged during the entire period of litigation, largely
because of the expenses caused by squatter claims on Azusa after 1858, the date of the
erroneous and detrimental Hancock Survey. The mortgages were held by F. L. A. Pioche, later
by the Pioche estate heirs.
Scope and Content
The collection consists of letters, manuscripts, diaries, account books, and documents related to Henry Dalton and his life
in early Southern California.
Of note are land papers and maps related to Dalton's ranches: Rancho Azusa, Rancho Santa
Anita, Rancho San Francisquito, Rancho San José, and Rancho Addition.
The papers include business papers and legal documents related to Dalton's trading in Peru, 1827-1842
(Box 1). Through 1842, Dalton's
business correspondence, although including Peruvian interests, was written from cities on
the Pacific coast of Mexico, while his coastal trade was extended northward to San Diego,
San Pedro and Los Angeles.
There is also correspondence and documents related to business affairs in Mexico, Dalton's litigation about his Mexican War
claims, his land in Mexico, and claims
before the Mexican government (Boxes 3-5). Boxes 6-12 contain
business, personal, and family correspondence. Much of this correspondence and papers are of a personal nature, dealing with
family matters, particularly after Dalton's death in 1884, when separate branches of the family grow and develop. There are
also
land papers (Boxes 13-14) and Dalton family accounts and receipts (Boxes 15 and 15a).
The collection also contains
7 volumes detailing the daily occurrences at Rancho Azusa (1845-1879), 2 letter books; 8 diaries; 10
memorandum books, 25 account books, 4 Indian books, and 14 banking and receipt books. In addition, there are 13 maps (DL 1178-1190)
and one facsimile (FAC 682, Rolled photocopy
of Census of Free Inhabitants, Azusa, Calif. 1860, 10 p.)
Arrangement
Arranged in the following order:
- Peru (Box 1)
- Mexico (Boxes 3-5)
- Correspondence and miscellaneous papers; photographs (Boxes 6-12)
- Land papers (Boxes 13-14)
- Family accounts and receipts and miscellaneous; drawing of Soyla Dalton (Box 15 and 15a and folder)
- Volumes
- Maps
Indexing Terms
Subjects
Dalton, Henry, 1803-1884 --
Archives.
Land grants -- California -- Los Angeles
County.
Land grants -- Law and legislation --
California -- Los Angeles County.
Land titles -- California -- Los Angeles
County.
Land titles -- Mexico.
Ranch life -- California, Southern.
Ranchers -- California -- Los Angeles County --
Archives.
Ranches -- California -- Los Angeles
County.
British Americans -- California --
Archives.
Mexican War, 1846-1848 -- Claims.
California, Southern -- History
-- 19th century -- Sources.
Mexico -- Commerce -- 19th
century -- Sources.
Peru -- Commerce -- 19th
century -- Sources.
Rancho Addition
(Calif.)
Rancho Addition (Calif.) --
Maps.
Rancho Azusa
(Calif.)
Rancho Azusa (Calif.) --
Maps.
Rancho San Francisquito
(Calif.)
Rancho San Francisquito
(Calif.) -- Maps.
Rancho San José
(Calif.)
Rancho San José (Calif.) --
Maps.
Rancho Santa Anita
(Calif.)
Rancho Santa Anita (Calif.) --
Maps.
Forms/Genres
Account books.
Business records 19th century.
Diaries 19th century.
Family papers.
Journals 19th century.
Letter books.
Letters (correspondence)
Maps.