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Starkweather Family Correspondence: Finding Aid
mssHM 54689-54932
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Title: Starkweather Family Correspondence
Dates (inclusive): 1836-1888
Bulk dates: 1849-1859
Collection Number: mssHM 54689-54932
Creator:
Starkweather (Family)
Extent:
242 letters plus copies of a few printed items in 3 boxes
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 correspondence between Starkweather family members in Northampton, Massachusetts, and family members
who came to California during the Gold Rush era. The bulk of the letters date from 1849 to 1859, and topics discussed in the
letters include ocean voyages to
California, agriculture and ranching in Stockton, and family news.
Language: English.
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department.
For more information, contact Reader Services.
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.
[Identification of item]. Starkweather Family Correspondence, The Huntington Library, San
Marino, California.
Purchased from Michael Ginsberg, March 24, 1977.
Biographical Note of the Starkweather family
Charles Graves
Starkweather (1819-1906) came to California seeking gold in 1849. He was an officer in the Holyoke Company and left on February
5,
1849 from New York aboard the
S.S. Crowell going first to
Chagres, Panama, then up the river to Panama City. When they found no ship to take them to
San Francisco, their company, along with others, bought the ship
Copiapo, hired a captain, and after a 95-day voyage arrived in San Francisco on
August 14, 1849. Charles went first to look for gold on the Yuba River, but finally settled
in the Sacramento Valley. In 1851 he was joined by his brother, Alfred Starkweather
(1826-1917), and together they bought a ranch near Stockton, California. The next year, another brother,
Haynes Kingsley Starkweather (1822-1895), came to California via the Nicaragua route
bringing his wife, Martha, and his son with him. After arriving at San Juan, they discovered
that the ship
North American, on which they were to take
passage, had been shipwrecked and they were picked up by the
Monumental City instead.
After a difficult passage they arrived in San Francisco
and made their way to Stockton, where he opened a drugstore. Charles made a visit to
Northampton in 1854-1855 and brought his sister Roxana to California (where she met and
married William Henry Nowell). Those family members at home were: their father, Haynes
Kingsley Starkweather (1788-1866); mother, Almira L. (Merrick) Starkweather (d. 1862);
brother, Rev. Frederick Merrick Starkweather (1820-1851); sister, Almira Starkweather (d.
1861); and sister, Elizabeth (Starkweather) Breck. As his father aged, he asked Charles to
come home and take over the family farm. Charles went back in 1859; Haynes and Roxana and
families also returned East.
The collection consists of correspondence between Starkweather family members at home in
Northampton, Massachusetts, and the four members who came to California during the Gold Rush era. Topics
discussed in the letters include ocean voyages to California, agriculture and ranching in
Stockton, and Starkweather family news. There is a hiatus in correspondence from 1866-1876. The letters
after this period deal chiefly with business arrangements between Charles in Massachusetts
and his brother Haynes, who had returned to California to be with his son.
Persons represented in the collection by five or
more pieces include: Elizabeth Starkweather Breck (5 letters), Roxana Starkweather Nowell (20 letters), Alfred
Starkweather (34 letters), Almira Starkweather (12 letters), Almira L. Merrick Starkweather (10 letters), Charles Graves
Starkweather (12 letters and 4 account books), Frances Loomis Starkweather (6 letters), Frederick Merrick Starkweather (7
letters), Haynes Kingsley
Starkweather (1788-1866) (24 letters), Haynes Kingsley Starkweather (1822-1895) (71 letters), and Martha Phelps
Starkweather (9 letters).
Arrangement
Arranged chronologically in 3 boxes, with printed items filed at end of collection.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
Huntington Library's Online Catalog.
Starkweather family.
Ocean travel.
Ranches -- California -- Stockton.
Voyages to the Pacific coast.
California -- Agriculture.
California -- Gold discoveries -- Personal narratives.
Northampton (Mass.) -- History -- 19th century -- Sources.
Stockton (Calif.) -- History -- 19th century -- Sources.
Family papers California 19th century.
Letters (correspondence) California 19th century.
Breck, Elizabeth Starkweather.
Nowell, Roxana Starkweather.
Starkweather, Alfred.
Starkweather, Almira.
Starkweather, Almira L. Merrick.
Starkweather, Charles Graves, 1819-1906.
Starkweather, Frances Loomis.
Starkweather, Frederick Merrick.
Starkweather, Haynes Kingsley, 1788-1866.
Starkweather, Haynes Kingsley, 1822-1895.
Starkweather, Martha Phelps.