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Delepine, Alphonse Antoine Papers, 1848-1852
MANUSCRIPT Box 187
Collection Overview

Title:

Papers, 1848-1852
Alphonse Antoine Delepine papers, 1848-1852

Creator/Contributor:

Delepine, Alphonse Antoine, 1824-1886, creator

Abstract:

The collection consists of original manuscripts in French. A journal details Delepine's journey on the Eduoard and his short stay with the California Native Americans. There is also a letter written to his father from Sonora in 1850 giving a vivid account of the life of a miner. These materials were donated by his daughter, Mrs. F.E. Mojonnier, after they had been translated by her brother and published as the "Delepine papers" in 1948. There is one additional item, an official court document relating to Delepine's civil marriage in France dated 1878.

Date:

1848 (issued)

Subject:

n-us-ca
Delepine, Alphonse Antoine -- 1824-1886
Voyages to the Pacific coast
Indians of North America -- California
Gold miners -- California
Gold mines and mining -- California -- Sonora

Note:

In French.
Delepine was born in Paris in 1824.To please his parents he studied law and, later, medicine, but did not pursue either profession. Instead at age 25 he became excited by the idea of adventuring to California to participate in the gold rush. He joined the Jacques Arago Company of speculators and traveled with this company of 46 men on the Edouard sailing round Cape Horn, departing in March of 1848 and arriving in San Francisco in late1848 or early 1849. On his way to the mines at Mariposa he was lost in the mountains and spent some days living with one of the Native American tribes in the area. He mined near Sonora during the most of 1850 and also kept a garden to supply other miners with fresh produce.
Delepine returned to France for a short stay and then made a second voyage to California. During his travels in the West he met and married Louise Henriette Mennet in Madison, Illinois, in 1852. The couple relocated to France in the late 1850s and settled down to a life administering the family estates near Versailles and raising a family; many of their children later emigrated to California. Delepine died in Versailles in 1886.
Alphonse Antione Delepine papers.
Unrestricted. Please credit California State Library.

Type:

biography

Physical Description:

print
1 ms. box

Language:

French

Identifier:

MANUSCRIPT Box 187

Origin:

California

Copyright Note:

Unrestricted. Please credit California State Library.