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Guide to the Pleasants Family Papers
MS-R044
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Title: Pleasants family papers,
Date (inclusive): 1856-1973
Date (bulk): (bulk 1860-1869, 1920-1940)
Collection number: MS-R044
Creator:
Pleasants family
Extent:
2.9 linear feet
(8 boxes and 1 oversize folder)
231 digitized objects
Repository:
University of California, Irvine. Library. Special Collections and Archives.
Irvine, California 92623-9557
Abstract: This collection comprises the personal papers of J.E. Pleasants and
his first and second wives, Mary Refugio Carpenter Pleasants and Adelina Pleasants, and
includes diaries, correspondence, manuscripts, negatives, and photographic prints. J.E.
Pleasants' long association with the Santa Ana Mountains and Santiago Canyon, cattle
ranching, and beekeeping are all documented. The diaries and correspondence of Mary Refugio
Carpenter Pleasants provide a glimpse into life in Southern California in the 1860s. Adelina
Pleasants' work as a writer of Southern California and Orange County history in the early
20th century is also represented. The collection contains some tintypes, cabinet cards, and
a carte-de-visite album documenting a number of Southern California pioneers, including
members of the Carpenter and Wolfskill families.
Language:
English.
Collection is open for research. Access to fragile originals is restricted when
preservation photocopies are available.
Property rights reside with the University of California. Literary rights are retained by
the creators of the records and their heirs. For permissions to reproduce or to publish,
please contact the Head of Special Collections and Archives.
Pleasants Family Papers. MS-R44. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine
Libraries, Irvine, California. Date accessed.
For the benefit of current and future researchers, please cite any additional information about sources consulted in this
collection, including permanent URLs, item or folder descriptions, and box/folder locations.
Acquired, ca. 1966-1996, as part of the Don Meadows Papers (MS-R01). Meadows acquired the
Pleasants Family Papers as part of William McPherson's files in the early 1960s and held
them as a distinct entity within his larger collection of Orange County and Southern
California research and ephemera files.
Processed by Phil Brigandi, 2001.
Biography/Organization History
Joseph Edward Pleasants, known to his friends as Ed, was born in Missouri in 1839, the
son of James and Lydia Pleasants. His mother died in 1848 and in 1849 he traveled with
his father across the continent to the California gold fields. In 1851 the family moved
to Solano County, settling in what is still known as Pleasants Valley. In 1856 J.E.
moved to Los Angeles County to attend a private school taught by H. D. Barrows on the
William Wolfskill ranch. From 1861-1866 he served as Wolfskill's foreman on the Rancho
Lomas de Santiago in the Santa Ana Mountains, where he made his headquarters in a small
wooden building in what is now Irvine Regional Park. He married Mary Refugio Carpenter
in 1868 and settled in Aliso Canyon. Following the discovery in 1874 that their first
home site was located on the Rancho Cañada de los Alisos, the Pleasants family
moved to upper Santiago Canyon.
After the death of his wife in 1888, he sold his ranch to Helena Modjeska, a noted
Shakespearean actress, and the upper part of the canyon became known as Modjeska Canyon.
Modjeska incorporated the Pleasants cabin into Arden, her new home, which still stands
as of 2001. J.E. married Adelina Brown, a schoolteacher who had been boarding at his
house, in 1890 and, after living briefly in Silverado Canyon, they moved to nearby
Williams Canyon in 1892.
Beginning in the 1860s he raised cattle, horses, Angora goats, and kept bees. He seems
to have abandoned the cattle business in the 1880s and turned more and more of his
attention to beekeeping as the years went on. He was active in the early years of the
Orange County Fair, beginning in 1890, and often officiated at horse races, which earned
him the honorary title of "Judge." In 1902 he was appointed the first Orange County Bee
Inspector, a position he held until 1927. By the early years of the 20th Century, he was
recognized as an important link to the early history of Southern California and his
recollections often appeared in print, sometimes under his own name and sometimes in
articles written by others. He died on June 13, 1934, at the age of 95.
Mary Refugio Carpenter Pleasants
Mary Refugio Carpenter, known throughout her life as Refugio, was born in Los Nietos,
California (near Whittier in Los Angeles County) on July 4, 1845, the daughter of Lemuel
Carpenter and Maria Dominguez Carpenter. Her father, an early American settler and
landowner in Los Angeles County, eventually lost his land to debt and committed suicide
in 1859. Mary Refugio and J.E. Pleasants began a long courtship in the early 1860s,
culminating in their marriage on July 15, 1868. Refugio's brother, Francisco (Pancho)
Carpenter, was a partner with J.E. in some of his earliest ranching ventures. Mary
Refugio often suffered from poor health, and she eventually died of tuberculosis on
January 26, 1888, at just 42 years of age. The Pleasants had no children. Her diaries,
written between 1860 and 1865, provide a personal glimpse into the Pleasants' lives, and
portions of them have been published by Frances Meadows, along with her extensive
research notes.
Mary Adelina (or Addie) Brown was born in Petaluma, California in the 1850s, and came
to Los Angeles County at an early age. From 1886-1888 she taught school in Silverado
Canyon, boarding with J.E. Pleasants and Mary Refugio in their home. Following Mary
Refugio's death, Adelina and J.E. were married in the fall of 1890. Adelina was devoted
to her new husband and wrote most, if not all, of the articles that appeared under his
by-line over the years. She also wrote extensively under her own name, specializing in
Orange County and Southern California history and natural history. In 1931 she wrote the
principal historical sections for a three-volume
History of
Orange County, California
(Los Angeles: J.R. Finnell & Sons), but
sales were poor during the Depression years and she received little compensation for her
work. Most of her later writings appeared in various Orange County newspapers, including
the
Santa Ana Register. She was active in the Orange
County Historical Society and the Native Daughters of the Golden West. Following her
husband's death, Adelina made her home in Orange, where she died on May 10, 1943.
| 1839 | J.E. Pleasants born in Missouri. |
| 1845 | Mary Refugio Carpenter born on July 4th in Los Nietos, California. |
| 1849 | J.E. Pleasants crosses the continent to the California gold fields. |
| 1850s | Adelina Brown born in Petaluma, California. |
| 1851 | The Pleasants family settles in Solano County, California. |
| 1856 | J.E. Pleasants moves to Los Angeles County to attend a private school on the William Wolfskill ranch. |
| 1859 | Overburdened with debts, Lemuel Carpenter (father of Mary Refugio Carpenter Pleasants) commits suicide. |
| 1859 | J.E. Pleasants makes his first trip into the Santa Ana Mountains. |
| 1861 | J.E. Pleasants moves to Santiago Canyon to serve as foreman of the Rancho Lomas de Santiago. |
| 1864 | Trying to escape the drought, J.E. Pleasants spends almost a year on the Mojave Desert herding cattle and horses. |
| 1865 | Mary Refugio Carpenter is granted a teaching certificate. |
| 1868 | J.E. Pleasants and Mary Refugio Carpenter marry on July 15th and settle in Aliso Canyon. J.E. Pleasants begins keeping bees about this time. |
| 1874 | Learning their homesite is actually on the Rancho Cañada de los Alisos, a neighboring rancho, the Pleasants move to upper Santiago Canyon. J.E. Pleasants begins raising Angora goats about this time. |
| 1879 | J.E. Pleasants serves as president of the Los Angeles County Beekeepers Association. |
| 1880 | J.E. Pleasants elected president of the Southern California Beekeepers Association. |
| 1884 | J.E. Pleasants goes to New Orleans to supervise the California bee exhibit at the World's Industrial and Cotton Exposition. |
| 1886 | Adelina Brown begins teaching school in Silverado and boarding with the Pleasants. |
| 1888 | Mary Refugio Carpenter Pleasants dies on January 26th. |
| 1888 | J.E. Pleasants sells his ranch to Helena Modjeska and moves to Silverado Canyon. |
| 1890 | J.E. Pleasants helps to found the first Orange County Fair Association. |
| 1890 | J.E. Pleasants and Adelina Brown marry. |
| 1892 | The Pleasants move to Williams Canyon. |
| 1902-1927 | J.E. Pleasants serves as Orange County's first Bee Inspector. |
| 1920 | J.E. Pleasants elected president of the California State Bee Keepers Association. |
| 1920 | J.E. Pleasants made an honorary member of the new Orange County Historical Society. |
| 1930 | J.E. Pleasants' recollections published by Touring Topics magazine. |
| 1931 | Adelina Pleasants publishes her three-volume History of Orange County (Los Angeles: J.R. Finnell & Sons). |
| 1932 | Adelina Pleasants publishes a series on "The Old Spanish Families of Orange County" in the South Coast News. |
| 1934 | J.E. Pleasants dies on June 13th. |
| 1934 | Adelina Pleasants moves to Orange. |
| 1937 | Adelina Pleasants publishes a series of historical features in the Santa Ana Register. |
| 1943 | Adelina Pleasants dies on May 10th. |
Bibliography
Armor, Samuel.
History of Orange
County, California
(Los Angeles: Historic Record Co., 1911), 112-114.
Armor, Samuel.
History of Orange
County, California
, 2nd ed. (Los Angeles: Historic Record Co., 1921), 218-219.
McPherson, William. "Joseph Edward Pleasants, '49er,"
Orange County History Series 3 (1939): 41-50.
Pleasants, Mrs. J.E.
History of Orange
County, California
, Vol. 2 (Los Angeles: J. R. Finnell & Sons, 1931),
154-160.
Meadows, Don, ed. The Cattle Drives of Joseph E. Pleasants from
Baja California in 1867 and 1868 (Los Angeles: Dawson's Book Shop, 1965).
Pleasants, William J. Twice Across the Plains, 1849 &
1856 (Fairfield, Wash.: Ye Galleon Press, 1981).
Sleeper, Jim. A Grizzly Introduction to the Santa Ana Mountains:
A Boys' Book of Bear Stories (Not for Boys) (Trabuco Canyon, Calif.: California
Classics, 1976).
Stephenson, Terry. "Old Hunter Series," Santa Ana Register (1919
May 24 and 31). Articles available in Orange County Newspaper and Magazine Clippings
Collection (MS-R81).
Collection Scope and Content Summary
This collection comprises the personal papers of J.E. Pleasants and his first and second
wives, Mary Refugio Carpenter Pleasants and Adelina Pleasants, and includes diaries,
correspondence, manuscripts, negatives, and photographic prints. J.E. Pleasants' long
association with the Santa Ana Mountains and Santiago Canyon, cattle ranching, and
beekeeping are all documented. The diaries and correspondence of Mary Refugio Carpenter
Pleasants provide a glimpse into life in Southern California in the 1860s. Adelina
Pleasants' work as a writer of Southern California and Orange County history in the early
20th century is also represented. The collection contains some tintypes, cabinet cards, and
a carte-de-visite album documenting a number of Southern California pioneers, including
members of the Carpenter and Wolfskill families.
The collection is organized in the following four series:
- Series 1. Biographical material, 1857-ca. 1979. 0.6 linear ft.
- Series 2. Correspondence, 1855-1946. 0.8 linear ft.
- Series 3. Manuscripts and research notes, ca. 1901-ca. 1939. 0.6 linear ft.
- Series 4. Photographs, ca. 1860-ca. 1949. 0.8 linear ft.
The Don Meadows Papers (MS-R01) in Special Collections and Archives, UC Irvine Libraries,
include Frances Meadows' complete handwritten transcriptions of the Mary Refugio Carpenter
Pleasants diaries and her extensive research notes on the people and events mentioned in the
diaries and correspondence. The Orange County Newspaper and Magazine Clippings Collection
(MS-R81) contains copies of a number of articles by Adelina and J.E. Pleasants.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library's online public access catalog.
Pleasants, Joseph E. (Joseph
Edward), 1839-1934--Archives.
Pleasants, Mary Refugio
Carpenter--Archives.
Pleasants, J.E.,
Mrs.--Archives.
Carpenter family--Archival
resources.
Wolfskill family--Archival
resources.
Ranching--California--Orange County--Archival
resources.
Bee culture--California--Orange County--Archival
resources.
Santa Ana Mountains
(Calif.)--History--Archival resources.
Santiago Canyon (Calif.)--History--Archival
resources.
Orange County (Calif.)--Archival
resources.
Photographic prints--California--Orange
County--19th century.
Photographic prints--California--Orange
County--20th century.
Cartes-de-visite--California--Orange
County--19th century.
Cabinet photographs--California--Orange
County--19th century.
Cabinet photographs--California--Orange
County--20th century.
Tintypes--California--Orange County--19th
century.
Card photograph albums--California--Orange
County--19th century.
Diaries--California--Orange County--19th
century.
Negatives--California--Orange County.
Artifacts--California--Orange
County.
Historians--California--Orange County.
Ranchers--California--Orange
County.
Other Index Terms Related to this Collection
Pleasants, Joseph E. (Joseph Edward),
1839-1934.
Pleasants, Mary Refugio Carpenter.
Pleasants, J.E., Mrs.