This collection contains materials related to Charles "Carl" H. Eilers (1875-1948) and his family. The Eilers family owned and farmed Rancho San Pedro lands between Dominguez, Alameda, Del Amo, and Santa Fe streets in what was to become Carson, CA from 1889 to 1958. Included in the collection are deeds and title papers, tax reports, receipts, statements, court papers and legal documents, ledgers, correspondence, photographs, newspaper articles, and books. The bulk of the material is in English, with some correspondence in German.

Charles H. Eilers was a German immigrant and long time resident and farmer in the Los Angeles County area now part of Carson. Charles was born in the area of Varel Germany on March 13, 1875. He came to the United States in 1889 at the age of 14 with his cousin Anton Luebkemann, and first lived in Redondo Beach where Anton ran a dairy known as "Klipton by the Sea". Eilers worked on Anton's dairy until he repaid Luebkemann for the transportation costs of coming to America. In 1896 he attempted to gain land through the Homestead Act of 1862, but did not complete the five years of custody required to receive ownership. After gaining citizenship in 1897 he purchased a track of land in 1898 in the Dominguez Colony, a sub-division of the Rancho San Pedro. At this time the area was referred to as Cerritos and was open farmland with nothing more than a single country store. For the first several years Charles leased the land to others to farm. During this time Eilers lived and worked elsewhere, including for the Hemet Land and Water Company, returning to Germany for a year, and in Santa Paula for the Lemoneira Company.

9 boxes (six document cases; three oversized boxes; 1 map case folder)

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