Access
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Separated Materials
Acquisition Information
System of Arrangement
Processing Information
Family History
Scope and Contents
Indexing Terms
Title: Geil J. Norris family papers
Date (inclusive): 1828-1969
Date (bulk): 1828-1899
Collection Identifier: Vault MS
156
Creator:
Norris, Geil J., collector.
Extent:
1.0 box
(0.5 linear feet)
Contributing Institution:
California Historical Society
678 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA, 94105-4014
(415) 357-1848
reference@calhist.org
URL: http://www.californiahistoricalsociety.org/
Location of Materials: Collection is stored onsite.
Language of Materials: Most collection materials are in
Spanish, with some in English and one unidentified letter in
German.
Abstract: Consists of correspondence, broadsides, baptismal
certificates, land records, ephemera, and other materials created by and documenting
the Pico, Castro, and Sanchez families—from which Geil J. Norris was
descended—between the years 1828 to 1969, with the bulk of the materials dating from
the nineteenth century. Collection materials document the military and political
life of California in the Mexican era; the Mexican War; land tenure and transactions
in Monterey County; and familial and social relationships between prominent
Californios in the nineteenth century. Correspondents include: Agustin V. Zamorano,
Thomas O. Larkin, Pío Pico, Manuel Castro, Juan B. Castro, Rafael Sanchez, Maria
Antonia Castro de Sanchez, and Catalina Castro.
Access
Publication Rights
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials
must be submitted in writing to the Director of Library and Archives, North Baker
Research Library, California Historical Society, 678 Mission Street, San Francisco,
CA 94105. Consent is given on behalf of the California Historical Society as the
owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from
the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner.
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of
digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Geil J. Norris family papers, Vault MS 156, California
Historical Society.
Separated Materials
Photographs of Juan B. Castro, Manuel Castro, Samuel F. Geil, and Monterey,
California, have been separated and shelved under MSP Vault 156.
Acquisition Information
The collection was given to the California Historical Society by Mrs. Geil J. Norris
in 1979.
System of Arrangement
Collection is mostly arranged in chronological order.
Processing Information
Collection was reprocessed by Marie Silva in 2012.
Family History
Geil J. Norris of Salinas, California, was a descendent of the Cota, Pico, Castro,
and Sanchez families, prominent Mexican American families who settled in California,
mostly in the Monterey area, in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
Members of these families, among them Pío Pico, Manuel Castro, Juan B. Castro, and
Rafael Sanchez, were important figures in the military and political life of
California in the Spanish and Mexican periods.
Geil J. Norris' earliest Mexican Californian ancestor, Pablo Cota, accompanied
Junípero Serra on his expedition to California in the eighteenth century. Cota's
daughter Maria Isabel married José Maria Pico; among their children were Pío Pico
(governor of California, 1832 and 1845-1846), Andrés Pico, and Maria Antonia Pico.
Maria Antonia married Simeon Castro, with whom she had several children, including
Manuel Castro (prefect of Monterey and Mexican War general), Juan B. Castro, and
Maria Antonia Castro. The latter married Rafael Sanchez (secretary to Governor
Manuel Micheltorena), becoming Maria Antonia Castro de Sanchez. They had three
daughters: Dolores Sanchez, Eduvigues Bache, and Josefa Castro Sanchez. Josefa
married Monterey attorney Samuel F. Geil; their daughter Erlinda Geil Norris and her
husband Walter E. Norris were the parents of Geil J. Norris, who owned the
collection until his death in 1979.
Scope and Contents
The collection consists of correspondence, broadsides, baptismal certificates, land
records, ephemera, and other materials created by and documenting the Pico, Castro,
and Sanchez families—from which Geil J. Norris was descended—between the years 1828
to 1969, with the bulk of the materials dating from the nineteenth century.
Collection materials document the military and political life of California in the
Mexican era; the Mexican War; land tenure and transactions in Monterey County; and
familial and social relationships between prominent Californios in the nineteenth
century. Correspondents include: Agustin V. Zamorano, Thomas O. Larkin, Pío Pico,
Manuel Castro, Juan B. Castro, Rafael Sanchez, Maria Antonia Castro de Sanchez, and
Catalina Castro.
The collection contains many notable examples of early Californiana, including: an
1844 broadside announcing Thomas O. Larkin’s appointment as United States consul;
letters by Zamorano, Pío Pico, Thomas O. Larkin, and Manuel Castro; documents
pertaining to the Mexican War, including an 1846 bando and a letter of protest
written by the minister of the missions at Santa Clara and San José; and Sam Brannan
and Manual Castro greeting cards.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library's online public access catalog:
California--History--To 1846.
California--History--1846-1850.
California--Politics and government--To 1846.
Mexican Americans--California--History.
Mexican War, 1846-1848.
Real property--California--Monterey County.
Baptismal certificates.
Broadsides.
Ephemera.
Letters.
Property records.
Castro family.
Pico family.
Sanchez family.
Brannan, Sam, 1819-1889.
Castro de Sanchez, Maria Antonia, d.
1890
Castro, Catalina.
Castro, Juan B. (Juan Bautista),
1835-1915.
Castro, Manuel de Jesus, 1821-1891.
Larkin, Thomas Oliver, 1802-1858.
Pico, Pío, 1801-1894.
Sanchez, Rafael, b. 1806.
Zamorano, Agustin Juan Vicente, 1798-1842.