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Flores Family Papers
MS-03
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
Spanish; Castilian
Contributing Institution:
Presidio Research Center
Title: Flores Family Papers
source:
Platz, Edward H., Dr.
source:
Platz, Helen (Hartnett)
creator:
Vallejo, Mariano Guadalupe, 1808-1890
creator:
Flores, Jose Ignacio
creator:
Guerra, Pablo de la, 1819-1874
creator:
Crespo, Angel
creator:
Quintero, Regina
Identifier/Call Number: MS-03
Physical Description:
0.25 Linear Feet
61 items
Date (inclusive): 1840-1921
Abstract: This collection consists of twenty handwritten documents, twenty-five newspaper clippings, ten photographs, and three miscellaneous
publications concerning Santa Barbara Presidio Commandant Gumesindo Flores and his wife Cipriana Llano Flores.
Container: SB-01
This collection consists of twenty handwritten documents, twenty-five newspaper clippings, ten photographs, and three miscellaneous
publications. Among the holographs are several poignant letters to Cipriana Flores from her mother in Mexico during the mid
19th century and copies of legal documents employed by Cipriana to justify her claim to the Presidio
comandancia to U.S. authorities. The certificates or testimonials by many of the men who knew Flores provide information on his military
career in California, as well as the careers of the men who are testifying.
There are also several pages from an early Spanish cookbook and a prayer. Photographs are of Cipriana Flores and various family
members, many of them taken at the Presidio. A scattering of genealogical notes accompany the photographs. Clippings include
obituary notices of Flores family members and articles about Cipriana Flores and the Presidio dating from the early 20th century.
Gumesindo Flores (d.1860) was Santa Barbara Presidio's last
comandante, arriving in Santa Barbara from Monterey in 1842 where he had been in command since 1839. He married Cipriana Llanos Quintero
in 1835 and they had ten children. They lived in a wooden house on the 900 block of Santa Barbara Street, built in 1818.
The house was destroyed in the 1925 earthquake. Flores was murdered July 16, 1860 by an assassin and is buried at Mission
Santa Barbara. Cipriana Flores was born in Mexico on September 27, 1818 and came to California in 1833 when she was 15 years
old. She died at the age of 103 on November 23, 1921. The collection was compiled and preserved by Helen "Nellie" Hartnett
Platz, who was given many of the documents by her mother Rose Noe Hartnett, the granddaughter of Cipriana and Gumesindo Flores.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Edward Platz, 1991
The documents were transcribed and translated by Ruth C. Adams, Maria Powell, and John C. MacGregor from 1989-1990.
Flores Family Papers, MS-03, Presidio Research Center, Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation.
Collection is open to researchers.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Archivist-Librarian.
Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation Research Center as the
owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be
obtained by the reader.
Existence and Location of Copies
Copies of original documents are available for use by researchers.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Letters
Photographs
Santa Barbara Presidio (Santa Barbara, Calif.)
Platz, Edward H., Dr.
Platz, Helen (Hartnett)
Flores Family
Flores, Gumesindo
Flores, Cipriana Justina de Llanos, 1818-1921