Flores Family Papers, 1840-1921

Printable guide [HTML]

Summary

Title:
Flores Family Papers
Dates:
1840-1921
Creators:
Platz, Edward H., Dr., Platz, Helen (Hartnett), Vallejo, Mariano Guadalupe, 1808-1890, Flores, Jose Ignacio, Guerra, Pablo de la, 1819-1874, Crespo, Angel, and Quintero, Regina
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.
Containers:
box: SB-01
Extent:
0.25 Linear Feet 61 items
Language:
Spanish; Castilian
Preferred citation:

Flores Family Papers, MS-03, Presidio Research Center, Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation.

Background

Scope and content:

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.

Biographical / historical:

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.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Edward Platz, 1991

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Revised by Chris S. Ervin
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2020-02-24 22:38:50 +0000 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open to researchers.

Terms of access:

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.

Preferred citation:

Flores Family Papers, MS-03, Presidio Research Center, Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation.

Location of this collection:
215 East Canon Perdido St.
Santa Barbara, CA 93101, US
Contact:
(805) 961-5369
dez@sbthp.org
Website