Finding Aid for the Cuaderno de Cuentas dela Casa del J[os]e Amesti del Año de 1840 a 1850, 1840-1866 LSC.170/541

Finding aid prepared by Citlali Sosa-Riddell, with assistance from Laurel McPhee, Winter 2005; machine-readable finding aid created by Caroline Cubé.
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Contributing Institution: UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Cuaderno de Cuentas dela Casa del J[os]e Amesti del Año de 1840 a 1850
Creator: Amesti, Jose
Identifier/Call Number: LSC.170/541
Physical Description: 0.5 Linear Feet (1 box) Layout: Average of 33 lines per page. Script: Cursive. Binding: Brown cloth over wrappers. 128 leaves : paper ; 32 x 22 cm
Date (inclusive): 1840-1866
Abstract: Accounting book of Jose Amesti, an merchant in mid-nineteenth century Monterey, California.
Physical Location: Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
Language of Material: Materials are in Spanish.

Restrictions on Access

Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

Restrictions on Use and Reproduction

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Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Cuaderno de Cuentas dela Casa del J[os]e Amesti del Año de 1840 a 1850 (Collection 170/541). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Provenance/Source of Acquisition

Ex libris Robert Ernest Cowan.

Processing Note

Processed by Citlali Sosa-Riddell, with assistance from Laurel McPhee in the Center For Primary Research and Training (CFPRT), Winter 2005.
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UCLA Catalog Record ID

UCLA Catalog Record ID: 9953597253606533 

Biography

Jose Amesti was a Spanish Basque who arrived in Monterey, California in the early nineteen hundreds. In 1822, he married Prudenciana Vallejo, daughter of Jose Vallejo, and the sister of Mariano Vallejo. Governor Alvarado granted Amesti the 15,400-acre Corralitos Ranch in 1827. Within a few years, Amesti had leased portions of his property for timber cutting, and established his own whipsaw lumber mill on the upper portion of the rancho. Jose Amesti and his wife Pudenciana Vallejo de Amesti had four daughters, Carmen, Santa, Celedonia and Tomasa Madariaga y Vallejo, who was adopted. All shared equally in the estate.

Scope and Content

This ledger is comprised of customer, client and employee names, orders, and inventories from Amesti's mill enterprise from the period of 1840 to 1866. Payments are recorded in pesos and silver; customers include the Mission San Diego and other California ranchos. The manuscript also contains information about Amesti's personal life, such as notes about life on the ranch, his feelings on the U.S.-Mexican War, the dowry of his adopted daughter, and the Mission Indians that the ranch employed. The record includes their wages, clothing items, and descriptions of labor. Following the description of the Mission Indians, there are ledgers concerning clothing items and food--possibly deductions taken out of their wages for clothing, liquor, and food. The manuscript also contains an inventory of harvested produce, and tools used in the mill. Some of the goods mentioned include garbanzos, pinto beans, lard, dried meat, chiles, potatoes, corn,and molasses.

Related Material

Bound Manuscripts Collection (Collection 170)  . Available at UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Manuscripts.