Bernal Family Papers, 1849-approximately 1896

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Summary

Creators:
Bernal family
Abstract:
This collection chiefly documents business, legal, financial, and real estate-related activities of the Bernal family and their associates in the San Francisco Bay area of California in the mid-to-late 19th century.
Extent:
67 items in 1 box
Language:
The records are in English and Spanish .

Background

Scope and content:

This collection chiefly documents business, legal, financial, and real estate-related activities of the Bernal family and their associates in the San Francisco Bay area of California in the mid-to-late 19th century.

The chronologically-arranged documents demonstrate the range of legal, financial, and real estate-related transactions initiated by or concerning the Bernal Family and their associates. Included in this series are legal contracts, mortgages, leases, title deeds, promissory notes, tax receipts, and general accounting records. The series also includes materials created and / or signed by California-based administrators, most notably by Jacques Antoine Moerenhout. The Belgian-born Moerenhout served as consul for France in the United States and Tahiti and authored The Inside Story of the Gold Rush (Campbell 85). Also represented is Henry Haight, the San Francisco-based banker and uncle of the tenth governor of California, Henry H. Haight.

The chronologically-arranged correspondence includes personal and business letters to and by the Bernal Family members and their associates. Many letters were directed to Geronima Rufino de Bernal, with a minority of letters directed to Carmen Sibrian de Bernal.

Two chronologically-arranged portraits comprise their own series. Both portraits were taken by San Francisco-based photographers, Charles Lake Cramer and George Daniels Morse, sometime during the last thirty years of the nineteenth century. Only the sitter in Morse's photograph was named and identified as Luis Ruffino.

Finally, ephemera are contained in the last folder of the collection. These items include: a blank indenture form signed by Charles C Moore; a "Compromisos" (or Obligations) printed card, filled in with pencil; an empty envelope addressed to Carmen Sibrian de Bernal, postmarked January 3, 1882; and two business cards, one for Mr. and Mrs. Aldrich and the other for Mr. and Mrs. Forbes.

Biographical / historical:

The Bernal Family resided in the San Francisco Bay area during the latter part of the 19th century. Carmen Sibrian de Bernal, who was born at San Juan Bautista Mission on April 14, 1804, married Jose Cornelio Bernal on Junee 26, 1819 at Santa Clara Mission. As these documents reveal, Carmen Sibrian de Bernal assumed a greater role in the family's legal and financial matters after the death of her husband in November 1850. The documents also demonstrate that the couple's son, Jose de Jesus Bernal, born circa December 26, 1830 at San Francisco Mission, also took an active role in the family's dealings, particularly in real estate affairs. Jose de Jesus Bernal eventually married Geronima Rufino, whose family members also contributed to this collection. Other persons who had familial ties to the Bernals include members of the Vasquez and Higuera families. Other associates include members of the Italian and Euro-American communities in the San Francisco area.

Acquisition information:
Purchased from Argonaut Bookshop, March 1949.
Arrangement:

The collection is arranged in 4 series in 1 box:

  • Documents
  • Correspondence
  • Cartes-de-visite (2 items)
  • Ephemera (5 items)

Rules or conventions:
Finding Aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
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