Faxon Dean Atherton family papers, 1852-1910

Printable guide [HTML]

Summary

Creators:
Atherton, Faxon Dean, 1815-1877
Abstract:
Dated between 1852 and 1910, the bulk of the collection consists of personal and business correspondence addressed to Faxon Dean Atherton; business records generated by Atherton, his agents, and associates in Valparaiso and California; and real estate records for land owned by Atherton in Alameda, Contra Costa, Monterey, and Santa Cruz counties. The collection also includes personalia and ephemera collected by Atherton family members; court documents and probate records; income, state, and county tax documents; and other papers.
Extent:
2 boxes, 1 volume (1.5 linear feet)
Language:
Collections materials are mostly in English , with some papers in Spanish .
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Faxon Dean Atherton family papers, MS 4129, California Historical Society.

Background

Scope and content:

Dated between 1852 and 1910, the bulk of the collection consists of personal and business correspondence addressed to Faxon Dean Atherton; business records generated by Atherton, his agents, and associates in Valparaiso and California; and real estate records for land owned by Atherton in Alameda, Contra Costa, Monterey, and Santa Cruz counties. The collection also includes personalia and ephemera collected by Atherton family members; court documents and probate records; income, state, and county tax documents; and other papers.

Correspondence (1852-1896) documents Faxon Dean Athertonā€™s family life, as well as his commercial and real estate ventures in Chile and California. Family correspondence includes letters written to Faxon Dean Atherton by his sister and brother-in-law, Amanda and Charles T. Ward; wife Dominga GoƱi de Atherton (in Spanish); children, George Atherton, Faxon Dean Atherton, Jr., Florence Atherton, and Isabel Edwards; and son-in-law Enrique Edwards. Letters written by Athertonā€™s friends and business associates document Athertonā€™s business activities in Valparaiso in the 1850s; the business activities and disputes of other New England merchants in Chile, including Loring & Co. and Samuel Crane & Co.; and Athertonā€™s commercial and real estate investments in California in the 1850s, 1860s, and 1870s, especially as recorded by his attorney James W. Thrift.

Business records (1852-1910) include accounts, receipts, invoices, and other documents created or collected by Faxon Dean Atherton, his San Francisco agent Alexander B. Grogan, and Dominga GoƱi de Atherton, in Valparaiso and California. These include billheads for a variety of mid-nineteenth-century Valparaiso and California businesses, including Loring & Co. Other business records include records for Dry Creek Tunnel & Fluming Co. in Shasta County and Fair Oaks Farm Dairy, owned and operated by Athertonā€™s son-in-law Percival W. Selby.

Real estate records (1859-1882) include surveys, deeds, indentures, accounts, and leases for California lands purchased by Faxon Dean Atherton, including San Cayetano, Corralitos, and Sal Si Puedes ranches in Santa Cruz County; San Lorenzo Ranch and Hayward lots in Alameda County; and Milpitas Ranch in Monterey County.

Other papers include report cards for Athertonā€™s children, including Florence Athertonā€™s Mills Seminary records; Faxon D. Atherton vs. Fortoul et als. court papers, documenting a land dispute between Atherton and members of the Vallejo family; estate records for New England merchant John Gorham Coffin, who died in Valparaiso; and two documents pertaining to the James Lick Trust, for which Atherton served on the board of trustees.

Biographical / historical:

Faxon Dean Atherton was born in Dedham, Massachusetts, in 1815. He began his commercial career in 1830 as an apprentice to his brother-in-law, Boston merchant Charles T. Ward, and started his own hauling business in Boston in 1832. Atherton first came to the Pacific Coast in 1833, securing a position with Loring & Co. at their ship chandlery firm in Valparaiso, Chile, the following year. Around 1835, he met George Henry Bowen, who would become his business partner and lifelong friend.

From 1836 to 1838, Atherton worked as a clerk for Alpheus B. Thompson, a merchant engaged in the hides and tallow trade on the California coast. During this period, Atherton penned his California diary and formed friendships with many prominent Californians, including Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo and Thomas O. Larkin (with whom he was to be associated in several real estate and commercial ventures).

Atherton settled in Valparaiso around 1840 and became a successful merchant dealing in hides and tallow, foodstuffs, and other commodities. In 1850, Atherton and Bowen joined Loring & Co. as partners. Eventually, Atherton became one of the wealthiest men on the Pacific Coast, making extensive investments in California commerce and real estate. In 1853, he hired San Francisco agent Alexander B. Grogan to represent his interests in California. After Athertonā€™s death, Grogan served as the executor of his estate.

Around 1860, Atherton returned to California to settle permanently, liquidating his assets in Valparaiso and reinvesting his money in the new state. Atherton's real estate purchases included Valparaiso Park in San Mateo County; the land now forms much of present-day Atherton. Other significant purchases in the 1850s and 1860s included: San Cayetano, Corralitos, and Sal Si Puedes ranches in Santa Cruz County; San Lorenzo Ranch and Hayward lots in Alameda County; and Milpitas Ranch in Monterey County. Atherton also served on the Board of Trustees of the Lick Trust and played an instrumental role in the construction of a railroad to Hayward.

Atherton married Dominga GoƱi, daughter of a prominent Chileno family. They had seven surviving children: Eulogia Isabel (wife of Enrique Edwards); Elena or Helena (wife of Captain Fred Macondray and Percival W. Selby); Marƭa Alejandra (wife of Lawrence Rathbone); Florence (wife of Ed Eyre); Faxon Dean Atherton, Jr. (husband of Jenny Selby); George H. B. Atherton (husband of California author Gertrude Atherton); and Francisco Atherton. Faxon Dean Atherton died at Valparaiso Park in 1877.

Processing information:

Processed by Marie Silva in 2011.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged in seven series: 1) Correspondence; 2) Personalia and ephemera; 3) Business records; 4) Legal records; 5) Real estate records; 6) Income, state, and county tax records; and 7) James Lick Trust records. Papers are arranged in rough chronological order within series.

Physical location:
Collection is stored onsite.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

California Historical Society collections have been transferred to Stanford University Libraries. Collections will be unavailable as Stanford accessions them and updates records. Please contact chscollection@stanford.edu with any inquiries.

Terms of access:

All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Director of the 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], Faxon Dean Atherton family papers, MS 4129, California Historical Society.

Location of this collection:
Department of Special Collections, Green Library
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-6004, US
Contact:
(650) 725-1022
chscollection@stanford.edu
Website