Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Brumagim, Mark
- Language:
- English.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The Brumagim Collection mainly consists of personal correspondence, including a number of letters from Brumagim to his family and friends in New York. Miscellaneous correspondence between Lillie Brumagim and her friends and relatives is a component of the collection, in addition to a number miscellaneous letters, photographs, pieces of music and publications written by both DM and Lillie Birmingham.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Mark Brumagim sailed out of New York Harbor on March 24, 1849, aboard the bark "Linda." The pioneer from New York's Montgomery County arrived in California in November of 1849. He opened a bank in Marysville in 1850, the first bank in California north of San Francisco. Eight years later, he and his brothers established the banking firm of Mark Brumagim and Company in San Francisco. Brumagim and his partners held investments as far away as Durango, Mexico, and later became creditors of John C. Fremont.
Brumagim played an active role in the Marysville community. Attempting to lower freight rates between San Francisco and Marysville, he became a trustee of the Citizen's Steam Navigation Company. He continued his involvement as the first treasurer of the Mutual Hook and Ladder Company, City treasurer and as a charter member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF). His wife, Mrs. Lillie Brumagim, had a great interest in music, poetry, and writing.
Brumagim, having changed his last name to Birmingham along with many of his relatives, spent his last several years residing in New York City. He died on December 23, 1914, in his eighty-eighth year. Mark's brother, the Reverend D.M.Birmingham, also a resident Northern California, died in 1915 at the age of 80.
- Physical description:
- 4 boxes
Access and use
- Location of this collection:
-
California State University, Chico, Special Collections Meriam Library400 West First StreetChico, CA 95929-0295, US
- Contact:
- (530) 898-6603