Register of the Stockton (Calif.) Furniture Factory Records & "Fica" Dorrance Scrapbook, 1879-1882; 1897

Processed by Don Walker; machine-readable finding aid created by Don Walker

Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections

University Library, University of the Pacific

Stockton, CA 95211

Phone: (209) 946-2404

URL: http://www.pacific.edu/Library/Find/Holt-Atherton-Special-Collections.html

Register of the Stockton (Calif.) Furniture Factory Records & "Fica" Dorrance Scrapbook, 1879-1882; 1897

Collection number: Mss12

Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections

University Library

University of the Pacific

Contact Information

Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections
University Library, University of the Pacific
Stockton, CA 95211
Phone: (209) 946-2404
URL: http://www.pacific.edu/Library/Find/Holt-Atherton-Special-Collections.html

Processed by:: Don Walker
Date Completed:: November 16, 1993
Encoded by:: Don Walker

Descriptive Summary

Title: Stockton (Calif.) Furniture Factory Records & "Fica" Dorrance Scrapbook,

Date (inclusive): 1879-1882; 1897

Collection number: Mss12

Creator: Frances C. Dorrance

Extent: 0.5 linear ft.

Repository: University of the Pacific. Library. Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections

Stockton, CA 95211

Shelf location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.

Language: English.

Administrative Information

Access

Collection is open for research.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Stockton (Calif.) Furniture Factory Records & "Fica" Dorrance Scrapbook, Mss12, Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library

Biography

The rather obscure manufacturing firm first named in the title of this collection seems to have existed in Stockton as early as 1879 and late as 1888. The earlier date is clearly established by notations in the two account books which make up this collection. The later date is inferred from a reference to the factory in the Stockton City and San Joaquin Directory, 1887-88, which, although it contains no entry for the "Stockton Furniture Factory," notes in passing that one Martin Schneider is a cabinet maker there.

The factory was apparently owned from 1879 until about 1883 by James V. Logan and his sister, Mary Elizabeth Logan Doan. Sometime around the latter date, the factory was taken over by Mrs. Doan's sons, Charles E. and Lattimer E. Doan. Lattimer was an oil man of San Francisco, while Charles E. Doan, whose biography appears in Tinkham's History of San Joaquin County (1923), was Superior Court Reporter in Stockton. Mrs. Mary E.L. Doan died in Stockton in 1919.

Nowhere on the account books themselves is there any mention of the company, although many pages preface month and year with the word "Stockton." The clients named form a broad cross-section of Stockton citizenry, from A.N. Baker, saloon keeper, through John Wallace, civil engineer. Apparently the factory made furniture to order. The range of work noted in the second volume--a day book, or log book of items manufactured for individuals--extends from beds, bureaus and chairs to wardrobes. The largest single order seems to have been for eighteen office chairs.

Stockton Furniture was probably out of business by 1897, since the two account books which contain the records of the firm were used by one "Fica" Dorrance, from February 17, 1897, as a scrapbook. "Fica" Dorrance was probably Frances C. Bird Dorrance, the second wife of harness and saddle manufacturer and co-owner of the Stockton Daily Independent, H.T. Dorrance, who had been in business in Stockton since 1850. One consequence of the second use of these account books is that many pages of the Stockton Furniture Manufacturing Company's records are obscured by newspaper clippings. In the volume where the clippings are most in evidence one also finds a sequence of handwritten essays on diverse topics, possibly by Mrs. Dorrance.

Scope and Content

The clippings Mrs. Dorrance has pasted over the index pages and most of the first 120 pages of the Stockton Furniture Factory's account books refer to society women, causation, divination, electrical therapy, woman suffrage, phrenology, performing artists, California tourist attractions and countless other delights. The anonymous essays and addresses contained in the same volume range from descriptions of California to a disquisition on food.

VOLUME ONE: "DAY BOOK, 1879-1882" [N.B.--Entries contain name of customer, description of item(s), cost]

front paper---"Fica Dorrance/February 17, 1897/Stockton..."

p. 1----------Table of Contents [by Fica D.?; to what?] ["Chapters" incl. "History," "Poetry," "Religious," "Biography," etc.]

pp. 3-46------STOCKTON FURNITURE FACTORY RECORDS: Log of work done for customers, 11-12/1879

pp. 47-56-----[missing]

pp. 56-80-----STOCKTON FURNITURE FACTORY RECORDS: Log of work done for customers, 1-2/1880 [p. 77 torn out, lying loose in book]

pp. 81-88-----[missing]

pp. 89-104----STOCKTON FURNITURE FACTORY RECORDS: Log of work done for customers, 3-4/1880

pp. 105-110---[missing]

pp. 111-237---STOCKTON FURNITURE FACTORY RECORDS: Log of work done for customers, 4-12/1880

pp. 238-433---STOCKTON FURNITURE FACTORY RECORDS: Log of work done for customers, 1-12/1881

pp. 434-478---STOCKTON FURNITURE FACTORY RECORDS: Log of work done for customers, 1-5/1882

pp. 479-480---[Blank]

endpaper------"Arrington Lunt, eldest child of William..." [paragraph of genealogical info, n.d.]

VOLUME TWO: "STOCKTON FURNITURE FACTORY RECORDS, 1880-1881" [N.B.--chiefly now a scrap and note book of Fica Dorrance]

Tabular section--STOCKTON FURNITURE FACTORY RECORDS: Alphabetical list of customer names and page numbers {3 pp.); from tab "C" through "V" are clippings w/ occasional lists of names [15 pp.]; remaining tabs have been removed

pp. 1-2----------Cut in half lengthwise; contain clippings

pp. 3-15---------Clippings [chiefly sentimental poetry]

p. 16------------Clipping: "The Glory of Mendocino"

pp. 17-59--------Clippings, many on women's issues [p. 24, 28, 37-39, 48, 56 have no clippings; p. 36 nearly bare]

p. 40------------"Dance on Buena Vista's summit" [Calif. Indians]

pp. 60-61--------Clipping: "Christmas at Fort Sutter in 1847"

p. 62------------STOCKTON FURNITURE FACTORY RECORDS:Payments to H.S. Fickett [owner of Stockton Furniture Factory bldg.], 1879

pp. 63-74--------[missing]

p. 75------------STOCKTON FURNITURE FACTORY RECORDS

p. 76------------"A California episode of Ulysses S. Grant"

p. 77------------STOCKTON FURNITURE FACTORY RECORDS

pp. 78-79--------"Stanford clashes w/ Berkeley on the solution life"

p. 81------------"A Bradley Martin affair in Siskiyou"

pp. 82-83--------"The Jesse Benton Fremont of today"

p. 90------------STOCKTON FURNITURE FACTORY RECORDS

pp. 94-104-------STOCKTON FURNITURE FACTORY RECORDS

pp. 105-116------[missing]

p. 117-----------STOCKTON FURNITURE FACTORY RECORDS

p. 120-----------"By a Californian" [bk. review of W.C. Morrow's The Ape, the Idiot & Other People]

p. 128-130-------STOCKTON FURNITURE FACTORY RECORDS

p. 132-----------STOCKTON FURNITURE FACTORY RECORDS

pp. 134-135------STOCKTON FURNITURE FACTORY RECORDS

p. 137-----------STOCKTON FURNITURE FACTORY RECORDS

p. 139-----------"California field idylls"

p. 142-----------STOCKTON FURNITURE FACTORY RECORDS

p. 150-----------STOCKTON FURNITURE FACTORY RECORDS

p. 151-----------"George De Long writes a play..."

p. 152-----------STOCKTON FURNITURE FACTORY RECORDS

p. 158-----------STOCKTON FURNITURE FACTORY RECORDS

pp. 163-172------[missing]

pp. 173-74-------essay: "California" (1863)

p. 175-----------essay: "Cal. Scenery"

p. 176-----------essay: "Flowers"

pp.177-78--------essay: "Lake & Mountain"

pp.179-85--------essay: "A Midsummer Night in California"

pp.186-87--------poem: "Joe Bowers" [by C.W. Haskins]

p. 188-----------essay: "Not of California can it be sung..."

pp.189-90--------essay: "Southern Cal."

p. 191-----------essay: "Discovery in gold"

pp.192-93--------poem: "The Last Taschastas"

pp.195-96--------essay: "All cities are alike after all"

p. 197-----------poem: "Truth is never a babe and never a hag"

pp.198-202-------essay: "An Indian hangs from a cliff of granit [sic]like an eagle"

pp.203-211-------[missing]

pp.211-12--------poem: "Thoughts of the past take hope..." [loose; laid in betw. 202 & 213]

pp.213-14--------poem: "When music's heavenly maid was young..."

pp.215-226-------[missing]

pp.228-237-------address: "I assure you it gives me great pleasure..."

pp.238;243-245---clippings misc.

p. 246-----------clippings: "Another pioneer passes over" [Henry Livingston, journalist]

pp. 251-52-------clippings: "The great march of the intellect"

pp. 253-60-------[missing]

pp. 263-69-------clippings: "Angel's Wickedness"

pp. 270-73-------clippings: "Longfellow Advises"

p. 275-----------clippings: "The first Thanksgiving Day celebration in California"

pp. 277-280------[missing]

pp. 281-282------STOCKTON FURNITURE FACTORY RECORDS

p. 283-----------clippings: "The Story of the Utica Mine"

p. 284-----------STOCKTON FURNITURE FACTORY RECORDS

p. 285-----------clippings: "Death of Capt. W.F. Swasey..."

pp. 288-289------STOCKTON FURNITURE FACTORY RECORDS

pp. 290-91-------clippings: "First to sail into our port" [Cpt. Ebenezer Dorr];"Ella R. Henderson entertains w/ a recital" [loose; laid in]

pp. 292-93-------clippings: "San Francisco of today"

p. 294-----------STOCKTON FURNITURE FACTORY RECORDS

p. 300-----------clippings: "Tributes to pioneers"[Stockton]

pp. 301-302------STOCKTON FURNITURE FACTORY RECORDS

p. 304-----------STOCKTON FURNITURE FACTORY RECORDS

pp. 305-306------[missing]

p. 307-----------STOCKTON FURNITURE FACTORY RECORDS

p. 309-----------clippings: "Oakland's latest engagement" [Richard L. Partington & Ida B. Hussey]

p. 310-----------clippings: "A medal for California" [at World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893]; "The Bear Flag"

p. 311-----------clippings: "The significance of the day" [Admission Day]

pp. 314-15-------essay: A Dialogue: "He" & "She" [written upside down from preceding]

pp. 316-19-------essay: "The Prophet's mission is to please..."

pp. 342-338------story: "I am on board a yacht which leaps..."[written upside down from preceding, i.e. text begins w/ pg. 342 and proceeds through lower # to end]

pp. 337-336------story: "At Paris it was in the Louvre that I first saw her..."

pp. 334-324------story: "A Dream or a Delusion" [same story as preceding, extended & varied]

Endpapers--------essay: "Utopia"