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Register of the Winkley (John W.) "Major Pierson Barton
Reading, California Pioneer"
Mss167
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Title: Winkley (John W.) "Major Pierson Barton Reading,
California Pioneer"
Collection number: Mss167
Creator:
Extent: 0.25 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.
Collection is open for research.
[Identification of item], Winkley (John W.) "Major Pierson Barton
Reading, California Pioneer", Mss167, Holt-Atherton Department of Special
Collections, University of the Pacific Library
Pierson Barton Reading (1816-1868)came to California with Peter
Burnett's party (1843). Upon arrival he applied for lands at the north end of
the Central Valley on the west side of the Sacramento River between Cottonwood
Creek and Flat Creek totaling about twenty-six thousand acres. The grant was
the northernmost Mexican land grant, known as Rancho Buena Ventura, now in
Shasta County. Reading worked for Capt. Sutter until it became probable that
war would be declared against Mexico (1845). He then enlisted under John C.
Fremont and was appointed paymaster of the California Battalion with the rank
of major. He was at Sutter's Fort in March 1848 and quickly returned to his own
lands to search for gold. In the latter part of March he discovered gold and it
was reported that he took out $80,000 worth of the precious metal. In the fall
of 1849 Major Reading fitted out an expedition to discover the bay into which
the Trinity and Klamath rivers must empty. The bark Josephine, in which the
party sailed, was driven by a storm to Vancover Island. He then engaged in
business in Sacramento with Hensley and Snyder (1849-1850).
In 1850 Major Reading visited Washington to settle his accounts as
Paymaster of the California Battalion. In 1851 Reading was nominated Whig
Candidate for governor but was defeated. In 1854 Reading again went east for a
hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court on his land grant claims. There he met
and married Fanny Wallace Washington. Reading then returned (1856) with his
bride by steamship, remaining on his Shasta County ranch and devoting his
attention to agricultural pursuits until his death.
Manuscript biography by John Winkley of the prominent northern
California pioneer, Major Pierson Barton Reading (1816-1868). Winkley accessed
three collections in his research for this biography: the Reading family papers
in the possession of Major Reading's grand-daughter, Eleanor Lee
Reading-Templeman of Arlington, Virginia; a file at the California State
Library in Sacramento; and, papers at Sutter's Fort, Sacramento. The family
collection includes letters, personal notations, newspaper clippings from
Shasta City, Sacramento, San Francisco, and other towns and a biographical
manuscript on Major Reading by his daughter, Alice Reading. Sutter's Fort holds
a diary kept by Mrs. Pierson B. Reading (1861-1862). The State Library holds
Reading's correspondence.