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Register of the Inez Henderson Pond Collection,
1827-1962
Mss10
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Title: Inez Henderson Pond Collection,
Date (inclusive): 1827-1962
Collection number: Mss10
Creator:
Charles Pond II & Mary Pond Culbertson
Extent: 9 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], Inez Henderson Pond Collection, Mss10,
Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University of the Pacific
Library
Inez Henderson Pond was the granddaughter of R.W. Henderson who came to
Stockton (Calif.) in 1860. Henderson practised dentistry there until his death
in 1911. Her father, Walter R. Henderson, also practised dentistry in Stockton.
He died in 1918. Her mother, Elizabeth Drown, was a descendant of Shem Drowne,
the coppersmith who created the brass grasshopper atop Faneuil Hall in Boston.
One of her cousins, W. Moran Drown, a well-known academic painter of the late
19th c., exhibited works at the Paris Exposition of 1900.
Mrs. Pond was born in Calaveras County (1891) but spent her early years
in Stockton. Following graduation from Stanford University in 1914, Pond worked
as a librarian with the Stockton Unified School District (1914-1920 and
1934-1955), as a publicist for the Stockton Chamber of Commerce and as a
freelance journalist with the Stockton Daily Independent and Stockton Record
(1930-1935).
In 1919 Inez Henderson married aviator, Charles McHenry Pond (b. 1882),
son of Rear Admiral Charles F. Pond (1856-1929)---who had gained fame in 1897
as commander of the U.S. Marines that took Kapiolani Palace upon the deposition
of Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii---and Emma McHenry. Charles McHenry Pond was
the first pilot (1920) for the original air service connecting San Francisco
and Los Angeles. At the time of their marriage, the Ponds lived in Stockton,
where Mr. Pond operated a flying school. In 1921 Inez Pond moved with her
husband to Berkeley where their two children, Charles "Chad" and Mary Virginia,
were born. In 1930 Mr. and Mrs. Pond separated and the latter returned to
Stockton with the two children. There she researched and published most of the
articles upon which her reputation as a local historian rests. After 1935 the
demands of her librarian's job obliged Inez Pond to set her career in
journalism aside. Inez Pond retired in 1955 with the intention of resuming her
career as an historian. During her final years she wrote both history and
fiction but died of cancer (1962) before publishing anything substantial.
The Pond/McHenry family were prominent in many venues. Admiral Pond's
mother-in-law, Ellen Metcalf McHenry (1827-1922), published considerable poetry
in Bay Area newspapers during the late 19th century and was a friend of Ina
Coolbrith. Her husband, attorney John McHenry (1809-1880), had been a friend of
Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren and a municipal court judge in New Orleans
before coming to California (1850). He was active in San Francisco Democratic
politics and an associate of David Broderick, but, as a Southerner, was obliged
to retire from public life during the Civil War.
The Pond family were related to the renowned California landscape
painter, William Keith (1838-1911)---a close friend of John Muir---through the
marriage of Judge and Mrs. McHenry's other daughter, Mary, to the artist. Mary
McHenry Keith (1852-1943), an active suffragette, was the first woman to
graduate from Hastings Law School (1882). She gave a susbstantial collection of
Keith's paintings to St. Mary's College, Moraga (Calif.), where art professor,
Brother Cornelius, was the chief biographer of the artist (1938).
One of Admiral Pond's daughters, Elizabeth Keith Pond, was particularly
close to Mary McHenry Keith, cared for her during her final years, and was her
principal heir. Miss Pond established both the William Keith Memorial Sketch
Club of Berkeley (1928), and, following Mrs. Keith's death, the Keith Art
Association (1946). Elizabeth Keith Pond gave Judge McHenry's papers, her
father's papers, and William Keith's papers to the Bancroft Library (1956).
Miss Pond was also close to her sister-in-law, Inez Henderson Pond. The latter
lived for awhile with Elizabeth Pond at the former Keith home in Berkeley. Miss
Pond gave Inez Henderson Pond those family papers and Keith paintings which had
not been formerly disposed of elsewhere (1957).
In addition to Henderson/Drown family documents and Pond/McHenry family
correspondence and photographs, the Inez Pond Collection consist of Inez
Henderson Pond's research notes, drafts and published articles on Stockton, San
Joaquin County, the Mother Lode and California, with particular emphasis on the
Gold Rush period. Another prominent element in the collection is a group of
writings, clippings and documents pertaining to William Keith and his family.
These materials were probably collected by Mrs. Mary McHenry Keith and Miss
Elizabeth Keith Pond, Mrs. Keith's niece and IHP's sister-in-law. Many
photographs in the collection represent Henderson/Drown and Pond/McHenry family
members. There is a large group of photographs of Admiral Pond in many of the
locations in which he served, notably in China, Alaska, and Guam, as well as in
the laying the Trans-Pacific Cable off Midway (1903), and, in the clean-up work
following the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire (1906). Another important group
of photographs is identified as having been taken by William Keith---rare
snapshots of his wife, dog, and portrait subjects, as well as of landscape
motifs.