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Guide to the Charles Albert Storke Papers, 1856-1936
BANC MSS 73/71 c
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Table of contents
Collection Title: Charles Albert Storke Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1856-1936
Collection Number: BANC MSS 73/71 c
Creator:
Storke, C. A. (Charles Albert), 1847-1936
Extent:
Number of containers: 4 boxes, 3 cartons, 4 volumes and 1 oversize folder
Linear feet: 6
Repository: The
Bancroft Library
Berkeley, California 94720-6000
Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Abstract: Correspondence; manuscripts of his writings, including his memoirs; personalia; papers relating to his legal career; financial
records; papers relating to the operation of the Storke ranches in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties; personal papers of
other members of the More family, including those relating to the settlement of the Thomas Wallace More and Alexander Peter
More estates, 1856-1910. Included also are papers relating to the settlement of Storke's estate, primarily by his son, Thomas
More Storke.
Languages Represented:
English
Collection is open for research.
Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts
must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft
Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which
must also be obtained by the reader.
[Identification of item], Charles Albert Storke papers, BANC MSS 73/71 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California,
Berkeley.
Photographs and portraits have been transferred to the Pictorial Collection of The Bancroft Library.
The papers of Charles Albert Storke were removed from the Thomas More Storke Collection which came to The Bancroft Library
in 1972 as a gift of the Thomas More Storke Estate. The collection comprises 4 boxes, 3 cartons and one oversize portfolio
and is a fragmentary portion of his personal papers. The collection includes letters addressed to Storke together with copies
of his replies; MSS of his writings, including his memoirs; personalia; legal and financial material; papers relating to the
title and operation of the Storke Ranches in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties; personal papers of other members of the More
family; and papers relating to the settlement of Storke's Estate, primarily by his son, Thomas More Storke. Portraits of C.
A. Storke have been removed for separate cataloging in the portrait collection.
The papers as a whole are described in greater detail in the Key to Arrangement which follows.
Charles Albert Storke was born on November 19, 1847 at Branchport, Yates County, New York. At the age of sixteen he enlisted
in the Wilderness Campaign of the Civil War and spent six months in seven prison camps following his capture by Confederate
forces. In June 1870, Storke graduated summa cum laude from Cornell University and two years later he moved to California
as a teacher of mathematics and Latin at the new Santa Barbara College. He established the
Los Angeles Herald newspaper on October 7, 1873 and later was admitted to the California Bar where he actively practiced until 1913. During this
period he became recognized as a leading authority on early California land grants.
Storke served in the California Legislature during 1883-1884 and 1889-1890 where he vigorously fought the Southern Pacific
Railroad and its political machine. He became District Attorney of Santa Barbara in 1898, the town's first Mayor in 1900,
and was editorial manager of the
Santa Barbara Daily News, 1913-1925. In 1923 he was appointed to the California State Board of Education by Governor Friend W. Richardson.
On September 10, 1873, Storke married Martha More, the daughter of Thomas Wallace More and Susanna Hill; their marriage ended
in divorce. On July 26, 1917 he subsequently married Mary Emeline (Gregory) Webb, the eldest daughter of Reverend John M.
Gregory, the first President of the University of Illinois. Storke compiled a family genealogy in 1925,
The Genealogy of the Descendants of Moses Stork Scarborough, Yorkshire, Old England and a revised and larger work appeared in 1935 as
The English Storkes in America.
C. A. Storke died on December 6, 1936 at the age of 89.