USA > California > San Francisco County > San Francisco > The annals of San Francisco; containing a summary of the history of California, and a complete history of its great city: to which are added, biographical memoirs of some prominent citizens > Part 62
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people, whom he regarded, that Harris should join the expe- dition, he consented. Harris paid accordingly his fifty dollars for a passage, and no more. It is from these circumstances, that afterwards arose a great scandal and much foolish elamor against Mr. Brannan ; and as the subject has been little understood, and never before properly explained, we think it right to enter a little upon it.
On the 31st of July the Brooklyn reached San Francisco, then called Yerba Buena, and the passengers immediately landed and squatted among the sand-hills of the beach. At first, there was but trifling work for them to do, save to erect adobe or frame buildings for the former inhabitants or themselves. There was little or no money to be had, in those days, in the country ; but their services were paid mostly in provisions or goods, which were consumed almost as soon as received.
Harris, after three months' connection with the association, grew tired of it, and wished to separate. He therefore asked the directors to let him go, and pay him the share of the common stock to which he thought he was entitled. His application was refused on many plausible grounds ; and, particularly, in regard to the payment of any thing, for this very good reason, that the association, after paying its debts, had nothing to divide-neither money nor goods, that could be shared. They further urged, that Harris himself had been all along supported out of the com- mon stock of provisions, and had received in that way a great deal more than his services were worth. Still dissatisfied, Harris raised an action, not against the whole association nor the direct- ors conjointly, but against Mr. Brannan himself, as an individual.
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The suit terminated in a formal jury trial, the first that ever took place in California. The alcalde of the day, Washington A. Bartlett, presided as judge ; and Colonel W. H. Russell acted as counsel for the defendant. The jury found for Mr. Brannan. Upon these simple circumstances, and the subsequent dissolution of the association, people have raised calumnies against the sub- ject of our sketch, and have pretended to consider him indebted for his present position and wealth to the money he wrongfully withheld from his fellow-partners in the firm of "S. Brannan & Co.," under which name the association had conducted its business transactions. The fact was, that Mr. Brannan had sup- plied every thing to that association, and received nothing from them but the original moderate passage-money, that being only from fifty to seventy-five dollars for each passenger. At the dis- solution of the concern, in 1847, its property was sold, its debts were paid, and the balance of the funds properly divided among the remaining partners.
Mr. Brannan, meanwhile, both as a partner and president of the associated immigrants, and as an individual on his own ac- count, was interested in a number of speculations. In 1846. he erected the machinery of two flour-mills in the existing Clay street, which were the first introduced into the country. He also, in January, 1847, projected and published a weekly news- paper called the "California Star," which was the first journal that appeared in San Francisco, and is the parent of the present "Alta California." In the fall of 1846, he had likewise commenced a farm at the junction of the San Joaquin and Stanislaus rivers : but, whether this was too slow a business for him, or that Provi- dence had simply willed it otherwise, his farming operations were failures, and he abruptly abandoned them.
In the fall of 1847, Mr. Brannan started a store at Sutter's Fort, under the name of C. C. Smith & Co. This was the first establishment of the kind formed in Sacramento Valley. In the spring of 1848, he bought out Mr. Smith, who shortly afterwards returned to the Atlantic States, possessed of a handsome fortune. The business was subsequently conducted under the firm of S. Brannan & Co. The discovery of gold had in the mean while attracted a great crowd to the neighborhood, and the demands
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and riches of the miners speedily enhanced prices to a wonderful degree. During 1848 and 1849, sales were made at this store to the extent of $150,000, on an average, per month. But, by and by, competition began to appear, and the first enormous profits to become less. Many other stores were established in the min- ing districts, and great importations of goods arrived. Mr. Brannan then withdrew from the new City of Sacramento, which had suddenly grown up around him. While there he had specu- lated in the town allotments like every other person, and like every body else, in the beginning, made much money by his ven- tures. Indeed it seemed at this period, that, like Midas, he could touch nothing that did not turn to gold in his hands.
In 1849, Mr. Brannan returned to San Francisco, where he had still preserved a residence and citizenship, and under the firm of Osborn & Brannan carried on an extensive business for nearly a year in China merchandise. In the noted affair of the "hounds" about midsummer of 1849, he took an active part, and mainly helped to extirpate that society of rascals from the town. In August following, he was elected a member of the first regular town-council ; and in 1851 was chosen president of the famous " Vigilance Committee."
Since the beginning of 1850, Mr. Brannan has chiefly confin- ed his business operations to dealings in real estate, both in San Francisco and Sacramento, in which he has been so successful that he is, at this moment, reported to be the wealthiest man in either city, and perhaps in all California. The many buildings which he has bought or erected are distinguished by their strength and magnificence ; and form some of the most striking and beau- tiful features of the city. Montgomery street is particularly remarkable for several of these substantial and elegant structures.
About the end of 1851, Mr. Brannan visited the Sandwich Islands, where he bought extensive properties, farming land, and building lots and houses at Honolulu. In 1853 he was elected a senator of California. Business and private engagements, how- ever, calling him to the Atlantic States, he was compelled to re- linquish the high honor and resign the office.
It is impossible, in our narrow limits, even to allude to the numberless public affairs in which this gentleman has been en-
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gaged in California. From the earliest to the latest records of San Francisco, we discover him appearing at every public meet- ing, and taking a prominent part in municipal business. At one time he is encouraging the establishment of the first school, and offering handsome contributions to the building ; at another he is haranguing the people on the subject of the "hounds ;" now, he takes on himself the responsibility of hanging a rogue by Lynch law for the benefit of the citizens ; now, he charitably be- stows sufficient land for a cemetery to the Odd-Fellows, of which Order he is an active member ; now, he bullies, reasons, and conquers in some purely municipal matters, urging a local im- provement, or where jobbing officials seek to line their pockets at the expense of the community. His energy, abilities, force of character and courage, are very great, and have been only the more conspicuously shown in face of those obstacles and dangers that would have hampered and filled with dread less bold and tal- ented men. He is but young still, yet years have passed since he was first noted for consummate skill and daring. No man has been better abused than himself, and yet to no man, perhaps, would the community sooner turn to find a leader who would not scruple to act determinedly upon principles which he thought right in themselves, however strange and obnoxious they might appear at first sight, or to commonplace, feeble minds. Such a man was needed in the early days of San Francisco, when vice and crime overshadowed law and justice. All honor and praise should therefore be freely given to him who did his duty at that perilous period. On other accounts, Mr. Brannan is entitled to notice and commendation ;- as a citizen whose great private for- tune has been invested in bestowing beauty and grandeur on the town, as well as for his well known public services on very many occasions.
Mr. Brannan married in 1844, and has now a family of four children. He is slightly above the middle stature, and well-pro- portioned. His features are agreeable and intelligent, while beauti- ful dark eyes give increased animation to his face. He dresses somewhat richly, as is the fashion in San Francisco ; and, in fine, wears a modest " imperial."
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JOSEPH L. FOLSOM.
CAPTAIN FOLSOM, who has been as intimately mingled up as any other man with the peculiar affairs of San Francisco, boasts a high revolutionary ancestry. He was born in the town of Mere- dith, Belknap, then a part of Strafford County, New Hampshire, on the 19th of May, 1817. Meredith is situated at the outlet of Lake Winnepiseogee, and here the paternal grandfather had immigrated from Exeter, N. H., soon after the return of peace in 1783. He was a near relative of Brig. Gen. Nathan Folsom, one of the first delegates from New Hampshire to the Conti- nental Congress ; an old Indian fighter on the Canadian frontier, and who also bore a prominent part in the revolutionary war.
Joseph's father died during the early childhood of our subject, leaving a family of young children. To secure the benefits of a good education for them, the estate was sold, and the family
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removed to Northfield, N. H. Having fitted for college, an ap- pointment as a cadet at the Military Academy at West Point was procured for young Folsom, through the friendship and kind- ness of Hon. Franklin Pierce, who was then member of Congress, and was subsequently elected President of the United States. Mr. Folsom entered that excellent institution in June, 1836, and graduated with honor in June, 1840. Being commissioned as brevet second lieutenant, he immediately went to Florida, under the command of Gen. Worth, then operating against the Seminoles, in that most trying and difficult campaign. After the war was over, having served some time longer, he was pro- moted to a second lieutenancy. He served another year in con- sequence of his own application, and then took charge of a com- pany of Indians in their removal to their new homes in the west. He afterwards joined his regiment, the 5th infantry, commanded by Brevet Brig. Gen. Brooke, on the Upper Mississippi. Having served at various places in the north-west until 1844, Lieut. Folsom was ordered to West Point Military Academy as In- structor in Infantry Tactics ; a position of the most distinguished trust, and the highest compliment the General Government could pay to his pre-eminent abilities, and to the efficient manner in which he had hitherto discharged his duties. There he re- mained two years.
When it became evident that there would be a war with Mexico, Lieut. Folsom twice applied for a release from his po- sition at West Point, in order that he might join his regiment at the scene of operations ; but his application was refused on both occasions. After war had actually commenced, he again applied, and was for the third time refused. This he considered a hard fate, and himself the most unfortunate of men. It is quite possible, however, that had he gone with his regiment to the war, he would have shared the fate of his brave brother offi- cers of that splendid corps. They suffered severely ; and at the dreadful struggle at Molino del Rey, every one of his senior offi- cers was slain.
When Col. Stevenson was about leaving for California, in command of the 1st regiment of New York volunteers, he, al- though personally unacquainted with Lieut. Folsom, applied for
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his services as a staff officer in the quarter-master's department of the regiment. This position Lieut. Folsom refused, unless he should also be promoted to the grade of captain. There was no precedent for such a double promotion. But eventually he was promoted to a first lieutenancy ; and on the day of the regi- ment's departure, he received a captain's commission. Having been relieved at West Point, he fitted out the expedition as quarter-master, and sailed with it. After a voyage of five or six months' duration, the command arrived at the Cove of Yerba Buena, now San Francisco, in the beginning of March, 1847. Upon arrival, Capt. Folsom received orders from Gen. Kearny to select a place on the Bay of San Francisco for a depôt of army stores, and to prepare it for receiving them. This post was to be Capt. Folsom's station as senior officer of the quarter-master's department on the North Pacific Coast. This rank-chief of that department- he held for nearly three years. After visiting all points on the bay, he selected Yerba Buena as the most suit- able location. In this selection, which may probably be consid- ered the germinating root of the city, he consulted only his orders and his judgment.
Capt. Folsom continued on duty as chief of the quarter- master's department and the commissariat during the war, and for a year after its close. For more than a year of which period, viz., from the summer of 1847 to the autumn of 1848, he was receiver of all funds collected during the Mexican war in the port of San Francisco, and made all disbursements for the civil, as well as the military government of California. He was conse- quently the first American collector ever appointed in California. In May, 1849, he was relieved, and left for the Eastern States. It was during this trip that he purchased the interest of the heirs of Leidesdorff in the estate of one of the pioneers of San Francisco, who had died in that city. This estate has been the subject of much contention-squatters, settlers, the city, the State Legislature, and the county, all, by turns, having claimed more or less of it. The limits of this sketch do not permit a discussion of the subject, which is elsewhere alluded to in this history ; but it may be said, without entering at all into the merits of the question, that Capt. Folsom has ever been anxious
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and ready to have the whole elaim tested before the courts, and finally settled. After an absence of seven months, Capt. Folsom returned to California, and was on duty a year and a half longer, as quarter-master.
This gentleman is one of the most remarkable instances of unexpected fortune, of which Californian history is so prolific. During the early part of his residence in San Francisco, and before the discovery of gold, or any idea had been entertained of its existence, he concluded that the natural location of the place insured it at some not very distant period the position of an im- portant city. With this idea, he invested all the means he could spare-some twelve or fifteen hundred dollars-in lots among the then barren sand-hills of Yerba Buena. For this he was remonstrated with by some of his brother officers, then at Monterey ; but he said that he believed his investments would eventually be worth something handsome, and form a reserve for him to fall back upon when wounds or old age might force him to retire from the army. He did not have to wait, however, for either wounds or years, ere the value of his investments began to be evident. Real estate, very soon after the discovery of gold and the consequent immigration, run up beyond all precedent, and his lucky expenditure became a source of great wealth. He is now one of the wealthiest citizens of California ; for besides the great value of the "Leidesdorff Estate," his other purchases have doubled and redoubled in value, to an astonishing degree.
In his general character, Capt. Folsom is above reproach. He is quiet in his manner, high toned in his sense of honor, gen- tlemanly in deportment, a fine tactician as a soldier, and an agreeable companion among his intimate friends. His military education has given him perhaps a little formality of manners, but there is good reason to believe that there is no laek in his heart of those qualities which constitute the firm and valued friend and the worthy citizen. Withal, his literary attainments are of the first order, and his opinions in matters of this sort are evidences of a refined and highly educated mind.
THOMAS O. LARKIN.
THOMAS (. LARKIN was born in Charlestown, Mass., on the 16th September, 1802. His ancestors came from Great Britain, and settled in Massachusetts prior to the eighteenth century. Their descendants were all burned out on the 17th June, 1775, while in the battle of Bunker's Hill. Thomas O. Larkin, the fa- ther of the subject of this sketch, was born in Charlestown, Mass. ; his wife was a native of Great Britain. The father died when his son Thomas was seven years old ; the mother when the latter was in the sixteenth year of his age.
At the age of nineteen, when in a book and stationery store in Boston, the subject of our sketch entered into a written contract with a young man of his own age, to leave their employer at the same hour and go to the south to seek their fortune. For a certain period, they were to live in common, and to possess but one purse in case only one of them obtained employment. They ac- cordingly sailed for the south, and landed at Wilmington, N. C., without adequate funds, acquaintances or prospects. Mr. Lar- kin, after having been engaged in mercantile pursuits in that State for six or eight years, relinquished it, to enter largely in a sawmill business. This unhappily soon swept away both his fortune and his health. While in North Carolina, he held the appoint- ment of Postmaster, and Justice of the County Court in Duplin County.
In 1830, he returned to Massachusetts with shattered health, but bold in adventure. His reduced condition led him to look towards the north-west coast of America, to recruit his health and fortunes. His uncle, in command of a Boston ship, had of- ten before the war with England visited that coast and the islands in the Pacific, trading for sandal-wood and furs for the
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China market. The half-brother of Mr. Larkin, John B. R. Cooper, in command of a vessel, had also followed the same busi- ness. The latter had married into the Vallejo family and set- tled in a country called California. Mr. Larkin determined to find his brother. The Boston ship owners, who sent yearly car- goes to the country named, refused to carry passengers ; but a passage was by chance obtained in an occasional vessel called the Newcastle, Capt. Hersey. This vessel was bound to the Pacific
coast, in search of a market. She left Boston in September, 1831, and arrived at the Sandwich Islands in February, 1832. From thence she sailed for California, and entered the port of San Francisco in April, 1832. Soon after she departed for Monterey, where she arrived the same month. Mr. Larkin there found his brother, and immediately began to employ himself in com- merce. He erected the first double geared wheat-mill in that part of the country. As there were only ship carpenters ashore, he had to make models for them to work by.
In 1833, Mr. Larkin was married, on board of a vessel then on the coast of California, under the American flag, by John C. Jones, the U. S. consul of the Sandwich Islands, who happened to touch on the coast. The bishop and padres of the pueblos and missions refused to perform the ceremony of marriage, as both the intending spouses were protestants, and they had objected to become Roman Catholics for the mere purpose of having the nup- tial bonds tied by a priest. Mrs. Larkin, of Mass., was the first lady from the United States who settled in California. The chil- dren of the marriage were the first Americans, that is, of the United States, on the paternal and maternal side, who were born in the country. In 1832, there were about eighty Americans, English and French, dwelling in California.
From 1834 down to 1846, Mr. Larkin engaged as many foreigners as chose to work, in making shingles, lumber and shaped timber, (the natives being employed by him in hauling, &c.,) and in putting up buildings and wharves for the Mexican government, and for individuals. He also purchased from the rancheros all the soap they could or would make, and all their produce they brought to Monterey. These transactions enabled him to export timber, lumber, shingles, flour, potatoes, soap, sea and land beaver, and
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sea-otter skins and horses, to the Sandwich Islands, Mazatlan and Acapulco, and to supply ships of war, whalers and other ves- sels touching on the coast. This was opening an entirely new trade in the country, the old trade having consisted exclusively of hides and tallow. Mr. Larkin also supplied the different Mex- ican governors in California with stores, clothing and funds. Each governor assumed the account of his predecessor, whether the latter had resigned voluntarily, or had been compelled to re- tire by force of arms. The United States Government paid the account due by the last governor.
During those years, when a vessel from Boston or other for- eign port arrived, she entered at Monterey. The customs' duties on merchandise were paid as follows : one-fourth to one-half in cash and the balance in goods at market prices. The amounts were drawn for on the supercargo by the treasurer of the depart- inent of California, in orders of $5 to $1000, in favor of an officer or creditor of the government. Previous to the supercargo commenc- ing business he had his steerage bulkheads taken away, and a large room fitted up with shelves, scales, and all the para- phernalia of a trader. This was his store, and here he sold in wholesale and retail. The prices charged were payable in hides, tallow and furs, in certain proportions. Every time the super- cargo entered the port, which would be six or eight times during the two following years,-for so long generally did each particu- lar vessel remain on the coast,-he would continue to sell and col- lect the different goods in payment. Interest on money was un- known in those days. Notes or receipts for merchandise and produce were rarely taken. No passage money up or down the coast, or over the country, was asked. There was not a hotel, tavern or boarding-house in the land. People from shore always found a free state-room in the ship, and those from the ship al- ways obtained good free quarters on shore.
Prices of produce, from 1840 to 1846, averaged as follows : Saddle horses, from $8 to $20 ; breeding mares, $3 ; grown cattle, for killing, $6 ; heifers, $3 ; year-old calves, $1 50; hides, $2; tallow, $6 per one hundred pounds ; flour, $6 per one hundred pounds ; potatoes, $3 per one hundred pounds ; wheat and bar- ley, 75c. to $1 per bushel ; joists and boards, $40 to $50
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per thousand feet ; beaver skins, $3 to $5 each ; sea-otter skins, five to six feet long, $35. Drafts on the U. S. Government or on the owners of whale ships, sold at from fifteen to twenty per cent discount.
In 1844, Mr. Larkin was appointed U. S. consul for Califor- nia. He was the first and last American consul ever appointed in the country. In 1845, he commissioned William A. Leides- dorff, as U. S. vice-consul for San Francisco. Mr. Larkin was also appointed by the President of the United States U. S. naval agent for the north-west coast of America. In 1847, he was ap- pointed by Commodore Shubrick U. S. naval store-keeper. Be- sides the two named commissions from the American Govern- ment, he received from President Polk another highly important one in California. The commissions and emoluments of these offices did not pay the incumbent's expenses in one of them.
In 1845, Mr. Larkin used every exertion which his great in- fluence in the country gave, to reconcile the people to a change of flags, and to another government. This change they expect- ed, and Mr. Larkin's object was to direct their inclinations towards his own country. He probably succeeded in doing this with all the native authorities in the northern prefecture. When Commodore Sloat arrived in Monterey on July 1st, 1846, he soon found it necessary to unfold the American flag over the old Mexican castle at that town. As there was no declaration of war against Mexico on the part of the United States known by the commodore or consul, the latter was at first desirous that the existing government of California should accept protection under his flag. This the native authorities were inclined to do, but they required more time for consideration than the commodore could give them. The idea was therefore abandoned, and formal possession was taken of the town on the 7th of July, 1846. During the drawing up of the proclamation by the commodore and consul, an armed launch, belonging to the U. S. ship Ports- mouth, arrived in Monterey from San Francisco, bearing the news of the taking of Sonoma by the " Bear Flag " party,-some fifty or sixty men,-under Commandant Ide. Mr. Larkin, at his own expense, sent couriers to San José, San Francisco, Sono-
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