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California Land Grant Papers, 1834-1855, Plus Gold Rush Letters [158849]

Currency:USD Category:Books / Antiquarian & Collectible Start Price:2,500.00 USD Estimated At:5,000.00 - 10,000.00 USD
California Land Grant Papers, 1834-1855, Plus Gold Rush Letters [158849]
SOLD
2,600.00USD+ (520.00) buyer's premium + applicable fees & taxes.
This item SOLD at 2022 Dec 03 @ 22:02UTC-8 : PST/AKDT
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This lot is an important lot illustrating the in-depth length officials went to while they investigated Mexican Land Grant titles to California properties in the 1850s. The process was difficult, and involved two distinctly separate cultures and legal systems that clearly conflicted.

Recently, an 1850s archive belonging to Surveyor Edward Williams surfaced in the central mother lode region. His personal letters of the gold rush are included in this lot, as are all of his personal papers regarding his work on California land grants.

Lt. Edward Williams was a member of Company E, New York Volunteers under Capt. Nelson Taylor. He came to California about 1847. Williams was a deputy surveyor, later working for the Office of the Surveyor General of the Unites States for California. In 1858, Surveyor General J.W. Mandeville caused to be written a report outlining certain aspects of several Mexican Land Grants issued under then California Governor Alvarado. Mandeville had Williams copy the original documents exactly - inclusive of an ink copy on linen that is an "exact tracing" of the original documents, starting with 1834 up through about 1840. These "copies" were submitted to the Surveyor General in 1858 and sworn as a true copy. They are so good in their physical appearance, that if split out, it would be near impossible to tell the difference between these "copies" and the originals, which would have been written a mere ten to twenty years prior. Williams continued the title work by copying other documents from about 1841, though this time not as a tracing, but hand copied on the usual blue paper of the 1850s.

The striking fact in reading these documents is the same as what was discovered by lawyers when Fremont's land grant (and others) were studied. The Mexican Government, through Alvarado (regardless of other arguments to the contrary where Alvarado's legal authority to make land grants were argued), granted rights for these large land parcels in California to various people, but clearly stated they could not sell parts of the property. The wording was used many times in litigation of the period in both defense of the land grants, and in opposition to how the land grants were handled. The issues were actually quite simple, in that the Mexican legal standards for land grants was far different from those in the United States, and the two differing forms of written land ownership (and use) clashed. Neither Mexico nor the United States had any idea whatsoever that something as important as the California Gold Rush would ensue just a few years after, or that the Mexican War would work its way into the California "territory" far north of Mexico City, where heretofore human populations were scant, inclusive of small Russian enclaves in the north. In short, it was "no-man's" land. It is quite possible the very little thought went into the exact nature of the specific wording because there simply was no one else interested in land this far north.

These documents reflect a parcel of land granted to Francisco Mesa at "Corral de Tierra," a large parcel in Monterrey County, California. Mesa had requested land for "his personal use and that of his family." In the Grant, the title papers reflect "while the land is under (Francisco's) possession it cannot be divided, mortgaged, or a levy placed on it, nor handed down..." This clause became the central argument in all future cases against land title on Mexican Land grants. It is referenced in Spence's five volume treatise on Fremont inclusive of his letters (1984). In fact, Fremont's Mariposa Estate Lawyer, Rufus Lockwood, was one of the few lawyers who found a way to unwrap the mess.

These original documents help illustrate and thus tell the complex story of Mexican Land Grants in California. They are very rare, with perhaps only a few originals such as this in private hands.

The Personal Letters of Edward Williams
This is an archive of about thirteen letters from Ed (aka "Ned") to various family members, primarily his mother and sister Alice. About half are from Ed, the other half are written to him. The dates of the letters are; 1850: 2/10/1850, 4/15, 4/16, 4/28, 5/12, 6/10, 7/30, 10/11, 11/17, (illeg). 1851: 9/9/1851. The letters are generally readable, but the condition far from perfect, with water stains throughout and chips abundant along edges.

The letters are generally at least two pages, sometimes four or more, inclusive of writing in the crossed line custom to save paper. Most are datelined at Monterrey, where he discusses the people, the customs, setting and more. The 4/15/50 letter describes his trip to San Juan (Bautista) from Monterrey in detail while he was on his way to San Francisco. Williams writes of his great pleasure on tasting cooked beef by the Indians that he found was the best he ever tasted as they camped on the way to San Jose, with the ultimate goal, Mission Dolores in San Francisco. One of his first notes on San Francisco: "There are regular streets filled with all kinds of sorts of stores..." "The shipping covers the water as far as you can see. And those nearest the shore are converted into store houses, the rigging being taken down and the and holes cut in the sides for doors...The best houses in town are occupied by gamblers ... a large saloon filled with tables on which are played all kinds of games of chance - at some of the tables are displayed immense amounts of coin and gold in lumps worth from 1 to 5000 dollars which some poor infatuated fool of a miner has at some time lost to them."

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State: California
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