Portrait of a drawing of Abel Stearns, ca.1840-1860

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Description

Photograph of a drawing of Abel Stearns, ca.1840-1860. From the waist up. He has hair which covers his ears. His hairline is receding. He is clean shaven. He is wearing a 3-piece suit with bow tie. He is facing slightly to his left.; Born in Massachusettes in 1799; died at San Francisco in 1871. Came to California in 1829 from Mexico where he had been living for 3 years and where he was naturalized in 1828. Don Abel was a trader, became a great land and cattle owner and at his death, left a very large estate to his wife, Arcadia, daughter of Jauan Bandini, having had no children. Stearns was Sindico, a suplente of the assembly, sub-prefect under Mexican rule, and a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1849. Stearns shipped the first gold from teh Placinta Canyon to a mint in Philadelphia in 1843.; "Abel Stearns was the greatest land owner that California ever knew. He came to California in 1829 and to Los Angeles in 1833. He soon began to acquire the old Spanish Ranchos and by 1860 had become the largest land owner in California. His possessions included the following (Acres Ranch name): 23,027 Los Alamitos; 33,819 Jurupa -- part of; 13,339 La Laguna; 1,000 Government land added to Laguna; 48,806 Los Coyotes; 6,699 La Habra; 8,107 La Bolsa Chica; 33,460 Las Bolsas; 35,971 San Cajon de Santa Ana; 19,000 San Juan Caxon de Santa Ana; 44,440 Las Bolsas Grandes y Chicas; 17,787 Sierra; 43,682 Guadalupe; 36,403 San Rafael; 2,364 La Merced; 2,219 Guajome -- Stearns gave this to a young lady for her wedding gift; Total 364,534 acres. -- History states that Stearns also owned several thousand acres in Lower California. The amount is not given. He also managed the 29,514 acre San Antonio Ranch which was owned by his father-in-law. Stearns was several times City Treasurer and also mayor of Los Angeles. He died in San Francisco, Aug. 23, 1871."

Asset Metadata

Title Portrait of a drawing of Abel Stearns, ca.1840-1860

Subject Mayors (lcsh), Men (lcsh), Portraits -- St (file heading), Real estate investment (lcsh), Stearns, Abel (subject)

Tags OAI-PMH Harvest

Place California (states), USA (countries)

Temporal Subject 1840/1860

Type images

Format 1 photoprint : b&w; 1 photograph : glass photonegative, b&w ; 22 x 17 cm. (aacr2), art (aat), glass plate negatives (format), photographs (aat)

Source California Historical Society (contributing entity), California Historical Society Collection, 1860-1960 (collection), Title Insurance and Trust, and C.C. Pierce Photography Collection, 1860-1960 (subcollection)

Date Created 1840/1860

Publisher University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Repository Email specol@lib.usc.edu

Repository Name USC Libraries Special Collections

Repository Location Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189

Rights Public Domain. Please credit both “University of Southern California. Libraries” and “California Historical Society” as the source. Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Library.

Copyright Public Domain. Please credit both “University of Southern California. Libraries” and “California Historical Society” as the source. Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Library.

Access Conditions Send requests to address or e-mail given

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/chs-m15210

Identifier 1805 (accession number), CHS-1805 (call number), CHS-1805 (filename), chs-m265 (legacy collection record id), chs-c65-14398 (legacy record id), chs-m15210 (legacy record id), USC-1-1-1-13970 (legacy record id), USC (project)

IIIF ID [Document.IIIFV3ID]

DM Record ID 14398

Unique identifier UC143714

Legacy Identifier CHS-1805.tiff

Type Image

Internet Media Type image/tiff

Resolution 13.1 in × 17.3 in at 300dpi
33.4 cm × 44.1 cm at 300dpi

Inherited Values

Title Title Insurance and Trust and C.C. Pierce Photography Collection 1860-1960

Description The nearly 15,000 unique photographs of this collection contain the work of C.C. Pierce which cover the Los Angeles region city, street and architectural views, California Missions, Southwestern Native Americans, and turn-of-century Nevada, Arizona, and California. Pierce, active from 1886 to 1940, was one of the leading photographers of his day and amassed a collection of 15,000 images, including his own and those bought and copied from his contemporaries, George Wharton James and Charles Puck. The James collection contains over 2,000 images of portraits, customs, ceremonies, arts, and games of various groups of Southwestern Native Americans.

Date Created 1860/1960

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