Stephen William Shaw
Encyclopedia
Stephen William Shaw was a California '49er and portrait painter who helped discover and name Humboldt Bay
and introduced viticulture
to Sonoma County by 1864.
, to Seth and Elizabeth Barrett Shaw, descendants of Puritans and American Revolutionaries. As a young adult, Shaw taught drawing and penmanship at Norwich Military Academy
, then became an art teacher and director of the Boston Athenaeum before moving to the American South and making his living as an itinerant portraitist. In 1845, shortly after opening a studio in Lexington, Kentucky
, Shaw painted his first known oil portrait. A year later, in Baton Rouge, Shaw painted a portrait of General Zachary Taylor
which won a silver medal at the American Institute
. In 1848, Shaw was commissioned for $1,000 by the City of New Orleans for a portrait of native son Persifer F. Smith. Shaw traveled to Veracruz
and Mexico City
, painting the portrait on his return to New Orleans.
Joining the California Gold Rush, Shaw left New Orleans aboard the merchant steamer Isthmus
, on April 21, 1849. After crossing the Isthmus of Panama
, he booked passage on the Dutch bark, Alexander von Humboldt, which left Panama on May 20, 1849. Becalmed for five weeks, they reached Acapulco
July 6 where the passengers forced the owners off the boat due to poor provisioning and overcrowding. After more than three months voyage, the ship finally arrived in San Francisco, August 30, 1849 and was sold for $12,000 to satisfy the passengers' lien against the owners. One of the other passengers, Collis P. Huntington, formed an association of the 365 survivors of the 102 day passage, called "The Society of the Humboldter." Huntington sponsored reunions and at least one commemorative poster; the last four members met in August 30, 1899.
Contrary to at least one published report, neither ships' manifest lists Shaw's brother Seth Shaw who was elsewhere reported to have crossed the country overland in 1850. Huntington, a large group of fellow passengers, and Stephen Shaw immediately went to the gold mines at Mormon Island for about six months, then Shaw moved to Sacramento for February and March 1850, where he met future judge Edwin B. Crocker
, brother of railroad baron Charles Crocker
, for whom he would paint more than 25 portraits of notable Californians.
on April 7, expedition director E.H. Howard selected Shaw and four others to go ashore at Trinidad Bay
to locate the entrance to Humboldt Bay from shore. The six men walked down the beach, were ferried across the Mad River
by Indians, and camped for the night on the spit north of the entrance to Humboldt Bay. The next day, the shore party walked back to Trinidad and was picked up by the Laura Virginia.
On April 9, 1850, second mate Hans Henry Buhne piloted the first landing craft over the bar and into Humboldt Bay. Later that same day, two more boatloads of passengers and supplies were landed. On April 14, Buhne piloted the Laura Virginia over the bar and into the bay near the tents of the shore party. Shaw sketched the first views of the bay and insisted the bay be named honoring Prussian naturalist Alexander von Humboldt
. On April 26, 1850, the San Francisco Daily Journal of Commerce published a wood engraving based on his sketches of Humboldt Bay. Shaw returned to San Francisco on the steamer Sea Gull April 5, 1851.
In 1851, Shaw spent much of the year with John Augustus Sutter
at Hock Farm
on the Feather River
as the family portrait painter and general business agent. Following a brief engagement to Sutter's daughter, Ann "Eliza" Sutter (1828 - March,1895), Shaw returned to San Francisco, and later that year, with his brother Seth Shaw and Willard Allen, settled on Table Bluff
, near Loleta
.
In summer 1852, they moved across the Eel River
and began clearing the area where the town of Ferndale, California
would later be incorporated. In the rainy winter of 1852-1853, twelve men, including Seth Kinman
, stayed with the Shaws because theirs was the most finished cabin. Shaw spent the next two years coaxing plants to grow in the cold coastal fog. Around 1852, he painted the portrait of Wiyot elder Kiwelattah (or Ki-we-lah-tah). Finally, with little to show for his labors, Shaw returned to San Francisco in 1854 and later sold his claim to Ferndale settler Francis Francis, in 1856.
On April 18, 1861 Shaw married Mary Frances Meacham at the First Unitarian Church in San Francisco. The Shaws had two children before Mary died October 2, 1866. Shaw spent 1871 abroad and married Lucretia Swain of Nantucket, Massachusetts August 12, 1873 on his return to San Francisco.
Shaw died February 14, 1900 in San Francisco, memorialized in an obituary in the San Francisco Examiner, 16 February 1900.
, the Society of California Pioneers
, The Bohemian Club, the Mechanics' Institute
and the San Francisco Art Association
.
, those remaining are known to be in collections of the Bancroft Library
, M.H. de Young Memorial Museum (Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco), the Oakland Museum, City of New Orleans, Nantucket Historical Association, the Crocker Art Museum
of Sacramento, The Ferndale Museum, The Clarke Historical Museum, and the Society of California Pioneers. Shaw painted several family portraits including his mother Elizabeth Barrett Shaw (c. 1860s), brother Sylvanus Harvey Shaw (both at the Ferndale Museum), brother Seth Shaw (Ferndale Masonic Hall). Shaw descendants preserve another portrait of Seth, a portrait of Seth's wife Isabella Shaw, a small landscape, a self-portrait by Steven Shaw and his original copy of A Record Book of the Farm.
A list of notables painted by Shaw includes:
Humboldt Bay
Humboldt Bay is a natural bay and a multi-basin, bar-built coastal lagoon located on the rugged North Coast of California, United States entirely within Humboldt County. The regional center and county seat of Eureka and the college town of Arcata adjoin the bay, which is the second largest enclosed...
and introduced viticulture
Viticulture
Viticulture is the science, production and study of grapes which deals with the series of events that occur in the vineyard. When the grapes are used for winemaking, it is also known as viniculture...
to Sonoma County by 1864.
Early life
Stephen W. Shaw was born December 15, 1817 at Windsor, VermontWindsor, Vermont
Windsor is a town in Windsor County, Vermont, United States. The population was 3,756 at the 2000 census.-History:One of the New Hampshire grants, Windsor was chartered as a town on July 6, 1761 by Colonial Governor Benning Wentworth. It was first settled in August 1764 by Captain Steele Smith and...
, to Seth and Elizabeth Barrett Shaw, descendants of Puritans and American Revolutionaries. As a young adult, Shaw taught drawing and penmanship at Norwich Military Academy
Norwich University
Norwich University is a private university located in Northfield, Vermont . The university was founded in 1819 at Norwich, Vermont, as the American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy. It is the oldest of six Senior Military Colleges, and is recognized by the United States Department of...
, then became an art teacher and director of the Boston Athenaeum before moving to the American South and making his living as an itinerant portraitist. In 1845, shortly after opening a studio in Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...
, Shaw painted his first known oil portrait. A year later, in Baton Rouge, Shaw painted a portrait of General Zachary Taylor
Zachary Taylor
Zachary Taylor was the 12th President of the United States and an American military leader. Initially uninterested in politics, Taylor nonetheless ran as a Whig in the 1848 presidential election, defeating Lewis Cass...
which won a silver medal at the American Institute
American Institute
The American Institute of the City of New York was an organization to promote, by means of exhibitions and fairs, the interests of agriculture, commerce, manufactures, and arts in New York State and the United States.-History:...
. In 1848, Shaw was commissioned for $1,000 by the City of New Orleans for a portrait of native son Persifer F. Smith. Shaw traveled to Veracruz
Veracruz
Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave , is one of the 31 states that, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided in 212 municipalities and its capital city is...
and Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
, painting the portrait on his return to New Orleans.
Joining the California Gold Rush, Shaw left New Orleans aboard the merchant steamer Isthmus
USS Scorpion (1847)
The third USS Scorpion was a steamer in commission in the United States Navy from 1847 to 1848.Scorpion was built in 1846 as the commercial steamship SS Aurora by Bishop and Simonson at New York City for Sidney Mason and William D. Thompson. The U.S...
, on April 21, 1849. After crossing the Isthmus of Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
, he booked passage on the Dutch bark, Alexander von Humboldt, which left Panama on May 20, 1849. Becalmed for five weeks, they reached Acapulco
Acapulco
Acapulco is a city, municipality and major sea port in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific coast of Mexico, southwest from Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semi-circular bay and has been a port since the early colonial period of Mexico’s history...
July 6 where the passengers forced the owners off the boat due to poor provisioning and overcrowding. After more than three months voyage, the ship finally arrived in San Francisco, August 30, 1849 and was sold for $12,000 to satisfy the passengers' lien against the owners. One of the other passengers, Collis P. Huntington, formed an association of the 365 survivors of the 102 day passage, called "The Society of the Humboldter." Huntington sponsored reunions and at least one commemorative poster; the last four members met in August 30, 1899.
Contrary to at least one published report, neither ships' manifest lists Shaw's brother Seth Shaw who was elsewhere reported to have crossed the country overland in 1850. Huntington, a large group of fellow passengers, and Stephen Shaw immediately went to the gold mines at Mormon Island for about six months, then Shaw moved to Sacramento for February and March 1850, where he met future judge Edwin B. Crocker
Edwin B. Crocker
Edwin Bryant Crocker was a California Supreme Court Justice and founder of the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, California.-Biography:...
, brother of railroad baron Charles Crocker
Charles Crocker
Charles Crocker was an American railroad executive.-Early years:Crocker was born in Troy, New York, to a modest family and moved to an Indiana farm at age 14. He soon became independent, working on several farms, a sawmill, and at an iron forge. In 1845 he founded a small, independent iron...
, for whom he would paint more than 25 portraits of notable Californians.
Discovery of Humboldt Bay
In the early part of March 1850, Shaw left San Francisco on the schooner Laura Virginia, under Captain Douglas Ottenger. At anchor near TrinidadTrinidad, California
Trinidad is a seaside city in Humboldt County, located on the Pacific Ocean north of the Arcata-Eureka Airport and north of the college town of Arcata...
on April 7, expedition director E.H. Howard selected Shaw and four others to go ashore at Trinidad Bay
Trinidad, California
Trinidad is a seaside city in Humboldt County, located on the Pacific Ocean north of the Arcata-Eureka Airport and north of the college town of Arcata...
to locate the entrance to Humboldt Bay from shore. The six men walked down the beach, were ferried across the Mad River
Mad River (California)
The Mad River is a river in upper Northern California. It flows for in a roughly northwest direction through Trinity County and then Humboldt County, draining a watershed into the Pacific Ocean north of the college town of Arcata near Arcata-Eureka Airport in McKinleyville...
by Indians, and camped for the night on the spit north of the entrance to Humboldt Bay. The next day, the shore party walked back to Trinidad and was picked up by the Laura Virginia.
On April 9, 1850, second mate Hans Henry Buhne piloted the first landing craft over the bar and into Humboldt Bay. Later that same day, two more boatloads of passengers and supplies were landed. On April 14, Buhne piloted the Laura Virginia over the bar and into the bay near the tents of the shore party. Shaw sketched the first views of the bay and insisted the bay be named honoring Prussian naturalist Alexander von Humboldt
Alexander von Humboldt
Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander Freiherr von Humboldt was a German naturalist and explorer, and the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt...
. On April 26, 1850, the San Francisco Daily Journal of Commerce published a wood engraving based on his sketches of Humboldt Bay. Shaw returned to San Francisco on the steamer Sea Gull April 5, 1851.
From Sutter's to farming in Humboldt County
In 1851, Shaw spent much of the year with John Augustus Sutter
John Sutter
Johann Augus Sutter was a Swiss pioneer of California known for his association with the California Gold Rush by the discovery of gold by James W. Marshall and the mill making team at Sutter's Mill, and for establishing Sutter's Fort in the area that would eventually become Sacramento, the...
at Hock Farm
Sutter Hock Farm
The Sutter Hock Farm is the first non-Indian settlement in Sutter County, USA established in 1841 by John Augustus Sutter. John Sutter's Hock Farm was the first large-scale agricultural settlement in Northern California, composed of grain, cattle, orchards and vineyards...
on the Feather River
Feather River
The Feather River is the principal tributary of the Sacramento River, in the Sacramento Valley of Northern California. The river's main stem is about long. Its length to its most distant headwater tributary is about . Its drainage basin is about...
as the family portrait painter and general business agent. Following a brief engagement to Sutter's daughter, Ann "Eliza" Sutter (1828 - March,1895), Shaw returned to San Francisco, and later that year, with his brother Seth Shaw and Willard Allen, settled on Table Bluff
Table Bluff, California
Table Bluff is a semi-flat terrace in Humboldt County, California, that terminates above the ocean in a dramatic, high cliff with spectacular views of the Eel River delta, the South Spit of Humboldt Bay, and the Pacific Ocean. It separates Humboldt Bay to the north from the Eel River to the south...
, near Loleta
Loleta, California
Loleta is a census-designated place in Humboldt County, California. It is located south of Fields Landing, at an elevation of 46 feet . The population was 783 at the 2010 census....
.
In summer 1852, they moved across the Eel River
Eel River (California)
The Eel River is a major river system of the northern Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California. Approximately 200 miles long, it drains a rugged area in the California Coast Ranges between the Sacramento Valley and the ocean. For most of its course, the river flows northwest, parallel to the...
and began clearing the area where the town of Ferndale, California
Ferndale, California
Ferndale is a city in Humboldt County, California, United States. Known for its well-preserved Victorian buildings, the city's population was 1,371 at the 2010 census, down from 1,382 at the 2000 census...
would later be incorporated. In the rainy winter of 1852-1853, twelve men, including Seth Kinman
Seth Kinman
Seth Kinman was an early settler of Humboldt County, California, a hunter based in Fort Humboldt, a famous chair maker, and a nationally recognized entertainer. He stood over tall and was known for his hunting prowess and his brutality toward bears and Indians...
, stayed with the Shaws because theirs was the most finished cabin. Shaw spent the next two years coaxing plants to grow in the cold coastal fog. Around 1852, he painted the portrait of Wiyot elder Kiwelattah (or Ki-we-lah-tah). Finally, with little to show for his labors, Shaw returned to San Francisco in 1854 and later sold his claim to Ferndale settler Francis Francis, in 1856.
San Francisco portrait painter
Shaw moved quickly in the big city, setting up studio, joining the Mason's California Lodge No. 1 in San Francisco June 1, 1854 and painting more than 200 portraits of Masonic Officers, possibly from photographs. Shaw took first prize for best portrait in oils at the 1860 California State Fair.On April 18, 1861 Shaw married Mary Frances Meacham at the First Unitarian Church in San Francisco. The Shaws had two children before Mary died October 2, 1866. Shaw spent 1871 abroad and married Lucretia Swain of Nantucket, Massachusetts August 12, 1873 on his return to San Francisco.
Shaw died February 14, 1900 in San Francisco, memorialized in an obituary in the San Francisco Examiner, 16 February 1900.
Memberships
Shaw was a member of the MasonsFreemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
, the Society of California Pioneers
Society of California Pioneers
The Society of California Pioneers and its members are listed in the Annals of San Francisco of 1855. The key stipulation seems to be that they arrived in California prior to December 31, 1849. Since this was a membership organization, it lists only a portion of the pioneers that came to...
, The Bohemian Club, the Mechanics' Institute
San Francisco Mechanics' Institute
The Mechanics' Institute Library and Chess Room is a historic membership library, cultural event center, and chess club located in the Financial District of San Francisco, California at 57 Post Street...
and the San Francisco Art Association
San Francisco Art Association
The San Francisco Art Association was an organization that promoted California artists, held art exhibitions, published a periodical, and established an art school. Over its lifetime, the association helped establish a Northern California regional flavor of California Tonalism as differentiated...
.
Paintings and manuscripts
Many of Shaw's paintings were lost to the fires of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake1906 San Francisco earthquake
The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was a major earthquake that struck San Francisco, California, and the coast of Northern California at 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906. The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude of the earthquake is a moment magnitude of 7.9; however, other...
, those remaining are known to be in collections of the Bancroft Library
Bancroft Library
The Bancroft Library is the primary special collections library of the University of California, Berkeley. It was acquired as a gift/purchase from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, with the proviso that it retain the name Bancroft Library in perpetuity...
, M.H. de Young Memorial Museum (Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco), the Oakland Museum, City of New Orleans, Nantucket Historical Association, the Crocker Art Museum
Crocker Art Museum
The Crocker Art Museum is one of the leading arts institutions in California, and the longest continuously operating art museum in the West. Located in Sacramento, California, the Crocker has been an art innovator since 1885...
of Sacramento, The Ferndale Museum, The Clarke Historical Museum, and the Society of California Pioneers. Shaw painted several family portraits including his mother Elizabeth Barrett Shaw (c. 1860s), brother Sylvanus Harvey Shaw (both at the Ferndale Museum), brother Seth Shaw (Ferndale Masonic Hall). Shaw descendants preserve another portrait of Seth, a portrait of Seth's wife Isabella Shaw, a small landscape, a self-portrait by Steven Shaw and his original copy of A Record Book of the Farm.
A list of notables painted by Shaw includes:
- Louis AgassizLouis AgassizJean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz was a Swiss paleontologist, glaciologist, geologist and a prominent innovator in the study of the Earth's natural history. He grew up in Switzerland and became a professor of natural history at University of Neuchâtel...
, Harvard Naturalist - Col. Edward D. Baker, U.S. Senator and confidant of Abraham Lincoln (E.B. Crocker Collection #196)
- R.B. Blowers, Woodland, California grower and grape transport pioneer (E.B. Crocker Collection #748)
- Peter Burnett, first governor of California, (E.B. Crocker Collection #210)
- David C. Broderick, U.S. Senator, (E.B. Crocker Collection #206)
- Charles CrockerCharles CrockerCharles Crocker was an American railroad executive.-Early years:Crocker was born in Troy, New York, to a modest family and moved to an Indiana farm at age 14. He soon became independent, working on several farms, a sawmill, and at an iron forge. In 1845 he founded a small, independent iron...
,1872 (E.B. Crocker Collection #383) - Judge E.B. CrockerEdwin B. CrockerEdwin Bryant Crocker was a California Supreme Court Justice and founder of the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, California.-Biography:...
, 1872 (E.B. Crocker Collection #384) - Isaac Elphinston Davis, (1833–1888) passenger on the Alexander von Humboldt (private collection)
- Mrs. Isaac Elphinston Davis (private collection)
- John Brooks FeltonJohn B. FeltonJohn Brooks Felton ....
, half-length oil portrait (Bancroft Library) - Capt. J.L. FolsomJoseph Libbey FolsomJoseph Libbey Folsom was a U.S. Army officer and real estate investor in the early days of California's statehood. He is the founder of what is now Folsom, California...
(E.B. Crocker Collection #205) - John W. GearyJohn W. GearyJohn White Geary was an American lawyer, politician, Freemason, and a Union general in the American Civil War...
, first mayor of San Francisco - Hon. Edward GilbertEdward GilbertEdward Gilbert was a Democratic California Politician. He was elected in November 1849 at-large as one of California's first two Representatives in the 31st Congress he was seated on September 11, 1850 and served until March 3, 1851. A newspaper editor after his service in Congress, he was killed...
, (E.B. Crocker Collection #193) - William M. GwinWilliam M. GwinWilliam McKendree Gwin was an American medical doctor and politician.Born near Gallatin, Tennessee, his father, the Reverend James Gwin, was a pioneer Methodist minister under the Rev. William McKendree, his son's namesake. Rev. James Gwin also served as a soldier on the frontier under General...
, U.S. Senator, (E.B. Crocker Collection #200) - Col. Jack HaysJohn Coffee HaysCol. John Coffee "Jack" Hays was a Texas Ranger captain and military officer of the Republic of Texas. Hays served in several armed conflicts, including the Indian and the Mexican-American War.-Biography:...
, sheriff of San Francisco 1850 (E.B. Crocker Collection #211) - Thomas HillThomas Hill (painter)Thomas Hill was an American artist of the 19th century. He produced many fine paintings of the California landscape, in particular of the Yosemite Valley, as well as the White Mountains of New Hampshire.-Biography:...
, American landscape artist, (E.B. Crocker Collection #207) - Collis P. Huntington, 1872 (E.B. Crocker Collection #380)
- Maj. Gen. H.W. HalleckHenry Wager HalleckHenry Wager Halleck was a United States Army officer, scholar, and lawyer. A noted expert in military studies, he was known by a nickname that became derogatory, "Old Brains." He was an important participant in the admission of California as a state and became a successful lawyer and land developer...
, General, lawyer and land speculator, (E.B. Crocker Collection #195) - Mark Hopkins, 1872 (E.B. Crocker Collection #387)
- Andrew JacksonAndrew JacksonAndrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...
, seventh United States President. 1872, (E.B. Crocker Collection #87) - Thomas Starr KingThomas Starr KingThomas Starr King was an American Unitarian and Universalist minister, influential in California politics during the American Civil War. Starr King spoke zealously in favor of the Union and was credited by Abraham Lincoln with preventing California from becoming a separate republic...
, Unitarian Minister, (E.B. Crocker Collection #197) - Kiwelattah (or Ki-we-lah-tah), c.1852 full-length painting of Wiyot elder (Clarke Historical Museum)
- Thomas O. LarkinThomas O. LarkinThomas Oliver Larkin was an early American emigrant to Alta California and a signer of the original California Constitution. He was the United States' first and only consul to the California Republic.-Early years:...
, U.S. Consulm (E.B. Crocker Collection #209) - Peter LassenPeter LassenPeter Lassen was a Danish-American blacksmith, rancher, prospector and Freemason.-Early life:Peter Lassen was born on October 31, 1800 in Farum, Denmark and immigrated to Boston, Massachusetts in 1830...
, California Pioneer (E.B. Crocker Collection #198) - Jacob P. LeeseJacob P. LeeseJacob Primer Leese was a San Francisco pioneer, who built the first permanent house in San Francisco...
, California Pioneer (E.B. Crocker Collection #203) - Alfred Macy, (1831–1874) Governor's Council of Massachusetts (Nantucket Historical Society)
- S.S. MontagueSamuel S. MontagueSamuel Skerry Montague was Chief Engineer of the Central Pacific Railroad, responsible for building the western half of the First Transcontinental Railroad....
, Chief engineer Central Pacific Railroad, (E.B. Crocker Collection #385) - William C. RalstonWilliam Chapman RalstonWilliam "Billy" Chapman Ralston was a San Francisco, California businessman and financier, and was the founder of the Bank of California.-Biography:...
, founder of the Bank of California (M.H. de Young Memorial Museum) - Hon. Romualdo PachecoRomualdo PachecoJosé Antonio Romualdo Pacheco Jr. was an American politician and diplomat. Involved in California state and federal politics, Pacheco was elected and appointed to various posts and offices throughout his more than thirty-year career, including the California State Senate, the 12th Governor of...
, American politician and diplomat (E.B. Crocker Collection #208) - Samuel PurdySamuel PurdySamuel Purdy was the third Lieutenant Governor of California, 1852-1856. He ran for office as a Democrat. He also became the first mayor of Stockton, California, in 1851.-References:...
, (E.B. Crocker Collection #204) - Edmond Randolph, (1818–1861) California lawyer and historian (E.B. Crocker Collection #199)
- Robert Robinson, (E.B. Crocker Collection #202)
- Brigadier General Persifor Frazer Smith, 1848 (City of New Orleans)
- Leland StanfordLeland StanfordAmasa Leland Stanford was an American tycoon, industrialist, robber baron, politician and founder of Stanford University.-Early years:...
, 1872 (E.B. Crocker Collection #382) - Col. J.D. StevensonJonathan D. StevensonJonathan Drake Stevenson was born in New York; won a seat in the New York State Assembly ; was the commanding officer of the First Regiment of New York Volunteers during the Mexican-American War in California; entered California mining and real estate businesses; and died in San Francisco on...
, mining and real estate entrepreneur (E.B. Crocker Collection #192) - General John A. Sutter, June 1851 (Bancroft Library)
- General John A. Sutter, (E.B. Crocker Collection #194 - different than 1851 portrait)
- Mariano Vallejo, Californian military commander, politician, and rancher, (E.B. Crocker Collection #201)
- Vallejo family portraits (Vallejo Home State Park, Sonoma, California)
- Zachary Taylor, 1846 then General in the Mexican-American War, later President of the United States.