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Title Letters from Jacob P Leese
Reference MS OV 10, folder 1
Library California Historical Society
Collection Jacob P Leesen Papers, 1836-1863
Date 1843-1849
Author / Creator Leese, Jacob P
Description Business correspondence between Leese and his partner Thomas O Larkin.
Document Type Correspondence, Manuscript
Theme(s) Trade and Commerce
Keywords business, cargo, finance, accounts, investments, prices, trade, merchant, merchandise, commerce
Countries USA; China
Places California
Ports Monterey, USA; Hong Kong, China; Guangzhou, China
Ships Mary, Eveline
Additional Information Early California merchant Jacob Primer Leese was born in St Clairsville, Ohio, in 1809, and came to California in 1833 and again in 1834, engaging in trade in Los Angeles and later in Monterey. In 1836, Leese entered into a mercantile partnership with Monterey businessmen Nathan Spear and William Sturgis Hinckley, relocated to Yerba Buena (now San Francisco), and there opened a store. The partners ran a profitable business, trading merchandise for rancho products. Naturalized in 1837, Leese married Rosalia Vallejo, sister of General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo. In 1841, Leese sold his business interests to Hudson's Bay Company, and moved to his Sonoma ranch, still retaining extensive land holdings in Yerba Buena. Leese served as alcalde in Sonoma (1844-1845), and was one of the prisoners taken in the 1846 Bear Flag Revolt. Around 1849, he entered into a business partnership with Thomas Oliver Larkin in Monterey, traveling to China on the brig Eveline. Leese and his wife were also major land holders in Monterey County; among their claims was Rancho Sausal, deeded to Rosalia by her brother Mariano G Vallejo. Leese left California in 1865, returning to the state in 1885. He died in San Francisco in 1892.

Please note that some of the metadata for this document has been drawn from the California Historical Society's North Baker Research Library catalogue.

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