Faxon Atherton

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Faxon Dean Atherton
Born	January 2, 1818 Massachusetts, USA
Died	1877 (or 1880?) California, USA

Faxon Dean Atherton is the namesake of Atherton, California, and was a prominent citizen of San Mateo County, California^[1]. A native of Massachussets, Atherton was born of an established New England family with roots in the colonial period of the United States. He went to school in his native state and then went into the shipping and merchant business at the age of 18. He was charged with the operation of vessels plying between Boston - Valparaiso, Chile, and Monterey, California, gaining him wide and varied experience.

In 1834 Atherton traveled to Valparaiso, where he would later establish a ship chandler's store, trading in tallow, hides and merchandise^[2] . During the California gold rush, he amassed a great fortune with his shipping business and the import and export of goods. In Valparaiso he married Dominiga Goñi, a member of one Chile's patrician families.

Atherton first visited San Francisco, California in 1836, when the city was in its infancy. His friend and business associate, Thomas Larkin urged Atherton to move to California. Larkin wrote, "...there is education available for your children and a dignity of living on landed estates down the San Francisco peninsula (that is) convenient and accessible. ...You and I were of that country. Our eyes were turned towards it in admiration and in my part in gratitude. My children were from there. They and yours will soon be." In 1860, Atherton bought 640 acres at ten dollars an acre of land on the San Francisco peninsula in what was then known as Fair Oaks, becoming one of the first residents of the area. He built his home, Valapariso Park, approximately where the Circus Club, a private country club, is now located.

He raised his seven children there, and today, their names appear on West Atherton street signs: Isabella, Alejandro and Elena.

Atherton was a land speculator purchasing tracts in Hayward, Watsonville and other places. Atherton purchased the Milpitas Rancho in the area of Fort Hunter Liggett from Ygnacio Pastor immediately upon its title clearance in the San Francisco court. (The U.S. Land Claims commission, set up as a result of the Mexican-American War to mediate land claims, had been examining the land granted under the Mexican land grant system.) Somehow during the conversion of land, records under the Land Commission were changed and Ygnacio’s small ranch grew from several thousand acres to 42,000. Owners of plots dating back to the Hispanic period, including Indians, Mexicans and Spaniards, on land not originally owned by Pastor became squatters overnight. Atherton then sent notice to evict them. Many were settlers on improved lands awaiting preemption, including George Dutton and others who had believed they owned property in the town of Jolon. Appeals and lobbying in Washington by the settlers failed.

George Atherton, and his wife Gertrude, who later became a well-known novelist, dispossessed fifty-three families from the Rancho Milpitas in 1877-78. The Athertons arrived with sheriffs and guns and burned the houses and possessions of the residents who were considered to be squatters. The wealthier among them repurchased their properties, but many moved on.

In 1881, after her husband's death, Dominga built a house on Noe Hill in San Francisco and moved in with her son George and his wife Gertrude. Both Dominga and Gertrude were strong women who so dominated George that in 1887 he ran away from home to seek his fortune in Chile as his father had. Halfway to Chile, George's kidneys failed. The sailors put his body into a barrel of rum to preserve it and shipped the barrel to the Atherton Mansion. George was dried out and received a proper Christian burial. Local legend says his ghost soon began knocking on the bedroom doors of his mother and widow. He became so troublesome that Dominga sold the house and moved out.

1 Legacy
2 Notes
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Legacy

His greatest legacy, unknown to him, is his name given to the town of Atherton, previously "Fair Oaks". On town incorporation in 1923, it was found that the name was already in use, so Atherton was chosen.^[3] However, as early as 1912, it was already being referred to by his name.^[4]

Faxon Atherton married Dominga de Goñi and had the following children:

Alexandra Atherton, married J. L. Rathbone
Elena Atherton, married Frederick W. Macondray of Boston, Massachusettts, one of the first merchants of San Francisco and large land owner.
Francisco Atherton
George H. Bowen Atherton, eloped with Gertrude Franklin Horn in 1876
Isabel Atherton, married Enrique Edwards, of Valparaiso, Chile. Their great grandson, Dr. Carolos Lopez, became president of Menlo college in 2004.
Faxon D. Atherton, Jr., married Jeannie Selby, daughter of Thomas Henry Selby former mayor of San Francisco, California. built the Selby Shot Tower in San Francisco and founded the Selby Smelting Works
Florence Atherton, married Edward L. Eyre first mayor of Atherton, California, married George Frederick Spalding, father of John Varnum Spalding, an associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (1944-1971).

[edit] Notes

^ Stanger, pg. 112
^ Hynding, pg.115
^ Bush & Merrill, pg. 7
^ Hynding, pg.115

[edit] References

Stanger, Frank M. "South from San Francisco", 1963, Publisher San Mateo County Historical Association.
Bush, Sarah L. & Merrill, Genevieve. "Atherton Lands", 1979 (Self published.)
Hynding, Alan. "From Frontier to Suburb: The Story of The San Mateo Peninsula", 1985, ISBN 0-89863-056-8
Alexander, Philip W., "History of San Mateo County : from the earliest times, with a description of its resources and advantages, and the biographies of its representative men.", 1916, Burlingame, Calif.: Press of Burlingame Pub. Co.