ultivating aliforniaaliffornia Founding Families of the San Marino Ranch FEB. MAY , Library, West Hall The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens With more than 75 historical items (including BENJAMIN DAVIS WILSON AND Wilson (1811–1878) discovered when he relo- rare family photographs, letters, legal docu- LAKE VINEYARD cated in 1846 to the emerging city from his ments, maps, and artifacts) drawn from The Before California became the 31st state of the ranch in Riverside with his Californio wife and Huntington’s collections and those of the San union in 1850, the population of Los Angeles two small children. He was looking to capitalize Marino Historical Society and the Pasadena was around 50,000. The Californios—the term on the business opportunities opening up for Museum of History, “Cultivating California: used for Spanish-speaking people born in the re- Americans in the new territory. Wilson was Wilson’s Lake, Founding Families of the San Marino Ranch” gion before statehood—dictated the social and highly respected by the Californios and the W tells the story of the Wilson, Shorb, and Patton economic climate of Southern California. Single Americans, both for his fairness and his ability now Lacy Park, San Marino, families, who helped transform a region of one- families owned enormous tracts of land and to read and speak English and Spanish. Often date unknown. time Spanish land grants into an agricultural maintained many of the mission-era traditions. referred to as “Don Benito,” Wilson was elected paradise between the years 1854 and 1904. This was the Los Angeles that Benjamin Davis the second mayor of the city in 1851. Henry Hancock, map of Cuati, 1854. Watercolor on paper. gration from the East to California through the land and wineries in Arizona; tried to start a Chamber of Commerce, the Southern California must (grape pressing) factory in Northern Cali- away from Los Angeles, allowing Wilson to Horticultural Society, and the Bureau of Immi- fornia; built the San Gabriel Wine Co. with a maintain his business and political connections. gration for Southern California. These efforts large, new winery building; dabbled in the cre- Wilson expanded Huerta de Cuati and re- would prove particularly important as droughts, ation and selling of electricity; and started the named it Lake Vineyard. In addition to growing freezes, disease, and financial panics were driv- San Gabriel Va lley Rapid Transit Co., a small, and selling citrus, he capitalized on the existing ing his agricultural ventures into debt. Land local railway. He also kept politically active and rows of Mission grapes and started producing sales were becoming increasingly important to was elected treasurer of Los Angeles County in wine under the Lake Vineyard label. He and his Shorb’s bottom line. During thi s time, he also 1892. wife had three girls—Margaret, born in 1854, who built a large home and christened the property Shorb’s health was in steep decline by this succumbed to diphtheria at age three,; Annie San Marino, after his family’s plantation in time. As early as 1884, his brother, a physician in born in 1854; and Ruth, born in 1861. Maryland. San Francisco, pleaded with him to take better Even as he made two major additions to his care of himself, “I tell you that you ought to do JAMES DE BARTH SHORB AND home, hosted large social gatherings, and enter- thus and so for the restoration of your health, SAN MARINO tained high-profile houseguests, Shorb fell which you admit is in a precarious state and your In 1867, Wilson’s eldest daughter from his first deeper into debt. In an attempt to find a prof- marriage, Maria de Jesus, or “Sue,” married itable business venture, Shorb expanded his Carlton E. Watkins, members of the B. D. James De Barth Shorb (1842–1896), a Maryland- reach in the 1880s and 1890s. He invested in Wilson and Shorb families at Lake Vineyard But within a few years, the city was no longer born transplant to California. The young couple home, San Gabriel, California, ca. 1875. a safe place for a young family. Scores of young lived in San Francisco for a year while Shorb men from the East had come west to find their promoted and sold Wilson’s citrus and wine to fortune in the gold fields of Northern California, various merchants. When Wilson was elected to but few had succeeded and many traveled south. the California State Senate, the Shorbs moved Drinking and fighting were com mon, as was vig- south to Lake Vineyard with their year-old ilante justice. Following the death of his wife in daughter, Ynez. Shorb managed his father-in- 1849, Wilson married American-born Margaret law’s business interests while Wilson repre- Hereford, who had lost her husband, and they sented Los Angeles in Sacramento and moved their combined family of five out of the Wash ington, D. C., where he was sent to lobby city to a tract of land known as the Huerta de the U.S. Congress on behalf of the harbor and the Cuati (possibly referring to the Spanish word for wine industry. raccoon, “coati”). A beautiful property originally With the creation of B. D. Wilson & Co. in owned by the Mission San Gabriel, Cuati was 1873, Wilson legally transferred primary respon- the jewel of the San Gabriel Valley, with boun ti - sibility for his business interests to Shorb. This ful fruit trees, acreage primed for more produc- partnership continued until Wilson’s death in tion, and a large lake. It was also only 10 miles 1878. Throughout the 1870s, Shorb promoted mi- answer stript of adventitiuos surroundings is HENRY E. HUNTINGTON AND simply ‘I can’t.’ ” This letter was written in the SAN MARINO same year that Sue Shorb’s youngest sister, Ruth, When the case was decided for the plaintiff and married George S. Patton (1856–1927), a well-re- San Marino was sold to Farmers and Merchants spected attorney in Los Angeles. In 1888, Patton Bank at public auction, Sue Shorb relocated to received similar advice: he was ordered by his San Francisco. Patton continued to manage the doctor to “take a rest,” and so he moved his family, property after its purchase by the bank. When including son George Jr. and daughter Annie, out Henry E. Huntington and his business partners of Los Angeles to Lake Vineyard, joining Wilson’s purchased the property in 1903 Patton wrote a widow, Margaret, and Ruth’s unmarried sister, lengthy letter to Huntington describing its Annie. needs, including details regarding the water, soil, and fields. Huntington was clearly im- GEORGE S. PATTON AND pressed with Patton and hired him as general LAKE VINEYARD manager of the Los Angeles Land Co. and the As Shorb’s health continued to deteriorate, and Huntington Land and Improvement Co., both Patton’s health improved with his distance from headed by Huntington. Patton spent quite a bit the city, Patton assisted Shorb with various busi- of time at San Marino and was responsible for nesses around the San Gabriel Valley, including locating and hiring William Hertrich, the super- the Alhambra Tract and the San Gabriel Wine intendent who worked so closely with Hunting- Ynez Shorb and Stephen S. White wedding party, 1894. Co. In 1896, after months of confinement, Shorb ton in the creation of his gardens and estate. died at home. He was survived by Sue and nine By the time Huntington built his house on children, ranging in age from 8 to 28. the San Marino property in 1911, the population eral government. Shorb was instrumental in pro- “Cultivating California: Founding Families of the San Shorb also left behind hundreds of thou- of the Los A ngeles county had expanded to moting immigration into California and ex- Marino Ranch” is supported in memory of James De sands of dollars in debt to various banks, all writ- more than 500,000. The city itself was a growing panded the population of the San Gabriel Valley Barth Shorb by Barbara Vucanovich, Grant and Susan Anderson, Reynolds and Rebecca Cafferata, and Treat ten with Sue’s personal property as security. The urban center, with nearby towns connected by by bringing public transit to his subdivided lots. and Patricia Cafferata. This exhibition is also made pos- largest amount was owed to Farmers and Mer- rail lines. The old industries of cattle ranching Patton’s management of the San Marino ranch sible by the Robert F. Erburu Exhibition Endow ment. chants Bank, owned and managed by Isaias Hell- and agriculture were being replaced by tourism, and his work with Henry Huntington’s property man. Though Patton worked with Sue and entertainment, and the beginnings of manufac- companies facilitated the expansion the Pacific Hell man to attempt to sell the property and pay turing. Wilson, Shorb, and Patton—who lived at Electric Railway, making way for the suburban off the multiple mortgages, he was unsuccessful. COVER: Members of the Shorb family, includ- Lake Vineyard until his death in 1927—were lifestyle for which Southern California is famous ing James De Barth Shorb and Maria de In 1899, Farmers and Merchants Bank took Sue closely involved in this modernization and to this day. Jesus “Sue” Shorb on the east porch of Shorb and her children to court. Patton was appointed house, ca. 1882. growth. Without Wilson, the port of Long Beach Jennifer Allan Goldman, Curator, as receiver for the property, managing the exist- and Los Angeles would never have received Manuscripts and Institutional Archivist BACK COVER: B. D. Wilson & Co. Burgundy ing groves and vines while the contentious and recognition or funding from the state and fed- label, ca.