http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8p55tmb No online items James De Barth Shorb Papers Addenda: Finding Aid Finding aid prepared by Katrina Denman, April 12, 2013. The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens Manuscripts Department 1151 Oxford Road San Marino, California 91108 Phone: (626) 405-2129 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.huntington.org © 2013 The Huntington Library. All rights reserved. James De Barth Shorb Papers mssShorb addenda 1 Addenda: Finding Aid Overview of the Collection Title: James De Barth Shorb Papers Addenda Dates (inclusive): Approximately 1821-1957 Collection Number: mssShorb addenda Creator: Shorb, James De Barth. Extent: 5,143 items in 24 boxes, 4 oversize folders, and 1 rolled map. Repository: The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Manuscripts Department 1151 Oxford Road San Marino, California 91108 Phone: (626) 405-2129 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.huntington.org Abstract: This collection consists of personal and business papers primarily related to the family of Southern California land developer James De Barth Shorb (1842-1896) and their business ventures and estate settlements. There is also a substantial amount of material about Benjamin Davis Wilson (1811-1878) and his business dealings in California. Topics covered in the collection include agriculture, land development in southern California, the history of the San Marino area, mining operations, water rights and irrigation, politics, society stories, and wills, court documents, and settlement papers related to the Shorb estate. Language: English. Access Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services. Publication Rights The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher. Preferred Citation [Identification of item]. James De Barth Shorb Papers Addenda, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California. Provenance Gift of Edith Shorb Steele, December 1, 1934 and April 27, 1936; gift of Shorb Steele, June 30, 1955 and August 1, 1955; gift of Gift of Ethel Rebecca Shorb, May 7, 1959. Related Materials in the Huntington Library The Huntington has a variety of other collections containing material on James De Barth Shorb and the Shorb family. These collections include: • James De Barth Shorb Papers • Banning Company Records, Addenda I • Patton Family Papers • Benjamin Davis Wilson Collection There are also a significant number of court cases related to the Shorbs and Benjamin Davis Wilson in the Los Angeles Area Court Records held by the Huntington. Biographical Note James De Barth Shorb (1842-1896) was born in Frederick County, Maryland, a son of Dr. James Aloysius Shorb (1798-1867) and Margaret McMeal Shorb. He came to California in 1863 looking for oil in Ventura County, and married Maria de Jesus “Sue” Wilson (1844-1917), the daughter of Benjamin Davis Wilson (1811-1878) and his first wife Ramona Yorba, in 1867. Shorb partnered with Wilson in developing their extensive land holdings in what is now San Marino and Pasadena. Together Shorb and Wilson founded the San Gabriel Wine Company, and Shorb was also president of the San Gabriel Valley and Alhambra Railroads and founded the Lake Vineyard Land and Water Company in 1871. In 1874, Shorb, through the Lake Vineyard Land and Water Company, acquired large tracts of land in San Marino, Pasadena, and Alhambra. By the late 1870s, many of Shorb’s business enterprises has begun to lose profits, and when Shorb died in 1896 he left his wife Maria and their children heavily in debt. The Shorbs had nine children who survived to adulthood: Maria Ynez Shorb White Buck (1868-1933), James De Barth “Barty” Shorb Jr. (1870-1907), Edith Octavia Shorb Steele (1872-1954), Ramona Yorba Shorb James De Barth Shorb Papers mssShorb addenda 2 Addenda: Finding Aid Murtaugh (1874-1921), Joseph Campbell Shorb (1878-1919), Ethel Rebecca Shorb (1880-1959), Donald McMeal Shorb (1883-1933), Norbert Newlands Shorb (1887-1951), and Bernardo Yorba Shorb (1888-1928). Scope and Content The collection consists of personal and business papers primarily related to the James De Barth Shorb family and their business ventures and estate settlements. There is also a substantial amount of material about Benjamin Davis Wilson and his business dealings in California. Topics covered in the collection include agriculture, land development in southern California, the history of the San Marino area, mining operations, water rights and irrigation, politics, society stories, and wills, court documents, and settlement papers related to the Shorb estate. Notable individuals represented in various places throughout the collection include Phineas Banning, Joseph Lancaster Brent, Ynez Shorb Buck, Louis Henry Dielman, Andrew Glassell, Henry Hancock, Winfield Scott Hancock, Isaias W. Hellman, Esther S. Hereford, Thomas B. Hereford, Margaret Irvine, Matthew Keller, Baron Frederich Ferdinand von Levetzow, Catherine McMeal, Ramona Shorb Murtaugh, Francis Noel Parke, Albert Packard, George S. Patton (1856-1927), Ruth Wilson Patton, Anthony Shorb (brother of James De Barth Shorb), Donald McMeal Shorb, Ethel Rebecca Shorb, Dr. J. Campbell Shorb (brother of James De Barth Shorb), James De Barth Shorb, Joseph Campbell Shorb (son of James De Barth Shorb), Margaret McMeal Shorb, Maria de Jesus Wilson Shorb, Norbert Newlands Shorb, George Hugh Smith, Edith Shorb Steele, James M. Tiernan, Annie Wilson, Benjamin Davis Wilson, John B. Wilson, Margaret S. Hereford Wilson, and Tomas A. Yorba. Companies and ventures represented in the business and land papers include the San Gabriel Wine Company, B.D. Wilson & Co., the San Marino Ranch, the Southern Co-Operative Warehouse and Shipping Association, the Barton Real Estate Company, the Huntington Iron Works, and The California Arc Lamp Company. The collection is organized into seven main sections: 1) Correspondence and personal papers (including genealogy and photographs), boxes 1-4; 2) Business and legal papers, boxes 5-7; 3) Financial papers, boxes 8-12; 4) Land papers, boxes 13-16; 5) Newspaper clippings, ephemera and objects, boxes 17-19; 6) Ethel R. Shorb files, boxes 20-24, and 7) Oversize (5 items). Legal documents dealing specifically with land titles or agreements are included in the Land Papers section. Some correspondence relating directly to Edith R. Shorb’s newspaper activities and other Shorb family members’ estate dealings are included in those portions of the collection. Condolence letters on the death of James De Barth Shorb are included in the Personal Papers series of the collection. Series I: Correspondence and Personal Papers The correspondence consists of both personal and business letters. The majority of the personal correspondence was exchanged between members of the Shorb family and their friends and relatives, and include letters written while the family was living in Maryland from the 1820s- 1860s. Other items include letters regarding the history and genealogy of the Shorb family, particularly those written in response to Louis Henry Dielman’s inquiries on the topic. The business correspondence includes references to the wine industry, agriculture, land sales, railroads, mining, politics, and estate settlements. Authors and addressees of the letters include Ynez Shorb Buck, the Earl Fruit Company, Winfield Scott Hancock, Mayo William Hazeltine, Catherine McMeal, John McMeal, Francis Neal Parke, the San Gabriel Wine Company, Ethel Rebecca Shorb, Dr. J. Campbell Shorb, James De Barth Shorb, Margaret McMeal Shorb, Mary Shorb, Norbert Newlands Shorb, Edith Shorb Steele, Adelaide Shorb Tiernan, James M. Tiernan, Charles Augustus Wetmore, and Marcos Yorba. Some notable or interesting pieces of correspondence include: • A letter from Dr. J. Campbell Shorb regarding his involvement in the “case of Ogier,” in which he asserts that he never gave a medical opinion on or to Ogier before his death (1833). • A letter probably written by Donald McMeal Shorb to his parents James Aloysius Shorb and Margaret McMeal Shorb in which he asks them “in giving me up [to the Confederate Army] do not mourn too deeply, for if it is the will of the Almighty to call me from this life on the field of battle, regret me but do not grieve over me as though I had yielded to sickness on the couch of luxury” (1864). • A letter from Mayo William Hazeltine to James De Barth Shorb, lamenting the latter’s departure from San Francisco. “[W]hen a thirst for gold drives [another friend] to San Buenaventura the void he leaves is not soon…filled. I am told it never thunders in [the] San Francisco sky, but…since you went away there seems less electricity than ever” (1865). • A letter from E.B. Washington to James Aloysius Shorb and Margaret McMeal Shorb consoling them on the death of their son (1866). • A letter from Annie Ogier to Winfield Scott Hancock, in which she writes of the Rio del Llano mining claim and touches on politics, noting “I suppose you are a Greeley man. I don’t know what I am but I am against Grant that’s certain” (1872). • A letter to James De Barth Shorb thanking him for “securing the reinstatement of those employees who were discharged from the service of the Los Angeles Terminal Railroad Company” (1892). James De Barth Shorb Papers mssShorb addenda 3 Addenda: Finding Aid • Three letters to Edith Shorb Steele regarding Baron Frederich Ferdinand von Levetzow, including one from a distant relative who notes that Levetzow is “on a walking tour round the world passing San Francisco and Japan on accident of a wager” (1897); one from Levetzow’s stepmother M. von Levetzow-Ehlorstorff confirming that “he…is traveling now through America…on account of a wager to cross the world in a certain time” (1897); and a final note from H.F. Studevart informing Edith of Levetzow’s death “while out hunting…[he] became overcome with the severe cold and perished.