Faxon Dean Atherton (1815–1877)[2] was an American businessman, trader and landowner; initially successful in Valparaíso, Chile.
[4] Faxon Dean Atherton was born on January 29, 1815, in Dedham, Massachusetts into an established New England family, with roots dating back to the colonial period of the United States.
It was a time of growth in trade between the Massachusetts shoe and leather goods mills which needed raw hides from California and Chile.
Upon arrival in Valparaiso, Chile he quickly sold all his cargo to Augustus Hemenway's commission firm, sharing the profits with his partner, Robert P.
His friend and business associate in the hide and tallow trade, Thomas Larkin had previously urged Atherton to move to California.
Larkin wrote: "... [T]here is education available for your children and a dignity of living on landed estates down the San Francisco peninsula (that is) convenient and accessible ... [Y]ou and I were of that country.
"Whilst in Oahu, Atherton met Captain Alpheus Basil Thompson (1795–1869),[8] a seagoing merchant from Santa Barbara, who was originally from Brunswick, Maine, who by the 1830s had become engaged in the hides and tallow trade along the Californian coastline.
When Atherton traveled to Alta California with Thompson on the ship Bolivar Libertador in 1836, arriving in San Francisco, the city was in its infancy.
During this period, Atherton penned his California diary and formed friendships with many prominent Californians, including Carlos Antonio Carrillo, José Antonio Carrillo, Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, Juan Bandini and Thomas O. Larkin, the United States Consul at Monterey (with whom he would later be associated with in many real estate and commercial ventures).
Several governors of the Mexican era were also his friends, among them Nicolas Gutierrez, José Castro, and Mariano Chico, as were many traders such as W. E. P. Hartnell, Nathan Spear; and the latter's nephew, William Heath Davis, Jr.
Davis engaged in trading trips to Yerba Buena and the Hawaiian Islands and settled permanently in San Francisco, subsequently becoming one of the city's most prominent merchants and ship owners.
During 1839, Atherton left Oahu on the Don Quixote,[11] and sailed back to New England (via Valparaíso and Cape Horn) with 540 hides valued at $1000.
Atherton's letter provides an insight for historians into the trade route in place at the time between Valparaíso, Mazatlán, and San Francisco.
Although Atherton assured him that goods in Chile were cheaper, Larkin did not become interested in this trade, instead focusing on the Pacific Coast of Mexico.
[15] During the Mexican–American War from 1846 to 1848, Atherton's wealth increased steadily and he wrote to Thomas Larkin that he had accepted drafts for $300,000 from whalers that had all been honored.
Whilst in Tahiti, he wrote to commercial associates in 1843 saying: I hope that the U.S. will acquire California by purchase or otherwise, as it is a most beautiful country very similar to Chile.
Mexicans in those annexed areas had the choice of relocating to within Mexico's new boundaries or receiving American citizenship with full civil rights.
We yet remain in a quiet state under the combined influence of some gospel and plenty of law, the beauty of the first exemplified in many who attend church from early habits or to set an example without caring much what creed they listen to, only being aware that the preacher is a fine looking man and his sermon is orthodox, in quality and quantity.
It would take a further eight years and the failing health of Thomas Larkin for Atherton to make the decision to settle permanently with his Chilean family in California.
[24] His friend Thomas Larkin, who at the time of his death was one of the richest individuals in San Francisco, had died of Typhoid that same year.
Atherton went on to become one of the wealthiest men on the Pacific Coast, making extensive investments in California commerce and real estate.
[26] Other residents included the Latham's, Ralstons, Millses, Stanford's, Sharon's, Donohoes, Floods, O'Briens, Fairs, Selby's and Eyre's.
Atherton wanted to be in the company of those who built not just the banks and railroads of the American West, but the cultural and intellectual institutions as well.
Atherton had a business acquaintance with Guillermo Castro, a rancher, surveyor and a former magistrate under the Mexican administration, who had turned to selling large parcels of land in order to reduce his gambling debt.
Atherton is credited with initiating the custom of owning a country house on the Peninsula, and was soon followed by other prominent San Francisco families—the Selbys, the Floods, the Macondrays, and later the Hopkins and the Stanfords.
His real estate purchases included Valparaiso Park in San Mateo County; the land now forms much of present-day Atherton.
Owners of plots dating back to the Hispanic period, including Indians, Mexicans, and Spaniards, on land not originally owned by Pastor became squatters overnight.
Many were settlers on improved lands were awaiting pre-emption, including George Hough Dutton and others who had believed they owned property in the town of Jolon.
Atherton gave an eyewitness account as a twenty-one year old Bostonian of his hide and tallow trading days in Mexican California.
The Editor of the journal, Dr. Nunis was the editor of the Southern California Quarterly during the 1960s and when promoting his book in the December 1964 edition of The California Historical Society Quarterly was quoted saying: "Since Atherton begins where Richard Henry Dana leaves off, his diary is not an unworthy companion to Dana's classic.Previous authors have referred to the "gamey passages" (as on pp.