Lot
830 
(Monterey) "Monterey 7 Feb. 1828", dateline on folded letter from Pioneer David Spence to William G. Dana at Santa Barbara, bold strike of Mexican "2" reales due handstamp for delivery charge, letter was between two thirty year old unmarried sailors in the trading business, reading in part "I have heard that you at last been able to settle every thing respecting your [future] marrage; which I am very glad of…The D-d schooner sailed about two weeks ago for San Francisco in persuit of rigging or some bloody thing. I am fully in the believe that Reeves wants to pass the winter in some port at your expense for the exactions is not as they ought to be in my openion…If ever you freight your Schooner again, try and get a supercargo of some kind and sense and consideration to burn him…I am half thinking to ask a girl here myself. What would you advise me to do? Whether is better to turn Christian or seduce her, the latter in my openion is best…Mulligan is attempting to die this last month, but is like to get over it…", signed "David Spence"; cover tear, otherwise Very Fine. Estimate $3,000 - 4,000.
THE EARLIEST CALIFORNIA LETTER WRITTEN IN ENGLISH WITH A POSTMARK.
Monterey was the Capitol and principal port of Spanish California. Sailors from many nations deserted when their ships anchored at Monterey. The economy in 1828 was centered around cattle. The "Hide and Tallow trade" flourished during the 1820s and 1830s, and is portrayed in Richard Henry Dana's "Two Years Before the Mast".
Captain William G. Dana of Boston (1797-1859) arrived at Santa Barbara in 1825 where he met and wed Maria Josepa Carillo on August 20, 1828. They had 22 children. In 1837, he was granted a 38,000 acre ranch by the governor of Mexico. The Dana adobe on El Camino Real was a longtime stage stop and evolved into the exchange center for California's first mail service. General S.W. Kearney established his military mail service April 19, 1847 between San Francisco and Los Angeles with the exchange of mail at Dana's adobe.
David Spence was born in Scotland October 24, 1798, jumped ship in Monterey October 11, 1824. He worked for William Hartnell in the hide and tallow trade, and later opened his own shop in Monterey. In 1828, he was baptized at the Mission in Santa Cruz. He married Adelaide, daughter of Marino Estrada in 1829. He became Alcalde of Monterey, and a member of the State Legislature.
John Mulligan was an Irish sailor. He taught the art of weaving to the Indians at the various missions. He had an interest in Coopers Ranchero in the Salinas valley and was a hard drinker who died in 1834.
Realized: $4,000