Monkey Block San Francisco's Golden History

Commander John B. Montgomery’s 1846 proclamation declared that Native Californians were not to be regarded as slaves.  But when you read it closely, the document reveals something more complicated. 

This episode discusses what the proclamation attempted to fix and the forms of control it preserved. Sometimes, history just ... is. 

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This is March 1847, Part One—the beginning of Yerba Buena’s transformation into an American town. 

In this episode, we examine a town meeting, the rise and disappearance of “Parson” J.G.T. Dunleavy, calls to establish a public school, and challenging Californio's Mexican land-grant system. 

We also discuss how American settlers and Californio landowners viewed the same landscape through different legal traditions. 

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It’s February 1847, and this is Girlina reporting to you from Yerba Buena, in Upper California. Where the population is small, the gossip is plentiful, and the mud is ankle deep. February’s headlines include local disputes, questionable reporting, and some life advice — all delivered with equal seriousness.

News of the desperate situation of the Donner Party just reached Yerba Buena which was officially renamed San Francisco at the end of January. 

And now, dear listeners, let’s see what’s happening on the sandy streets of Yerba Buena, or San Francisco, February 1847. 

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Over the past five years, I’ve shared fragments of the sometimes-comedic stories of 1847 Yerba Buena. But 1847 deserves more than scattered stories. It was a transformative year for the Pueblo de Yerba Buena, the District of San Francisco, Monterey and Alta California.

I plan to retell the 1847 story in a multipart series. And while I’m sad to say goodbye to Yerba Buena, I’m excited to tell this next chapter, the year before the gold.

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Architectural historian, Jonathon Lammers interviews me in this episode. Stay until the end to hear about a change coming to the podcast. 

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Larkin’s decision to move to Monterey, in Mexico’s California, was to work with his very successful half-brother, Bostonian John Rogers Cooper, who made his fortune in the sea otter trade that was transitioning to the hide and tallow trade. 

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Larkin came to a critical juncture in life and had to make a drastic change. He has three options to choose from and he knows in which order he wants the options to work out in. 

Did his first choice come to fruition? His second choice? Maybe his third? Listen and find out. 

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Thomas Larkin is one of my favorite people from the early California story, and I’ve mentioned him in past episodes. Thomas Larkin inevitably comes up when discussing Yerba Buena’s history, which is also San Francisco's and California’s history. 

I’m excited to share this deep look into Thomas Oliver Larkin’s life, which will take more than one episode to tell. 

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This episode is a memorial to a Civil War Veteran and locally famous (in his time), San Francisco/Bay Area resident, Henry Fortmann. 

This story is special to me because it honors my listener's great-great-great grandfather, Henry Fortmann, and his connection to San Francisco's disinterment of the dead.

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This is Part 2 of my interview with author Terry Hamburg, author of "Land of the Dead, How the West Changed Death in America". 

In this episode Terry tells us how the four main cemeteries dealt with evicting the dead by the 1940s. I assure you, it's a fascinating story and it will give you historical reference for many parts of San Francisco as well as Colma's necropolis history. 

Purchase the book, here:

https://www.amazon.com/Land-Dead-Changed-Death-America/dp/1633889866/ref=sr_1_1?crid=9JDS5OLKVB7V&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.qU3vNv3F7ybQif2LJRd7hw.5Y3xrS6Kal6ldEU8bf_GtWAXWQiI3ngY7NSktN58ApA&dib_tag=se&keywords=terry+hamburg+land+of+the+dead&qid=1742942103&sprefix=terry+ham%2Caps%2C150&sr=8-1

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