Johann August Sutter junior

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Johann August Sutter jun.

Johann August Sutter junior (born October 25, 1826 in Burgdorf ; † September 21, 1897 in Acapulco ) was the Swiss-American founder of the city of Sacramento in California and consul of the United States of America in Acapulco ( Mexico ).

family

August Sutter was the eldest son of Johann August Sutter senior and his wife Anna née Dübeld.

According to his own statements, Sutter junior married María del Carmen Rivas in the late 1850s, but no evidence could be found for this.

She left him in 1862 without a divorce. He had three children with her:

  • John A. (1852-1911)
  • Anna Eliza (1856-1914)
  • Maria del Carmen (1857-1890)

In 1870 he began a relationship with Nicolasa Solís (1849-1922), whom he married in 1894. He had nine children with her:

  • Christina (1874–1935) or (1872–1932) ⚭ Jan Hermann van Wolbeck, née Munch
  • Carlos Alfredo (1875-1880)
  • Reginaldo (1878-1941)
  • Juan Norbert (1882–1937) or (1880–1937)
  • Arturo (1884-1885)
  • Anna (1887–1970) ⚭ William B. Young
  • Alfredo (1890–?)
  • Sofia (? -?)
  • NN (? -?)

Life

In Switzerland (1826–1848)

August Sutter was born the day after his parents' wedding. In 1834 the father left the family and went to America, where he founded the private colony New Helvetia in California, which was then still in Mexico . His mother had to file for the bankruptcy of Johann August Sutter sen. and was then supported by her Dübeld family. After the death of Sutters jun. wealthy grandmother, Rosina Dübeld-Ris, in 1835 Anna Sutter-Dübeld inherited together with her three sisters. So the children could but the upscale public school visit. In addition to the Dübeld family, Anna Sutter also had the support of Martin Birmann .

The first Mexican land allocation to Johann August Sutter sen. covered the maximum area of ​​11 Sitio de ganado Mayor (almost 200 square kilometers) according to Mexican law at the time , which in Mexico also meant 11 Legua cuadrada . The second land allocation of February 5, 1845 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena included that within the Sutter sen. Land lying in the first land allocation for settlement exempted territory, which he could not initially claim for the first land allocation because of the legal limitation to 11 sitio at the time. It was awarded to his eldest son, Johann August Sutter jun., In 1845 as a land grant and referred to as Rancho Nueva Helvetia Sobrante or Rancho New Helvetia Sobrante . So formal was Sutter jun. a large landowner there before he left for California.

When August Sutter jun. Leaving Europe, he had no knowledge of the California gold discoveries. He first sailed to New York and booked a ship passage to California via Cape Horn .

In California (1848-1850)

Sutter jun. reached San Francisco on September 14, 1848 by ship. Despite the gold discovery at his sawmill, his father found himself in an extremely precarious financial situation, as the purchase price for the Fort Ross and Bodega Bay properties he had bought in 1841 was due. Since he had no cash, the existing mortgage was threatened with foreclosure . August Sutter, who was already formally the owner of the second Mexican land allocation, was given the advice of Georg McKinstry to transfer the entire property to prevent enforcement. Whether the overwriting was legally possible is controversial - the legal situation in California was generally completely unclear. The former Mexican province had been annexed by the United States, but was not yet a US state.

Samuel Brannan encouraged him to found the city of Sacramento in competition with his father's city project, Sutterville . William H. Warner took over the surveying work for the new town in late 1848 / early 1849 and also made the suggestion for the name of the town. Sutter jun. commissioned Peter Burnett in January 1849 with the sale of the land and the handling of his legal affairs for a commission of 25%. While Sutter is referred to as the father of Sacramento, Burnett is considered the wet nurse of Sacramento. On January 2, 1849, Sutter jun. the City of Sacramento owns the planned street areas and other land for public purposes.

The two interest groups (for Sacramento and Sutterville) now tried to make their respective city projects a success by enticing businesspeople through land donations, which ultimately led to severe financial losses for the two Sutters. Nevertheless, Sutter jun. he largely paid off his father's debts by June 1849, but then withdrew to the Hock Farm when he was ill and then transferred the entire remaining assets back to his father. This clumsily dissolved the contract with Burnett and had to grant him a high severance payment in the form of land in Sacramento.

Sutter jun. now organized with Heinrich Lienhard the trip of the mother who remained in Switzerland and his siblings to California. They left Basel on September 25, 1849 and reached San Francisco on January 21, 1850. Due to the latent tensions between junior and senior, the latter wanted August to retire from the Hock Farm family home and build his own existence. The father did not owe the promised sum of money for this. Trusting this sum, the junior had already entered into obligations to dubious business partners and was under pressure. Finally, Sutter senior wrote. In May 1850 his son returned some land, which he sold in June 1850, but only received bills of exchange that later turned out to be worthless in addition to little cash . On July 1, 1850, Sutter jun. San Francisco to Central America and settled in Acapulco.

Commuters between Mexico and California (1850–1855)

In Acapulco, Sutter jun. works for the French wine merchants J. Lecacheux and L. Galley. As early as December 1850, he followed the call of Lecacheux, who tried in vain to collect outstanding payments for him in San Francisco for Sutter's property in Sacramento. But even while Sutter was in California, he was the victim of further scams. In March 1851 he agreed to sell all his claims in California to a group of people under the leadership of Samuel Brannan, but again received little cash and later turned out to be worthless bills of exchange.

In the summer of 1851 he returned to Mexico, where his first son was born in Guaymas in the Mexican state of Sonora . The young family stayed in Guaymas for about two and a half years until they had used up their last financial reserves. Then she moved to the Indian- populated hinterland. Sutter himself gave no specific information about this, but only complained about the miserable living conditions of his family during this time. Hurtado suspects that Sutter came into contact with the French filibuster Gaston de Raousset-Boulbon , who controlled a settler republic created by his privateers in northern Sonora in 1853/1854 . In May 1854, Sutter and his family returned to California on their father's Hock Farm to make one more attempt to regain part of his fortune, but this was unsuccessful. After he fell ill again, he traveled with his wife to Acapulco in February 1855, they left their son with his grandparents. In Acapulco, Sutter sold his California land claims to William Mesick and was accused of selling land twice.

In Mexico (1855-1897)

The proceeds from this assignment of disputed rights to Mesick enabled Sutter jun. After his return to Acapulco in the summer of 1855, he bought a share in the successful import company El Bazar del Pacifico from August Dempwolff, which he took over as the main shareholder after his death in 1886.

In 1864, Sutter was appointed deputy US commercial agent in Acapulco. At that time, the French intervention in Mexico continued and the Empire of Mexico existed - the American Civil War was still raging .

Sutter sympathized with the Liberals under President Benito Juárez . From the seized correspondence it can be deduced that Sutter was also involved in the organization of arms deliveries to the Liberal troops.

In the spring of 1866, Sutter was arrested by the imperial troops in Acapulco for shooting a drunk rioting officer. The efforts of his superiors to be released were unsuccessful until a US warship appeared off Acapulco in June, the captain of which negotiated the release. In the late summer of 1866, Sutter left his post and the Imperial Mexican authorities investigated him for organizing arms deliveries to Liberal troops, for which he had abused diplomatic mail. The imperial troops threatened him with death, but had to evacuate Acapulco in February 1867. Despite this violation of the officially declared neutrality of the US government, Sutter was not punished by his superiors. When a US consulate was opened in Acapulco in 1870, Sutter was appointed consul. As a consul, Sutter was no longer allowed to actively work in his company and looked for new partners. The partnership with Pedro Kastan ended with years of legal dispute (1889-1894) and further asset losses for Sutter junior.

On May 24, 1887, Sutter resigned from his post as consul and lived with his family on the Los Organos Ranch. He died in Acapulco, where he was buried. In 1964, at the instigation of his daughter Anna Sutter Young, the body was reburied in Sacramento. His daughter, Anna Sutter Young, was buried next to him in 1970.

Gravestone of Sutter jun. in Sacramento

Battle for the estate

Sutter jun. Widow Nicolasa continued to live with the children on the Los Organos Rancho family plantation near Acapulco. In 1914 she was driven out by an anti-American mob and came to Sacramento in 1915 after a stopover in San Francisco. There she sued the city for the surrender of land that her husband had earmarked for public parks in 1849. These properties have now been developed by Sacramento City with schools and apartment blocks, which from the widow's point of view was a violation of the conditions of the foundation and should therefore lead to relapse to the family. This claim could not be enforced either. After Nicolasa's death (1922), the children and grandchildren inherited the claim to the approximately 4700 hectares of the Los Organos Ranch , but no member of the family wanted to live there. In October 1929 the country was declared ownerless by the Mexican authorities and released for settlement. This measure was part of the Mexican land reform ( Ejido project). Further efforts by the Sutter family to return the rancho in 1942 were unsuccessful.

reminder

In Acapulco there is a Hotel Sutter, which is located in the former property of Sutter jun. is located.

literature

  • John Augustus Sutter: The Sutter Family and the Origins of Gold-Rush Sacramento. Sacramento 1943; Reprint: University of Oklahoma Press, 2002, ISBN 0-8061-3493-3 Google digitized version (restricted access)
  • Allan R. Ottley: Biography of John A. Sutter, Jr. In: John A. Sutter Jr .: The Sutter Family and the Origins of Gold-Rush Sacramento. Sacramento 1943. Google digitized version (restricted access)
  • Albert L. Hurtado: John Sutter. A Life on the North American Frontier. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman OK 2006, available for loan from the Internet Archive
  • James Peter Zollinger: Johann August Sutter. King of New Helvetia. In: Zürcher Illustrierte , Volume 14 (1938) (abridged version of the book publication)
  • Rudolf Bigler: General Johann August Sutter and his relationship with Burgdorf. In: Burgdorfer Jahrbuch 1935. P. 15 (certificate) UB Bern
  • Peter H. Burnett : Recollections and opinions of an old pioneer. New York 1880, pp. 286ff. Internet Archive
  • Evan Christopher Rothera: Civil wars and reconstructions in America: The United States, Mexico, and Argentina, 1860-1880. 2017 pdf

Web links

Commons : John Sutter jr  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Portraits of the Sutter family

Partnership between Baden-Württemberg and California

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ see Hurtado, p. 289.
  2. ^ Entry by John A. Sutter on findagrave.com; accessed on March 27, 2021
  3. ↑ Entry Anna Eliza Sutter Link on findagrave.com; accessed on March 27, 2021
  4. ↑ Entry Maria Carmen Sutter Smith on findagrave.com; accessed on March 28, 2021
  5. ↑ Entry Nicolasa Vade Solis Sutter on findagrave.com; accessed on March 28, 2021
  6. ↑ See Ottley, Appendix I. The Children of John A. Sutter Jr., pp. 132-133
  7. ↑ Entry Christina Sutter Van Wolbeck on findagrave.com; accessed on March 28, 2021
  8. ↑ See Ottley, Appendix I. The Children of John A. Sutter Jr., p. 133
  9. ↑ Entry John Norbert Sutter on findagrave.com; accessed on March 28, 2021
  10. ↑ Entry Anna Nicolasa Sutter Young on findagrave.com; accessed on March 27, 2021
  11. ^ Decree of August 18th, 1824 respecting colonization. In: John W. Dwinelle: The colonial history of the city of San Francisco: being a synthetic argument in the District Court of the United States for the northern district of California, for four square leagues of land claimed by that city. 1863, Addenda No XII. on the Internet Archive - English translation of Mexican law
  12. ↑ The possibility of assigning more than 11 sitio at a later date was opened up in Mexican law by the General rules and regulations for the colonization of territories of the republic Mexico, November 21, 1828. In: John W. Dwinelle: The colonial history of the city of San Francisco: being a synthetic argument in the District Court of the United States for the northern district of California, for four square leagues of land claimed by that city , 1863, Addenda No XIV. in the Internet Archive - English translation of the Mexican Law
  13. ↑ See Hurtado p. 236 Internet Archive
  14. ↑ See Ottley p. 18, FN 53.
  15. ↑ Peter H. Burnett : Recollections and opinions of an old pioneer. New York 1880, p. 287. Internet Archive
  16. ↑ See Birmann p. 28
  17. ↑ see Hurtado p. 290
  18. ↑ see Hurtado, p. 291.
  19. ↑ see Hurtado, pp. 303/304.
  20. ↑ See Rothera, p. 144.
  21. ↑ See Rothera, p. 148.
  22. ↑ Sacramento City Cemetery 1849–2000, p. 79
  23. ↑ Entry Hotel Sutter on eventseeker; accessed on July 19, 2021

Remarks

  1. ↑ First name: August
  2. ↑ According to Zollinger, Heft 35, first part, p. 1069 e-periodica , the inheritance was confiscated, for which there is no reference to Bigler.
  3. ↑ Hurtado p. 235 [1] erroneously describes him as Sutter's brother-in-law. Birmann was later also the first biographer of Sutter to report that the legacy was not released until 1862. See also Birmann p. 5 Internet Archive
  4. ↑ sobrante means remnant in Spanish , d. H. who on Sutter sen. The land allocation was defined by coordinates that exceeded the legal 11 sitio when fully exploited. Sutter Sr. had specified its assignment within these coordinates. The remaining one, von Sutter sen. The unelected part was the remnant dedicated to his eldest son in the second Mexican land allocation to the Sutter family.
  5. ↑ It is unclear which goods the company traded in. In a report by Sutter from 1875 there is also talk of an extensive arms store [2] , so that it can be assumed that the company - like others in Acapulco - also made its fortune with arms trading in uprising Mexico.
  6. ↑ Today this position corresponds roughly to a deputy honorary consul .
  7. ^ Successor was Robert W. Loughery Entry in the Handbook of Texas; accessed on July 19, 2021
  8. ^ Entry by John A. Sutter on findagrave.com; retrieved on August 26, 2021 It says: “He died in Acapulco in 1897 and was originally buried in Mexico, but in 1964 through the efforts of family members, especially his youngest and by then only surviving daughter, Anna Sutter, .... . ". The term "consent" on the tombstone describes the necessary formality and does not exclude the "efforts" to reburial.
personal data
SURNAME Sutter, Johann August junior
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sutter, Johann August jun.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss-American founder of the city of Sacramento in California and Consul of the United States of America in Acapulco (Mexico)
BIRTH DATE October 25, 1826
PLACE OF BIRTH Burgdorf
DATE OF DEATH September 21, 1897
PLACE OF DEATH Acapulco