1936 Earl Ramey THE BEGINNINGS OF MARYSVILLE California LIMITED TO 200 COPIES

DESCRIPTION: The Beginnings of Marysville by Ramey, Earl; (Foreword by Watson, Douglas S.) Number Three of Series of Town Histories (Special Publication No. 12); Publication: San Francisco: California Historical Society (Lawton Kennedy, Printer), 1936; Limited to 200 copies (from CHS bibliography); with one map on title page and one folding map and several illustrations; approx. 10-1/8 inches tall and 7 inches wide; 111 pages (i-vi), 1-105, frontispiece portrait of Mary Murphy Covillaud.

CONDITION: Near fine, toning to endpapers as usual [the folding map is in fine condition] [SEE SCANS].

SECURITY: ARGUS BOOKS [or other wording] in PINK may have been super-imposed over the images for security and are not on the actual item.

HISTORY: In 1842, John Sutter leased part of his Rancho New Helvetia land to Theodore Cordua, a native of Mecklenburg in Prussia, who raised livestock, and in 1843 built a home and trading post he called New Mecklenburg. The trading post and home was situated at what would later become the southern end of 'D' Street, Marysville's main street. In 1844, the Mexican government granted Cordua his own land grant, Rancho Honcut.

In 1848, Charles Covillaud, a former employee of Cordua, discovered riches in the gold fields and bought half of the Cordua ranch. In January 1849, Michael C. Nye and William Foster, brothers-in-law of Covillaud's wife, Mary Murphy, a survivor of the Donner Party, bought the other half of the Cordua ranch. They later sold their interest to Covillaud. In October of the same year, Covillaud sold most of the ranch to Jose Ramirez, John Sampson, and Theodore Sicard. During the Gold Rush, the ranch became a stopping point for the riverboats from Sacramento and San Francisco that brought prospectors to the digging grounds. Even today a sign on the roadside as one enters Marysville describes it as the "Gateway to The Gold Fields."

In 1850, Covillaud, Ramirez, Sampson, and Sicard hired Augustus Le Plongeon, a French surveyor, to create a plan for a town called Jubaville, later called Yubaville. Stephen J. Field, a newly relocated attorney, purchased 65 lots of land and drew up proper deeds for land being sold. Then, after just three days in the mining camp, he accepted the nomination to run for alcalde, a Mexican official, which combined the duties of a mayor and justice of the peace, in a new government that was being formed. On January 18, 1850, Field defeated his rival, who had been in town just six days, and a town council was elected. That night, the townsfolk decided to name the new town Marysville after Charles Covillaud's wife, Mary Murphy Covillaud, the former wife of William Johnson of Johnson's Ranch, and one of the surviving members of the Donner Party. After Marysville was incorporated by the new California Legislature, the first mayor was elected in 1851. Field went on to become one of the longest sitting members of the United States Supreme Court.

A post office was established at Marysville in 1851. By 1853, the tent city had been replaced by brick buildings. In addition to the brick merchant buildings, Marysville had developed mills, iron works, factories, machine shops, schools, churches and two daily newspapers. The population was almost 10,000. By 1857, Marysville had become one of the largest cities in California, due to its strategic location. Over $10 million in gold was shipped from the banks in Marysville to the U.S. Mint in San Francisco. The city's founders imagined Marysville becoming "The New York of the Pacific."

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