ArchiveGrid : Cave Johnson Couts papers, 1832
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Details

approximately 16,000 pieces

92 boxes

171 volumes

250 maps

1 roll

1832-1951

The collection consists of the personal, family and business papers of Cave Johnson Couts (1821-1874) and his son, Cave Johnson Couts, Jr. (1856-1943). There is personal and business correspondence, army papers of Cave J. Couts (1837-1855), accounts, land papers, legal papers, survey correspondence and field notes of Cave J. Couts, Jr., family papers, photographs, ephemera, and 250 maps

Of note in the collection is a journal kept by Cave Johnson Couts (1821-1874) which documents his company's six-month march from Monterrey, Mexico, to California in 1848. Other military papers in the collection include the army papers (1852-1861) of Aaron B. Hardcastle and correspondence between Couts and his siblings in Tennessee about the U.S. Civil War

The collection also contains a significant amount of materials related to Native Americans in San Diego County. Of note are papers about the 1851 San Diego County Indian uprising known as the Garra Revolt (led by Antonio Garra), and the involvement of Cave Johnson Couts (1821-1874) with the Indians as a sub-agent for the county from 1853-1855

There is also material concerning land in San Diego County and in greater Southern California. It includes information on various ranchos, including Buena Vista, Guajome, among others, and the growth and development of various cities, including San Diego, Los Angeles, and Oceanside. There is also information about the San Luis Rey Mission, the creation of the Palomar Observatory (1930-38) and the activities of the Ranchito Mine in the Julian District purchased by Cave J. Couts, Jr. in 1895 (1895-1941). The land papers also contain materials regarding different estates, including the estate of Arcadia Bandini Stearns Baker, which included vast holdings of Los Angeles County land

Family papers in the collection include baptismal records, wedding announcements, biographical materials, etc. related to the Couts and Bandini families

Additional correspondents represented in the collection include: John Forster, John S. Griffin, Benjamin I. Hayes, Charles Robinson Johnson, Ephraim W. Morse, George Allan Pendleton, Alfred Robinson, Abel Stearns, and Jonathan Trumbull Warner

Cave Johnson Couts (1821-1874), a native of Tennessee, was an army officer ordered to Monterrey, Mexico who was later sent to California and led the escort for the U.S. Boundary Commission in 1849. Couts married Isidora Bandini (daughter of Juan Bandini) and became the owner of the large Guajome Rancho in San Diego County. He was engaged in the cattle business, and his son, Cave J. Couts, Jr. (1856-1943) became a civil engineer and worked as a deputy surveyor for San Diego County before he began managing the Guajome Ranch

Guide to American historical manuscripts in the Huntington Library (San Marino, Calif. : H.E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, 1979)

Cards are filed in both the alphabetical and chronological sections of the Manuscripts catalog

Unpublished finding aid available in repository. An electronic version is available on the website of Online Archives of California (OAC). Click on the link in this record to view the finding aid

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