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Manuscripts
This small group consists of three letters Mary wrote to her children and relatives as well as two versions of reminiscences of her family's voyage from Switzerland to New York City and then on to Utah in a handcart company. In these accounts she describes the harsh conditions of their journey to Utah and the struggles of frontier and pioneer life. With the help of her son, Le Roy Reuben Hafen (1893-), his wife Ann W. (Ann Woodbury) Hafen (1893-1970), and granddaughter, Juanita Brooks (1898-), Mary was able to publish her life story, "Recollections of a handcart pioneer of 1860: with some account of frontier life in Utah and Nevada" in 1938.
mssHM 66379-66383
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Manuscripts
The author's recalls life in Southern California where she first lived on the Ballona or Malaga Ranch where her father was a sheep and cattle rancher. When she was four years old, they moved to San Gabriel and lived on the estate of De Barth Shorb when her father was appointed overseer of the Benjamin D. Wilson Ranch. She describes the ranch, its inhabitants and the San Gabriel Valley. In 1868 her parents bought land from John G. Downey in Los Nietos Valley near what is now Pico Rivera. Their ranch home was on the banks of the Rio Hondo River across the river from one of the Able Sterns ranchos. Standlee describes pioneer life; agriculture including orange, lemon and walnut orchards; dairy farming; stock ranching, schools and the coming of the railroads. Mrs. Standlee documents her marriage to Joel W. Standlee and the birth of her children. Some place names mentioned are: Los Angeles, Wilmington, San Gabriel, [Pico] Rivera, El Monte, Pasadena, Montebello and Downey.
mssHM 27978
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Rare Books
224594