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Book/Printed Material Adobe days; being the truthful narrative of the events in the life of a California girl on a sheep ranch and in El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles while it was yet a small and humble town; together with an account of how three young men from Maine in eighteen hundred and fifty-three drove sheep and cattle across the plains, mountains and deserts from Illinois to the Pacific coast; and the strange prophecy of Admiral Thatcher about San Pedro harbor,

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Title

  • Adobe days; being the truthful narrative of the events in the life of a California girl on a sheep ranch and in El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles while it was yet a small and humble town; together with an account of how three young men from Maine in eighteen hundred and fifty-three drove sheep and cattle across the plains, mountains and deserts from Illinois to the Pacific coast; and the strange prophecy of Admiral Thatcher about San Pedro harbor,

Summary

  • A native Californian, Sarah Hathaway Bixby Smith (1871-1935) was born at her family's sheep ranch near San Juan Bautista, where she lived until the family moved to Los Angeles some six years later. Her father, Llewellyn Bixby, had left Maine to settle in the West in 1851, and he and his brothers became one of southern California's most influential families. Adobe days (1925) is Mrs. Smith's account of her early childhood on the ranch and trips east to visit relatives in Maine, girlhood in Los Angeles, visits to Los Cerritos and Los Alamitos ranches, and her education in Los Angeles public schools and at Pomona and Wellesley Colleges. She supplements this with the life of her father, Llewellyn Bixby: his journey to California via Panama and months as a prospector at the Volcano Diggings, cattle and sheep drives across country, and real estate investments in Los Angeles and neighboring counties. More generally, she discusses the role of Mexican and Chinese servants and other aspects of housekeeping and childrearing, sheep husbandry and the wool business, Los Angeles's growth, the history of Southern California under the Spanish, and the evolution of Pasadena, Riverside, Anaheim, and San Bernardino.

Names

  • Bixby Smith, Sarah, 1871-1935.

Created / Published

  • Cedar Rapids, Ia., The Torch press, 1925.

Headings

  • -  Frontier and pioneer life--California--Los Angeles
  • -  Los Angeles (Calif.)--History
  • -  Bixby Smith, Sarah,--1871-1935
  • -  Ethnic groups--California
  • -  Women--California
  • -  Urbanization--California
  • -  Real estate development--California
  • -  Mines and mineral resources--California
  • -  Agriculture--California

Medium

  • 208 p. 19 cm.

Call Number/Physical Location

  • F866 .S63
  • F866 .S63 Copy 2 Copy 2.

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 25025969

Rights Advisory

  • No known restrictions on publication. No copyright renewal found.

Online Format

  • image
  • pdf
  • online text

Additional Metadata Formats

Rights & Access

"California as I Saw It:" First-Person Narratives of California's Early Years, 1849-1900.

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Credit Line: Library of Congress, [appropriate source division as described in the bibliographic record]. For example: Library of Congress, General Collections; or, Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Bixby Smith, Sarah. Adobe days; being the truthful narrative of the events in the life of a California girl on a sheep ranch and in El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles while it was yet a small and humble town; together with an account of how three young men from Maine in eighteen hundred and fifty-three drove sheep and cattle across the plains, mountains and deserts from Illinois to the Pacific coast; and the strange prophecy of Admiral Thatcher about San Pedro harbor. Cedar Rapids, Ia., The Torch press, 1925. Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/25025969/.

APA citation style:

Bixby Smith, S. (1925) Adobe days; being the truthful narrative of the events in the life of a California girl on a sheep ranch and in El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles while it was yet a small and humble town; together with an account of how three young men from Maine in eighteen hundred and fifty-three drove sheep and cattle across the plains, mountains and deserts from Illinois to the Pacific coast; and the strange prophecy of Admiral Thatcher about San Pedro harbor. Cedar Rapids, Ia., The Torch press. [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/25025969/.

MLA citation style:

Bixby Smith, Sarah. Adobe days; being the truthful narrative of the events in the life of a California girl on a sheep ranch and in El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles while it was yet a small and humble town; together with an account of how three young men from Maine in eighteen hundred and fifty-three drove sheep and cattle across the plains, mountains and deserts from Illinois to the Pacific coast; and the strange prophecy of Admiral Thatcher about San Pedro harbor. Cedar Rapids, Ia., The Torch press, 1925. Pdf. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/25025969/>.