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Guide to the Flores Family Papers
MS-03
MS-03
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Table of contents
Title: Flores Family Papers
Identifier/Call Number: MS-03
Contributing Institution:
Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation. Presidio Research Center
Language of Material:
Spanish; Castilian
Physical Description:
0.25 Linear feet
61 items
Date: 1840-1921
Abstract: This collection consists of twenty handwritten documents, twenty-five newspaper clippings, ten photographs, and three miscellaneous
publications concerning Santa Barbara Presidio Commandant Gumesindo Flores and his wife Cipriana Llano Flores.
creator:
Crespo, Angel
creator:
Flores, Jose Ignacio
creator:
Guerra, Pablo de la
creator:
Quintero, Regina
creator:
Vallejo, Mariano Guadalupe, 1808-1890
Gumesindo Flores (d.1860) was Santa Barbara Presidio’s last
comandante, arriving in Santa Barbara from Monterey in 1842 where he had been in command since 1839. He married Cipriana Llanos Quintero
in 1835 and they had ten children. They lived in a wooden house on the 900 block of Santa Barbara Street, built in 1818. The
house was destroyed in the 1925 earthquake. Flores was murdered July 16, 1860 by an assassin and is buried at Mission Santa
Barbara. Cipriana Flores was born in Mexico on September 27, 1818 and came to California in 1833 when she was 15 years old.
She died at the age of 103 on November 23, 1921. The collection was compiled and preserved by Helen
Nellie Hartnett Platz, who was given many of the documents by her mother Rose Noe Hartnett, the granddaughter of Cipriana and Gumesindo
Flores.
Immediate Source of Acquisition note
Gift of Edward Platz, 1991
Conditions Governing Access note
Collection is open to researchers.
The documents were transcribed and translated by Ruth C. Adams, Maria Powell, and John C. MacGregor from 1989-1990.
Existence and Location of Copies note
Copies of original documents are available for use by researchers.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Associate Director for
Historical Resources. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation Research
Center as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which
must also be obtained by the reader.
Flores Family Papers, MS-03, Presidio Research Center, Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation.
This collection consists of twenty handwritten documents, twenty-five newspaper clippings, ten photographs, and three miscellaneous
publications. Among the holographs are several poignant letters to Cipriana Flores from her mother in Mexico during the mid
19th century and copies of legal documents employed by Cipriana to justify her claim to the Presidio
comandancia to U.S. authorities. The certificates or testimonials by many of the men who knew Flores provide information on his military
career in California, as well as the careers of the men who are testifying.
There are also several pages from an early Spanish cookbook and a prayer. Photographs are of Cipriana Flores and various family
members, many of them taken at the Presidio. A scattering of genealogical notes accompany the photographs. Clippings include
obituary notices of Flores family members and articles about Cipriana Flores and the Presidio dating from the early 20th century.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Flores Family
Flores, Cipriana Justina de Llanos, 1818-1921
Flores, Gumesindo
Platz, Helen Hartnett
Letters
Photographic prints
Santa Barbara Presidio (Santa Barbara, Calif.)--History.