The Elisha Oscar Crosby Papers consist mainly of autobiographical essays, documents, and correspondence regarding an early (1849-1895) California pioneer, lawyer, politician, diplomat, and civil servant. Subjects include Crosby's reminiscences of his official life in early California including his participation as a delegate at the constitutional convention that created the state; his duties as an election official for the Sacramento district; his services as a state senator from 1848 until 1852; his term as the United States resident minister to Guatemala; and his legal work regarding the land claims of Spanish-speaking Californios. Biographical materials include correspondence, personal family and financial papers, photographic portraits, newspaper clippings, and miscellaneous materials.

Elisha Oscar (E.O.) Crosby was born on July 18, 1818, the second son of seven children born to a farming family in the upstate New York Finger Lakes district near what is now Ithaca. He studied law under several lawyers, including his uncle, A.G. Spaulding of Buffalo, and received his legal diploma on his twenty-fifth birthday. He then moved to New York City to practice with Abner Benedict doing admiralty (maritime) law at 27 Wall Street.

1.00 linear feet (1 archive box)

Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.