California Pioneer Register and Index, 1542 to 1848. Hubert Howe Bancroft. Regional Publishing Co., Baltimore, Maryland, 1964.

[partial transcription]

Historian Hubert Howe Bancroft kindly extracted for us all of the names and genealogical information from his seven-volume set of "History of California." He divided this massive compilation into two parts:

1. List of Inhabitants of California, 1769-1800, and List of Pioneers taken from Volume 1.

2. The Pioneer Register and Index reassembled from Volumes 2 to 5.

The List of Inhabitants of California, 1769-1800, and List of Pioneers contain over 1,700 early male inhabitants listed in alphabetical order by surname. When known, the names of children were listed. Some of the men on the list may not have come to California or only came as escorts who returned immediately. Some men on the list may be represented more than once by different names at different times. The entries contain the name, occupation, and period. Each name is footnoted as to the time period to help distinguish individuals of similar names. A typical entry looks like this:

Alvarez, Juan, soldier (2)

The "(2)" is a footnote referring to the following table of time periods:

1 = 1769-1773
2 = 1774-1780
3 = 1780-1790
4 = 1790-1800

The Pioneer Register and Index, 1542-1848, list the names that Bancroft extracted from Volumes 1 to 5, plus additional pioneers that he knew about but were not mentioned in his volumes. The names are listed in alphabetical order by surname with the forename shown in parentheses. A single entry might look like this:

Herd (Henry), 1834, Amer. in Mont. dist. '37-7, iii. 421.

In the above example:

• "Herd" is the surname,
• "(Henry)" is the forename,
• "1834" is the year arrived,
• "Amer. in Mont. dist. '37-7" is a brief description about the person,
• "iii." is the volume,
• "421" is the page.

Generally, each surname heads a paragraph of a single forename or multiple forenames. But this was not done consistently. Sometimes forenames are separated into paragraphs, and some paragraphs contain several surnames. This makes it difficult to use and easy to miss names. When Bancroft indexed a person to an event, but that person was not mentioned in the text, the citation for volume and page appears in parentheses, such as "(iii. 421)."

The information in the volumes includes nationality, occupation, achievements, death, family connections, dates, and manner of coming to California. Therefore, this is essentially a biographical dictionary. He included all foreign pioneers except those with Spanish or Indian blood. Only the more prominent Spanish, Mexican, and native Californians were included in this compilation. He did not include ship lists. What is unfortunate about this work is that Bancroft failed to provide the sources for the information in the volumes. This makes it difficult for researchers to verify the information that's provided. Still, the volumes should be useful to anyone searching for early California pioneers.

Some California libraries that have the above item:

• Bakersfield, Kern County Library, full original set
• Berkeley, University of California Berkeley Bancroft Library, F860.B22.1964a
• Davis, University of California Davis Shields Library, F861.B23
• Dublin, Dublin Branch Library, 920.0794 Bancroft, ref.
• Fremont, Fremont Main Library, 920.0794 Bancroft
• Fullerton, California State University Fullerton Library, F861.B21 circ
• Irvine, University of California Irvine Main Library, F861 .B21 1964, F861.B21 1964 Temp SL273 SpCol RHR
• La Jolla, University of California San Diego Spec Coll Library, F861 .B21 Goodman
• Los Angeles, Los Angeles Public Library, 920.0794 B213-1
• Los Angeles, University of California Los Angeles Reference Reading Room Library, F 860 B22r Reference Reading Room
• Oakland, Oakland Main Library, 920.9794 B221C
• Palo Alto, Palo Alto Main Library, Ref 979.409 B213C
• Pleasant Hill, Contra Costa County Library, R 920.0794 Bancroft
• Pleasanton, Pleasanton Branch Library, 920.0794 Bancroft, ref.
• Pomona, California State Polytechnic University Library, F861.B21 1964 circ
• Riverside, Riverside, Riverside City and County Public Library, Genealogy Section
• Riverside, University of California Riverside Rivera Library, F860 .B35 1885a
• Sacramento, California State Library, F860 .B3 1964a California, F860 .B3 1964a California Non Circ
• San Diego, San Diego State University Library, F864.B3 1964 circ
• San Francisco, California Historical Society Library, 15852a
• San Lorenzo, San Lorenzo Branch Library, 920.0794 Bancroft, ref.
• Sacramento, California State Library, F860 .B3 1964a California, F860 .B3 1964a California Non Circ
• San Diego, San Diego State University Library, F864.B3 1964 circ
• San Francisco, California Historical Society Library, 15852a
• San Lorenzo, San Lorenzo Branch Library, 920.0794 Bancroft, ref.

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