Lemuel Carpenter (c. 1808 in

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

– November 5, 1859 in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

) was one of the first Anglo-American settlers of what is now the

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

metropolitan area.

Early life

Lemuel Carpenter was born c. 1808 in

. He migrated to

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

about 1828, where he served in Searcy's Company of Missouri Militia in 1829.

Southern California Pioneer

Carpenter was in southern California by January 1833, arriving in the company of trappers Cyrus Alexander,

William Chard William George Chard (1812 - September 19, 1877) was a California pioneer. Life William George Chard was born in Columbia County, New York in 1812. He came to California via New Mexico with trappers Cyrus Alexander and Lemuel Carpenter, arrivin ...

, Joseph Paulding, and Albert Toomes. David J. Weber: ''The Taos Trappers: The Fur Trade in the Far Southwest, 1540-1846'', University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Okla., 1971, p. 152.Iris Higbie Wilson: "Lemuel Carpenter" in ''The Mountain Men and the Fur Trade of the Far West'', LeRoy R. Hafen, ed., The Arthur H. Clark Co., Glendale, Calif., 1972, pp. 33-40.Hubert Howe Bancroft: ''California Pioneer Register and Index 1542-1848'', Regional Publishing Co., Baltimore, Md., 1964, p. 82. Early California settler

John Bidwell John Bidwell (August 5, 1819 – April 4, 1900), known in Spanish as Don Juan Bidwell, was a Californian pioneer, politician, and soldier. Bidwell is known as the founder the city of Chico, California. Born in New York, he emigrated at the age of ...

includes him in this recollection of people he knew in the

Pueblo de Los Ángeles El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles (English: ''The town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels''), shortened to Pueblo de los Ángeles, was the Spanish civilian ''pueblo'' settled in 1781, which by the 20th century became the ...

: "Los Angeles I first saw in March, 1845. It then had probably two hundred and fifty people, of whom I recall Don

Abel Stearns Abel Stearns (February 9, 1798 – August 23, 1871) was an American trader who came to the Pueblo de Los Angeles, Alta California in 1829 and became a major landowner and cattle rancher and one of the area's wealthiest citizens. Early life Stear ...

, John Temple ( Jonathan Temple), Captain Alexander Bell,

William Wolfskill William Wolfskill (1798–1866) was an American-Mexican pioneer, cowboy, and agronomist in Los Angeles, California beginning in the 1830s. He had earned money for land in a decade as a fur trapper near Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he had become a ...

, Lemuel Carpenter, David W. Alexander; also of Mexicans, Pío Pico (governor), Don

Juan Bandini Juan Bandini (1800 – November 4, 1859) was a Peruvian-born Californio public figure, politician, and ranchero. He is best known for his role in the development of San Diego in the mid-19th century. Early history Bandini was born in 1800 in Lima ...

, and others". Carpenter started a soap manufacturing business ("jabonería") at Chokishgna, a Tongva-Gabrieleño villageVerne Dyson: "The Old Ranchos That are Buried in Los Angeles" in ''The Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine'', issue of December 18, 1927, pp. 12-13, 23 (23), https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25458857/, last accessed 2 February 2019.U.S. Department of the Interior: "Feature Detail Report for: Chokisgna (historical)," Geographic Names Information System, citing: Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. ''Bulletin 30 - Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico'', edited by Frederick Webb Hodge, Part 1, published in 1907, Part 2, published in 1910, https://geonames.usgs.gov/apex/f?p=gnispq:3:0::NO::P3_FID:1732516, last accessed 2 Feb 2019. on the San Gabriel River in present-day El Monte that profited sufficiently for him to purchase Rancho Santa Gertrudes, which included the

Tongva The Tongva ( ) are an Indigenous people of California from the Los Angeles Basin and the Southern Channel Islands, an area covering approximately . Some descendants of the people prefer Kizh as an endonym that, they argue, is more historically ...

village Nacaugna, now Downey, California, southeast of what is now downtown Los Angeles. He was among the first of the Americans to plant a

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineya ...

for the making of

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

. His original settlement was known as "Carpenter's Farm" from 1837 until it was destroyed by a flood in 1867. He was active in revolutionary activities, sided with the Americans in the Mexican War, tried

gold mining Gold mining is the extraction of gold resources by mining. Historically, mining gold from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. However, with the expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface, ...

, and in general prospered in his new home. A popular travel guide notes: " Rancho Santa Gertrudes…was sold to Lemuel Carpenter, a Kentuckian, who married the beautiful María de los Angeles Domínguez. ... The Carpenters erehappy and prosperous under Mexican rule".Mildred Brooke Hoover, Hero Eugene Rensch, and Ethel Grace Rensch; revised by William N. Abeloe: ''Historic Spots in California'', Third Edition, Stanford University Press, Stanford, Calif., 1966, pp. 153, 163; 20, 56, 401.Terry Carpenter: "Lemuel CARPENTER, Anglo L.A. Pioneer", http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/CALOSANG/2001-04/0986744501, 8 Apr 2001. Rancho Santa Gertrudes was owned by Lemuel Carpenter until 1859. In 1859 the rancho was sold at sheriff's auction to John G. Downey and James P. McFarland. "Samuel", actually "Lemuel" but misspelled by the recorder, Carpenter was recorded as the legal possessor as late as 1862.

Family

Lemuel's father is believed to be Jonathan Carpenter (c. 1785 Virginia-c. 1853 Missouri) and grandson of Matthew Carpenter (c. 1761 Virginia-c. 1798 Virginia). In the 1850 census, Lemuel Carpenter is listed as age 42, with a real estate value of $8,000 dollars, a farmer. His wife, Maria, is listed as age 22 — she was his second wife. His children, all born in California, are listed as: * Susana Carpenter, age 11. * José Antonio Carpenter, age 9 (born November 20, 1837; descendants still live in Los Angeles) * Refugio Carpenter, age 6. * Francisco Carpenter, age 3.

Misfortune and Death

Carpenter's prosperity took a precipitous downturn when a $5,000 loan from John G. Downey taken out in 1852 ballooned into a $104,000 debt by 1859. Unable to repay the debt, he eventually killed himself. The diary of Lemuel Carpenter's daughter Mary Refugio Carpenter includes this entry written on January 2, 1861: "I have been thinking so much of my father tonight. It made me weep."John Adams: "Loss of father cast shadow over her diary" in ''The Downey'' alif.''Eagle'' issue of December 5, 1997, on file with the Downey Historical Society, Downey, Calif.

References and notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carpenter, Lemuel American pioneers California pioneers People of Mexican California People of the American Old West 1800s births 1859 deaths People from Los Angeles History of Los Angeles History of Los Angeles County, California 19th-century American people 19th century in Los Angeles Year of birth uncertain Suicides by firearm in California