Memoirs of Elisha Oscar Crosby

Elisha Oscar Crosby (1818-1895), a New York lawyer, fell victim to "California fever" and sailed for the West in December 1848. In California he had a distinguished legal and political career that led to a diplomatic appointment. Memoirs of Elisha Oscar Crosby (1945) prints handwritten reminiscences and anecdotes prepared by Crosby in his old age. Topics include: early life in New York, the voyage west via Panama, law practice in mining camps, the 1849 Constitutional Convention, and service in the state senate. Crosby also reflects on the inequities of the California Land Act of 1851 and his term as U.S. minister to Guatemala, 1861-1864.