In 1831, Thomas Larkin, a Massachusetts merchant, arrived in California to help his half-brother John Cooper after a mixed career. Despite the complication of fathering a child to a married woman (to their relief the woman's husband soon died at sea), Larkin became quite successful, building the first geared mill and the first wharf in California. By now a prominent figure in Mexican California's convoluted politics, Larkin built this impressive two-story building.
In 1842 after smoothing over Mexican anger at Monterey's seizure by Commodore Thomas Jones, Larkin was rewarded by being named the first (and only) American consul to Alta California by Pres John Tyler. In 1846 under Pres James Polk, Larkin received a secret letter from Sec of State James Buchanan to work against Mexican suspicions that the United States would seize California. That same year Lt Archibald Gillespie was sent with a secret verbal message from the President to Larkin. The message is unknown but what is was that soon after both the Bear Flag Revolt broke out and Commodore John Sloat seized Monterey and California for the United States.
After the Mexican-American War Larkin helped found the City of Benecia and played a role in the State Constitutional Convention in 1849. With his insider knowledge, he also quickly took control of several Mexican land grants, Rancho Jimeno, Rancho Boga, Rancho Cienega del Gabilan, Rancho Pleyto, Rancho Cotate, and Rancho Larkin’s Children, becoming one of the wealthiest men in California. However in 1858 while at one of his grants he contracted and died of Typhoid Fever.
Built in 1835 by American Thomas Larkin, the Larkin house was a joint residence/general store. The first two-story house in Monterey, the Larkin House contains both Spanish Colonial and New England architectural elements, leading to the creation of the Monterey Colonial style, with two stories, continuous surrounding porches on both levels, a hip roof, and adobe walls.
On the left is a small adobe building known as Sherman's Quarters, built in 1834 by Thomas Larkin and rented out to US troops during the occupation of California. Its most famous resident was whom the building is now named after, Lt William Sherman, who was sorely disappointed by the lack of fighting in California but would later gain fame during the American Civil War.
Monterey State Historic Park, Monterey, California
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