Deed of sale for a lot in Stanislaus City, sold by Samuel and Ann L. Brannan to one DeWitt C. Thompson. Filled out in ink, signed by Ann L. Brannan, William Sturt (Samuel Brannan's attorney), witnesses Frederick Billings and G.W. Bird (who also signs it as recorded in the archives of "the City of Stanislaus Book B page 131"), and W[illiam] Gillespie, notary public of the District of San Francisco, Upper California. 4 pp. from a folded sheet, printed on the 1st 2 pages. 13½x9.

Fascinating documentation of the land speculation engaged in by Samuel Brannan during the height of the Gold Rush, among the many business schemes which allowed him to become, at one time, the richest man in California. A Mormon elder who came to California in 1846 to scout out the Mexican colony as a possible location for Mormon settlement (a plan soon abandoned as the U.S. worked to acquire the territory and the Mormons found a more isolated venue at the Great Salt Lake in Utah), Brannan turned to various business enterprises as the American conquest of California and the discovery of gold opened up commercial enterprise. The present document has a rare Territory of California imprint. Provenance: From the Library of Charles H. Segerstrom.