S4 EP9 Part 2 Thomas Larkin Has Three Options

Larkin came to a critical juncture in life and had to make a drastic change. He has three options to choose from and he knows in which order he wants the options to work out in. 

Did his first choice come to fruition? His second choice? Maybe his third? Listen and find out. 

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Transcript

Disclaimer

This episode features commentary and analysis from Hague, H., and Langum, D. (1995). Thomas O. Larkin A Life of Patriotism and Profit in Old California. University of Oklahoma Press. 

And from the Master thesis by Virginia H. Baker Thomas Oliver Larkin, Pioneer Merchant of California, 1832 – 1846, 1959, University of Massachusetts Amherst 

Used under the doctrine of fair use, 17 U.S.C., Section 107, for research and historical commentary. 

You can locate the sources in my Buzzsprout transcript for more in-depth study. 

And Oliver is back again, with limited commentary. 

Are you ready? Here we go. 

Prologue

Thomas Larkin came to a critical juncture in life. He started on his own at the age of 16, realizing he disliked making and selling books. He suffered the death of his father, his mother, and then his younger brother. He had experience running two merchant stores, a failed exploration into being a supercargo and starting a sawmill business. His childhood friend/business partner/frenemy tried to ruin Larkin’s name with creditors, family and friends. 

Larkin had a knack for business and initially making money but not keeping it.  

I'd like to address something from the last episode. While I don’t love that Larkin was a slave owner, I also don’t want to avoid sharing the reality of his life story. Sometimes, history ‘is’. Love or hate it, it just ‘is’. It happened and it ‘is’. If I’m willing to tell unflattering stories about John Sutter and Charles Freemont, I shouldn’t protect Larkin. It’s a part of his life’s tapestry, even if it’s on the wrong side of history. It remains a fact.

After much consideration and soul searching, Larkin felt he had three choices in life. And, each choice sacrificed something. Let’s dive into them. <harp>

Three Choices

It’s the spring of 1831 and Larkin’s sawmill, that was his last business, failed and left him in considerable debt. He had nothing to show for his life experience and was in debt by $84,000 in today’s money. He was broke and depressed. Now, at 29, he felt he was old and beyond being able to start over in the same way he had tried previously. It was time for a drastic change.

In a letter to his friend/cousin, Ebenezer Childs, he wrote “My first prospects are blasted, my warmest anticipations are given up, my youngest days are gone by, and with them a thousand sweet thoughts, a thousand fond ideas, and all my young and fond expectations. All, all are gone, blasted, withered forever. All I have done is undone. All I have accumulated (sic) has gone to the winds.”

This was a dark period in Larkin’s life, with little journaling and letter writing, which was uncommon for Larkin.

One thing that continued to bring joy to Larkin’s life, as Hague and Langum wrote, was women and Larkin continued to find happiness with them. 

Larkin said his success with women was because of the “eloquence of my voice – more tongue, more flattery, more confidence… more brass and perseverance”. While that might all be true, Larkin himself said he was also the only eligible bachelor within 50 miles of where he lived. 

At some point this same year, 1831, Larkin crashed a wedding reception, danced all night with the bride and kissed her before leaving. And, that takes brass for sure!

Larkin had a keen interest in business, and women, and wanted to combine the great interests of his life. How can he pull this off? 

May 11, 1831, Larkin wrote to Ebenezer, “All love and no capital will never do for me. I could not live on it. Give me some of each and I’ll try the married life. If I can make a fortune by marriage, I will do it providing I can find on being acquainted with the lady, any small love for her.” “I want to marry and settle near home. This I can not do without the Lady is rich.” 

Let’s dive into the three options in detail and in order of preference.

Option #1, Marry a Rich Cousin

Larkin asked his friend/cousin Ebenezer to inquire about their mutual cousin. He wrote that he’d like to settle near home and “find a girl well off that I think I can enjoy myself with through life. And to be candid with you, it was on these thoughts that I inquired of you if our cousin was married.” Which, he said, would require that she, “study my disposition and adapt herself to it. We should be happy”. His ability to stay in ‘business character’, even when discussing marriage, is admirable.

The issue with this plan was, he’s not the marrying type, but he was willing to try if the wife could pay off his debt, provide a comfortable life, and secure a farm near Boston. 

Everything about that sentence sounds like a departure from who Larkin was at his core, except for the money part. The big question mark was the wealthy cousin’s willingness to participate. But, let’s continue.

Option #2, Job in Washington, DC

This same cousin, Ebenezer, worked for the post office, or the bureau of the post office, in Washington, DC. And, it was steady work. This represented stability, which Larkin craved at this point. However, unlike option #1, a steady post office job still left him with debt, without access to wealth, and would not place him in Boston, with his sister and other family. 

Option #2 was definitely less desirable than #1. Let’s take a look at the last choice he wanted to make. What I say next was the worst of Larkin’s options.

Option #3, Monterey California with His Half-Brother

Option #3 had some issues, mostly because Larkin had ‘thoughts’ about leaving the United States. And warning, this next reason didn’t age well, in the same way Larkin having slaves and seeing the economic necessity for slavery didn’t age well. (You can like or dislike it. But it still ‘is’ history.)

“I had rather be under Uncle Sam than in Mexico.” “Mexico is the jumping off place of the world”. Regarding Mexicans, they were “a people I have always despised and detested.” (I’m seeing layers to Larkin’s personality I wasn’t previously aware of.)

While Larkin was harboring these negative thoughts about Mexico, his half-brother, John Rogers Cooper (from his mother’s first marriage), felt differently about Mexico. Let’s get into that. 

Cooper was a sea captain in the early 1820s, working out of Boston for the China and Mexico trade. 

Cooper participated in all the activities that successful foreigners, in California, did for profit: cattle raising for hide and tallow, sea otter trading for the pelts, and merchandising for the two items. Cooper was also successful in Mexico’s Alta California through another traditional means. But, I’ll let you take a few silent guesses while I continue to share his story. 

John Roger Cooper’s Mexican history started as Captain Cooper of the ship Rover in 1824. A Russian agent hired Bostonian Captain Cooper to help with the sea otter fur procurement at Fort Ross, north of Bodega Bay. (I was actually just at Fort Ross last month.) 

From the California Historical Society Quarterly, Sept 1933, Adele Ogen’s paper “Russian Sea Otter and Seal Hunting on the California Coast 1803 – 1841”, she writes that Cooper’s role was tied to managing the logistics and distribution of the sea otter pelts. The Russian/Boston and Aleutian sea otter pelt business in California started in 1803, before Cooper’s time. Specifically, hunting from Bodega Bay to the San Francisco Bay. Just know, smuggling was occurring in Yerba Buena Cove for a long time. 

Cooper wisely navigated his presence in California, becoming a Catholic, then a naturalized citizen, in order to marry into the Vallejo family. He married one of Mariano Vallejo’s sisters, after asking a previous sister to marry, who declined his offer. Second sister was the charm. I’ve read a few times that Mariano’s sisters were especially beautiful. That Vallejo connection opened doors to land, instant business connections, ranchos, and built-in long-established business partnerships. 

By 1831, Cooper had a thriving merchant store but was too busy being successful to be a proficient bookkeeper. 

So, what does that have to do with Larkin? Cooper needed a clerk to help ensure bills were paid, never mind on time, just paid. 

Cooper was tired of receiving sharp letters from his business associates and customers regarding his inability to pay bills, and looked within his family back east for help. First, he directly asked one of Larkin’s stepbrothers to move to Monterey and help with the business. But the stepbrother declined. 

Then, Cooper opened up the offer to other family members, specifically naming other men in the family. But, they were also not interested. Curiously, Larkin, who was Cooper’s half-brother, was not one of the people Cooper asked. It was Ebenezer, their cousin, who showed Larkin a copy of Cooper’s letter asking for help.  Larkin wrote back to Ebenezer.

“I was very happy to see your copy of John’s letter. I have for years thought seriously on going to Mexico, and sent some letters to John, but have heard nothing from it. I do not even see my name in this letter.” 

Ouch. Larkin’s was not on his half-brother's list for filling the position, and his half-brother either didn’t respond to Larkin’s previous inquiries about coming out to Mexico, or never received his letters. It’s worth noting Cooper was notorious for not responding to letters. 

This is speculation, but I wonder if Larkin’s reputation for building businesses, but not sustaining the business, worked against him? I also wonder if Thurston’s smear campaign, against Larkin, soiled Larkin’s reputation with his half brother? Speculation on my part, dear listeners. 

Wait a minute. Cooper’s life captures Larkin’s exact plan! Marry a woman with money who could secure his desired lifestyle and a ranch/farm. Oh, but he despised Mexico - it was the jumping place of the world. And, Mexicans, whom he despised? Oh, dear listeners, what happens next?

Larkin wrote to his cousin, Ebenezer with some very convenient thoughts. “If I go to Monterey, I shall do as the people do, if that will help me. And, if I chose to marry there, I should do it, providing I had any (say a little) love for the lady, and the lady had loot enough for me. A little of the former and much of the latter, I’m a married man.” Wow. What’s not to love?

Also, Larkin said he was opposed to unlearning his mother tongue in order to learn Spanish. He didn’t understand how being bilingual worked.

Oliver: Let’s recap where we are. Option 1, 2 and 3 are still on the table. Until they weren’t.

Something didn’t happen regarding Option #2, the job with his cousin, so Lark kept Option #1, marrying a rich cousin, as his main focus, but started researching Option 3 just in case Option 1 fell through. 

He asked who his wealthy cousin had previously dated, her personality, and her eagerness to marry, while also asking sea captains and traders about California. What was it like?

The family members assured Larkin that the cousin was desperate to marry and would accept an offer from anyone who showed interest. 

Larkin wrote to his cousin, Ebenezer, “Therefore, give me a full account of our cousin. I will see her, and if I think I can love, I will soon tell her, not that I think I can, but that I do, and that very soon.”

How do you think the conversation with his cousin went? Did she sufficiently “study my disposition and adapt herself to it so we could be happy”? Do you think he met her and decided he could have love for her? 

Option 3 was still open, so Larkin started asking captains and traders about Mexico and the business opportunities there.

What happens next? 

Despite how desperate the family thought his wealthy cousin was—believing she would say yes to anyone who asked—she immediately rejected any interest in Larkin. Whomp-whomp. 

And, just like that. Option 1 and Option 2 were gone.

Oliver: Well, it looks like Option #3 is the only one left for our dear old Larkin. Girlina, what say you?

Girlina: Orale, Larkin. Y ahora, quieres aprender Espanol? We’ll start easy. ‘Donde esta la biblioteca?’ Sometimes, circumstances make the decision for you. And that’s what happened here.

Larkin’s stepfather and uncle each gave Larkin $100 for the trip to California. That’s $3,700 today, and more expensive than I realized the voyage from the East Coast to the West Coast cost.

This means Larkin’s history on the East Coast is coming to an end, and his West Coast history is about to begin. Stay tuned for the next episode, where our money-owing, lover boy, rejected by his wealthy cousin, sets out on a journey that not only changes his life but also Alta California’s history. And, that is not an overstatement.

Epilogue 

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Thank you for listening. This is Monkey Block. Retelling forgotten stories from San Francisco’s early golden past.

Hague, H., and Langum, D. (1995). Thomas O. Larkin A Life of Patriotism and Profit in Old California. University of Oklahoma Press. 

Master thesis by Virginia H. Baker Thomas Oliver Larkin, Pioneer Merchant of California, 1832 – 1846, 1959, University of Massachusetts Amherst 

Ogden, Adele. “Russian Sea-Otter and Seal Hunting on the California Coast, 1803-1841.” California Historical Society Quarterly, vol. 12, no. 3, 1933, pp. 217–39. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/25178218. Accessed 29 Aug. 2025.