Harry Innes Thornton. Judicial opinion regarding the sale of Mission Santa Barbara lands to Nicholas Den and Daniel Hill and whether they can keep their cattle when their lease is up. , Aug 1853

The documents in Series 1 form the bulk of the collection. Many were owned by Richard Den and were annotated by him. Some of the most significant items document the transfer of the lands once owned by Mission Santa Barbara. Detailed inventories of livestock, agriculture, buildings, aqueducts, material goods, and other features provide a glimpse of life at the mission before 1846.

The selling of the missions by Governor Pio Pico and controversies over ownership of land afterwards is also documented in several legal documents, since lawsuits were filed over ownership.

Richard Den’s medical practice is also described in several letters to Thomas Larkin requesting reimbursement for services he provided during the Mexican American War, and in several diaries from his work in Los Angeles.

The inheritance and management of land by later generations of Bell and Luton families can be traced through the title documents and other correspondence from the early part of the 1900s.