Note 124 — COMMENCEMENT OF THE EXPEDITION (continued 6)

Captain John Roger Cooper was an American who in 1823 arrived in California from Boston, master of the ship "Rover." Selling his vessel to the governor, he continued his trading voyages until 1826, when he settled at Monterey and turned merchant. Being naturalized in 1830, he became one of the well-known characters of the Mexican capital. In 1839, he returned to sea-faring, and continued therein for ten or eleven years more, returning to Monterey as harbor-master in 1851. He died at San Francisco in 1872.

Cooper's father-in-law was Ignacio Vallejo, one of the earliest and best known of the Mexican residents. Vallejo was born in Guadalaxara (1748), of pure Spanish descent, and went to California with the first expedition (1769); he died at Monterey in 1831. Being the only civil engineer of the province, he devoted much time to irrigating works. See Shinn, "Pioneer Spanish Families in California," in Century Magazine, xix, pp. 377-389.—Ed.