N., A.

Grinling Gibbons (1648-1720) was a statuary and woodcarver from Rotterdam. He worked at St. Paul's Cathedral under Sir Christopher Wren. Wren employed Gibbons at several other churches and at his new library at Trinity College, Cambridge. Gibbons work adorns many of the houses of the nobility built during his career. He served as master-carver in wood to the crown from the time of Charles II to that of George I. William Holder (1616-1698), divine, was known for his work on deafness. He served as one of the canons residentiary of St. Paul's Cathedral. His wife was Susanna, the sister of Sir Christopher Wren. He was buried in the undercroft of St. Paul's where there is a monument to his memory.

From the guide to the Articles of Agreement, 1696 January 15, (John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation)

BIOGRAPHY

Levi Stowell, born in Colesville, New York in 1820, travelled to California in 1849. He died in San Francisco 18 May 1855.

From the guide to the Levi Stowell pocket diary : transcript, 1849, (Stanford University. Libraries. Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives.)

BIOGRAPHY

Lucena Parsons was born in August, 1821 in the state of New York. Before marrying George Washington Parsons in March 1850, Lucena was a schoolteacher in Wisconsin. In the spring of 1850, Lucena and her husband started a cross country journey. They arrived in California one year later and settled in Oakland where they took up farming.

From the guide to the Lucena Pfuffer Parsons journal: The woman in the sunbonnet: typescript, 1850-1851, 1928, (Stanford University. Libraries. Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives.)