Thomas Oliver Larkin was an early American emigrant to Alta California and a signer of the original California Constitution. He was the United States' first and only consul to the California Republic (Mexico). In partnership with Robert Semple, he established the city at the Carquinez Straits that became Benicia.
Doctor Robert Baylor Semple was a 19th-century Californian newspaperman and politician. In 1847, with Thomas O. Larkin, he received a grant of land from Mariano Vallejo along the Carquinez Strait near the mouth of the Sacramento River provided that a new town be erected there named for Vallejo's wife, Francisca Benicia. In 1849, Semple was elected to and presided over California's state constitutional convention.
From the description of Robert B. Semple letter : Benicia City, Calif., to Thomas O. Larkin, Monterey, Calif., 1848 Dec. 13. (University of California, Berkeley). WorldCat record id: 743437114
