Talk:John Sutter
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Even though most California school children know his name, he was a commercial failure who resented the fact that his son (John Sutter Jr.) had succeded where he had failed.
Why was this placed in /Talk? maveric149
He was not a commercial failure.
Unfortunetely, I must disagree. Sutter's Fort failed, Sutter's Mill was not profitable, Sutter was not able to take advantage of Marshall's discovery of gold there, Suttervile faded into history, and I remember reading that Sutter died a poor man. Sounds like a commercial failure to me. maveric149
Having been raised in California, I can tell you that the required history texts for California history say Sutter died poor and always point out the historic irony that, despite his pivotal position in the beginnings of the Gold Rush, he made little money from it. JHK
Why this talk about Sutter having failed commercially and having died poor? Is wealth the main standard for appraising the life of a man? Actually Sutter was a great adventurer, a symbol of those early pioneers who travelled from Europe to America, crossed the continent and settled in California. He fled bankruptcy in Switzerland, okay - should have he gone to jail as it was the tradition in this time? He went on board an American ship, "Sully", which made the distance between Le Havre (France) and New York in 45 days - he arrived there on 14 July 1834. He went west, tried to trade on the Santa Fe trail and in Westport, but he was obviously not an entrepreneur. Except that he built an empire in the Sacramento Valley and played a decisive role in the shift of California from Mexico to the US. Yes, the discovery of gold was his tragedy, and it would take a whole book to explain why. But his life crossed the whole 19th century (from 1803 to 1880) and circumstances made that he met a lot of those men who played an important role in this part of US history (for example: John Fremont, Kit Carson). So he should be recognised perhaps not as a hero but at least as a unique character who took many risks to build a new life in the new world. In doing that he contributed to change the fate of California. And he died poor, yes, (but less than legend says), and so what? What a beautiful journey he made!
Text in question placed back in article.
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[edit] Territory
A proper Spanish name would be Nueva Helvecia. Being Sutter a non-native speaker of Spanish, I can't say if that Nuevo Helvetia is historic or a typo. Could you explain what parts of current California New Helvetia covered? I read that the current value of the estate that the 49ers squatted would be enormous, not counting the gold they stole.
- There were two seperate Rancho Neuva Helvetias owned by Sutter, one in current Sacramento County, covering the area in and around Sacramento and one in present Yuba and Sutter Counties, including Marysville and Olivehurst. Sutter also owned Rancho Esquon, south of Chico in Butte County, and Fort Ross in Sonoma County. The property values of these ranchos, and Fort Ross, would be in the tens or hundreds of billions of dollars today. (Source for locations of Sutter's land is California a Snapshot in Time 1850, by Janice Marschner, ISBN 0-9677069-3-9). Gentgeen 21:48, 3 Apr 2004 (UTC)
- Helvetia is not Spanish, and there is no Nuevo/Nueva: it's New Helvetia, and I've never seen it printed any different until now. Nueva Helvecia is a city located to the Southeast of the department of Colonia in Uruguay whose capital is Colonia del Sacramento, so I believe that's where the confusion is coming from. A Google search of "New Helvetia" turns up about 39,300 results refering to Sutter's settlement. "Nueva Helvecia" turns up 34,200 results refering to the city in Uruguay. "Nuevo Helvetia" and "Nueva Helvetia" turn up only 735 and 557 hits respectively, which are most likely typos or uneducated mistakes considering that neither are proper Spanish, and like I said before, I've never seen either in print. Spintriae 22:25, 1 May 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Sut(t)er
As far as I know, the real name of John Sutter was Johann Augustus Suter, with a single t. That explains why Blaise Cendrars, who knew well a cousin of Sut(t)er, wrote suter in his novel. Jean-no 17:17, 7 September 2006 (UTC)
Actually no. Sutter was born as Johann August Sutter (with two "t"). It's worth noting that his father (Johann Jakob) was born as Suter (with one "t") following the tradition of spelling the name of Suter in the village of origin in Switzerland (Rünenberg). But Johann August being born in the village of Kandern (i.e. in the margravate of Baden in Germany, situated 13 miles from Basel), not in his Swiss village of origin, the name was spelled with two t's.
[edit] FA nomination for California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush article has been nominated for Featured article status. If you would like to comment on this nomination, please go here to leave your comment. To leave a comment on that page, click the [edit] link to the right of the title California Gold Rush.NorCalHistory 20:02, 2 December 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Liestal
New Helvetia says he is from Liestal. --84.20.17.84 15:42, 24 January 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Categories
Why are two of the categories for this article Mormon pioneers and History of the Latter Day Saint movement? Was he a mormon?Orangemarlin 01:58, 14 February 2007 (UTC)
