Nineteenth Century San Diego County Tattoos v. Early American Tattoo History

In Ira Dye’s article, “The Tattoos of Early American Seafarers, 1796-1818,” he laments the lack of additional documentation on tattoos. The California registers from 1892-1898 provide the exact large data group that Dye was looking for, when including the registers from all of the counties in the state, since tattoos were recorded, as well as occupation and age. He might have been pleased to see that his analysis of SPC-A and POW records holds up late into the 19th century. Both initials and anchors continue to hold their positions as the first and second most popular tattoos among tattooed San Diego County registered voters. And most of the tattoos were in black ink. Dye points out, it is difficult to know if men in non-marine occupations with tattoos are representative of a general population that were also tattooed or were likely former sailors, etc. There were men in San Diego in non-marine occupations with tattoos, e.g. the New York laborer with the most tattoos of the tattooed registered voters with five: a bracelet and a cross on his right hand, and an anchor, cross, and heart on his left. Of course, he could have previously been a sailor, as laborer is a general occupation. The majority of the tattooed voters were indeed listed as sailors, longshoremen, wharfingers, and sea captains.
Examples of tattooed men and their tattoos in the early voter registers: an English gardener with bracelets on both wrists and an English farmer with “designs tattooed on both forearms. A Swedish wharfinger carries his work home with him as illustrated by an anchor tattooed on each hand. And a fifty year old Finnish longshoreman, Augusto Anderson, with “A.A.A.S. 1842” in India ink on his right hand and a star on his left. A Finnish stenographer with “B.W.L.” in India ink on his left arm and a Norwegian sea captain living in Coronado, with an anchor on his right hand. A Russian painter with an anchor on his right hand and a bent finger. Patriotic tattoos continued to be popular. Too far removed from our country’s founding years to be related, immigration takes over as a means of explaining a naturalized citizen with an English flag tattoo and a Scotsman, James McInnes (a laborer) with thistles on his left wrist. Tattoos demonstrated new allegiances as well, as with the ruddy-complected Irish rancher (Lawrence Garrigan) with “American Sailor” tattooed on his arm and someone else with a U.S. coat of arms. Did Frank Woodruff, a 44 year old merchant from Ohio, living in Oceanside, benefit from the invention of the electric tattoo gun for his tattoo of a ballet girl on his left arm? The arms, including wrists, arms, and forearms, then hands continued to be the most common places for tattoos. However, the clerks may not have been asking the men registering to vote if the had tattoos elsewhere on their bodies.

Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 133, No. 4, December 1989, p. 532-549

A 19th Century View of Alpine, California

John R. Campbell, who ran a boarding house/hotel for a time in Alpine, California, provides a glimpse of that fair township and his hotel in this 19th century letter to a prospective boarder: "December 30, 1896. Dear Sir, ...The altitude where we are situated is, 1800 feet. The air is dryer than nearer the coast and more bracing. Our summers are pretty warm. Our winters are delightful. No snow and but little frost. Good water. Near post office. Stages daily, to & from Lakeside. Except Sunday. Our rates are $7.00 & $8.00 by the week and $30.00 & $35.00 by the month. We have made a reduction of one dollar a week for the winter as you will see by the enclosed card. Yours respectfully, J.R. Campbell"

Towns in the County, 1888: San Diego History Pt. III

Below are descriptions of some of the cities in San Diego County from T.S. Van Dyke's The City and County of San Diego (1888). Keep in mind that most of them were barely towns and that San Diego County was much larger then. Imperial County and most of Riverside County came from San Diego County.

"A few miles farther up the shore is La Jolla Park."

"Just around the opening of Soledad Valley upon the sea lies the handsome seaside town of Del Mar, with some 300 inhabitants."

"Carlsbad, a new watering-place with a mineral spring whose waters are attracting much attention. A few miles north of Carlsbad is Oceanside, a fast growing seaside town of over a 1,000 people."

Northeast of Temecula, 25 miles from the coast, is the Laguna Rancho, which contains 5,000 acres and surrounds the county's largest lake.
"By this lake is the thriving town of Elsinore with nearly a 1,000 people, with Wildomar near by well on the road to overtake it."

What to do During a Lull; or San Diego History, Pt. II

"The real estate offices were deserted; the hotels had more waiters than guests; empty stores and vacant houses became numerous on all sides." This is Mr. Van Dykes' observation after the 1873 financial crash, but it sounds eerily similar to our country's recent experiences.

National City's population dropped to a couple dozen people and San Diego's, to 2,500.

Mr. Van Dyke eloquently follows the above sentence with the following observations: "Day after day and year after year the bright sun shone upon quiet streets and store-keepers staring out of the door at an almost unbroken vacancy. Many a man in San Diego during those long years that followed sat and looked at nothing long enough to have made a fine lawyer, doctor, engineer, or a fine literary scholar if he had only substituted a book for the empty door-way."

From The City and County of San Diego by T.S. Van Dyke, 1888

San Diego History, Pt. I

In 1845, "the city lands, to the extent of 47,000 acres, were surveyed and mapped and granted to [the local government] by the Government of Mexico. This grant afterwards confirmed and patented by the United States, and hence the magnificent proportions of the present city limits." From the book, The City and County of San Diego by T.S. Van Dyke, 1888.