Peralta's Objects
Spanish Trunk, 1850s or earlier.
Donated by Alice Scalberg, great-granddaughter of Antonio Peralta.
Antonio Peralta's oldest son, Antonio Mar’a Severo Peralta, grew up in the adobes here at the site, and reached adulthood at the time of the U.S. takeover. Perhaps discouraged by the family's dwindling land and his own prospects, he and Mar’a Higuera married and left for Baja California in 1863. The couple traveled back and forth between Oakland and Baja California to have each of their children baptized here, bringing this trunk along each time. Antonio Mar’a Severo died in Baja California sometime before his father (1879). His wife sold everything they had and brought her children back to Oakland, where they lived in the Peralta House for awhile. Later, they moved to live with her family in the Higuera adobe in Warm Springs.
Victorian Umbrella
Donated by the Oakland Museum.
This Victorian parasol belonged to the wife of one of the Peralta brothers. Such parasols signaled a change in californio women's lives, as new cultures took hold and the ranchos shrank. In the new towns, the ideal was that a lady's skin should not be touched by the sun. Women often had several parasols, to match different outfits.
Parlor Chairs
Gift of Beverly Enz and Alice Scalberg.
These two parlor chairs belonged to Maria Higuera, Antonio Peralta's daughter-in-law. Their price in the post-Civil War period (1860's to 1880) would have been reasonable; they were manufactured by many U.S. companies.
Donated by Alice Scalberg, great-granddaughter of Antonio Peralta.
Antonio Peralta's oldest son, Antonio Mar’a Severo Peralta, grew up in the adobes here at the site, and reached adulthood at the time of the U.S. takeover. Perhaps discouraged by the family's dwindling land and his own prospects, he and Mar’a Higuera married and left for Baja California in 1863. The couple traveled back and forth between Oakland and Baja California to have each of their children baptized here, bringing this trunk along each time. Antonio Mar’a Severo died in Baja California sometime before his father (1879). His wife sold everything they had and brought her children back to Oakland, where they lived in the Peralta House for awhile. Later, they moved to live with her family in the Higuera adobe in Warm Springs.
Victorian Umbrella
Donated by the Oakland Museum.
This Victorian parasol belonged to the wife of one of the Peralta brothers. Such parasols signaled a change in californio women's lives, as new cultures took hold and the ranchos shrank. In the new towns, the ideal was that a lady's skin should not be touched by the sun. Women often had several parasols, to match different outfits.
Parlor Chairs
Gift of Beverly Enz and Alice Scalberg.
These two parlor chairs belonged to Maria Higuera, Antonio Peralta's daughter-in-law. Their price in the post-Civil War period (1860's to 1880) would have been reasonable; they were manufactured by many U.S. companies.
