John Russel - [email protected] has compiled the following list of P. E. Islanders in California in 1872 from a database by Jim Faulkinbury of the 1872 Great Register of the State of California. This information is used here with permission given by Mr. Faulkinbury June 25th, 1998 in a phone call made by John on behalf of the Register and is
© Jim W. Faulkinbury and FEEFHS, 1996

Our thanks goes out to both John for his efforts on behalf of the Register, and to Jim for his wonderful database.

The following is a list was compiled from the Great Register of the State of California of 1872 which listed some 61,691 foreign born voters. There were 79 registered voters in the State of California who listed their birth location as Prince Edward Island. Other birth locations listed (and number of voters) include Canada (1821), British America (10), British North America (1), and Canada East (27).

"California became a territory of the United States of America on February 2, 1848 by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. It was news of the discovery of gold later that same year, however, that resulted in the explosion of California's population. Prior to the discovery of gold, the population was estimated at 15,000 persons. The news of the gold discovery quickly circled the globe and hopeful miners of every nationality migrated to the California gold fields in hopes of finding their share of riches in the precious metal. By the end of 1849 the population had reached 100,000. In 1852 it was 224,000, in 1860 the official census showed 380,000, in 1870 the population had reached 650,000, and by 1880, 865,000."

"The administration of government with this quick growth required that formal voting procedures be implemented to create voter districts and avoid fraud. Voter registration became necessary and the "Great Registers of Voters" were created. The earliest Great Registers were produced in 1866 as a result of the enactment of Chapter CCLXV, Laws of the 16th Session of the California State Legislature; 1865-66. This legislation, approved 19 March 1866, and known as the Registration Act provided "for the registration of the citizens of the State, and for the enrollment in the several election districts of all the legal voters thereof, and for the prevention and punishment of frauds affecting the elective franchise."

"Section 3 of the Act required that "The manner of registration shall be as follows: Clear and distinct entries shall be made in said books, setting forth in separate columns the name at full length (without the use of initials) of the person registered; his age, omitting fractions of years; the country of his nativity; his occupation; the particular city, town, township, ward, or district of his residence; if a naturalized foreigner, when where, and by what Court he was admitted to become a citizen of the United Sates; also the date of registry, and a number affixed to each name, which numbers shall run successively in the order of registration; and to the truth of the facts stated in such entries the person registered shall be duly sworn, which shall also be noted and verified by the word "sworn", to be entered in a separate column opposite his name."

"Each county government was directed to establish a Great Register for population of their county. The various county's Great Register of Voters resulting from this legislation contain a wealth of information concerning the citizens, especially the naturalized citizens of California."

"A printout of the complete database record can be obtained from the compiler (see below). The database record will contain the following:

� Surname
� Given Name(s)
� Age at the time of registration
� Place of birth (usually the country)
� Date of naturalization
� Place of naturalization (usually the city)
� Court of record for the naturalization
� Year of voter registration
� Year of the Great Register used
� County where the voter was listed in the Great Register."

"Note that of the nearly 62,000 records in the database,
�About 70% have complete or partial naturalization data (date, place and court of record),
�14% contain no naturalization information at all,
�4% transferred from another county where they previously had voting rights thus no naturalization data was entered in the Great Register,
�4% were naturalized by virtue of their father's naturalization,
�1% were naturalized by the treaties with Mexico or Russia,
�4% had lost their papers and were naturalized by the affidavits of two other citizens who had known them to be naturalized, good citizens for at least five years.
�Another 3% of the records contain miscellaneous remarks."

Additional Information Available

"1) Transcript of the record
The request for a transcript/extract of the full extent of the database record should include the database record number and the name of the individual being requested together with US$5.00 and should be sent to the address below.

2 ) Photocopy of the actual record from the Great Register
A photocopy of the actual Great Register record can also be obtained from Mr. Faulkinbury. He will obtain a photocopy of the page on which the voter is registered for a fee of US$12.00"

⁽¹⁾ "The database record number and name of the individual together with this fee should be sent to the following address:"

Jim W. Faulkinbury, CGRS,
P.O. Box 60727,
Sacramento, CA,
U.S.A.
95860-0727

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⁽¹⁾ The above has been extracted from:
"61,691 Foreign-Born Voters of California - in 1872 - The Great Registry"
© Jim W Faulkinbury and FEEFHS, 1996. Used with permission given by Mr. Faulkinbury June 25, 1998.