Pen-and-Ink Drawing of S.B.
G.M. Waseurtz af Sandels Drew Sketches of the Places He Visited
This pen-and-ink drawing of Santa Barbara, dated 1844, was executed by a Swede traveling through California in the years 1842-43, G.M. Waseurtz af Sandels. Sandels kept a journal with comments on and occasional sketches of the places he visited. His journal, thought lost until published by the Society of California Pioneers in 1926, offers a fascinating portrait of California toward the end of Mexican rule.
Details regarding his life are few. He appears to have been well-educated, for he referred to himself as one of the “King’s Orphans,” meaning he had attended a governmental educational institution in his native Sweden. In an 1843 letter to Mariano Vallejo, he referred to himself as “physician, mining expert, naturalist.” Sandels lived for a time in Brazil, won then lost a fortune mining in Mexico, and was intrigued by the possibility of gold in Northern California years before the Gold Rush era.
In the late 1840s, wracked by tuberculosis, Sandels showed up in New Orleans, where he made the acquaintance of journalist T.B. Thorpe. Sandels handed his journal over to Thorpe, instructing him to make sure it got back to Sweden. Thorpe kept the manuscript, however, and its whereabouts remained a mystery, although portions of it were published throughout the years. The complete work eventually came into the possession of the Society of California Pioneers.
