HARRINGTON] HISTORY OF BURTON MOUND 57 
The next conveyance was by Isaac J. Sparks, transferring a lot 200 varas 
square, surrounding the house, enclosed by a fence, and on which a mill was 
erected. This deed was dated Feb. 6, 1840. 
On Dee. 6th, 1851, the city of Santa Barbara, by deed . . . recognized the 
ownership of the entire tract to be in one Hinchman (that was an action clos- 
ing all streets on the tract). 
On Jan. 26th, 1875, the Sea Side Hotel Association was organized, 
OWNERSHIP BY THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT, JAMES BURKE, JOSEPH 
CHAPMAN 
Of the ownership by the Mexican Government and by James 
Burke, better known as Don Santiago Burke, we have in the present 
progress of our studies only documentary information. The second 
individual owner was Joseph Chapman (otherwise Don José Chat- 
man). He must have obtained some form of residence there, since 
Mr. William H. Manis, grandson of Joseph Chapman, says that he 
learned from his mother (Joseph Chapman’s daughter) that she was 
born on the Burton Mound in a small building that afterwards be- 
came a wing of the massive adobe of later years. 
The next traditional owner or occupant was Thomas Robins, who 
was later a grantee of the Hope Ranch. It is said to have been Robins 
who built the main part of the adobe house on the mound. 
The identity of the next owner is still in doubt. According to Mrs. 
J. F. Freeman, of Santa Barbara, her husband’s great grandfather, 
Foxen, owned the place for a short period after Robins gave 
it up. 
OWNERSHIP BY CAPT, GEORGE C. NIDEVER 
Capt. George C. Nidever came into possession of the property in 
1840 or 1841. Nidever came to Santa Barbara in 1834 from West 
Virginia, having taken eight years to cross the continent, hunting, 
trapping and fighting by turn. At Santa Barbara he followed otter 
hunting by profession. He was the first man to stock San Miguel 
Island. He was the principal in the rescue of the “lone woman ” of 
San Nicolas Island. He married Sinforosa Sanchez in 1841. Slow 
of speech and movement, of unblushing integrity, and a dead shot, 
he was a terror of, evildoers. He resided at the mound for some 10 
years and added two outbuildings to the adobe house; one was used 
as a warehouse for furs, the other as a gristmill. It is said that 
Nidever made improvements in the grounds, setting out trees and 
gardens. 
To the Bancroft Library of the University of California we are 
indebted for the following excerpts from a manuscript entitled “ Life 
and Adventures of George Nidever, Recollections furnished by him- 
self to E. F. Murray for the Bancroft Library, 1878.” In this inter- 
55231°—28——_5 
