Blethen Family Publications
Born January 19, 1832; Died: June 25, 1880 (a second source has death at 1882), San Francisco
C. P. married Mary C. Chalmers in June 1862 in San Francisco. They sailed to Shanghai where Grace Lillian was born on October 1, 1864. During his time in Shanghai, he was a member of the Shanghai Yacht Club.
C.P. Blethen of Shanghai, China, is listed as an eastern passenger departing Ogden, Utah, on August 6, 1870 on the west-bound Overland Train, arriving at the Oakland, California wharf on August 8, 1870.
The Call, San Francisco
The will of Clement P. Blethen, the capitalist who dropped dead of apoplexy on California street last Sunday, has been filed for probate. The will is dated Shanghai, February 13, 1878, and bequeaths to the widow of deceased, Mary Craig Blethen, all his household furniture, plate, pictures, books, etc., and 1,000 Mexican dollars. The residue is the estate is bequeathed, in trust, to Geo. F. Broman, Wm. N. Olmstead and Clark Blethen and the said Mary Craig Blethen, the income of its proceeds and his stocks to be paid to his wife, without anticipation and free from the control or engagements of any husband with whom she may intermarry, and upon her death to their children upon their reaching their majority . . .
The following is part of a much longer publication with the unfortunate title of: China's Menace to the World. It was handwritten in 1878 in Washington D.C. by a man named Thomas Magee, who, with some foresight ended his diatribe against Chinese industriousness with: "The Chinese are all-day runners, and those who compete with them will need to rise early and sit up late. China has untiring industrial ability, unsurpassed staying powers, and a degree of patience which no other nation can pretend to equal. Friend and enemy of China should know these facts. Few do know them."
On April 21, 1876, C. P. Blethen, Esq. wrote to London, England to determine pedigree prior to 1580. John Pook & Co., 4 Lime Street Square, London, undertakes to inform C.P. Blethen that it will be expensive. First charge £10, 15s 6d. He says: "Not many, if any, Blethens now living in Wales. Pook warned "Searcher" Oliver to keep with £50 limit unless expressed requested to go further. Consulted manuscripts in British Museum, including four large folio volumes belonging to a private family who loaned it to the Museum. It would cost 190 pounds to put in genealogical tabular form. He would not vouch for the truth of one-tenth of such information. The only way to get at the truth is by "the collection of wills, ancient deeds, parish registers, etc." The expense would be very extensive. He furnished genealogies at various detached times, as follows:
Will of Lewys Blethin of Carlion, Co., Monmouth, Gent. dated September 19, 1542, proved at London, 16th Nov., 1542. Will of William Blethin, Bishop of Landaff, dated Oct. 1, 1590, proved at London 21st May, 1591.
On July 21, 1876 John Pook wrote to C.P. Blethen in Shanghai, China:
We have to own receipt of your letter of 21st April in reference ot pedigree anterior to A.D. 1580. Mr. Oliver certainly mentioned the matter to us shortly before his death, but we feared after we had paid a man to search thorugh old deeds and books we might find nothing reliable, and the expense would be consdierable, but seeing by your letter you desired it done, we sent you the result of our resarches and also a general letter and we shall be happy to continue them now we have got into the right groove; but of course we shall require your consent before proceeding further, and a part remittance on a/co. Our endeavors would be to do our best for you. We enclose memo of charge Ten pounds, 15s, 6d, which is more a time charge of a skilled man than otherwise. (Copy sent by Clark Blethen of San Francisco, Cal., to Bliven.) 140 Nassau St., New York.
A Captain Blethen, who died in San Francisco recently, lived in China for twenty-two years previous to 1880. He kept a large ship-chandlery store at Shanghai, and owned a dry dock there, but sold his business because he was being forced out by Chinese competition. Said he to me:
The trouble with you here in California is that you do not appreciate the staying powers of the Chinese. When a Chinese laborer comes here, he may, with his best efforts, save only a few dollars the first year; but, let him save little or much, he does and will save, and he will work in and out of season. Here is a letter I received by the last steamer from China. It is from the Chinese house that bought me out. It contains an order for some American goods in the ship-chandlery line. This letter manages the firm's business. I gave the man who filled a similar position for me $3,000 a year. This young Chinaman gets but $10 a month, his rice, and a place to sleep in. The hands in the store gets no wages, only rice and a bunk. How could I live against such competition? I had either to remain in business there, and thereby loose all I had made, or to sell out at a good price and leave. White men employed and taught the Chinese, and the Chinese drove them out. We could no more compete with them than we could overcome death and fate.
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