For the last 15 or so years, I've been doing research on the history of Union City. At first, I knew very little and read the four main books on the history of this area. The newer books relied on the older books, which were not always fully accurate. As I dug deeper, I ran across the Robert Fisher collection at the Museum of Local History.
Dr. Fisher was a local doctor that came to Fremont in 1950. He was a strong advocate of history and collected huge amounts of historical material and photographs. Some of the papers in his collection go back to the early 1860's. These materials provide first hand evidence of peoples and places. A simple receipt from a shipping company identifies who the sender was, who the shipper was, the location and that these people were present on that date. As more paperwork is reviewed a picture emerges of the early days of our area.
We all know about the City of Union City. The history books talk about the Town of Union City and how it eventually became Alvarado. The history books are not clear on the dates of when Union City existed and what was there. The starting date is documented, but after that it gets fuzzy.
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Through papers from the Fisher collection show that Union City existed longer than documented in the history books. The earliest document is a receipt from Union City (Mills) Store House from Sept. 11, 1862, showing that S. P. Harvey stored wheat at the store house. From April 1863, C. J. Stephens was the owner of Union City Mills. Another receipt from August 20, 1870, shows that James Barron is now the owner of Union City Warehouse and even has his signature.
Every time I run across papers like this I'm amazed that they survived all these years. Just receipts that we would normally through out after a few years. I'm also amazed to actually touch a document that was handled by someone that I have read about over the years.