had died a year before while at sea enroute from Acapulco to Lima. Meanwhile, Larkin worked as a clerk for John B. R. Cooper until early 1833, when he was able to start a small store of his own and build a "double geared" flour mill, the first of its kind on the West Coast. He was able to invest again in a sawmill, this time in Santa Cruz. He sailed to Santa Barbara and there was reunited with Rachel. They were married on board the American bark Volunteer, on June 10, 1833. The U. S. Consul for Hawai'i, John Coffin Jones, performed the ceremony. Isabel died in July 1833, a month after the wedding. Years later it they discovered Jones did not have the authority to perform the service and they had to be remarried. They had eight more children, five of whom survived to adulthood. Larkin built the Sherman Quarters in 1834. In 1835 he built the first two-story house in California, a combination of New England and California building materials and methods that is today known as Monterey Colonial architecture. Larkin House survives today and is part of Monterey State Historic Park. Larkin also built the first wharf at Monterey harbor and was commissioned to rebuild the Customhouse. He built the House of the Four Winds in 1834 (or 1840). The building was used as the first State of California Hall of Records. At that time, all foreign ships had to check in at Monterey to pay import/export tariffs and get official permission to trade. Larkin was well-positioned to engage in trade with Mexico, the United States and other countries. British and American trade with China came to the Pacific Coast by way of Hawai'i. Alta California As a prominent figure in the occasional capital of a distant province of an occasionally unstable nation, Larkin stood in a position of influence that could easily have been his undoing if he chose the wrong side. The fact that he was able to survive through shifting administrations is testimony to his political skills. Despite being a supporter of Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado, he did not involve himself with Alvarado's accusations against Isaac Graham and other foreign residents of the Monterey area, and was not one of those sent to prison in chains in 1840. Larkin loaned money to Alvarado’s successor, Micheltorena, which he lost when the Governor was overthrown