John Henry Schnell and the First Japanese Settlers in California
The story of Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Colony Farm, the first Japanese colony established in California by John Henry Schnell along with several Japanese settlers.
The Bakumatsu period—the final phase of Tokugawa rule—began in 1853 with the arrival of Commodore Matthew C. Perry’s “Black Ships” in the port of Edo. Perry came bearing an ultimatum from U.S. Presid…