John Augustus Sutter Jr.
John Augustus Sutter Jr. (October 25, 1826 – September 21, 1897) was a Swiss-born American who helped found and plan Sacramento, California, and served as the United States consul in Acapulco, Mexico. He was the son of the famous Californian pioneer John Sutter Sr.
Born in Burgdorf, Switzerland, Sutter Jr. grew up with his mother, Anna, after his father left Europe in 1834 to escape debtors’ prison and eventually settled in California. His father planned to give him some land from the New Helvetia grant, but debt continued to cause trouble. In 1848 John Sutter Jr. moved to California to help manage his father’s affairs.
In California, he saw disorder at Sutter’s Fort and began planning a better city near the fork of the American and Sacramento Rivers. This led to the creation of Sacramento City (later Sacramento). The new plans strained the relationship between father and son. Sutter Jr. grew ill and, facing financial pressure, agreed to sell land to Sacramento businessmen led by Sam Brannan.
He moved to seek a healthier climate, traveling to Acapulco, Mexico, where he married María del Carmen Rivas in 1850. He returned to push for payment from the sale, but Brannan’s group paid little, and Sutter Jr. faced many lawsuits. A son, John Sutter III, was born in 1852 in Northwest Mexico.
Back in Acapulco, Sutter Jr. ran a general store and later became Vice-Commercial Agent for the Port of Acapulco in 1865, rising to fill in as Commercial Agent in 1868. Friends and supporters lobbied for him to become a U.S. consul, and he was appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1870.
Around 1862 his first wife left him. In 1870 he met Nicolasa Solís and they lived together until his death; they married in 1894. He retired as consul on May 24, 1887, and lived on a plantation near Acapulco with Solís and their family.
Sutter Jr. died in Acapulco on September 21, 1897, at age 70. He was buried there but later reinterred in the Sacramento Historic City Cemetery at the request of his daughter Anna Sutter Young. He fathered 11 children.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 05:35 (CET).