A history of California and an extended history of its southern coast counties, also containing biographies of well-known citizens of the past and present, Volume I, Part 10

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company
Number of Pages: 1184

USA > California > A history of California and an extended history of its southern coast counties, also containing biographies of well-known citizens of the past and present, Volume I > Part 10

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In establishing the channel missions the mis- sionaries opposed the inauguration of this plan and by their persistence succeeded in setting it aside: and the old system was adopted. La Purisima Concepcion, or the Immaculate Con- ception of the Blessed Virgin, the third of the channel missions, was founded December 8. 1787. by Father Lasuen at a place called by the natives Algsacupi. Its location is about twelve

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

miles from the ocean on the Santa Ynez river. Three years after its founding three hundred converts had been baptized but not all of them lived at the mission. The first church was a temporary structure. The second church, built of adobe and roofed with tile, was completed in 1802. December 21, 1812, an earthquake de- molished the church and also about one hundred adobe houses of the neophytes. A site across the river and about four miles distant from the former one, was selected for new buildings. A temporary building for a church was erected there. A new church, built of adobe and roofed with tile, was completed and dedicated in 1818.

The Indians revolted in 1824 and damaged the building. They took possession of it and a battle lasting four hours was fought between one hundred and thirty soldiers and four hundred Indians. The neophytes cut loop holes in the church and used two old rusty cannon and a few guns they possessed; but, unused to fire arms, they were routed with the loss of several killed. During the revolt which lasted several months four white men and fifteen or twenty In- dians were killed. The hostiles, most of whom fled to the Tulares, were finally subdued. The leaders were punished with imprisonment and the others returned to their missions.

This mission's population was largest in 1804, when it numbered 1,520. In 1834 there were but 407 neophytes connected with it. It was secular- ized in February, 1835. During mission rule from 1787 to 1834, the total number of Indian children baptized was 1.492; died 902, which was a lower death rate than at most of the southern missions.

SANTA CRUZ.

Santa Cruz, one of the smallest of the twenty- one missions of California, was founded Septem- ber 25, 1790. The mission was never very pros- perous. In 1798 many of the neophytes de- serted and the same year a flood covered the planting fields and damaged the church. In 1812 the neophytes murdered the missionary in charge, Padre Andrès Quintana. They claimed that he had treated them with great cruelty. Five of those implicated in the murder received two hundred lashes each and were sentenced to work in chains from two to ten years. Only

one survived the punishment. The maximum of its population was reached in 1798, when there were six hundred and forty-four Indians in the mission fold. The total number bap- tized from the date of its founding to 1834 was 2,466; the total number of deaths was 2,034. The average deatlı rate was 10.93 per cent of the population. At the time of its secularization in 1834 there were only two hundred and fifty In- dians belonging to the mission.

LA SOLEDAD.

The mission of our Lady of Solitude was founded September 29, 1791. The site selected had borne the name Soledad (solitude) ever since the first exploration of the country. The location was thirty miles northeast of San Car- los de Monterey. La Soledad, by which name it was generally known, was unfortunate in its early missionaries. One of them, Padre Gracia, was supposed to be insane and the other, Padre Rubi, was very immoral. Rubi was later on ex- pelled from his college for licentiousness. At the close of the century the mission had become fairly prosperous, but in 1802 an epidemic broke out and five or six deaths occurred daily. The Indians in alarmı fled from the mission. The largest population of the mission was seven hundred and twenty-five in 1805. At the time of secularization its population had decreased to three hundred. The total number of baptisms during its existence was 2,222; number of deaths 1,803.

SAN JOSE.

St. Joseph had been designated by the visita- dor General Galvez and Father Junipero Serra as the patron saint of the mission colonization of California. Thirteen missions had been founded and yet none had been dedicated to San José. Orders came from Mexico that one be estab- lished and named for him. Accordingly a de- tail of a corporal and five men, accompanied by Father Lasuen, president of the missions, pro- ceeded to the site selected, which was about twelve miles northerly from the pueblo of San José. There, on June 11. 1797, the mission was founded. The mission was well located agricul- turally and became one of the most prosperous in California. In 1820 it had a population of

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

1,754, the highest of any mission except San Luis Rey. The total number of baptisms from its founding to 1834 was 6,737; deaths 5,109. Secularization was effected in 1836-37. The to- tal valuation of the mission property, not in- cluding lands or the church, was $155,000.

SAN JUAN BAUTISTA.

In May, 1797, Governor Borica ordered the comandante at Monterey to detail a corporal and five soldiers to proceed to a site that had been previously chosen for a mission which was about ten leagues northeast from Monterey. Here the soldiers erected of wood a church, priest's house, granary and guard house. June 24, 1797, President Lasuen, assisted by Fathers Catala and Martiari, founded the mission of San Juan Bautista (St. John the Baptist). At the close of the year, eighty-five converts had been baptized. The neighboring Indian tribes were hostile and some of them had to be killed before the others learned to behave themselves. A new church, measuring 60x160 feet, was com- pleted and dedicated in 1812. San Juan was the only mission whose population increased .between 1820 and 1830. This was due to the fact that its numbers were recruited from the eastern tribes, its location being favorable for obtaining new recruits from the gentiles. The largest popula- tion it ever reached was 1,248 in 1823. In 1834 there were but 850 neophytes at the mission.

SAN MIGUEL.

Midway between the old missions of San An- tonio and San Luis Obispo, on the 25th of July, 1797, was founded the mission of San Miguel Arcangel. The two old missions contributed horses, cattle and sheep to start the new one. The mission had a propitious beginning ; fifteen children were baptized on the day the mission was founded. At the close of the century the number of converts reached three hundred and eighty-five, of whom fifty-three had died. The mission population numbered 1,076 in 1814: after that it steadily declined until, in 1834, there were only 599 attached to the establishment. Total number of baptisms was 2,588; deaths 2,038. The average death rate was 6.91 per cent of the population, the lowest rate in any

of the missions. The mission was secularized in 1836.

SAN FERNANDO REY DE ESPANA.

In the closing years of the century explora- tions were made for new mission sites in Cali- fornia. These were to be located between mis- sions already founded. Among those selected at that time was the site of the mission San Fer- nando on the Encino Rancho, then occupied by Francisco Reyes. Reyes surrendered whatever right he had to the land and the padres occupied his house for a dwelling while new buildings were in the course of erection.

September 8, 1797, with the usual ceremo- nies, the mission was founded by President Lasuen, assisted by Father Dumetz. According to instructions from Mexico it was dedicated to San Fernando Rey de España (Fernando III., King of Spain, 1217-1251). At the end of the year 1797, fifty-five converts had been gathered into the mission fold and at the end of the cen- tury three hundred and fifty-two had been bap- tized.

The adobe church began before the close of the century was completed and dedicated 'in De- cember, 1806. It had a tiled roof. It was but slightly injured by the great earthquakes of De- cember, 1812, which were so destructive to the mission buildings at San Juan Capistrano, Santa Barbara, La Purisima and Santa Ynez. This mission reached its greatest prosperity in 1819, when its neophyte population numbered 1,080. The largest number of cattle owned by it at one time was 12,800 in 1819.

Its decline was not so rapid as that of some of the other missions, but the death rate, espe- cially among the children, was fully as high. Of the 1,367 Indian children baptized there during the existence of mission rule 965, or over seventy per cent, died in childhood. It was not strange that the fearful death rate both of children and adults at the missions sometimes frightened the neophytes into running away.

SAN LUIS REY DE FRANCIA.

Several explorations had been made for a mis- sion site between San Diego and San Juan Capistrano. There was quite a large Indian

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

population that had not been brought into the folds of either mission. In October, 1797, a new exploration of this territory was ordered and a site was finally selected, although the ag- ricultural advantages were regarded as not sat- isfactory.

Governor Borica, February 28, 1798. issued orders to the comandante at San Diego to furnish a detail of soldiers to aid in erecting the necessary buildings. June 13, 1798, President Lasuen, the successor of President Serra, as- sisted by Fathers Peyri and Santiago, with the usual services, founded the new mission. It was named San Luis Rey de Francia (St. Louis, King of France). Its location was near a river , on which was bestowed the name of the mis- sion. The mission flourished from its very be- ginning. Its controlling power was Padre An- tonio Peyri. He remained in charge of it from its founding almost to its downfall, in all thirty- three years. He was a man of great executive abilities and under his administration it be- came one of the largest and most prosperous missions in California. It reached its maximum in 1826, when its neophyte population numbered- 2,869, the largest number at one time connected with any mission in the territory.

The asistencia or auxiliary mission of San Antonio was established at Pala, seven leagues casterly from the parent mission. A chapel was erected here and regular services held. One of the padres connected with San Luis Rey was in charge of this station. Father Peyri left Cal- ifornia in 1831, with the exiled Governor Vic- toria. He went to Mexico and from there to Spain and lastly to Rome, where he died. The mission was converted into an Indian pueblo in 1834, but the pueblo was not a success. Most of the neophytes drifted to Los Angeles and San Gabriel. During the Mexican conquest American troops were stationed there. It has recently been partially repaired and is now used for a Franciscan school under charge of Father J. J. O'Keefe.

SANTA YNEZ.

Santa Ynez was the last mission founded in Southern California. It was established Sep- tember 17. 1804. Its location is about forty miles

northwesterly from Santa Barbara, on the east- crly side of the Santa Ynez mountains and eighteen miles southeasterly from La Purisima. Father Tapis, president of the missions from 1803 to 1812, preached the sermon and was assisted in the ceremonies by Fathers Cipies, Calzada and Gutierrez. Carrillo, the comandante at the presidio, was present, as were also a num- ber of neophytes from Santa Barbara and La Purisima. Some of these were transferred to the new mission.

The earthquake of December, 1812, shook down a portion of the church and destroyed a number of the neophytes' houses. In 1815 the erection of a new church was begun. It was built of adobes, lined with brick, and was completed and dedicated July 4, 1817. The Indian revolt of 1824, described in the sketch of La Purisima, broke out first at this mission. The neophytes took possession of the church. The mission guard defended themselves and the padre. At the approach of the troops from Santa Barbara the Indians fled to La Purisima.

San Ynez attained its greatest population, 770, in 1816. In 1834 its population had de- creased to 334. From its founding in 1804 to 1834, when the decrees of secularization were put in force, 757 Indian children were baptized and 519 died, leaving only 238, or about thirty per cent of those baptized to grow up.

SAN RAFAEL.

San Rafael was the first mission established north of the Bay of San Francisco. It was founded December 14, 1817. At first it was an asistencia or branch of San Francisco. An epi- demic had broken out in the Mission Dolores and a number of the Indians were transferred to San Rafael to escape the plague. Later on it attained to the dignity of a mission. In 1828 its population was 1,140. After 1830 it began to decline and at the time of its secularization in 1834 there were not more than 500 connected with it. In the seventeen years of its existence under mission rule there were 1,873 baptisms and 698 deaths. The average death rate was 6.09 per cent of the population. The mission was secularized in 1834. All traces of the mission building have disappeared.

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

SAN FRANCISCO SOLANO.

The mission of San Francisco de Asis had fallen into a rapid decline. The epidemic that had carried off a number of the neophytes and had caused the transfer of a considerable num- ber to San Rafael had greatly reduced its popu- lation. Besides, the sterility of the soil in the vicinity of the mission necessitated going a long distance for agricultural land and pasturage for the herds and flocks. On this account and also for the reason that a number of new converts might be obtained from the gentiles living in the district north of the bay, Governor Arguello and the mission authorities decided to establish a mission in that region. Explorations were made in June and July, 1823. On the 4th of July a site was selected, a cross blessed and raised, a volley of musketry fired and mass said at a place named New San Francisco, but after- wards designated as the Mission of San Fran- cisco Solano. On the 25th of August work was begun on the mission building and on the 4tli of April, 1824, a church, 24x105 feet, built of wood, was dedicated.

It had been intended to remove the neophytes from the old mission of San Francisco to the new; but the padres of the old mission opposed its depopulation and suppression. A com- promise was effected by allowing all neophytes of the old mission who so elected to go to the new. Although well located, the Mission of Solano was not prosperous. Its largest popula- tion, 996, was reached in 1832. The total num- ber of baptisms were 1,315; deaths, 651. The average death rate was 7.8 per cent of the pop- ulation. The mission was secularized in 1835, at which time there were about 550 neophytes at- tached to it.

The architecture of the missions was Moorish -that is, if it belonged to any school. The padresin most cases were the architects and mas- ter builders. The main feature of the buildings was massiveness. Built of adobe or rough stone, their walls were of great thickness. Most of the church buildings were narrow, their width being out of proportion to their length. This was necessitated by the difficulty of procuring joists and rafters of sufficient length for wide build- ings. The padres had no means or perhaps no 5

knowledge of trussing a roof, and the width of the building had to be proportioned to the length of the timbers procurable. Some of the buildings were planned with an eye for the pic- turesque, others for utility only. The sites se- lected for the mission buildings in nearly every case commanded a fine view of the surrounding country. In their prime, their white walls loon- ing up on the horizon could be seen at long distance and acted as beacons to guide the trav- eler to their hospitable shelter.

Col. J. J. Warner, who came to California in 1831, and saw the mission buildings before they had fallen into decay, thus describes their gen- eral plan: "As soon after the founding of a mission as circumstances would perniit, a large pile of buildings in the form of a quadrangle, composed in part of burnt brick, but chiefly of sun-dried ones, was erected around a spacious court. A large and capacious church, which usually occupied one of the outer corners of the quadrangle, was a conspicuous part of the pile. In this massive building, covered with red tile, was the habitation of the friars, rooms for guests and for the major domos and their families. In other buildings of the quadrangle were hospital wards, storehouses and granaries, rooms for carding, spinning and weaving of woolen fab- rics, shops for blacksmiths, joiners and carpen- ters, saddlers, shoemakers and soap boilers, and cellars for storing the product (wine and brandy) of the vineyards. Near the habitation of the friars another building of similar material was placed and used as quarters for a small number -- about a corporal's guard-of soldiers under command of a non-commissioned officer, to hold the Indian neophytes in check as well as to pro- tect the mission from the attacks of hostile In- dians." The Indians, when the buildings of the establishment were complete, lived in adobe liouses built in lines near the quadrangle. Some of the buildings of the square were occupied by thie alcaldes or Indian bosses. When the In- dians were gathered into the missions at first they lived in brush shanties constructed in the same manner as their forefathers had built them for generations. In some of the missions these huts were not replaced by adobe buildings for a generation or more. Vancouver, who visited

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

the Mission of San Francisco in 1792, sixteen years after its founding, describes the Indian village with its brush-built huts. He says: "These miserable habitations, each of which was : allotted for the residence of a whole family, were erected with some degree of uniformity about three or four feet asunder in straight rows, leaving lanes or passageways at right angles be- tween them: but these were so abominably in- fested with every kind of filth and nastiness as to be rendered no less offensive than degrading to the human species."

Of the houses at Santa Clara, Vancouver says: "The habitations were not so regularly disposed nor did it (the village) contain so many as the village of San Francisco, yet the same horrid state of uncleanliness and laziness seemed to pervade the whole." Better houses were then in the course of construction at Santa Clara. "Each house would contain two rooms and a garret with a garden in the rear." Vancouver

visited San Carlos de Monterey in 1792, twenty- two years after its founding. He says: "Not- withstanding these people are taught and em- ployed from time to time in many of the occu- pations most useful to civil society, they had not made themselves any more comfortable habita- tions than those of their forefathers; nor did they seem in any respect to have benefited by the instruction they had received."

Captain Becchey, of the English navy, who visited San Francisco and the missions around the bay in 1828, found the Indians at San Fran- cisco still living in their filthy hovels and grind- ing acorns for food. "San José (mission)," he says, "on the other hand, was all neatness, clean- liness and comfort." At San Carlos he found that the filthy hovels described by Vancouver inad nearly all disappeared and the Indians were comfortably housed. He adds: "Sickness in general prevailed to an incredible extent in all the missions."

CHAPTER VI. PRESIDIOS OF CALIFORNIA.

SAN DIEGO.

T HE presidio was an essential feature of the Spanish colonization of America. It was usually a fortified square of brick or stone, inside of which were the barracks of the soldiers, the officers' quarters, a church, store houses for provisions and military supplies. The gates at the entrance were closed at night, and it was usually provisioned for a siege. In the colonization of California there were four pre- sidios established, namely: San Diego, Monte- rey, San Francisco and Santa Barbara. Each was the headquarters of a military district and besides a body of troops kept at the presidio it furnished guards for the missions in its re- spective district and also for the pueblos if there were any in the district. The first presidio was founded at San Diego. As stated in a previous chapter, the two ships of the expedition by sea for the settlement of California arrived at the port of San Diego in a deplorable condition

from scurvy. The San Antonia, after a voyage of fifty-nine days, arrived on April 11; the San Carlos, although she had sailed a month earlier, did not arrive until April 29, consuming one hundred and ten days in the voyage. Don Miguel Constansó, the engineer who came on this vessel, says in his report: "The scurvy had infected all without exception; in such sort that on entering San Diego already two men had died of the said sickness; most of the seamen, and half of the troops, found themselves pros- trate in their beds; only four mariners remained on their feet, and attended, aided by the troops, to trimming and furling the sails and other working of the ship." "The San Antonia," says Constansó, "had the half of its crew equally affected by the scurvy, of which illness two men had likewise died." This vessel, although it had arrived at the port on the 11th of April, had evi- dently not landed any of its sick. On the Ist of

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

May, Don Pedro Fages, the commander of the troops, Constansó and Estorace, the second cap- tain of the San Carlos, with twenty-five soldiers. set out to find a watering place where they could fill their barrels with fresh water. "Following the west shore of the port, after going a mat- ter of three leagues, they arrived at the banks of a river hemmed in with a fringe of willows and cottonwoods. Its channel must have been twenty varas wide and it discharges into an estuary which at high tide could admit the launch and made it convenient for accomplish- ing the taking on of water." *

* * "Hav- ing reconnoitered the watering place, the Span- iards betook themselves back on board the vessels and as these were found to be very far away from the estuary in which the river dis- charges, their captains, Vicente Vila and Don Juan Perez, resolved to approach it as closely as they could in order to give less work to the people handling the launches. These labors were accomplished with satiety of hardship; for from one day to the next the number of the sick kept increasing, along with the dying of the most aggravated cases and augmented the fa- tigue of the few who remained on their feet."

"Immediate to the beach on the side toward the east a scanty enclosure was constructed formed of a parapet of earth and fascines, which was garnished with two cannons. They disem- barked some sails and awnings from the packets with which they made two tents capacious enough for a hospital. At one side the two offi- cers, the missionary fathers and the surgeon put up their own tents; the sick were brought in launches to this improvised presidio and hospi- tal." "But these diligencies," says Constansó, "were not enough to procure them health." * * * "The cold made itself felt with rigor at night in the barracks and the sun by day, alter- nations which made the sick suffer cruelly, two or three of them dying every day. And this whole expedition, which had been composed of more than ninety men, saw itself reduced to only eight soldiers and as many mariners in a state to attend to the safeguarding of the barks, the working of the launches, custody of the camp and service of the sick."

Rivera y Moncada, the commander of the first detachment of the land expedition arrived at San Diego May 14. It was decided by the officers to remove the camp to a point near the river. This had not been done befffe on oladean count of the small force able to work and the lack of beasts of burden. Un were all in good health and after a day Brest "all were removed to a new camf funch was transferred one league further north on the right side of the river upon a hill of middling height."

Here a presidio was built, the remains of which can still be seen. It was a parapet of earth similar to that thrown up at the first camp, which, according to Bancroft, was probably within the limits of New Town and the last one in Old Town or North San Diego.

While Portolá's expedition was away search- ing for the port of Monterey, the Indians made an attack on the camp at San Diego, killed a Spanish youth and wounded Padre Viscaino, the blacksmith, and a Lower California neophyte. The soldiers remaining at San Diego sur- rounded the buildings with a stockade. Con- stansó says, on the return of the Spaniards of Portolá's expedition: "They found in good con- dition their humble buildings, surrounded with a palisade of trunks of trees, capable of a good defense in case of necessity."

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A history of California and an extended history of its southern coast counties, also containing biographies of well-known citizens of the past and present, Volume I, Part 10

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918 Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company Number of Pages: 1184

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company
Number of Pages: 1184