USA > California > A memorial and biographical history of the coast counties of Central California > Part 16
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55
"The lieutenant, Don Raymundo Carrillo, has assured me the same, for on the eight- eenth he stopped for the night at this mis-
sion (San Juan) on his journey from San José and being at supper with one of the fatliers, a shock was felt, so powerful, and attended with such a loud noise, as to deafen them, when they fled to the court without finishing their supper; and that about 11 o'clock at night the shock was repeated with almost equal force.
"The fathers of the missions say that the Indians assure them that there have always been earthquakes at that place, and that there are certain cavities caused by earthquakes, from which salt water has flowed.
"All of which I communicate to you for your information.
"May our Lord preserve your life many years.
"HERMENEGILDO SAL. "Monterey, October 31, 1800."
Old records recite that in 1800 the San Juan Indians sent three carts, nine yoke of oxen, nine horses and fifteen Indians to Mon- terey, when an attack from foreign vessels was feared, for which they were remunerated by order of the viceroy to encourage or stimu- late zeal in the future in like cases.
Disagreements between the missions and settlers, and eventually between missions and the government, commenced early and from time to time cansed more or less friction. It is recorded that in 1802 the clerical authori- ties of San Juan Bautista were directed to remove their stock from land claimed un- der a grant, Mariano Castro; but the matter being appealed to the viceroy, that officer decided in favor of the mission.
131
SAN BENITO COUNTY.
In the year 1806, an exploring party, con- sisting of twenty-five men under lieutenant Moraga, was sent out from San Juan Bautista to explore the Tulare country, and incidentally to find suitable sites for new missions. Friar Pedro Muños accompanied the expedition, and kept a diary of the same. Leaving San Juan September 21, in an easterly direction, Moraga crossed the San Joaquin river and went north down the valley of that name, and continued his explorations twelve or fourteen days; and then turned about and traveled south on the east side of the valley, and fin- ally, about November 1, reached the mission of San Fernando.
The report of this and other expeditions, by Father Tapis, for the year 1805 and 1806, says, twenty-four rancherias, with an aggre- gate of over 5,000 Indians, had been visited; and that but four or five sites were found be- tween San Miguel and San Fernando suitable for the location of new missions, which, if established would require a new presidio.
The mission church at San Juan Bautista was finished and dedicated June 23, 1812; Manuel Gutierrez, of Los Angeles, standing as sponsor (padrino), aided by the padres of San José and Santa Clara.
The next ten years were apparently un- eventful ones at San Juan. Occasional expe- ditions were sent out to punish neighboring, unfriendly or thieving Indians, or to bring in converts. According to the archives, in 1815 or '16, Corporal José Dolores Pico, of San Juan, who went out with a small force after
runaways, was badly wounded in a fight with the Indians.
Mention is also made of an expedition un- der one Soto against the Mariposas, which brought in to the San Juan Mission some 300 Iudians.
The estimated population of this mission, San Juan Bautista, at the beginning of this century, was about 1,000, mostly Christanized Indians.
Humboldt, who visited California in 1802, estimated the population of Alta California, whites and mulattoes, 1,300; converted Indians 15,560.
Dwinelle tells us that in 1834, or 65 years after the founding of San Diego, over 30,000 Indian converts were lodged in the buildings of the twenty-one missions of California; over 700,000 head of cattle of various species, be- sides 60,000 horses, pastured on the plains; 180,000 bushels of grain, mostly wheat, were produced annually, besides large quantities of wine, brandy, wool, oil, etc.
The mission of San Juan Bautista owned in 1820 over 40,000 head of cattle, nearly 1,400 tame horses, 4,800 mares, fillies and colts, and about 70,000 head of sheep. Indians, under the control of this mission, employed more than 300 yoke of work oxen in carrying on its extensive farming operations.
In 1813, and again in 1828, the Spanish Cortez decreed the secularization of missions in all Spanish Colonies. The Mexican Con- gress, Angust 17, 1833, passed a secularization law, which was effectually enforced within two or three years thereafter.
132
SAN BENITO COUNTY.
CHAPTER IV.
DECADENCE OF THE MISSIONS.
ROM the commencement of the era of Mexican independence, in 1822, or per- haps a little later, till the acquisition of California by the United States, the missions gradually declined, the policy of Mexico, after attaining independence, being to encourage the settlement of the country, which made necessary the curtailment, and finally the secularization, of the missions.
From about 1825 or 1830, to 1846, a large and increasing number of persons, who became settlers, had been pouring into California; these included Mexicans by land and by sea, American trappers and hunters, who had emerged from the deserts east of the Sierras; Russians from Russian America; sailors and adventurers of all nationalities, who had es- caped from merchant ships, or who had been left here at their own request; and occasion- ally a citizen of the Eastern States more venturesome or more restless than his neigh- bors.
With the coming of Mexicans, and of foreigners who became Mexican citizens, naturally there arose a demand for land; and as the missions practically claimed all the land, although they occupied it only by per- mission of the government, these citizens com- plained to the authorities of the difficulty of acquiring land to cultivate or to live on.
Governor Figueroa and some of his suc- cessors sought to distribute the lands of Alta California to the Indian neophytes in sever-
alty. But these attempts were utterly im - practicable, and of course were ntter failures: first, because the Indians were incapable of self-government; and second, this plan left no room for the settlement of the territory by Mexican citizens and foreigners, in other words, by gente de razon (literary people of reason) who were capable of developing the country, and of local self-government, which is what Mexico desired. The logic of the situation plainly required the secularization of the missions long before that policy cul- minated in the passage of the law of 1883.
Therefore, it is a matter of congratulation and commendation, instead of censure and regret, that the United States Land Commis- sion and United States Courts followed both the spirit and the letter of the Mexican law in their decisions concerning the tenure of title to lands in California.
The original aim of both the Spanish and Mexican Governments, of converting the California missions into pueblos or towns, having, by actual trial, for more than half a century, proved a palpable failure, the alter- native policy of granting the public lands of the territory to actual settlers, who were capable of governing themselves without the aid of paternal or clerical guardians, was finally forced on the Mexican Government.
In looking back, we can now clearly see that this policy ought to have been adopted long before. Therefore, it was plain that if California was to ever have a future - with her magnificent natural resources and climate unequaled anywhere in the world - it must
.... ...
SAN JUAN MISSION, San Juan, San Benito County.
133
SAN BENITO COUNTY.
be by a system other than that under which the inhabitants were little better than peones, or, more properly speaking, wards, who were incapable of becoming full-fledged, self- sustaining, self-governing citizens.
Hence, a change from a monastic to a civil, - from a religions to a political system of government of the Territory, - became a necessity. Hence the necessity of secular- izing the lands, ¿. e., providing for the grant- ing of legal titles to lands to actual occupants - which in reality was what secularization meant; the tenure of ownership of the soil was to vest thenceforth in men, able to per- form their civic duties as citizens and capa- ble of building up a commonwealth, instead of in children, in trust, who must ever de- pend upon overseers (either clerical or sec- ular) to manage for them.
Certainly, three-quarters of a century was long time enough in which to try the exper- iment of testing whether the Indians of the Californias were capable of building up a State or not.
MEXICAN LAND GRANTS.
The following is a list of confirmed land grants wholly or partly in Sau Benito county, with names of confirmés, dates and numbers of acres each.
NAME OF GRANT.
DATE. ACRES.
GRANTEES.
Aromitas y Agna Caliente, 1835
8,659 F. A. Mac Dongall, et al.
Angaymas y San Felipe, 1833
11,744 F. P. Pacheco
Bolaa de San Felipe, 1840
6,795
F. P. Pacheco
Cienega del Gabilan, 1843 21,874
J. D. Carr
Cienega de los Paicines,
1842
8,917
A Caatro, et al
Loa Carneroa,
1842
236 F. A. Mac Dougall, et al.
Llano del Tequiaquite,
1835
16,016
Sanchez heira
Lomerias Muertas.
1842
6,660
Sanchez heira
Los Vergeles,
1835
2,085
Jamea Stokes
Mission S. Juan Bautista, 1797
55
Biahop, etc. J. S. Alemany
NAME OF GRANT.
DATE. ACRES.
GRANTEES.
Real de loa Aquilaa,
1844
31,052 F. A. Mac Dougall, et al.
San Antonio,
1846
4,493
M. Larios
Santa Ana y Quien Sabe,
1839
48,822
M. Larios, et al.
San Joaquin,
1836
7,425
C. Cervantez
San Justo,
1839
34,619
F. P. Pacheco
San Lorenzo,
1846
23,843
R. Sanchez
Tract near Misaion S. Juan 1839
401 P. Breen
The status of Panoche Grande, ahout 17,000 acres, 1844, to V. P .Gomez is given elsewhere.
Total area of Mexican grants,
Total area of public landa,
232,100 acre a 442,900
Total area of S Benito county,
676,000 1%
CHAPTER V.
CHANGE OF GOVERNMENT.
HE quiet of San Juan Bautista Mission was disturbed by the events attending and immediately succeeding the change from Mexican to United States rule. Shortly after the raising of the American flag at Monterey, July 7, 1846, and at the other important points a few days later, Castro, with such dis- affected forces as he could save from the gen- eral demoralization that began to set in, withdrew to San Juan; but he did not re- main there long as, on the 17th of July, Fre- mont and his battalion arrived there from the north, and the same day Fauntleroy and a squad of dragoons reached there, where- upon the American flag was raised, thus com- pleting the conquest of this portion of Cali- fornia.
On the 19th, the battalion started for Monterey, leaving a small force at San Juan. A little later Captain Fauntleroy with fifty men was sent from Monterey to relieve the force left at San Juan by Frémont. While stationed there an expedition was sent out against Indian horse-thieves, with whom it had a fight, in which several Indians were
134
SAN BENITO COUNTY.
killed and the horses stolen were recovered. In October, Fauntleroy's men having been called elsewhere, a small force under Mad- dox was sent to San Juan, where they spiked the iron cannon which had been left there, and took away the brass cannon to keep them from falling into the hands of the Califor- nians.
About the middle of November several re- cruiting parties for Frémont's battalion arrived with men and horses at San Juan Bau- tista. Consul Larkin, while on his way from Monterey to San Francisco, was capt- ured at Gomez ranch, Los Verjeles, where he stopped for the night, by a band of Cas- tro's Californians led by Chavez, and taken to Castro's camp, the object evidently being to use him as an exchange for some of their own patroled men who had been captured. The Californians entertained a plan of attacking San Juan, and they endeavored, but of course to. no avail, to get Larkin to aid them in the scheme. Their plan, it would seem, contem- plated a feigned attack on San Juan by a few men for the purpose of drawing out the gar- rison in pursuit, which they then thought they could overcome with their principal force. A severe fight ensued at the Natividad ranch, in which several men were killed and more wounded on both sides. In the meantime word was sent to Monterey, and Frémont immediately hastened to the rescue; and the Californians having withdrawn, he gathered his varones at San Juan, where the battalion's organization was completed and preparations were made for a march south against the foe
The course taken was up the San Benito and over into the Salinas valley, and thence to San Luis Obispo, which latter place was captured without opposition.
Here Jesus Pico, who had been captured at Wilson's ranch, was tried by court martial for having broken his parole in the San Juan and Natividad campaign. He was found guilty and sentenced to be shot. But the pathetic appeal of his wife and fourteen children, and of many other women, her neighbors and of some of Frémont's own officers who had been formerly befriended by Pico, caused Frémont to relent and to grant him a pardon. Pico thereafter became the grateful and sincere friend of the man who had thus saved his life. Pico died quite recently.
CHAPTER VI.
AMERICAN SETTLEMENT OF SAN BENITO VALLEY.
NE of the first American settlements in the San Benito valley was begun by Jacob Watson in 1854, near the site of the pres- ent town of Hollister. Prior to that time the valley was occupied as a stock range by the owners of Mexican land grants. The neigh- boring foot-hills and mountain ranges were the home of deer, antelope and bear. From 1861 to 1870 much of the valley now used as a sheep range, the Hollisters and Flint, and Bixby & Co., having engaged in breeding improved sheep in this section, which was then a portion of Monterey county.
135
SAN BENITO COUNTY.
COUNTY DIVISION.
The rapid settlement of the extensive and fertile San Benito valley and the valleys tribu- tary thereto, which were separated from the rest of Monterey county by the Gabilan range of mountains, developed interests which centered in the new communities, and out of which grew, very naturally, a desire by the people to manage for themselves their own local affairs. The first attempt to divide Monterey county, by having San Benito set off by itself as a separate political division, was made in the legislature of 1869-'70; bnt the opposition interposed by the resident por- tion of the present old county caused the movement to fail at this time. Nevertheless, it continned to gain strength from many and legitimate causes. The contest became a very heated one for the time being, swallow- ing up all other issues. The people living east of the Gabilan insisted that they were entitled to a division, and they were almost unanimously determined to have it. The election of a representative in the legislature turned on this one issue. The question was di- vision or no division, Republicans and Demo- crats forgetting their party affiliations. But though the "new-county" people were still in the minority, they did not give up the fight. They returned again to the charge in the next election, and won by a small ma- jority. The contest was carried to the As- sembly and then to the Senate, in each of which houses the divisionists won, and then to the governor, who after some hesitation
signed the bill, and thus, finally, in March 1874, the act creating the new county became a law. By this act the governor was author- ized and directed to appoint five commission- ers who were charged with the organization of the new connty. The names of the com- missioners appointed were: T. S. Hawkins, Jesse Whitton, Mark Pomeroy, John Breen and H. M. Hayes. This commission met at the town of Hollister, February 18, 1874, and organized by electing John Breen as president, and H. M. Hayes as secretary.
The new connty was subdivided into four townships, viz .: Hollister, San Juan, San Benito and Paicines, and three supervisorial districts, numbered one, two and three. Dis- trict number one, comprised Hollister town- ship; number two, San Juan township; and number three, San Benito and Paicines town- ships. The new officers were to be appointed by the governor or filled by special election. James F. Breen, who had resigned the judge- ship of Monterey county, was appointed by the governor to the same position in San Benito county, while the commissioners, under provisions of the organic act, ordered a special election on the 26th day of March, 1874, whereat the required county officers were to be chosen, and the county seat was to be permanently located by popular vote.
At this election the following officers were elected, viz .: Sheriff and ex officio tax col- lector, Benjamin F. Ross; clerk and recorder, H. M. Hayes; district attorney, N. N. Briggs; treasurer, T. McMahon; assessor, Hayden Dowdy; surveyor, F. P. McCrary; school
136
SAN BENITO COUNTY.
superintendent, H. Z. Morris; coroner and public administrator, J. M. Black; super- visors: district No. 1, Mark Pomeroy; dis- trict No. 2, Thomas Flint; district No. 3, D. J. Watson.
Under the provisions of an amended act of the Legislature, approved March 10, 1876, the boards of supervisors of the old and new counties jointly selected a commission of five members,-two by Monterey, two by San Benito, and the fifth by the judge of the twentieth judicial district court,-which met at Salinas city, inventoried and appraised the property and assets of each county, ascer- tained the amount of indebtedness of Mon- terey county, on the 12th day of February, 1874, the date on which the act creating San Benito county became a law. The commis- sioners deducted the total value of assets of both counties from the total indebtedness, which exceeded the assets, and ascertained the pro- portion of the debt due from San Benito connty to be $5,808.56, for which amount bonds bearing interest at the rate of seven per cent per annum, and payable in five years, were issued, and made payable to the order of Monterey county. The principle is sound in the division of a partnership or of a county, that each partner shall assume his or its proportion of the existing indebtedness.
CHAPTER VII.
SAN BENITO COUNTY IN 1892.
AN Benito county constitutes one judicial district, of which Hon. Jaines F. Breen is the superior judge. The other county officers are: John L. Hudner, district attor
ney; C. C. Cargill, assemblyman; E. E. Hol- brook, sheriff and ex officio tax collector; Rody Shaw, county clerk, ex officio recorder, and anditor ; D. F. McPhail, assessor; E. B. Mont- gomery, treasurer; J. N. Thompson, school superintendent; W. K. Brown, surveyor; D. McCarty, public administrator and cor- oner.
The county is now divided into five super- visor districts, and the following are the present supervisors: D. Snibley, district No. 1; Lnis Raggio, district No. 2; G. S. Nash, district No. 3; A. J. Chaney, district No. 4; M. F. Finch, chairman, district No. 5.
The county courthonse at Hollister, the county seat, was erected in 1887, and cost about $45,000. It is a two-story edifice with basement and tower; the walls are of brick, stuccoed; its site is on a lot 300 x 200 feet, fronting on Monterey street, between Fourth and Fifth streets. The courthouse has entrances on three sides, by fourteen granite steps, with columned porches. In the northwest rear corner of the grounds stands a substantial one-story brick jail, cost- ing about $10,000, which, though neatly and carefully kept, appears (to the credit of the community be it said) to be poorly patron- ized.
The grounds of the courthouse are sur- rounded by an ornamental iron fence; and on three sides, outside the cement walks, are some thirty beautiful bright-green, ever- graceful "umbrella trees," which, with the grass plat surrounding the building, give the San Benito courthouse and grounds a unique
San Benito County Courthouse, Hollister, California.
137
SAN BENITO COUNTY.
appearance during a greater portion of the year, which is as rare as it is beautiful. There are also a few palm and other ornamental trees interspersed within and around the yard, but not of such numbers or size as to interrupt the view from within or without the grounds.
The county has built three bridges, costing in the aggregate about $25,000.
SAN BENITO COUNTY SCHOOLS.
The following facts and figures concerning the rising generation of the county, are significant and interesting. They are taken from the annual report for the year ending June 30, 1892, of Superintendent of Schools J. N. Thompson.
The school census for 1892 shows the number of children in the county to be:
Between five and seventeen-white, 1,029 boys, and 1,043 girls-2,072. Between five and seventeen-negroes, 6 boys, and 7 girls -13; total, 2,085. Under five -- white, 661; Mongolian, 2; total, 663. Total number of census children under seventeen, 2,748.
The nativity of these is as follows; 2,708 were native born, and 40 were foreign born.
The number of children between five and seventeen who attended public school at any time in the school year, 1,542; or private school at any time in the school year, 153. Number who have not attended school during the school year, 390 ; total 2,085.
Number of teachers or classes-grammar, 11; primary, 43. Total, 54.
Number of pupils enrolled-boys, 921; girls, 785. Total, 1,706.
Average number belonging, 1,128; average daily attendance, 1,049.
Percentage of attendance on number be- longing, 93.
Number months of school maintained, average, 83.
Grammar grade-number enrolled, 503; primary grade-number enrolled 1,203 ; to- tal, 1,706.
Sex of teachers-males, 15; females, 39; total, 54.
Monthly salary paid, average, $65.
Monthly salary paid male teachers, average, $75.
Monthly salary paid female teachers, aver- age, $61.
Annual salary paid county superintendent, $1,500.
Number of teachers, graduates of Califor- nia State normal schools, 11; number of teachers, graduates of other State normal schools, 2; number of teachers who hold life diplomas, 11; number of teachers who hold State educational diplomas, 7; number of teachers who hold high school certificates, 2; number of teachers who hold county certifi- cates,.first grade, 30; number of teachers who hold county certificates, second grade, 22.
CURRENT EXPENSES AND RECEIPTS.
Amount paid for teachers' salaries, $29,- 179.61; amount paid for rents, repairs, fuel, etc., $3,902.02; amount paid for school libraries, $884.72; amount paid for school apparatus, $101.80; amount paid for sites,
9
138
SAN BENITO COUNTY.
buildings and furnishings, $9,173.80; total, $43,241.95.
RECEIPTS.
Balance, July 1, 1891, $9,664.75; from State, $16,100.96; from county, $17,837.50; from city and district taxes, $31,784.23; from subscription, etc., $93.18, Total, $75,- 480.62 ; balance on hand, June 30, 1892, $32.238.67.
SCHOOL PROPERTY.
Value of school lots, buildings and furniture, $50,475 Value of school libraries .8,215 Value of apparatus 3,695
Total $62,385
Number of volumes in school libraries. 7,967 Aggregate indebtedness of districts of county ... $31,033
Number of public schoolhouses in county. 43 Rate of county school tax. 29.4 cents per $100 Assessment roll. $6,113,050
Total drawn from unapportioned county fund :
Institute, $98.90; postage, binding, etc., $63.50; $162,40 Number of private schools in county, 2; private teach- ers, 6. Number of pupils in private schools, average attendance, 120.
COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION.
Term expires
Frank B. Abbe, San Juan, president, June 30, 1894 J. N. Thompson, Hollister, secretary, January 7, 1895
J. B. Hankenson, = June 30, 1894
John Paterson, June 30, 1893
Thomas H. Slaven, Paicines, June 30, 1893
REPORT OF FIRST SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT.
H. Z. Morris, the first superintendent after the organization of San Benito county, for the school year ending June 30, 1874, eight- een years ago, gives in his report these items, which are of interest by contrast: There were fourteen school districts; Hollister had four teachers; San Juan and Jefferson, two
each; and the other districts each had one, making nineteen teachers in all.
There were 703 boys and 636 girls, or a total of 1,339 children, between five and seventeen, in the new county, besides 711 under five years of age, all of whom, if still living, minst be now men and women grown.
The population of San Benito county, ac- cording to the federal census, was in 1890, 6,412. In 1892 it must be 8,000 or more, or three times at least the number (2,748) of school census children in the county, under seventeen years of age.
The population by race as reported by the superintendent of the eleventh census, was: whites, 6,223; Chinese, 85; Indians, 50; col- ored, 54; total, 6,412.
The vote for governor in 1890 was: Mark- ham, 683; Pond, 850; Bidwell, 83; total, 1,616.
The population of towns was:
1880 1890
Hollister
1,034 1,234 ;
San Benito 672, 1,129;
San Juan 484, 463;
A. T. Butler is postmaster of Hollister. The annual receipts of the office are $3,770.
MISCELLANEOUS.
By the act of the Legislature of March 11, 1891, San Benito county was made a part of the Seventh Congressional District; and by the same act it was made, with Monterey county, to constitute the Thirty-third Sena- torial District; and the Fifty-ninth Assembly District was made to consist of Merced and a part of San Benito counties; and the Sixtieth
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.