A memorial and biographical history of the counties of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura, California Containing a history of this important section of the Pacific coast from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospective future; with full-page steel portraits of its most eminent men, and biographical mention of many of its pioneers and also of prominent citizens of to-day, Part 11

Author: Storke, Yda Addis
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 738

USA > California > San Luis Obispo County > A memorial and biographical history of the counties of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura, California Containing a history of this important section of the Pacific coast from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospective future; with full-page steel portraits of its most eminent men, and biographical mention of many of its pioneers and also of prominent citizens of to-day > Part 11
USA > California > Santa Barbara County > A memorial and biographical history of the counties of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura, California Containing a history of this important section of the Pacific coast from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospective future; with full-page steel portraits of its most eminent men, and biographical mention of many of its pioneers and also of prominent citizens of to-day > Part 11
USA > California > Ventura County > A memorial and biographical history of the counties of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura, California Containing a history of this important section of the Pacific coast from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospective future; with full-page steel portraits of its most eminent men, and biographical mention of many of its pioneers and also of prominent citizens of to-day > Part 11

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At different periods efforts 'have been made to secure from Congress appropriations for a breakwater at Santa Barbara, but all such inovements have been tentative or ini- tiatory only, and leading to no practical result.

THE WATER SUPPLY

of Santa Barbara is purveyed by the Mission Water Company, incorporated in 1872, which in the following year made through its pipes and mains a regular service. For this purpose the living springs of Mission Cañon have been tapped, and the waters of Mission Creek utilized. There are two res- ervoirs, whose total capacity is some 4,000,- 000, that of the storage reservoir being 3,000,000 and of the distributing reservoir 750,000 gallons. The distributing reservoir is about 200 feet above the highest, and 325 feet above the lowest, portion of the city, thus giving sufficient pressure to throw a stream over the highest building in the city. There are in use several miles of distributing pipes, four to six inches in diameter.

ELECTRIC LIGHT.

Since November 1, 1887, Santa Barbara has been municipally lighted by the electric

system. There are two towers 150 feet high, each having four 2,000-candle power lamps, and twenty-eight masts sixty and eighty feet high, each with one 2,000-candle-power lamp. State street is thus lighted through- out its entire length, and the rest of the lamps are distributed about the city. This system costs the city about $500 monthly. Besides the city lights, there are in use over sixty arc -lights of 1,200candle-power, and a large number of incandescent lights of va- rions powers, used for the lighting of mer- cantile houses, hotels, and other private establishments.

MINOR ITEMS.

The telephone office at this city was opened July 10, 1886, with a list of thirty- five subscribers, now increased to 149, all within the city limits.

There are in Santa Barbara County post- offices as follows: Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, Lompoc, Los Alamos, Gnadaloupe, Summer- land, Stuart, Sisquoc, Serena, Santa Maria, Santa Ynez, Nojoqui, Montecito, Los Olivos, Goleta. Carey, Carpenteria and Ballard's. Of these, the first five are money order offices, that at Santa Barbara having international exchange.

The Santa Barbara county officials at pres- ent date, September, 1890, are as follows:

District Court Commissioner, Charles Fer- nald; State Senator, E. H. Heacock; Assem- blyman, C. A. Storke; Superior Judge, R. M. Dillard; County Court Commissioner, S. W. Bouton; Clerk, F. L. Kellogg; Offi- cial Court Reporter, C. F. Reynolds; Re- corder, C. A. Stuart; Sheriff, R J. Brough- ton; Under Sheriff, R. D. Smith; Au- ditor, J. T. Johnson; Tax-Collector, M. F. Burke; Treasurer, E. S. Sheffield; Sur- veyor, A. S. Cooper; District Attorney, W. B. Cope; Assessor, Frank Smith; Deputy

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY.

Assessors, J. L. Barker, Santa Barbara; C. J. Young, Lompoc; B. M. Smith, Carpenteria; George Sınith, Los Alamos; School Super- intendent, G. E. Thurmond; Public Admin- istrator, W. B. Hosmer; Coroner, A. M. Ruiz; Supervisors-Thomas Hosmer, H. G. Crane, A. M. Boyd, D. T. Truitt, A. W. Cox.

THE MISSION.

As the Mission (now a college of Fran- ciscans) is one of the most notable features of the place, from its historic associations, and for its present picturesqueness, a brief recapitulation of its history here will hardly be superfluous. On the feast of Santa Bar- bara, Virgin and Martyr (December 4), 1786, on the site occupied by the present edifice, Very Reverend Father Fermin Francisco de Lasven, President of the Missions, and suc- cessor to Padre Junipero Serra. raised the cross and founded the Mission, being assisted by Padres Antonio Paterna and Cristobal Oramas. On December 15, Padre Lasuen celebrated mass and preached in a hut or booth, built for the occasion from boughs or branches of trees. At this service was present the Governor, Pedro Fages, accompanied by a few soldiers. In the year 1787 were built a house for the priests, 36 x 15, and a church or chapel, 30 x 15, having adobe walls three feet thick, and temporary roofs made of heavy rafters, across which were tied long poles or canes, over which was spread a layer of mud or clay, the whole then thatched with straw. In the following year, the Fathers, with the 200 Indians then living at the Mis- sion, began the manufacture of tiles, with which they then roofed the buildings.

By the year 1789 the first church was razed, as too small, and a new one, 85 x 15, was erected, as also many new houses for dwellings for the Indians of the Mission, by this time numbering nearly 500.

In 1793 was begun, and in 1794 was tin- ished, the third church of this Mission, a large adobe structure, 1273 x 25}, containing six chapels and a large sacristy. It had a brick portico, walls well plastered with mor- tar, and tile roof. In this year died Rev. Father Antonio Paterna, the first minister of this Mission.

As the Indians here now numbered 782, and were increasing rapidly, it became neces- sary to form a village and give a separate house to each family; and so, in 1798, there were erected nineteen houses for as many In- dian families; and during the years follow- ing an average of thirty-five new houses per year, so that by 1807 the Indian village con- tained 252 houses and as many families. In 1806 was built a reservoir of mason-work, 116 feet square by seven feet deep, to collect water for the gardens, orchard, etc., and this tank is still in existence, used for water storage by the water company. In 1808 was built in the space before the Mission an orna- mental stone fountain and lavatory, still ex- isting and regarded as a "show" feature.

During the latter part of December, 1812, the severe earthquake shocks which then oc- curred so damaged all the Mission buildings, and particularly the church, that it was deemed expedient to take this down and build another. From this period, then, dates the fourth and present Mission church, which was begun in 1815, and finished and conse- crated in September, 1820. Its dimensions are 170 feet long, forty feet wide, and thirty feet from floor to ceiling. The walls, nearly six feet thick, are of large cubes of cut sand- stone, plastered over, and they are strength- ened by heavy and massive stone buttresses along the sides and at the angles, thus making it the strongest of the Mission edifices.

Hitherto Upper and Lower California had been under the spiritual jurisdiction of the

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY.

Bishop of Sonora, Mexico. But in 1835 the Mexican Congress which revoked the decree of 1833 and gave back to the Missions the property of which they had then been de- spoiled, decreed also that the California provinces should have a special or local bishop, whose interest would be devoted ex- clusively to the welfare and advancement of this section. Such a prelate was not assigned, however, until 1840, when Pope Gregory XVI. elected Right Rev. Francisco Garcia Diego y Moreno, a Franciscan father, who was solemnly consecrated to the bishopric October 4, 1840. On Jannary 11, 1842, he arrived at Santa Barbara, and amidst great rejoicings took possession of the diocese, selecting the Mission as his residence, and thins making Santa Barbara the Episcopal city. The bishop died at the Mission, April 30, 1846, and Very Rev. José M. Gonzalez Rubio, O. S. F., became administrator of the diocese, surrendering his charge in 1850 to the Right Rev. J. S. Alemany, who had that year been consecrated Bishop of Monterey, and who in-1835 became Archbishop of San Francisco.

The Mission under its present aspect is still very picturesque, although at close range something of its charm is lost through the results of "restoration," which has destroyed the creamy, time-mellowed tints of the sur- faces, and imparted a certain obtrusive and common-place setness to its appearance. Nevertheless, in its architectural fitness, in its dimensions, and in its situation, lying as it does on a commanding site, where it is sure to catch promptly the attention of the traveler, whether by land or by sea, the Mis- sion bears strong witness to the taste and judicial discrimination of the Padres. The building has a very oriental aspect, what with its long arcade and two twin towers. Within, the organ loft is at one end, and the

high altar at the other. In the vault beneath reposes the mortal part of the first Bishop of the two Californias, Francisco Garcia Diego, above whose tomb hangs his antique hat. This vault was recently reopened to receive the body of the venerable Father Sanchez, who had ministered here since.

At the left of the church is a wing 130 feet long, with the pillars and arches of its corridor well preserved. On one side is the old olive orchard, and scattered near are the remains of many now ruined buildings of industrial use in the days of the Indian con- verts.

This probably went to decay less than any of the other missions, and it was, further- more, put in repair for the celebration of the centennial of its founding. On this occasion, December 4, 1886, visitors from all parts of the State came hither.

Masses and services are held regularly at the mission, which is in charge of Rev. Joseph O'Keefe, who is accompanied by some three or four fathers, and about a dozen lay brothers.

Visitors to the mission are courteously re- ceived. Ladies are prohibited from entering a certain one of the gardens.

THE SCHOOLS.

It would appear that the first beginnings of public instruction of Santa Barbara were such rudiments as were imparted by one José Manuel Toca, a grumete, or ship-boy, from one of the transports. This required a re- innneration of $125, of which each soldier paid $1. By the governor's orders, the first feature of these presidio schools was the teaching of Christian doctrine, then reading and writing. Toca taught from the close of 1795 to 1797, when he was called on board ship, being replaced in school by another ship-boy.

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY.

A primary school for girls was opened by a woman in 1817, but it would seem to have closed rather speedily.

During the last years of the decade 1810- '20, a school was maintained, with Diego Fernandez as teacher, on a monthly salary of $15; but in 1828 not one pupil was in attend- ance, and the alcalde was directed to enforce compulsory education.

Up to 1856, the English language was not taught in the common schools, owing to the opposition offered thereto by the Spanish element of the population. But in that year, the county superintendent, George D. Fisher, and the school commissioners, Hill, de la Palma y Mesa and Huse, held an examination of teachers, at which applied Pablo Caracela, Mr. Baillis, Victor Mondrau and Owen Con- nolly, the two latter of whom were there authorized to teach school for one year, at a monthly salary of $75. Through the failure of the county superintendent to report, it is said for lack of mail facilities, one appropria- tion of the State school fund was lost; and an attempt was made in the Legislature to so remedy the matter that Santa Barbara might receive her quota. In objection it was urged that Santa Barbara had no school-house, and that the English language was not taught there at all. Accordingly, the teaching of English was this season begun, and after some difficulty thie quota due Santa Barbara was paid over. In 1854 there had been levied a school tax of five cents on each $100, and this fund provided for increased facilities and accommodations. In a letter to the school board from Owen Connolly, teacher of the first and then only school taught in English, he asks for an increase of salary, based on the flourishing condition of the school. It numbers, he says, seventy-eight pupils between the ages of four and fifteen years, half of whom were young ladies (age

not stated!) one-third were Americans, the rest of Spanish or Mexicau blood. The studies were orthography, penmanship, read- ing, arithmetic, geography, grammar and analysis, of both English and Spanish.

In 1879 there were thirty school districts and 2,976 children of school age.

For the year ending June 30, 1884, the children of school age were 3,445; school dis- tricts, forty.

With the increased proportion of Anglo- Saxon population, they here as elsewhere arranged for the maintenance of that great necessity, good public schools, and the system has steadily advanced in the county to its present proportions.

The School Department of Santa Barbara County is now composed as follows, as pre- scribed by the new State constitution of 1879-'80: The County Board of Education consists of the county school superintendent, ex officio its secretary, and four others, two of whom must be teachers holding the highest grade of certificate. This board prescribes the course of study, the list of text-books, and list of books for school libraries; and it holds semi-annual examinations, in June and December, of teachers for the county schools. Every autumn is held a county institute, which every teacher is required to attend, unless excused by the superintendent for sufficient reasons.

There are three grades of schools, namely, primary, grammar grade and grammar school course, that receive State appropria- tions; and a high school, located in the city of Santa Barbara, and supported by county tax. The city in the autumn of 1887 con- tained five public-school buildings, accom- modating twelve primary, five grammar and one high school. There was then an enroll- ment of 1,031 pupils, tanght by twenty teachers.

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY.

The school census of Santa Barbara for the year closing June 30, 1886, shows as follows: Total number school census children, 3,844, divided as follows: white boys, 1,937; white girls, 1,888; negro boys, four; negro girls, six; Indian boys, four; Indian girl, one. Under five years old there were 1,495 white and three negro children. The county then contained four Chinese children under seven- teen years of age, four deaf and dumb and seven blind children.

The births during the year were 129 boys and 115 girls; total 244.

The number of children who attended public school during the year were 2,650 white, seven negro and two Indian.

There were 136 attending private schools. In November, 1887, there were in the county forty-six school districts, supplied by about seventy teachers. The number of children enrolled, between five and seventeen years of age, was 3,948, as against 2,696 in 1886. The total of appropriations during that year for school purposes was $46,990.20, and the amount paid for teachers' salaries was $37,947.95.

There are at present in Santa Barbara County fifty-three school districts, with eighty-six incumbent teachers, of whom sixty- one are women and twenty-five men. The ladies receive an average salary of $61, the gentlemen of $75. There are 4,429 children of school age in the county, of whom are en- rolled 3,648, comprising 1,800 girls and 1,848 boys. The average daily attendance is 2,254.

For the school year closing June 30, 1890, the State apportionment for this county was $42,840, and the county apportionment, $27,- 791.45. From this total of $70,631.45 the amount paid for teachers' salaries was $50,- 247.50; for school buildings, $15,395.06; for school libraries, $994.96; for apparatus, $1,-

045.45; for rent, repairs and contingent ex- penses, $12,440.16. Total of expenditures, $80,123.13. The school bonded indebtedness in the county is $81,450.

The county owns school-houses and furni- ture to the value of $143,300; the school libraries contain an aggregate of 8,936 vol- umes, valued at $10,080, and the apparatus supplied to the schools is worth $5,730, thus placing the valuation of school property at $159,110.

The County Board of Education at present is composed of School Superintendent G. E. Thurmond, T. N. Snow, Miss Josephine Rockwood, Mrs. Ida M. Blochman and Hol- ton Webb.

There are in the city of Santa Barbara 1,630 census children, of whom 1,228 are en- rolled in the schools, the average attendance being 840. The number of teachers is twenty-four. There are five school buildings of plain but substantial style, the valuation of buildings and furniture being $50,000. The corps of teachers numbers a city super- intendent and twenty three assistants.

St. Vincent's College was established 1858, by the Sisters of Charity, noble, unselfish and energetic women, who have conducted it very successfully up to the present. Early in its career St. Vincent's possessed an ex- cellent four-story brick building, which was destroyed by fire March 15, 1874, the loss being about $20,000. This calamity, as it veritably was to Santa Barbara, was soon re- paired by the erection of the present build- ing on the site of the burned structure. The institute is now a fine three-story brick edi- fice of composite architecture, where the Sis- ters teach all common branches of instruc- tion. Only girls are received here.

The Santa Barbara College was instituted in 1869, by a joint-stock company of the citi- zens, and an edifice (at present the San Mar-

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY.

cos Hotel) was built at a cost of about $35,- 000. It had an efficient corps of teachers, qualified to fit pupils for a business life or for the university. It had an average of perhaps eighty pupils. It suspended opera- tion about 1878.

There are now in Santa Barbara three pri- vate schools besides St. Vincent's, viz .: the Collegiate School, Miss Thayer's School for Girls, and the School for Girls kept by Pro- fessor Alfred Colin and Madame Colin.

THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.

In the early days the care of the sick was of lay origin; that is, by domestic remedies, mainly herbal, and in not a few instances borrowed from the superstitious rites of the aborigines. Surgical operations, too, were performed mostly after a rough and amateur- ish fashion. As late as June, 1846, Fran- cisco de la Guerra wrote to the Governor that for the want of good medical men in the country he had been under the necessity of employing the surgeon of a British man- of-war.

William A. Streeter, as stated elsewhere, practiced here as a physician, albeit not regularly qualified, from 1845 forward.

Dr. Nicholas A. Den had arrived here as early as 1836, but it would appear from Don Francisco's expressed want that Dr. Den did not at once begin to practice, nor is the date of his embarking in this profession obtain- able by the present writer.

Dr. Samuel Bevier Brinkerhoff, who ar- rived here in 1852, soon became a general favorite practitioner, and when he died lie probably knew as many family histories and family secrets of the section as a father con- fessor, besides having opened or closed the gates of life to a vast number of the com- munity. Up to the time of his death he was a successful practitioner.

Among the earlier physicians who came to Santa Barbara were: Drs. Alexander Perry; Wallace, who came in 1850; Shaw, who practiced with Dr. Burris, who came hither from Mexico; English, Freeman, Ord (a di- rect dscendant of George IV. of England and Mrs. Fitzherbert), Biggs and Bates (in partnership about 1873), Winchester (came about 1873), S. B. P. Knox, Logando (came about 1875), etc.

There are at present about twelve regular practicing physicians in the city of Santa Barbara, and five practitioners of the homeo- pathic school. In the outside towns there are ten practicing physicians, as follows: At Carpenteria, three; at Santa Maria, two; at Santa Ynes, one; at Los Alamos, one; at Lompoc, two; at Los Olivos, one; all these being of the allopathic school. save one homeopath at Carpenteria. Most of the physi- cians in the city belong to the State Medical Association, but there is no county associa- tion, although various efforts have been made to establish one.

BENCH AND BAR.

The following account of the bench and bar of Santa Barbara County and the Second Judicial District in the early days was kindly prepared for the present work by Judge Charles Fernald:

"The bench and bar in newly organized communities must always be an interesting subject to all readers, professional and lay as well. The well-being of the community in general depends largely upon the character of the bench and the bar, at all times, under our system of government. The rights of person and property find their surest guar- anty in the character of both. Accordingly we have striven to ascertain, as best we may at this late date, just how the courts were organized, and the character of the judges,

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY.

magistrates, attorneys and counsellors prac- ticing here from the adoption of the consti- tution and the organization of the courts from 1850 to the election and inauguration of Abraham Lincoln in 1861.

"The judicial system of the State under the judicial act of 1850 and 1851 was radi- cally different from that adopted by the new constitution of California in 1879 under the influence of the "sand lot," as it has been called. The former was much more simple in structure, and we can but think a careful comparison of the two will show the old system very much more effective in its scope and practical operation. We have not space here to analyze and compare the two systems, and it is not our purpose to do so.

"The act of April 11, 1851, provided for the organization of a Supreme Court, con- sisting of a chief justice and two associate justices, to be elected by the people. The State was divided into eleven judicial dis- tricts, and provision was made for the term of six years for the election of a district judge for each district, embracing one or more counties according to population. The first district embraced the counties of San Diego and Los Angeles, and the second the counties of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara County at that time including in its territory the present county of Ventura, cut off from Santa Barbara in 1872, by an act of the Legislature. The act of 1851 also provided for the organization of a superior court of the city of San Fran- cisco, and for a county court for each of the counties of the State, with original and appellate jurisdiction, and for the election of appointment of county judges to preside over said courts. Also for a court of ses- sions for each of the counties, over which should preside the county judge and two associate justices, to be appointed by the

judge, or to be chosen by the justices of the peace of the county when elected.

"The term of district judges was for six years and of county judges four years. The district court, the county court and the court of sessions exercised substantially the same jurisdiction as the superior courts now do under our present judicial system. The county judge also acted as surrogate or probate judge, and the court of sessions was charged with all of the duties of the present boards of supervisors for each county.

"As we have had occasion to say elsewhere in speaking of the character of the immigra- tion to this State in 1849-50, we now repeat here what is undeniably true, that there came to the State in those early days the excellence and culture of the older States east of the Mississippi River. It would be difficult to point to a more able body of men, taken altogether than those assembled at Monterey in 1850 to frame a constitution for the State of California. Such men as William M. Gwin, Winfield S. Sherwood, Henry W. Hal- leck, L. W. Hastings, Jacob R. Snyder, Charles T. Botts, Henry A. Tefft, Thomas O. Larkin, Rodman M. Price, J. McHol- lingsworth, Myron Norton, Edward Gilbert, Benjamin S. Lippincott, Thomas M. Ver- meule, Louis Dent, Abel Stearns and the late Pablo de la Guerra. There were other able, experienced men-merchants, lawyers and farmers. The average age of these men was about thirty-three years; many of them were less than twenty-seven years of age.

"And it has been a matter of frequent assertion that the first Legislature of the State of California contained more able men than any succeeding one.

"The first judge of the district court of the second judicial district, embracing, as we have stated, the counties of Santa Barbara

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY.

and San Luis Obispo, was Henry A. Tefft, a native of Washington County, New York. At the date of his appointment he was twen- ty-six years of age and resided at Nipomo, San Luis Obispo County. He served but one year as district judge, having perished at the steamboat landing at San Luis Obispo in the winter of 1851-'52, in endeavoring to land from the steamner in an open boat during a heavy storm.

"Henry Storrow Carnes, still living in Santa Barbara, was appointed by the gov- ernor of the State to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Judge Tefft. Carnes held the office until the general election in Novem- ber, 1852, at which election the late Joaquin Carrillo was elected by the people for the balance of the term. Carrillo continued to hold the office until the year 1863-'64, when the late Don Pablo de la Guerra was elected for the term of six years. De la Guerra held the office until his death in 1873. Walter Murray of San Luis Obispo County, was ap- pointed by the governor to finish the unex- pired term. Judge Murray died in June, 1875, and Eugene Fawcett was then ap- pointed by the governor until the next suc- ceeding general election. Judge Fawcett was afterward elected to the office and held the same until the adoption of the new con- stitution in 1879.

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Author: Storke, Yda Addis Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 738

Author: Storke, Yda Addis
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 738