USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > Historical and biographical record of Los Angeles and vicinity : containing a history of the city from its earliest settlement as a Spanish pueblo to the closing year of the nineteenth century ; also containing biographies of well known citizens of the past and present > Part 5
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*Suerte-chance or lot. The fields were called suertes because assigned by lol.
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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
and Elijah Moulton. It was evident that when the town was laid out the bluff bank, which in modern times extended from Aliso street up by the Stearns (now Capitol) mill to the toma, did not exist, but was made when the river ran near the town."
The streets of the pueblo were each ten varas (about 28 feet) wide. The boundaries of the Plaza Vieja, or old plaza, as nearly as it is possi- ble to locate them now, are as follows: " The southeast corner of Upper Main and Marches- sault streets for the southern or southeastern corner of the square; the east line of Upper Main street from the above-named corner, 100 varas, in a northerly direction for the east line of the square; the eastern line of new High street for the western line of the square; and the northern line of Marchessault street for the southern line of the square."* Upon three sides of this paral- lelogram were the house lots, each 40x20 varas, except the two corner lots, which, fronting in part on two sides of the square, were L shaped.
The eastern half of the southwestern side was left vacant; the western half of this side was de- signed for the public buildings-a guard-house, a town-house and a public granary.
While the house lots, the tilling-fields and a certain part of the live stock belonged in sever- alty to each head of a family, and to the care and cultivation of which he was supposed to devote his time and attention, there were also certain community interests of which each was required to performn his part, such as building the guard- house, the public granaries and the irrigating works, standing guard and herding the village flocks. It was discovered before long that there were shirks among the colonists-men who would not do their part of the community labor. Early in 1782 Jose de Lara, one of the two Spaniards, Antonio Mesa and Luis Quintero, the two ne- groes, were deported from the colony and their property taken from them by order of the gover- nor, they being "useless to the pueblo and to themselves." As their families went with them, by their deportation the population of the pueblo was reduced to twenty-eight persons. The re- maining colonists went to work. Before the close of 1784 they had replaced most of their tule- thatched and mud-daubed huts of poles, with adobe houses. They had built the public build- ings required and had begun the erection of a chapel. All of these were built of adobe and covered with thatch.
In 1785 Jose Francisco Sinova, a laborer, who for a number of years had lived in California,
applied for admission into the pueblo and was ad- mitted on the same terms as the original pobla- dores.
In 1786 Alferez (Lieut.) José Argiiello, who had been detailed for that purpose by Governor Fages, the successor of de Neve, put the nine settlers who had been faithful to their trust in legal possession of their house, lots and sowing fields. Corporal Vicente Felix and Private Roque de Cota acted as legal witnesses. Each colonist in the presence of the others received a grant of a house, lot and three sowing fields, and he was given a branding-iron to distinguish his live stock from that of his neighbors.
It is probable that there had from the beginning been some understanding of what was the indi- vidual property of each one. Each of the nine settlers signed his grant or agreement with a cross; not one of them could write. Lieut. Argüello spent but little time over surveys, and probably set up no landmarks to define bounda- ries. The propios were said to extend southerly 2,200 varas from the toma or dan (which was located near the point where the Buena Vista Street bridge now crosses the river) to the limit of the distributed lands. The realenges, or royal lands, were located on the eastern side of the river.
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The exterior boundaries of tlie pueblo were not fixed then, nor were they ever defined while the town was under the domination of Spain. As we shall find later on, this occasioned controver- sies between the missionaries of San Gabriel and the settlers of Los Angeles.
The local government of the pueblo was a com- bination of the military and the civil forms. The civil authority was vested in an alcalde and two regidores (councilmen); the military in a corporal of the guard. There was another office, that of comisionado, which was quasi-military. The principal duty of this officer was to apportion the pueblo lands to new settlers.
The corporal of the pueblo guard seems to have been the ranking officer in the town government, and, in addition to his military command, had supervision over the acts of the regidores and the alcalde.
The civil authorities were at first appointed by the governor; later on they were elected by the people. The territory of California was divided into military districts, corresponding in number to the presidios. Each military district was under the command of a military officer (captain or lieutenant), who reported to the governor, who was also an army officer, usually a lieuten- ant-colonel or colonel.
At the time of the founding of Los Angeles
*J. J. Warner's Historical sketch of Los Angeles Co.
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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
there were three presidios, viz .: San Diego, Mon- terey and San Francisco. Los Angeles was at first attached to San Diego. After the founding of Santa Barbara presidio it was placed in that mil- itary district.
The corporal of the pueblo guard reported to the commander of his district, and the command- er to the comandante-general or governor. Vicente Felix, who assisted Lieut. Argüello in the distribution of the pueblo lands to the set- tlers in 1786, was the first corporal of the pueblo guard, which was furnished from the presidio of San Diego, and consisted of four or five soldiers of the regular army. All the male in- habitants of the pueblo over eighteen years were subject to military service, both at home in keep- ing order, and in the field in case of foreign in- vasion or an Indian outbreak. These civilian soldiers reported to the corporal of the guard for duty. Each was required to provide himself with a horse, a musket and a cuera or shield of bull hide.
For fifty years after the founding of the pueblo a guard was kept on duty at the cuartel or guard- house that stood just above the church of Our Lady of the Angels, on what is now the north- west corner of Upper Main and Marchessault streets; and nightly armed sentinels patroled the town.
Los Angeles, like all pioneer settlements of America, had her Indian question to settle. There are no records of Indian massacres, but Indian scares occurred occasionally. In 1785 we find from the provincial records that 35 pounds of powder and 800 bullets were sent to Los An- geles as a reserve supply of ammunition for the settlers in case of an attack. There was not much danger from the valley Indians, who had been tamed by mission training and subjugated by the lash, but the mountain Indians were pred- atory and hostile. At one time the Mojaves made an incursion into the valley with the design of sacking the mission and attacking Los Angeles. They penetrated within two leagues of the mis- sion, where they killed a neophyte, but hearing that there was a company of soldiers at Los Angeles prepared to attack them. they fled back to the mountains.
Between 1786 and 1790 the number of families increased from 9 to 30. An estado, or census of the pueblo, taken August 17, 1790, gives its total population 141, divided as follows: Males, 75: females, 66; unmarried, 91; married. 44; widowed, 6; under 7 years, 47; 7 to 16 years, 33; 16 to 29 years, 12; 29 to 40 years, 27; 40 to 90 years, 13; over 90 years, 9; Europeans, 1; Span- ish (this probably means Spanish-Americans), 72; Indians, 7; Mulattoes, 22; Mestizos, 39.
The large percentage of the population over 90 years of age is rather remarkable. The mixed races still constituted a large proportion of the pueblo population. The increase of inhabitants came largely from discharged soldiers of the presidios.
It was the policy of the government to encour- age marriages between the bachelor soldiers and neophyte women, and thus increase the popula- tion of the territory without the expense of im- porting colonists from Mexico. Spain evidently looked more to the quantity of her colonists than to the quality.
Of the social life of the pueblo we know but little. The inhabitants were not noted for good behavior; they were turbulent and quarrelsome. The mixture of races was not conducive of har- mony and good citizenship.
Corporal Felix seems to have been moderately successful in controlling the discordant elements. The settlers complained of his severity, but the governor sustained him, and he retained his posi- tion to the close of the century. If Padre Salazar's opinions of the colonists of California were correct, they were a hard lot; but the padres were opposed to all efforts at the colonization of California by gente de razon, and the priest's picture of pueblo life may be overdrawn. He asserted that "the inhabitants of the pueblos were idlers, and pay more attention to gambling and playing the guitar than to tilling their lands and educating their children. The pagans did most of the work, took a large part of the crop, and were so well supplied thereby that they did not care to be converted and live at the missions. The friars attended to the spiritual needs of the settlers free of charge, and their tithes did Cali- fornia no good. Young men grew up without restraint and wandered among the rancherias, setting the Indians a bad example and indulg- ing in excesses, that were sure sooner or later to result in disaster."
Notwithstanding Salazar's doleful picture of the pueblos, that of Los Angeles had made fair progress. In 1790 the earlier settlers had all re- placed their huts of poles with adobe houses. There were twenty-nine dwellings, a town hall, barrack, cnartèl and granaries built of adobe, and around these was a wall of the same material. Whether the wall was built as a defense against hostile Indians or to prevent incursions of their herds into the village does not appear. In 1790 their crop of grain amounted to 4.500 bushels, and their cattle had increased to 3,000 head. During the decade between 1790 and 1800 the population increased from 141 to 315. The in- crease came chiefly from the growing up of chil- dren and from the discharged soldiers of the pre- sidios. Horses and cattle increased from 3,000
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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL, RECORD.
to 12,500 head, and the production of grain reached 7,800 bushels in 1796. In 1800 they offered to enter into an agreement to supply 3,400 bushels of wheat per year, at $1.66 per bushel, for the San Blas market. Taxes were low, and were payable in grain. Each settler was required to give annually two fanegas of maize or wheat for a public fund to be expended for the good of the community.
The decade between 1800 and 1810 was as de- void of noteworthy events as the preceding one. Life in the pueblo was a monotonous round of commonplace occurrences. The inhabitants had but little communication with the world beyond their own narrow limits. There was a mail be- tween Mexico and California but once a month. As not more than half a dozen of the inhabitants could read or write, the pueblo mail added little weight to the budget of the soldiers' correras (mail carriers).
The settlers tilled their little fields, herded their cattle and sheep, and quarreled among them- selves. During the decade drunkenness and other excesses were reported as alarmingly on the in- crease, and, despite the efforts of the comisionado, the pobladores could not be controlled. The jail and the stocks were usually well filled. Vicente Felix was no longer commissioner. Javier Alvarado, a sergeant of the army, was comis- ionado in 1809, and probably had filled the office the preceding years of the decade. Population increased slowly during the decade. In 1810 there were 365 persons in the pueblo; fifty had been recruited from the town for military service in the presidios. This would make a total of 415, or an increase of 100 in ten years.
The decade between 1810 and 1820 was marked by a greater increase in population than the pre- ceding one. I11 1820 the population of the pueblo, including the few ranchos surrounding it which were under its jurisdiction, was 650. The rule of Spain in Mexico was drawing to an end. The revolutionary war begun. by Hidalgo at the pueblo of Dolores in 1810 was carried on with varying success throughout this decade. About all that was known of it in California was that some disturbance in New Spain prevented sup- plies being sent to the missions and the presidios. The officers and soldiers received no pay. There was no money at the presidios to buy the prod- ucts of the pueblos, and there were hard times all along the line. The common people knew little or nothing of what was going on in Mexico, and probably cared less. They liad no aspira-
tions for independence and were unfit for any bet- ter government than they had. The friars were strong adherents of the Spanish crown and bitter- ly opposed to a republican form of government. If the revolution succeeded it would be the down- fall of their power in California.
The most exciting event of the decade was the appearance on the coast of California, in Novem- ber, 1818, of the "pirate Buchar," as he was commonly called by the Californians. Bouchard was a Frenchman, in the service of the revolu- tionists of Buenos Ayres, and carried letters of marque, which authorized him to prey on Spanish commerce. Bouchard, with two ships, carrying 66 guns and 350 men, attacked Monterey, and after an obstinate resistance by the Californians, it was captured and burned. He next pillaged Ortega's ranch and burned the buildings; then, sailing down the coast, he scared the Santa Bar- barans, looked into San Pedro Bay, but finding nothing there to tempt him, he kept on to San Juan Capistrano. Here he landed and robbed the mission of a few articles and drank the padres' wine; then he sailed away and disap- peared from the coast. Los Angeles sent a com- pany of soldiers to Santa Barbara to fight the insurgents. The Santa Barbara and Los Angeles troops reached San Juan the day after Bouchard pillaged the mission. Los Angeles lost nothing by the insurgents, but on the contrary gained twocitizens-Joseph Chapman, of Massachusetts, and an American negro named Fisher. Joseph Chapman was the first English-speaking resident of Los Angeles. He and Fisher were captured at Monterey, and not at Ortega's rancho, as stated by Stephen C. Foster. Chapman married and located at the Mission San Gabriel, where he be- came Padre Sanchez' man of all work, and built the first mill in Southern California.
The first year of the third decade of the century witnessed the downfall of Spanish domination in Mexico. The patriot priest Hidalgo had, on the 15th of September, 1810, struck the first blow for independence. For eleven years a fratricidal war was waged-cruel, bloody and devastating. Hidalgo, Allende, Miña, Morelos, Aldama, Rayon, and other patriot leaders sacrificed their lives for the liberty of their country. Under Iturbide, in September, 1821, the independence of Mexico was finally achieved. It was not until Septein- ber, 1822, that the flag of Spain was supplanted by that of Mexico in California, although the oath of allegiance to the imperial government of Mexico was taken in April by Sola and others.
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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
CHAPTER VII.
THE PUEBLO UNDER MEXICAN RULE.
ABLO VICENTE DE SOLA was governor of Alta California when the transition came from the rule of Spain to that of Mexico. He had received his appointment from Viceroy Calleja in 1814. Calleja, the butcher of Guanajuato, was the crueliest and the most bloodthirsty of the vice-regal governors of New Spain during the Mexican Revolution. Sola was thoroughly in sympathy with the loyalists and bitterly opposed to the revolutionary party of Mexico. To his influence and that of the friars was due the adherence of California to the cause of Spain. Throughout the eleven years of internicine war that deluged the soil of Mexico with blood, the sympathies of the Californians were not with those who were struggling for freedom.
Of the political upheavals that shook Spain in the first decades of the century only the faintest rumblings reached far distant California. Not- withstanding the many changes of rulers that political revolutions and Napoleonic wars gave the mother country, the people of California remained loyal to the Spanish Crown, although at times they must have been in doubt who wore the crown. The success of the Revolutionary move- ment in Mexico was no doubt bitterly disappoint- ing to Sola, but he gracefully submitted to the inevitable.
For half a century the Spanish flag had floated in California. It was lowered and in its place was hoisted the imperial standard of the Mexican Empire. A few months pass and the flag of the empire is supplanted by the tricolor of the Re- public of Mexico. Thus the Californians, in little more than one year, have passed under three dif- ferent forms of government-that of a kingdom, an empire and a republic, and Sola, from a loyal Spanish governor, has been transformed into a Mexican Republican.
The transition from one form of government to another was not marked by any radical changes. Under the empire a beginning was made towards a representative government. California was given a "diputación provincial" or provincial
legislature, composed of a president and six vocales or members. This territorial legislature met at Monterey November 9, 1822. Los Angeles was represented in it by Jose Palomares and Jose Antonio Carrillo. The diputacion authorized the organization of ayuntamientos or town councils for the pueblos of Los Angeles and San Jose, and the election of regidores or councilmen by the people.
Under the empire California also was entitled to send a diputado or delegate to the imperial cortes, to be selected by the people. Upon the overthrow of his "Most Serene Majesty, An- gustin I. by Divine Providence and by the Con- gress of the Nation, first Constitutional Emperor of Mexico" and the downfall of his short lived empire, the Republic of Mexico was established and went into effect November 19, 1823, by the adoption of a constitution similar to that of the United States. The federation was composed of nineteen states and four territories. Alta Cali- fornia was one of the territories. The territories were each allowed a diputado in the Mexican Congress. The governors of the territories were appointed by the president of the Republic. The ayuntamiento of Los Angeles which had been formed in November, 1822, under the empire, was continued under the Republic, with the ad- dition of a secretary and a sindico (treasurer). The quasi-military office of comisionado, which had existed almost from the founding of the pueblo, was abolished, but the old soldiers who composed a considerable portion of the town's population did not take kindly to this innovation. The military commandant of the district, with the approval of Governor Argüello, who had suc- ceeded Sola, appointed Sergeant Guillermo Cota to control the unruly element of the pueblo, his authority being similar to that formerly exercised by the comisionados. Then there was a clash between the civil and military authorities. The alcalde and the ayuntamiento refused to recognize Cota's authority. They had progressed so rapidly in republican ideas that they denied the right of any military officer to exercise his power over the
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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
free citizens of Angeles. The town had a bad reputation in the territory. There was an unruly element in it. The people generally liad a poor opinion of their rulers, bothi civil and military, and the ruler reciprocated in kind. The town had a large crop of aspiring politicians and it was noted for its production of wine and brandy. The re- sult of mixing these two was disorder, dissen- sions and brawls. Rotation in office seems to have been the rule. No one could hold the office of alcalde two years in succession, nor could he vote for himself. In 1826 Jose Antonio Carrillo was elected alcalde, but nine citizens protested that his election was illegal because as an elector he had voted for himself and that he could not hold the office twice within two years. A new election was ordered. At another election Vicente Sanchez reported to Governor Echeandia that the election was void because the candidates were "vagabonds, drunkards and worse."
The population of the pueblo in 1822, when it passed from under the domination of Spain, was 770. It was exclusively an agricultural con- munity. The only manufacturing was the coll- verting of grapes into wine and brandy. The tax on wine and brandy retailed in 1829 was $339 and the fines collected were $158. These, the liquor tax and the fines, constituted the principal sources of municipal revenne.
The cattle owned by the citizens of the pueblo in 1821 amounted to 10,000 head. There was a great increase in live stock during the decade be- tween 1820 and 1830. The increased demand for hides and tallow stimulated the raising of cattle. In 1830 the cattle of the pueblo had in- creased to 42,000 head, horses and mules num- bered 3,000 head and sheep 2,400. A few foreigners had settled in Los Angeles. The first English speaking person to locate here was Jose Chapman, captured at Monterey when the town was attacked and burned by Bouchard, as pre- viously mentioned. He arrived at Los Angeles in 1818. Chapman was the only foreign-born resident of the pueblo under Spanish rule. Mexico, although jealous of foreigners, was not so proscriptive in her policy toward them as Spain. As opportunity for trade opened up foreigners began to locate in the town. Between 1822 and 1830 came Santiago Mckinley, John Temple, George Rice, J. D. Leandry, Jesse Ferguson, Richard Laughlin, Nathaniel Pryor, Abel Stearns, Louis Bouchette and Juan Domingo. These adopted the customs of the country, mar- ried and became permanent residents of the town. Of these Mckinley, Temple, Stearns and Rice were engaged in trade and kept stores. Their principal business was the purchase of hides for exchange with the hide droghers. The hide
droghers were vessels fitted out in Boston and freighted with assorted cargoes to exchange for lides and tallow. The embarcadero of San Pedro became the principal entrepot of this trade. It was the port of Los Angeles and of the three missions, San Gabriel, San Fernando and San Juan Capistrano.
Alfred Robinson in his "Life in California" thuis describes the methods of doing business at San Pedro in 1829. "After the arrival of our trading vessel our friends came in the morning flocking on board from all quarters; and soon a busy scene commenced, afloat and ashore. Boats were passing to the beach, and men, women and children partaking in the general excitement. On shore all was confusion, cattle and carts laden witlı hides and tallow, gente de razon and In- dians busily employed in the delivery of their produce and receiving in return its value in goods. Groups of individuals seated around little bon- fires upon the ground, and horsemen racing over the plains in every direction." "Thus the day passed, some arriving, some departing-till long after sunset, the low white road, leading across the plains to the town, appeared a living panora- ma." Next to a revolution there was no other event that so stirred up the social elements of the old pueblo as the arrival of a hide drogher at San Pedro. "On the arrival of a new vessel from the United States," says Robinson, "every man, woman, boy and girl took a proportionate share of interest as to the qualities of her cargo. If the first inquired for rice, sugar or tobacco, the latter asked for prints, silks and satins; and if the boy wanted a Wilson's jack-knife the girl hoped that there might be some satin ribbons for her. Thus the whole population hailed with eagerness an arrival. Even the Indian in his unsophisticated style asked for Panas Colorodos and Abalaris-red handkerchiefs and beads."
Robinson describes the pueblo as he saw it in 1829. "The town of Los Angeles consisted at this time of about twenty or thirty houses scat- tered about without any regularity or any particular attraction, excepting the numbers of vineyards located along the lowlands on the borders of the Los Angeles River. There were but two foreigners in the town at that time, na- tives of New England, namely: George Rice and John Temple, who were engaged in inercliandis- ing in a small way, under the firm name of Rice & Temple." The following description, taken from Robinson's Life in California, while written of Monterey, applies equally well to Los Angeles and vicinity. "Scarce two houses in the town had fireplaces; then (1829) the method of heating the houses was by placing coals in a roof tile, which was placed in the center of the room."
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