USA > California > History of California, Volume I > Part 38
USA > California > History of California, Volume I > Part 38
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" The governor in a later report says that investigations had proved a second convocation of 21 rancherías for hostile operations. Prov. Rec., MS.,
i. 60-1. It is not certain however that the allusion is to this occasion.
302
MISSION PROGRESS AND PUEBLO BEGINNINGS.
Three days later the viceroy's despatches arrived and proved favorable to Serra's claims, directing the troops, which arrived on the 29th, to be used for the restoration of the missions. The president celebrated his triumph by a mass and the ringing of bells. Rive- ra was obliged to modify his plans, assigning twelve of the twenty-five men to the mission, ten to San Juan, two to San Gabriel, and the remainder to the presidio. He also released the Indian captives whom he had intended to exile to San Blas.8 On the 11th he started north to establish the missions near San Francisco, learning on the way, as we have seen, that one of them had already been founded in spite of his orders to the contrary.9
Work was at once resumed at the mission, and the buildings were soon ready for occupation. Three friars, Fuster, Lasuen, and probably Santa María, moved into their new quarters and under the protection of an increased escort renewed their labors, the date being apparently the 17th of October.10 Already the lost mission registers of baptism, marriages, and deaths had been replaced with new ones in which the miss- ing entries were restored, so far as possible, from the memory of priests, neophytes, and soldiers, by Serra himself, who added some valuable notes on the past history of the mission, at various dates from August 14th to October 25th; Fuster also added an interesting narrative of the tragedy of November 5, 1775. These records, which I have had occasion to
8 But this release would seem not to have been immediate, for the gov- ernor in a letter of Feb. 27, 1777, says that there were still 13 prisoners at San Diego implicated in the revolt. Prov. Rec., MS., i. 143. In a letter of June 3d he states that on receipt of the viceroy's orders of Feb. 2d, the troops were drawn up, the prisoners called out and harangued on the enormity of their offence meriting death, warned that if they abused the present clem- ency they must expect the severest penalty, and then they were dismissed with an exhortation by the priests, both soldiers and criminals uniting in a cheer, and a salute from two cannons celebrating this termination of a pain- ful matter. Id., 60-1. One of the prisoners had strangled himself on Aug. 15th, the anniversary of the day when six years before he had attempted to kill Father Serra in the first attack on the mission. Palou, Vida, 87.
9 Palou, Not. ii, 325-37; Id., Vida, 191-3, 196-7.
10 Ortega to Rivera, Dec. 3d, in Prov. St. Pap., MS., i. 151.
303
FOUNDING OF SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO.
use freely in the preceding chapters, are among the most valuable original authorities on the early history of California.11 Palou asserts that progress in the work of conversion was rapid from the first, whole rancherías coming in from far away to ask for baptism. The only additional record for the year at San Diego is in letters of Ortega to Rivera complaining of some minor matters of the presidio routine, among others of want of clothing and tortillas. 12
In the last days of October, leaving San Diego affairs in a satisfactory condition, Serra started north- ward with Gregorio Amurrio;and the escort of ten soldiers13 to establish the new mission of San Juan Capistrano,14 on the site abandoned the year previous. The buried bells were dug up to be hung and chimed; mass was said by the president, and thus the seventh mission was founded the 1st of November15 on or near the site where stood the ruins of a later structure a century after,16 near a small bay which offered good anchorage and protection from all but south winds, and which long served as the port for mission cargoes. La- suen, originally assigned to this mission, had remained
11 Serra, Notas, MS .; Fuster, Registro de Defunciones, MS.
12 Ortega to Rivera, in Prov. St. Pap., MS., i. 152-3.
13 The mission guard under Corporal Nicolás Carabanas included the soldiers Jacinto Gloria, José Antonio Peña, Francisco Peña, Pio Quinto Zúñiga, Nicolás Gomez, Matias Vega, José Dolores Dominguez, Julian Ace- bedo, and José Joaquin Armenta. It is to be noted that many early Cali- fornians wrote their names 'Joseph ' rather than Jose.
14 The patron saint of this mission was born at Capistrano in the kingdom of Naples in 1385, was educated as a lawyer, became a judge, and in 1415 took the habit of St Francis. He was noted thereafter for his austere life and his zeal against heretics, occupying high positions in the Inquisition. He also travelled extensively in Europe on diplomatic business for the pope. He took part in the crusades, and hated Jews and Turks no less than heretics. He was prominent in the siege and Christian victory of Belgrade in 1456, and died in October of that year, to be canonized in 1690. He was the author of many ecclesiastical works, and his festival is celebrated by the church the 31st of October.
15 S. Juan Capistrano, Lib. de Mision, MS., title-page; Ortega, in Prov. St. Pap., MS., i. 151.
,16 According to Los Angeles, Hist., 5, the first mission was located some miles north-easterly from the present location, at the foot of the mountain, the place being still known as Mision Vieja; but this can hardly agree with Palou's statement, l'ida, 197-200, that the mission stood half a league from the bay, on a stream running into it, and in sight of it as at present.
304
MISSION PROGRESS AND PUEBLO BEGINNINGS.
in Jaume's place at San Diego, and Pablo Mugártegui, appointed in his place, soon came down from San Luis. A few days after the founding Serra made a trip to San Gabriel. While returning in company with a pack-train and a drove of cattle he went a little in advance with a soldier and a neophyte, and was met on the Trabuco stream by a horde of painted and armed savages who approached with shouts and hostile gestures, but were induced to desist by a few judicious falsehoods applied by the San Gabriel neo- phyte, who affirmed that there was a large body of soldiers close behind who would take terrible vengeance for any harm done to the friar.17 There were no further demonstrations of the kind. The natives near the mission were not averse to christianity, and Amurrio administered baptism December 15th, and Mugártegui again on Christmas, the whole number during the year being four, and during the next year forty. The native name of the mission site was Sajirit.18
As soon as Rivera arrived from the south in the autumn of 1776, he gave his attention to the two new missions which the viceroy in his late communi- cations had spoken of as already founded, and which the commandant now realized to have been too long neglected. One of them had indeed been established; Tomás de la Peña and José Murguía had long since been assigned to the other; mission guard, church para- phernalia, and all needed supplies were ready; and Peña had already been over the northern country and
17 Nov. 12th Corporal Beltran reports the hostile demonstrations against Serra and the soldier Peña, and adds that the natives are at the mission ready to fight. Nov. 15th Ortega reports having sent Mariano Carrillo to investigate. He adds that two soldiers and a servant have deserted from the new mission. Nov. 23d Carrillo reports that all is quiet since the original demonstration; all round the mission were peaceable, and two pagan chiefs had come to ask per- mission to settle at San Juan. One chief complains that a soldier has taken his wife, but the soldier will be sent to San Diego. St. Pap. Sac., MS., vii. 5-13.
18 San Juan Capistrano, Lib. de Mision, MS. In several of the mission registers the aboriginal name was written Quanis-Savit, which was, in all but one, erased and Sajirit substituted.
305
FOUNDING OF SANTA CLARA.
made up his mind about the most desirable site. Set- ting out in November to inspect the establishments at San Francisco, and accompanied by Peña, Rivera visited on the way the proposed site near the banks of the Guadalupe River in the broad San Bernardino plain, since known as Santa Clara Valley.19 Subse- quently Friar Tomás was left at San Francisco with the understanding that Rivera on his return to Mon- terey should send up the men and supplies, with the other priest, and orders to proceed at once to the founding. On account of the alarm at San Luis Obispo already noticed, these orders were delayed, but they came late in December, and on the 6th of Janu- ary 1777, Moraga with Peña and a company of sol- diers20 started southward.
A cross having been erected and an enramada pre- pared, Father Tomás said the first mass on January 12th, dedicating the new mission to Santa Clara,21 virgin, on the site called aboriginally Thamien, among the natives known as Tares, who had four rancherías in the vicinity.22 In respect of agricultural advantages this valley was thought to be hardly inferior to the country of San Gabriel, but it was feared, and with reason as it proved, that the mission site might be liable to occasional inundations.23 The work of build-
19 Palou, Not., ii. 341-3, implies that the site was formally selected by Moraga later; but this is not probable; at any rate the site had doubtless been long before fixed upon more or less definitely by the priests.
20 The soldiers destined for the new mission were the remaining ten of Anza's company who had been all this time at Monterey. Palou, J'ida, 218- 20, implies that these soldiers with their families came up to San Francisco; which may be true, but it seems more likely that they met Moraga at the head of the bay, the latter taking with him a few men from his own presidio.
21 Santa Clara was the daughter of a rich and noble family of Assisi, Italy, born in 1193, and wholly devoted to the fashionable frivolities of her class, until at the age of 17 she was converted by the preaching of Saint Francis, retired to the convent of Porciúncula, and became as famous for the austerity and piety of her life as she had been for her wit and beauty. She founded an order of religiosas named for herself, died in 1253, and was canonized in 1255. Her day is celebrated on the 12th of August.
22 Peña's Report of Dec. 30th, in Arch. Santa Bárbara, MS., ix. 505-9. Tares was the native word for men. A newspaper scrap says the place was called Socoisuka from the abundance of laurels. The governor on Feb. 25th writes that the mission was located on Jan. 4th. Prov. Rec., MS., i. 141.
23 In January and February 1779 the mission was twice flooded. Several HIBT. CAL., VOL. I. 20
306
MISSION PROGRESS AND PUEBLO BEGINNINGS
ing was at once begun within a square of seventy yards. Father Murguía arrived with cattle and other mission property on the 21st, and Moraga went back to San Francisco. The latter however was soon recalled, for the natives, though friendly at first, soon developed a taste for beef, which flogging and even the killing of three of their number did not entirely eradicate.24 In May an epidemic carried off many children, most of whom were baptized, and missionary work proper was thus begun.25
According to the minister's report at the end of the year there had been sixty-seven baptisms, including eight adults, and twenty-five deaths. Thirteen Chris- tians and ten catechumens were living at the mission, and the rest at the rancherías with their parents. In the way of material improvements the new estab- lishment could show a church of six by twenty varas, two dwellings of six by twenty-two and five by thirty-one varas respectively, divided into the neces- sary apartments, all of timber plastered with clay and roofed with earth. There were likewise two corrals and a bridge across the stream.26
Since March 1775 Felipe de Neve had been ruling at Loreto as governor of the Californias, though his authority over Upper California had been merely nominal, the commandant of the new establishments
houses fell and all had to be moved to higher ground. Governor's report of April 4th, in Prov. Rec., MS., i. 125-6.
24 Gov. Neve in a report of Sept. 19, 1777, in Prov. Rec., MS., i. 19-20.
25 Santa Clara, Lib. de Mision, MS. The first baptism of a child de razon on July 31st was that of an illegitimate son of José Antonio Gonzalez and of a woman whose marriage with another man the next year is the first recorded. The first death was that of José Antonio García in Jan. 1778. Both Ramon Bojorges and Gabriel Peralta are named as corporals of the mission guard during the first year. Prov. St. Pap., Ben. Mil., MS., i. 11.
26 Murguía and Peña, Informe de Santa Clara, 1777, MS. The sirvientes of the mission-not all 'servants' as we use the word, but including mechanics, vaqueros, etc .- were Francisco Ibarra, Cristóbal Armenta, Agustin Soberanes, Antonio Romero (Ist and 2d), Joaquin Sanchez, Manuel Antonio, Joaquin Puga, Cirilo Gonzalez. Moraga, in Prov. St. Pap. Ben., MS., i. 9, and Gleeson, Hist. Cath. Ch., ii. 80-2, say the founders reached Santa Clara Jan. Ist. Shca, Cath. Miss., 100, tells us the mission was founded Jan. 6th. For account of founding from Palou, see Hall's Ilist. San Jose, 416-18; The Owl, Jan. 1871.
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307
THE GOVERNOR TO LIVE AT MONTEREY.
being directly responsible to the viceroy and subordi- nate to the governor only in being required to report fully to that official. Soon however a change was ordered, due largely it is believed to the influence of José de Galvez, now in Spain and filling the high posi- tion of minister of state for the Indies. The 16th of August 1775 the king issues a royal order that Gov- ernor Neve is to reside at Monterey as capital of the province, while Rivera is to go to Loreto and rule Baja California as lieutenant-governor. At the same time, perhaps, Neve's commission as governor is for- warded, for his office down to this time had been merely provisional under appointment of the viceroy requiring the king's approval. A second royal order of April 19, 1776, directed the change to be made immediately.27 It is difficult to ascertain in the absence of original instructions of king and viceroy exactly what effect the change of residence had on the respec- tive powers of Neve and Rivera, especially those of the latter. But it is evident that while Rivera's au- thority as lieutenant-governor on the peninsula was less absolute and his subordination to the governor greater than in Upper California as commandant, Neve's authority in the north was practically the same as Rivera's had been; that is, in California the only change in government was in the title of the ruler. The new establishments were recognized by Carlos III. as more important than the old. In six years the child had outgrown its parent. Monterey was to be capital of the Californias as it had always been of California Setentrional.28
27 The order of Aug. 16th is merely referred to in a list of documents in Prov. St. Pap., MS., xxii. 3, and may possibly be an error. The order of April 19th is referred to in a letter of the viceroy in Id., i. 203. Neve's commission as governor was forwarded to him by the viceroy on Dec. 20, 1775. Prov. Rec., MS., i. 39.
28 The formation of the Provincias Internas de Occidente under Teodoro de Croix as commandant general with viceregal powers was nearly simultaneous with the change in California; and to this new official Gov. Neve became responsible instead of to the viceroy as Rivera had been. March 8, 1777, Croix writes to Neve that Art. 20 of royal instructions requires the governor and officials of California to render individual reports of acts and events to
308
MISSION PROGRESS AND PUEBLO BEGINNINGS.
For the first time so far as the record shows, Vice- roy Bucareli transmitted the king's orders to Neve at Loreto the 20th of July 1776. During this month and the next a correspondence took place between the two officials,29 which, from its fragmentary nature as preserved, is unsatisfactory, but from which it appears that Bucareli was desirous that Neve should start as soon as possible, that orders to Rivera were enclosed to the governor, that a herd of live-stock was to be taken from the peninsula, and that twenty-five sol- diers were sent by the Concepcion to Loreto to accom- pany Neve northward. Though Bucareli had nothing to do with the change in rulers and capitals, he could not fail to be well pleased with the order received from Spain, since it came just in time to relieve him from the undesirable task of deciding several quarrels. Rivera's troubles with the Franciscans and with Anza are fresh in the reader's mind, and Neve's relations with the Dominicans were but little less uncomfortable. Complaints to the viceroy were frequent, and it was an easy reply to say that the impending change would probably remove all reason for dissatisfaction and pre- vent the necessity for any specific measures.30 Had Rivera's peculiar conduct been known in Spain it is not likely that he would have been retained in office; but the viceroy hoped that in a new field he might succeed better.
The troops referred to in the viceroy's communica- tions were probably those whose arrival at San Diego in September 1777 has been already noticed, since there
him. Prov. St. Pap., MS., i. 245. Dec. 25, 1776, the viceroy notified Neve of the appointment of Croix, to whom he is to report directly on occurrences in California; but for supplies, etc., he is still to communicate with the viceroy. Prov. Rec., MS., i. 66-7. Neve had written to the viceroy for certain instruc- tions, which were transmitted to Croix. The latter writes to Neve Aug. 15, 1777, that his duties in other provinces will prevent his attention to California, and he has therefore turned the whole matter over to the viceroy for the present. He, however, asks for Neve's suggestions respecting reforms, etc., for a new reglamento for California. Prov. St. Pap., MS., i. 252-3.
29 Prov. St. Pap., MS., i. 203-7.
30 Bucareli wrote on Dec. 25, 1776. to Serra, announcing the change ordered. Palou, Vida, 194-5.
309
NEVE IN CALIFORNIA.
is no record of any soldiers having come up with Neve except an escort of six who returned with Rivera.31 Indeed, respecting Neve's journey to California noth- ing is known beyond the facts that it was made by land via San Diego; that he made close observations, as shown by his later reports, of the condition and needs of each establishment on the way; and that he arrived at Monterey February 3, 1777.32 His first act after a review of the troops and a consultation with Serra, was to send to Mexico a report on February 25th that the new presidio and the four new missions, including San Diego, had been successfully founded and were in a condition more or less satisfactory.33 In March Rivera started for Baja California. Then in April Neve made a tour in the north, visiting San Francisco and Santa Clara. It had been proposed by Rivera to move the presidio of Monterey to the river since called Salinas, chiefly because of the insufficient supply of water at the original site. The viceroy approved the measure;34 but the royal orders to Neve expressly forbade the removal, declaring that the pre- sidio must be maintained where it was at any cost, for the protection of the port. Still another matter had been intrusted to the patriotic zeal of the new ruler, though one that did not prove a very severe tax on either ability or time. He had an order from the king to be on the watch for Captain Cook's two vessels that had been despatched from England on a voyage of discovery in the South Sea, and by no means to
31 According to a communication of some official on Feb. 10, 1776, in Prov. Rec., MS., i. 139, the cattle from the old missions amounted to 1,209, and were to be sent up to the frontier, with 80 mules and 36 horses for the 25 San Diego recruits.
32 Letter of Neve to viceroy, Feb. 26th, in Prov. Rec., MS., i. 139-40, in which he notes the bad condition in which he found the San Diego force in respect of clothing, arms, and horses. March 2d he writes, Id., i. 59, that he has given Rivera full instructions, and the latter will depart to-morrow. Rivera writes Feb. 6th, that Neve has arrived, and that he is about to retire to Loreto. Pror. St. Pap., MS., xxii. 20. See also Palou, Not., ii. 344-5.
33 Neve, Informe de 25 de Feb. 1777, MS., in Prov. Rec., i. 140-2. There are several other minor communications of the governor written about this time.
34 Letter of Jan. 2, 1775, in Prov. St. Pap., MS., i. 169.
310
MISSION PROGRESS AND PUEBLO BEGINNINGS.
permit that navigator to enter any Californian port.35 The transports of 1777 were the San Antonio and the Santiago. The former under Francisco Villaroel, with Serra as chaplain, arrived at San Diego in May with supplies for the south, and having unloaded sailed at once for San Blas. The latter, whose arrival at San Francisco has already been noted, came down to Monterey and sailed for San Blas the 8th of June. By her Neve sent a report on the Santa Bárbara Channel and its tribes, giving his views of what was necessary to be done in that region to control and convert a large native population, that might in the future become troublesome by cutting off land com- munication between the north and south, which from the peculiar nature and situation of their country they could easily do. His plan included a mission of San Buenaventura at Asuncion at the southern extremity of the channel, another of Purísima near Point Con- cepcion at the northern extremity, and a third of Santa Bárbara with also a presidio in the central region near Mescaltitlan. The military force required for the three establishments would be a lieutenant and sixty-seven soldiers. This report was dated June 3d, and next day the governor wrote asking permis- sion to resign and join his family in Seville whom he had not seen since 1764, being also in ill-health grow- ing out of seven years' service in administering the colleges of Zacatecas.36
The shipment of grain from San Blas for the mili- tary establishments of the Californias was a very expensive and uncertain method of supply, and offi- cials had been instructed from the first to suggest some practicable means of home production to be
35 Royal order, July 14, 1776; sent by viceroy Oct. 23d. Prov. Rec., MS., i. 13; Prov. St. Pap., MS., i. 213. The governor acknowledges receipt of the order on June 6th. Prov. Rec., MS., i. 76.
36 There are 22 communications of Neve to Bucareli, written during the first half of 1777, preserved in Prov. Rec., MS., i. 59-79. His correspondence for the last six months has for the most part been lost.
311
FOUNDING OF SAN JOSÉ.
introduced as soon as possible. In June 1776, before leaving Loreto, Neve in a communication to the viceroy proposed an experimental sowing for account of government on some fertile lands of the northern frontier, both to supply the usual deficiency on the peninsula, and especially to furnish grain at reduced cost for the new establishments. Bucareli in August approved the proposition in a general way, but stated that in view of the proposed change in the governor's residence it would be impossible for Neve to attend personally to the matter, and suggested that the scheme might be carried out with even better chances of success in the fertile lands of New California, referring also to Anza's favorable report on the Colo- rado River region as a source of grain supply in case of special need.37
Accordingly Neve kept the matter in view during his trip northward, closely examining the different regions traversed to find land suited to his purpose. The result of his observations was that there were two spots eminently fitted for agricultural operations, one being on the Rio de Porciúncula in the south, and the other on the Rio de Guadalupe in the north; and he also made up his mind that the only way to utilize the advantages offered was to found two pueblos on the rivers. To this end he asked for four laborers and some other necessary assistance.38 Without wait- ing, however, for a reply to this communication, and possibly having received additional instructions from Mexico, the governor resolved to go on and make a
37 Neve's letter of June 21st is not extant, but is referred to with a résumé of its contents in the viceroy's letter of August, in Prov. St. Pap., MS., i. 203-6.
38 Neve's letter is missing as before, but is alluded to in a subsequent letter of April 1778, in Prov. Rec., MS., i. 7-9. In another letter of June 4th, the day after the first, Neve says that he has made no formal distribution of lands to either settlers or soldiers, except to one soldier (Butron?) to whom Rivera in past years had given a title to a lot of land near San Carlos mission. Also that as there are no suitable lands near the presidio he cannot for the present carry out the sowing order. Id., i. 68. From this it would seem likely that he had received some more direct order from Bucareli to sow near the presidio.
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