USA > California > Marin County > History of Marin County, California also an historical sketch of the state of California > Part 19
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The Deputation, in session of the 3d of November of the same year (1834), made provision for dividing the missions and other settlements into parishes or curacies, according to the law of August, 1833, authorized the missionary priests to exercise the functions of curates, until curates of the secular clergy should arrive, and provided for their salaries and expenses of worship. No change was made in this act, in the regulations established by Gov. Figueroa, for the distribution and management of the property.
Accordingly, for most or all of the missions, administrators were appointed by the governor; and in some, but not all, partial distributions of the lands and movable property were made, according to the tenor of the regulation. From this time, however, all traets of lands pertinent to the missions, but not directly attached to the mission buildings, were granted as any other lands of the territory, to the Mexican inhabitants, and to colonists, for stock farms and tillage.
The act of the Mexican Congress of 1835, directing the execution of the decree of 1833 to be suspended until the arrival of curates, did not, as far as I could ascertain, induce any change in the policy already adopted by the territorial authorities.
On January 17, 1839, Governor Alvarado issued regulations for the gov- ernment of the administrators of the missions. These regulations prohibited the administrators from contracting debts on account of the missions; from slaughtering cattle of the missions, except for consumption, and from trading the mission horses or mules for clothing for the Indians; and likewise provided for the appointment of an inspector of the missions, to supervise the accounts of the administrators, and their fulfillment of their trusts. Art. 11 prohibited the settlement of white persons in the establishments, "whilst the Indians
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HISTORY OF MARIN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
should remain in community." The establishments of San Carlos, San Juan Bautista and Sonoma were excepted from these regulations, and to be governed by special rules.
On March 1, 1840, the same Governor Alvarado suppressed the office of administrators, and replaced them by mayor domos, with new and more stringent rules for the management of the establishments; but not making any change in the rules of Governor Figueroa regarding the lands or other property.
By a proclamation of March 29, 1843, Governor Micheltorena, "in pursu- ance (as he states) of an arrangement between the Governor and the prelate of the missions," directed the following-named missions to be restored to the priests "as tutors to the Indians, and in the same manner as they formerly held them," namely, the missions of San Diego, San Luis Rey, San Juan Cap- istrano, San Gabriel, San Fernando, San Buenaventura, Santa Barbara, Santa Ynes, La Purisima, San Antonio, Santa Clara and San José. The same act set forth that "as policy made irrevocable what was already done," the missions should not reclaim any lands thitherto granted, but should collect the cattle and movable property which had been lent out either by the priests or administrators, and settle in a friendly way with the creditors; and likewise regather the dispersed Indians, except such as had been legally emanci- pated, or were at private service. That the priests might provide out of the products of the missions for the necessary expenses of converting, subsisting and clothing the Indians, for a moderate allowance to themselves, economical salaries to the mayor domos, and the maintenance of divine worship, under the condition that the priests should bind themselves in honor and conscience to deliver to the public treasury one-eighth part of all the annual products of the establishments. That the Departmental government would exert all its power for the protection of the missions, and the same in respect to individuals and to private property, securing to the owners the possession and preserva- tion of the lands they now hold, but promising not to make any new grants without consultation with the priests, unless where the lands were notoriously unoccupied, or lacked cultivation, or in case of necessity.
Micheltorena's governorship was shortly after concluded. There had been sent into the Department with him a considerable body of persons called pres- idarios, that is, criminals condemned to service-usually, as in this case, mili- tary service on the frontier -- and their presence and conduct gave such offense to the inhabitants that they revolted, and expelled him and the presidarios from the country. He was succeeded by Don Pio Pico, in virtue of his being the "first vocal " of the Departmental Assembly,* and also by choice of the inhabitants, afterward confirmed by the Central Government, which at the
*According to act of the Mexican Congress of May 6, 1822, to provide for supplying the place of provincial governors, in default of an incumbent.
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MEXICAN GRANTS.
same time gave additional privileges to the Department in respect to the man- agement of its domestic affairs.
The next public act which I find in relation to the missions, is an act of the Departmental Assembly, published in a prolamation of Governor Pico, June 5, 1845. This act provides: 1. "That the governor should call together the neophytes of the following named missions: San Rafael, Dolores, Soledad, San Miguel and La Purisima; and in case those missions were abandoned by their neophytes, that he should give them one month's notice, by proclamation, to return and cultivate said missions, which if they did not do, the missions should be declared abandoned, and the Assembly and governor dispose of them for the good of the Department. 2. That the missions of Carmel, San Juan Bautista, San Juan Capistrano and San Francisco Solano, should be considered as pueblos, or villages, which was their present condition; and that the property which remained to them, the governor, after separating sufficient for the curate's house, for churches and their pertinencies, and for a municipal house, should sell at public auction, the product to be applied, first to paying the debts of the establishments, and the remainder, if any, to the benefit of divine worship. 3. That the remainder of the missions to San Diego, inclu- sive, should be rented, at the discretion of the governor, with the proviso, that the neophytes should be at liberty to employ themselves at their option on their own grounds, which the governor should designate for them, in the ser- vice of the rentee, or of any other person. 4. That the principal edifice of the mission of Santa Barbara should be excepted from the proposed renting, and in it the governor should designate the parts most suitable for the residence of the bishop and his attendants, and of the missionary priests then living there; moreover, that the rents arising from the remainder of the property of said mission should be disbursed, one-half for the benefit of the church and its min- istry, the other for that of its Indians. 5. That the rents arising from the other missions should be divided, one-third to the maintenance of the minister, one third to the Indians, one-third to the government."
On the 28th October, of the same year (1845), Governor Pico gave public notice for the sale to the highest bidder of five missions, to wit: San Rafael, Dolores, Soledad, San Miguel and La Purisima; likewise for the sale of the remaining buildings in the pueblos (formerly missions) of San Luis Obispo, Carmel, San Juan Bautista, and San Juan Capistrano, after separating the churches and their appurtenances, and a curate's, municipal and school-houses. The auctions were appointed to take place, those of San Luis Obispo, Purisima and San Juan Capistrano, the first four days of December follow- ing (1845); those of San Rafael, Dolores, San Juan Bautista, Carmel, Soledad and San Miguel, the 23rd and 24th of January, 1846; meanwhile, the govern- ment would receive and take into consideration proposals in relation to said missions.
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HISTORY OF MARIN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
In the same proclamation Pico proposed to rent to the best bidder for a period of nine years, and under conditions for the return of the property in good order and without waste, the missions of San Fernando, San Buena- ventura, Santa Barbara and Santa Ynes; the rentings to include all the lands, stock, agricultural tools, vineyards, gardens, offices and whatever in virtue of the inventories should be appurtenant to said missions, with "the exception only of those small pieces of ground which have always been occupied by some Indians of the missions;" likewise to include the buildings, saving the churches and their appurtenances, and the curate's, municipal and school houses, and except in the mission of Santa Barbara, where the whole of the principal edifice should be reserved for the bishop and the priests residing there. The renting of the missions of San Diego, San Luis Rey, San Gabriel, San Antonio, Santa Clara and San José, it was further announced should take place as soon as some arrangement was made concerning their debts. It was also provided that the neophytes should be free from their pupilage, and might establish themselves on convenient parts of the missions, with liberty to serve the rentee, or any other person; that the Indians who possessed pieces of land, in which they had made their houses and gardens, should apply to the government for titles, in order that their lands might be adjudicated to them in ownership, "it being understood that they would not have power to sell their lands, but that they should descend by inheritance."
On March 30, 1846, the Assembly passed an Act-
1. Authorizing the governor in order to make effective the object of the decree of 28th May previous, to operate, as he should believe most expedient, to prevent the total ruin of the missions of San Gabriel, San Luis Rey, San Diego and others found in like circumstances.
2. That as the remains of said establishments had large debts against them, if the existing property was not sufficient to cover the same, they might be put into bankruptcy.
3. That if, from this authorization, the governor, in order to avoid the destruction to which the said missions were approaching, should determine to sell them to private persons, the sale should be by public auction.
4. That when sold, if, after the debts were satisfied, there should be any remainder, it should be distributed to the Indians of the respective establishments.
5. That in view of the expenses necessary in the maintenance of the priest, and of Divine worship, the governor might determine a portion of the whole property, whether of cultivable lands, houses, or of any other description, according to his discretion, and by consultation with the respective priests.
6. The property thus determined should be delivered as by sale, but sub- ject to a perpetual interest of four per cent. for the uses above indicated.
7. That the present Act should not affect anything already done, or con- tracts made in pursuance of the decree of 28th May last, nor prevent an: - thing being done conformable to that decree.
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MEXICAN GRANTS.
8. That the governor should provide against all impediments that might not be foreseen by the Act, and in six months at farthest, give an account to the Assembly of the results of its fulfilment.
Previous to several of the last mentioned acts, that is on August 24, 1844, the Departmental Assembly, in anticipation of a war breaking out, passed a law authorizing the governor, on the happening of that contingency, either "to sell, hypothecate, or rent, the houses, landed property and field lands of the missions, comprehended in the whole extent of the country from San Diego to Sonoma," except that of Santa Barbara, "reserved for the residence of the bishop."
These comprise all the general acts of the authorities of California which I was able to meet with on the subject of missions. Of the extent or manner in which they were carried into execution, so far as the missions proper-that is, the mission buildings and lands appurtenant-are concerned, but little information is afforded by what I could find in the archives. A very consid- erable part, however, of the grants made since the secularization of 1833, (comprising the bulk of all the grants in the country) are lands previously recognized as appurtenances of the missions, and so used as grazing farms, or for other purposes. In some cases the petitions for such grants were referred to the principal priest at the mission to which the land petitioned for was attached, and his opinion taken whether the grant could be made without prejudice to the mission. In other cases, and generally this formality was not observed. This remark relates to the farms and grazing grounds (ranchos) occupied by the missions, and some titles to Indians, pursuant to the regula- tion of Governor Figueroa, and the proclamation of Governor Pico, on record in the file of expedientes of grants before noticed.
What I have been able to gather from the meagre records and memoranda in the archives, and from private information and examination of the actual state of the missions, is given below. It is necessary to explain, however, still farther than I have, that in speaking of the missions now, we cannot understand the great establishments which they were. Since 1833, and even before, farms of great (many leagues) extent, and many of them, have reduced the limits they enjoyed, in all cases very greatly, and in some instances into a narrow compass; and while their borders have been thus cut off, their planting and other grounds inside are dotted to a greater or less extent by private grants. The extent to which this has been the case can only be ascertained by the same process that is necessary everywhere in Cali- fornia, to separate public from private lands-namely, authorized surveys of the grants according to their calls, which though not definite, will almost always furnish some distinguishable natural object to guide the surveyor .*
*I was told by Major J. R. Snyder, the gentleman appointed Territorial Surveyor, by Col. Mason, and who made surveys of a number of grants in the central part of the country, that he had little difficulty in following the calls and ascertaining the bounds of the grants.
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HISTORY OF MARIN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
The actual condition of the establishments, understanding them in the reduced sense above shown, was, at the time the Mexican government ceased in Cali -. fornia, and according to the best information I could obtain, as follows :-
MISSIONS.
WHERE SITUATED.
DEG.
MIN.
San Diego
32
48 Sold to Santiago Arguello, June 8. 1846.
San Luis Rey. .
33
03 Sold to Antonio Cot and Andres Pico, May 13, 1846.
San Juan Capistrano.
33
26 Pueblo, and remainder sold to John Foster and James McKinley, December 6, 1845.
San Gabriel.
34
10 Sold to Julian Workinan and Hugo Reid, June IS, 1846.
San Fernando.
34
16 Rented to Andres Pico, for nine years from December, 1815, and sold to Juan Celis, June, 1846.
San Buenaventura.
3.1
36 Sold to Joseph Arnaz.
Santa Barbara.
34
40 Rented for nine years, from June 8, 1846, to Nicholas Den.
Santa Ynes.
34
52 Rented to Joaquin Carrillo.
La Purisima ..
35
00 Sold to John Temple, December 6, 1845.
San Luis Obispo
35
36 Pueblo.
San Miguel.
35
48 Uncertain.
San Antonio
36
30
Vacant.
Soledad.
36
38
House and garden sold to Sobranes, January 4, 1816.
Carmel. .
36
44
Pueblo.
San Juan Bautista
36
58
Pueblo.
Santa Cruz. .
37
00
Vacant.
Santa Clara.
37
20
In charge of priest.
San Jose.
37
30 In charge of priest.
Dolores. .
37
58 Pueblo.
San Rafael ..
38
00 Mission in charge of priest.
San Francisco Solano.
38
30 Mission in charge of priest.
The information above given concerning the condition of the missions at the time of the cessation of the former Government, is partly obtained from documents in the archives, and partly from private sources. What is to be traced in the archives is on loose sheets of paper, liable to be lost, and parts quite likely have been lost; there may be some papers concerning them which in the mass of documents, escaped my examination. I have no doubt, however, of the exactness of the statement above given as far as it goes.
It will be seen, then, that the missions-the principal part of their lands cut off by private grants, but still, no doubt, each embracing a considerable tract-perhaps from one to ten leagues-have, some of them, been sold or granted under the former Government, and become private property; some converted into villages and consequently granted in the usual form in lots to individuals and heads of families; a part are in the hands of rentees, and at the disposal of the Government when these contracts expire, and the remainder at its present disposal.
If it were within my province to suggest what would be an equitable dis- position of such of the missions as remain the property of the Government, I should say that the churches with all the church property and ornaments, a
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MEXICAN . GRANTS.
portion of the principal building for the residence of the priest, with a piece of land equal to that designated in the original Act of the Mexican Congress for their secularization (to wit, two hundred varas square), with another piece for a cemetery, should be granted to the respective Catholic parishes for the uses specified, and the remainder of the buildings with portions of land attached, for schools and municipal or county purposes, and for the residence of the bishop; the same allotment at the mission of Santa Barbara that was made in the last proclamation of Governor Pico. The churches, certainly, ought not to be appropriated to any other use, and less than the inhabitants have always considered and enjoyed as their right.
To conclude the inquiry in the last portion of your letter of instructions, namely, concerning "large grants" other than the supposed ecclesiastical grants.
I did not find in the archives of California any record of large grants in the sense I suppose the term to be here used. There are a number of grants to the full extent of the privilege aecorded by law to individual conces- sions and of the authority of the local government to make independent of the Central Government-to wit, of eleven sitios, or leagues square.
There are understood in the country however, to be large claims reputed to be founded on grants direct from the Mexican Government-one held by Cap- tain Sutter; another by General Vallejo. The archives (as far as I could dis- cover) only show that Captain Sutter received July 18, 1841, from Governor Alvarado, the usual grant of eleven sitios on the Sacramento river, and this is all I ascertained. The archives likewise show that General Vallejo received from Governor Micheltorena, October 22, 1823, a grant of ten sitios called "Petaluma," in the district of Sonoma; and I was informed by a respectable gentleman in California, that General Vallejo had likewise a grant from the Mexican Government given for valuable consideration, of a large traet known by the same of "Suscol," and including the site of the present town of Benicia, founded by Messrs. Vallejo and Semple, on the Straits of Carquinez. It is also reputed that the same gentleman has extensive elaims in the valley of Sonoma and on Suisun bay. It appears from documents which General Vallejo caused to be published in the newspapers of California in 1847, that he was deputed in the year 1835, by General Figueroa, to found a settlement in the valley of Sonoma, "with the object of arresting the progress of the Russian settlements of Bodega and Ross." General Vallejo was at that time (1835), military commander of the northern frontier. He afterwards (in 1836), by virtue of a revolution which occurred in that year in California, became military commandant of the department-the civil and military gov- ernment being by the same act divided-to which office he was confirmed in 1838 by the Supreme Government.
The following extraet from Governor Figueroa's instructions to him, will . show the extent of General Vallejo's powers as agent for colonizing the north:
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HISTORY OF MARIN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
"You are empowered to solicit families in all the territory and other States of the Mexican Republic, in order to colonize the northern frontiers, granting lands to all persons who may wish to establish themselves there, and those grants shall be confirmed to them by the Territorial Government, whenever the grantees shall apply therefor; the title which they obtain from you serv- ing them in the meantime as a sufficient guarantee, as you are the only indi- vidual authorized by the superior authority to concede lands in the frontier under your charge. The Supreme Government of the territory is convinced that you are the only officer to whom so great an enterprise can be entrusted; and in order that it may be accomplished in a certain manner, it is willing to defray the necessary expenses to that end."
An official letter to General Vallejo from the Department of War and Marine, dated Mexico, August 5, 1839, expresses approbation of what had thitherto been done in establishing the colony, and the desire that the settle- ments should continue to increase, "until they should be so strong as to be respected not only by the Indian tribes, but also by the establishments of the foreigners who should attempt to invade that valuable region."
I did not find any trace of these documents, or of anything concerning General Vallejo's appointment or operations in the government archives. But there is no reason to doubt the genuineness of the papers. They do not, however, convey any title to lands beyond authority to grant during the time his appointment continued to actual colonizers. The appointment of General Vallejo seems to have been made by direction of the Supreme (National) Government. I had no means of ascertaining how long the appointment lasted, nor to what extent its powers were used; but infer from Vallejo, himself, taking a grant of his rancho of Petaluma, in 1843, that his own authority in that respect had then ceased. As there are other grants also of considerable extent in the same neighborhood embraced in the gov- ernment archives, I apprehend that most, if not all of the grants made by him exclusive of what may be embraced in the town privileges of Sonoma, (and which will be noticed hereafter) were confirmed, or regranted to the par- ties by the departmental government. In this view, however, I may be mis- taken. And I desire to be distinctly understood as not intending to throw any doubt or discredit on the titles or claims of either of the gentlemen I have mentioned. I had no opportunity of inspecting any grants they may possess, beyond what I have stated, and I imagine their lands can only be separated from the domain by the process universally requisite-the, registra- tion of outstanding grants and their survey.
III. "GRANTS OF ISLANDS, KEYS AND PROMONTORIES, POINTS OF IMPOR- TANCE TO THE PUBLIC," ETC.
The only points of special publie importance which I learned were granted prior to the cessation of the former government, are the site of the old fort of
173
MEXICAN . GRANTS.
San Joaquin, near the outlet of the Bay of San Francisco, and Alcatraz (or Bird) Island, commanding its entrance, the Key of the Golden Gate. The date of the first named grant is June 25, 1846; it was made to Benito Diaz, and by him transferred to Mr. T. O. Larkin, of Monterey. I understand a portion of the land embraced in the grant is in occupation of the United States troops, or has property of the United States upon it, and a part in pos- session of Mr. Larkin.
Alcatraz Island was granted in June, 1846, to Mr. Francis P. Temple, of Los Angeles. The indispensableness of this point to the Government, both for the purpose of fortification, and as a proper position for a light-house, induced Lieut-Col. Fremont, when Governor of California, to contract for the purchase of it on behalf of the United States. The Government, it is believed, has never confirmed the purchase, or paid the consideration, This island is a solid rock, of about half-a-mile in circumference, rising out of the sea just in front of the inner extremity of the throat or narrows which forms the entrance to the bay, and perfectly commands both front and sides. It is also in the line of the sailing directions for entering the bay,* and consequently a light-house upon it is indispensable.
The local government had special authority and instructions from the gen- eral government, under date July 12, 1838, to grant and distribute lands in "the desert islands adjacent to that department."
Whether the grants "purport to be inchoate or perfect?" The grants made in that department under the Mexican law, all, I believe, purport to be perfect, except in the respect of requiring "confirmation by the departmental assembly." The difficulties of determining what grants have not received this confirmation have been above explained.
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