History of Pasadena, comprising an account of the native Indian, the early Spanish, the Mexican, the American, the colony, and the incorporated city, occupancies of the Rancho San Pasqual, and its adjacent mountains, canyons, waterfalls and other objects of interest: being a complete and comprehensive histo-cyclopedia of all matters pertaining to this region, Part 11

Author: Reid, Hiram Alvin, 1834-; McClatchie, Alfred James, comp
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Pasadena, Cal., Pasadena History Co.
Number of Pages: 714

USA > California > Los Angeles County > Pasadena > History of Pasadena, comprising an account of the native Indian, the early Spanish, the Mexican, the American, the colony, and the incorporated city, occupancies of the Rancho San Pasqual, and its adjacent mountains, canyons, waterfalls and other objects of interest: being a complete and comprehensive histo-cyclopedia of all matters pertaining to this region > Part 11

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Capt. Greene has a copy of the Mesilla, Arizona, Times [a secessionist paper] of August 3, 1861, from which I quote this : "The following named gentlemen under command of Capt. Alonzo Ridley, arrived in our city on the 31st ult., from Los Angeles, Cal. : GEN. A. S. JOHNSTON, a native of Kentucky, late in command of the Department of California," etc. Then follows a list of seven lieutenants with him who had resigned from the U. S. army ; and twenty-six volunteer recruits-all ou their way to join the con- federate army. The same paper names nine companies of confederate soldiers then holding Arizona ; and publishes the proclamation of John I. Baylor as acting governor on behalf of the Confederate States of America Capt. Greene's force of union troops afterward captured Mesilla, and used the same print- ing office to issue a union paper.

Judge Walter Van Dyke of the superior court, Los Angeles, was a Douglas democrat in 1860 ; then in 1861 he was elected to the state senate on the " Union Ticket" by the close majority of fourteen, and bore an important part in saving California from secession. He knew Gen. Johnston ; says he was a man with a fine sense of personal houor ; and he thinks that Johnston, like Gen. Lee, was struggling with his conscience as to whether his present duty was to thegeneral government, or first to his native state (Kentucky) according to the state rights doctrine which then prevailed in the South-hence he did not take any decisive stand either for or against the secession movement. But meanwhile some army officers under him, and certain politicians, presuming on his southern sympathies, were plotting and planning to give California over to the Confederacy,-thus implicating him without any direct participa- tion or purpose on his part, yet making his prompt and quiet removal a prime necessity for the Union cause. I make this explanation as due to the feelings of Gen. Johnston's family and relatives who still reside amongst us.

DIVISION ONE - PRE-PASADNIAN.

alty of ten per cent. net of all the crude oil extracted from these lands," free of all expense to them except that they must "furnish their own casks."-Wilson and Griffin were themselves members of this Oil Company. The consideration for this grant was only One Dollar, besides the "royalty," and the grant was "limited to the term of twenty-five years." [Book 9 p. 490 of Deeds.] But I have found no evidence that any oil wells or even prospective borings were ever made on the ranch, though "smelling com- mittees " have several times sniffed over the ground and thought they found oil "odor " down around Columbia hill.

September 12, 1866, Eliza G. Johnston conveyed to John S. Griffin all her right of pasturing, herding and grazing 500 head of live stock on the Rancho San Pasqual which had been granted in her deed from B. D. Wil- son and wife on December 11, 1862. Consideration, $2,500. [Book 8, p. 213, of Deeds.]

On March 3, 1869, B. D. Wilson deeded to Phineas Banning all his right, title, interest, share, claim or demand whatsoever in the Rancho San Pasqual. Consideration, $35,000. [Book 12, p. 237.]

On March 10, 1869, Phineas Banning deeded to John S. Griffin, [Book 12, p. 311] all his right and interest acquired by deed from B. D. Wilson, only seven days before. Consideration, $30,000.

On October 13, 1869, Phineas Banning deeded to Benjamin D. Wilson [Book 13, p. 628] the same property rights and interests described in Wil- son's conveyance to Banning on March 3, and in Banning's conveyance to Griffin on March 10, as above given. But this time it is described as "the Rancho de San Pasqual, in the township of San Gabriel "- this being the first mention of San Gabriel township in any of the deeds. Consideration, $35,000. The explanation of these last three peculiar and apparently con- flicting transactions is this : Banning, Griffin and Wilson were intimate friends and all engaged in very large trading, speculative or business enter- prises. They often borrowed large sums of money or credit from each other, giving a deed or mortgage as "collateral " security-sometimes put on record and sometimes not.

On September 23, 1870, John S. Griffin deeded and quit-claimed to B. D. Wilson [Book 15, p. 482] an undivided half interest in all of the Rancho San Pasqual that had not before this date been sold by deed or contract to third parties. Consideration, $1. It seems that prior to this the Monks tract of 2,000 acres, the Grogan tract of 5,000 acres, and the Raab tract of 30 acres had been sold, besides the " Fair Oaks" tract conveyed to Griffin's sister, and some lesser parcels to relatives of Wilson. There was also a parcel occasionally mentioned as the " Widney tract," but not found of record.

On June 20, 1872, Griffin and Wilson deeded to Prudent Beaudry [Book 21, p. 26] a parcel of hilly land on the west bank of the Arroyo Seco,

HISTORY OF PASADENA.

estimated as 30 acres, opposite what is now the junction of West Columbia street and Arroyo Drive. There, in 1875-76, Beaudry, and a man named Carson (son of Gen. Fremont's famous and faithful scout, Kit Carson), worked a shaft into the hill or Arroyo bank 200 feet, seeking for a coal mine. They found carbonaceous shale and a few pockets of lignite, or possibly indurated asphaltum, but no true vein of coal.

In October, 1873, Griffin and Wilson employed Wm. P. Reynolds to survey the remainder of the Rancho into four separate parcels marked as tracts Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4, and to make a map of the whole. Tract No. I contained 2,576.35 acres. No. 2 contained 1,366.03 acres. No. 3 con- tained 693 acres. No. 4 contained also 693 acres. Total 5,328.38 acres.

On December 18, 1873, Griffin and Wilson made an agreement of par- tition, with said Reynolds' map attached as a part of the agreement [Book 27, p. 229], by which Griffin took tracts Nos. 1, 3 and 4 for his share, and Wilson took tract No. 2 for his share of the now completely broken up old ranch. The right to burn lime at the kilns on tract No. I (Lincoln Park region) was reserved to Wilson, and an equal share of the waters of the Thibbet's Springs on tract No. 2 was allotted to each party. Thus it ex- hibits that Wilson took 1,366 acres for his share, and left Griffin 3,962.35 acres. But this apparent disproportion was made up in the deed by Griffin to Wilson, September 23, 1870, of a body of choice oak timber land, sur- veyed by J. M. Baldwin, in August, 1870, lying east of this latter tract No. 2 (Fair Oaks avenue being now on its line), and south of the Grogan tract.

On December 26, 1873, John S. Griffin deeded to Thomas F. Croft [Book 27, p. 251] all of the partition tract No. I as marked on the Rey- nolds' map, containing 2,576.35 acres ; and another parcel of land described by metes and bounds, and containing 1.357 acres ; total, 3,933.35 acres, with all waters arising on these lands, or otherwise pertaining to them. Con- sideration, $25,000.

The San Gabriel Orange Grove Association (commonly called “ Indiana colony") had been organized Nov. 13, 1873, and had been negotiating for the purchase of this body of land from Dr. Griffin, with Judge Eaton acting as his agent. At this time [November 13] Griffin and Wilson still owned the land jointly. Griffin was anxious to sell out, but Wilson was not, and some difficulty arose between them in regard to it. This caused delay, and for awhile threatened to break up the colony project entirely. Mr. Croft was one of the original incorporators and trustees of the colony association ; and at this critical time he went to Wilmington [December 13] to confer with Phineas Banning and B. D. Wilson, and succeeded in bringing about an understanding which finally resulted in the agreement of partition between Wilson and Griffin, dated December 18, 1873, as above cited. This enabled Griffin to go on and complete the sale which he desired to make. But now the colony people could not at once raise the amount of money necessary to

DIVISION ONE - PRE-PASADENIAN.

meet his terms. Mr. Croft then privately, at his own expense, procured a complete abstract of title which covered every transaction affecting the ownership or any auxiliary rights connected with this body of land, from November, 1843, to December, 1873 ; and upon this he purchased the land himself under the above cited deed of December 26, in order to secure it beyond further delay or difficulty for the colony association. The abstract referred to is a voluminous document, comprising nineteen sheets of heaviest grade abstract paper, 812 x 13 inches, printed in close lines of small type, and cost Mr. Croft over $50. He preserves it yet as a valued relic of the colony's cradle-bed time, and I am indebted to him for its use in preparing this schedule of the many changes of ownership and other rights which have occurred in the history of Rancho San Pasqual.

Mr. Croft's diary shows that he first visited the ranch on October 13, 1873, in company with D. M. Berry and J. H. Baker. Reynolds was then making the tract survey for Griffin and Wilson, and Croft and Berry came out from Los Angeles frequently to note the progress of the survey and study the lay of the land. Mr. Berry was negotiating on behalf of the colony for the land they wanted, and he insisted on having their strip project eastward along where East California street now runs, instead of northward along the Arroyo Seco. Wilson wouldn't have it that way, be- cause it would leave his own land in very inconvenient shape ; and the efforts to coerce him in this matter brought about the anger and hot blood between Wilson and Griffin above referred to, and delayed the colony pur- chase all through November. Mr. Croft saw Mrs. Griffin and got an understanding with her; then on December 13, he went to Wilmington as a peacemaker and colony land-buyer himself, and gained his case succes- sively with Mr. Banning, Mrs. Wilson, and finally Mr. Wilson. Then on December 15, his diary says : "This day, determined stakes and points of satisfactory division of Rancho San Pasqual with B. D. Wilson on the grounds." On December 16, he met Wilson at surveyor Reynold's office in Los Angeles, and arranged details of boundary to be recited in the con- veyance. December 17, lawyers were at work preparing the articles of agreement on segregation of interests between Wilson and Griffin. Decem- ber 18, Wilson and Griffin signed these articles, without which the colony purchase from Griffin could not be consummated. The question of colony funds, spot cash, now made another balk. So, on December 26, Mr. Croft paid Griffin $6,250 cash himself, and gave his note for the balance, $18,750, in one year, and received the deed as above mentioned.

On December 29, 1873, three days after Griffin's conveyance of the entire colony tract to Croft, Thomas F. Croft deeded all his right, title and interest therein to the "San Gabriel Orange Grove Association, a corpora- tion duly organized under the laws of California," etc. Consideration, $25,000 [Book 27, p. 267], the same as he paid. The association then

HISTORY OF PASADENA.

assumed all of Mr. Croft's notes and obligations, according to an agreement which he had made with Dr. Griffin beforehand, and paid them by quar- terly assessments on the shareholders, or by sale of lands when it could be done.

On January 27, 1874, the colonists assembled on Reservoir Hill, and each made selection of his own choice of lots in the tract as platted by the colony's surveyor, equal to his number of shares of stock in the association. A complete list of these original selections is given in another place, with explanation of where each one lies now [1894] in the present city of Pasadena. [See Chap. 5.]

CHAPTER IV.

PASADENA'S PART IN THE MEXICAN WAR .- Capture of Los Angeles in 1846 .- Lieut. Gillespie driven out. - Battle of Chino. - Battle of Los Angeles. - Battle of Do- tingnez ranch. - Carrillo's hippodrome strategy at San Pedro .- Army flag made from children's dresses .- Battle of San Gabriel ford .- Battle of Laguna ranch .- Mexican army encamped at South Pasadena .- Plans made there for their final surrender to Col. Fremont .- List of Pasadena families correlated with these not- able events.

HOW PASADENA FIGURES IN THE CALIFORNIA BATTLES.

Don Manuel Garfias, the first patentee owner of Rancho San Pasqual, and B. D. Wilson its second recorded owner, and Dr. John S. Griffin its third owner, all bore a part or had deep concern in the battles of San Gabriel and the Mesa, or Laguna Ranch, fought between the American and Mexican forces on January 8 and 9, 1847. A portion of the Mexican troops under Garfias' command took horses and cattle from this ranch for their march back to Mexico. And from his camp on this ranch Gen. Andres Pico appointed commissioners who made and signed the final terms of sur- render to Col. Fremont, known in history as the "capitulation of Cahuen- ga," and which was the last official act, and in fact the only one, of Mexic- Californian authorities for turning the vast territory of California over to the United States. But besides these, there are other Pasadenian families that have historic association with the stirring events, battles and marches of 1846-47 ; and therefore I devote a chapter to this part of our local his- tory.

The name of note in Pasadena history which first appears in connection with the military movements for securing California to the United States is that of Don Juan Bandini, after whom Bandini avenue was named (mis- called " Michigan" avenue in part of its course.) This man's son, Arturo Bandini, married a daughter of Dr. T. B. Elliott, the first president of the original "Indiana colony," out of the ashes of which Pasadena arose, and

DIVISION ONE - PRE-PASADENIAN.

he gave to the world the now famous name of " Pasadena." Mr. and Mrs. Arturo Bandini have been prominently identified with Pasadena's sporting, social and literary life for twenty years. Every book written about Califor- nia by any citizen of the United States prior to the Mexican war, such as Dana's "Two Years Before the Mast," Robinson's "Life in California," Davis' "Sixty Years in California," etc., make frequent mention of Don Juan Bandini, because he was a man of note and influence at San Diego, Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. But his first connection with U. S. mili- tary affairs is explained in Gen. Fremont's "Memoirs," pages 563-64-65, as follows:

THE TAKING OF LOS ANGELES IN 1846.

"The ship [sloop Cyane] entered the land-locked bay of San Diego, where the still waters reflected the quiet of the town. Here no enemy was found. On the contrary, we were received on the footing of friends by Don Juan Bandini, the chief citizen of the place, and by Don Santiago Arguello [father to Mrs. Bandini], the Captain of the port. [This was July 27, 1846 .- Ed.] Senor Bandini was a native of Spain; of slight and thin person, sarcastic and cynical of speech, often the shape in which a keen intelligence, morbid because without outlet, expresses itself. * * One of Don Juan's daughters was married to Don Abel Stearns, whose residence was at Los Angeles."

Fremont's troops could not move a mile from their ship without horses and beef cattle for their subsistence and transportation ; and speak- ing of this matter, he writes :

" There were not enough horses at hand to mount a party to send after animals to distant places through an enemy's country. In the midst of these difficulties, the aid which Bandini and Arguello were willing to give us was most fortunate.

* After little more than a week occu- pied in this way [collecting horses and beef cattle] with the aid of Don Juan, a sufficient number of animals were obtained to enable me to move ; and on the 8th of the month [August] we moved out on the road to Los Angeles. -X- Just before leaving the town an uncommonly beautiful sorrel horse, thoroughly trained, was brought me from Senor Bandini. *

* It was a gift from the family."

With Fremont on this march was his famous scout, Kit Carson, whose son Sam, nicknamed " Kit," afterward lived a while at Pasadena, and in 1876-77 dug the entrance shaft for the Beaudry coal mine opposite the foot of Columbia street. He had formerly worked for Don Juan Bandini at San Diego.

- While Fremont was in San Diego, in 1846, Commodore Stockton had arrived at San Pedro, and on Aug. 11th he commenced his march from there towards Los Angeles, being joined on the 13th by Fremont's troops, and they marched into the city together without any armed resistance, hoisted the America flag and took possesion of the country in the name of the

HISTORY OF PASADENA.

United States .* August 28th, Stockton sent Kit Carson as bearer of des- patches to Washington, reporting all his proceedings here, and Carson started on horseback across the country to Santa Fe. Lieutenant A. H. Gillespie with about fifty men was left in command at Los Angeles ; Fre- mont marched north overland to Sacramento, and Stockton returned to his ship and sailed north. But before leaving, Commodore Stockton had commissioned B. D. Wilson as a Captain in the U. S. Army, and authorized him to raise a company to guard the frontier. At this time Wilson owned the great Jurupa ranch which he had bought from Don Juan Bandini, and his ranch house, with gardens, orchards, etc., was located near where the City of Riverside now stands.t Gillespie proved entirely in- competent for the position he was placed in. He exercised his authority in a way to exasperate the intelligent Spanish citizens who were peacefully disposed. He arrested some of the Spanish "Dons" and held them re- sponsible for a drunken mob attack on his quarters on the night of Sep- tember 16, Mexican " Independence Day," when in fact his own men were as much to blame for the carouse as the Mexican revelers, and over half of his soldiers were lying locked up in the guard-house for drunkenness at the very moment when the drunken Mexicans assailed the barracks. His unwise course in the matter so outraged and incensed the better class of citizens that they raised a revolt to drive him out of the country. He then sent a courier to Captain Wilson for help.

THE BATTLE OF CHINO.

Wilson got twelve of his company together as quickly as possible and started for Los Angeles. They went to the Chino ranch house, a large adobe structure, in hope to find a supply of powder there for them, and while there they were surrounded and attacked by a body of Mexicans in command of Serbulo Barelas of Los Angeles, and Jose del Carmen Lugo of San Bernardino. A sharp battle ensued here at daylight of September 27, 1846. The Americans were sheltered in the adobe house of Isaac Williams;

*Governor Pio Pico and Gen. Castro fled the country, and have been accused of cowardice for it. That is a mistake. Pico had issued a patriotic address appealing to the Mexicans to rise in arms and repel the American invaders. But Gen. Castro reported to the Governor, and to the Legislative Assem- bly then in session at Los Angeles, that from lack of powder aud firearms he was utterly unable to cope with the well armed, well equipped and disciplined American troops. Governor Pico then advised that the legislature adjourn sine die, and that he and the commanding general should get away, so that the Americans should not find any man or body of men in authority to transfer the government to them. This was " good politics " on their part and the plan was followed out ; and this was why he fled. Fre- mont tried hard to entice Pico back but he was too shrewd to come, still hoping that either Mexico or England would yet overturn the American occupancy. Don Juan Bandini and his brother-in-law, San- tiago E. Arguello were members of this legislative assembly, though not present at the adjournment. They were anti-Pico men. Governor Pico died at Los Angeles, September 11, 1894, aged 93.

+From Robinson's "Life in California," pp. 203, 204, I quote a few passages that have a Pasadena interest. They were written in early spring time of 1842. " We resumed our saddles and soon reached Santa Ana. * At sunset entered upon the plains of the Rancho de San Juan del Rio, the dwelling place of Senor Bandini. We found our friend

Yorba [grandfather of Mrs. J. de Barth Shorb| here. * We visited the planting grounds of Bandini, which were beautifully laid out on the side of the river. [Hence the name, Riverside.] On our route back to the Pueblo | Los Angeles] we passed through a long valley [San Gabriel Valley] which was the scene of destruction during the slaughter of the Mission cattle in 1835. Its devastation was still visible, for skulls and bones were lying about in every direction."

DIVISION ONE - PRE-PASADNIAN.

but it had an asphaltum roof, and the Mexicans succeeded in setting this on fire, so that Wilson and his men were now at their mercy ; and on promise of protection as prisoners of war they surrendered. They were marched to Los Angeles and turned over to Gen. Jose Maria Flores, who had been chosen commander-in-chief of the Mexican troops. While on their march to Los Angeles, some of the victors, led, as B. D. Wilson afterward claimed, by Capt. Jose del Carmen Lugo, concluded to end all this trouble at once by shooting the prisoners right there .* And of this episode the 1880-History of Los Angeles County, page 43, says : "The treacherous Mexicans had drawn their prisoners up in file on one side of the road, and were about to massacre the whole lot. Barelas bravely dashed between, and swore he would run his sword through the first of his command who dared to fire a shot. He said he had pledged his honor as a man and as a commander for the safety of the prisoners, and only over his dead body might they suffer harm."

THE BATTLE OF LOS ANGELES.

When Gillespie sent to Capt. Wilson for help, the latter was off in the mountains with most of his company, on a bear hunt, and there was a de- lay of some days in finding him. Meanwhile, as Hittell's History relates, the Mexicans made a dashing assault on Gillespie's barracks, September 23 ;; but as the Americans were well armed, had plenty of ammunition, and were sheltered within adobe walls, the assailants were defeated with a loss of eight killed and many wounded. [See J. G. Parson's "Life of John W. Marshall."] This was four or five days before the Mexicans had found their own hidden-away cannon which afterward became famous as the " Woman's Gun." Notwithstanding their defeat the Mexicans kept Gil- lespie in a state of siege and he probably could not hold out another week. September 27-28 the Chino prisoners were turned over to Gen. Flores. There had been a sort of guerilla fight going on every day. And on the 29th, Flores, with a view to save further bloodshed, sent B. D. Wilson to tell Gillespie that he might march out unmolested if he would go to San Pedro and there embark his troops. Now, before Stockton and Fremont left in August, Gillespie had dug upand brought into his barracks some old Mexi- can cast-iron cannon which had been spiked and buried in a field east of Boyle Heights, when Gen. Castro and Gov. Pico fled the country on Stockton and Fremont's approach ; and now, to shade off the ignominy of retreat, he asked permission to take these cannon along on his march. This was

* Bancroft says there was "a young man named Sepulveda " who joined with Lugo in this scheme to shoot the prisoners. I learn from Jesus Rubio and E. S. Hereford that the man referred to was En- rique Sepulveda, who with Jose Perez had received a grant of Rancho San Pasqual in 1840.

""The assailants, according to Marshall's biographer, were forced to retreat, with a loss of eight killed."-Lewis' Hist. Los A. Co. p. 72. [Pub. 1889.]

"On September 23, under the leadership of Jose Maria Flores, the Californian forces attacked and beseiged Gillespie and his handful of men. * * He, however, made a determined resistance, until finally on September 30, finding the odds too great against him, he capitulated."-Hittell's History Cal., Vol. 2, p. 599.

HISTORY OF PASADENA.

finally agreed to, on his promising to restore the guns to them at San Pedro. [John Marshall, he of gold discovery fame, who was one of Gillespie's sol- diers in Los Angeles, had unspiked one of the cannon and used it against the Mexicans on Fort Hill, after their unsuccessful assault on the barracks below.] But when Gillespie reached San Pedro, instead of restoring these guns as he had promised to do, he broke off all their breech knobs, had them packed tight with small gravel stones, and then rolled into the surf at low tide .*

This act of bad faith and over-smart strategy further incensed the Mex- icans against him, and greatly increased the peril of B. D. Wilson and his fellow-prisoners ; and they would have been killed but for the faithful watch kept over them by Serbulo Barelas, who had at the battle of Chino given his word of honor to protect them as prisoners of war, which he repeatedly did at the risk of his own life. The next January B. D. Wilson learned from Gen. Andres Pico just where these cannon were ; and as they were of no use to the government, Commodore Stockton gave him permission to se- cure them as relics. Three of them were old Mexican guns which Gov. Micheltorena had hauled down from Monterey and used against the Los Angeles revolutionists at the battle of Cahuenga, February 20-21, 1845. Micheltorena sent them back to Los Angeles by Mauricio Gonzalez, after his embarkation at San Pedro to return to Mexico.

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Author: Reid, Hiram Alvin, 1834-; McClatchie, Alfred James, comp Publication date: 1895 Publisher: Pasadena, Cal., Pasadena History Co. Number of Pages: 714

Author: Reid, Hiram Alvin, 1834-; McClatchie, Alfred James, comp
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Pasadena, Cal., Pasadena History Co.
Number of Pages: 714