USA > California > Los Angeles County > History of Pomona Valley, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the valley who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 10
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After two years on the Chino Mr. Burdick decided to have a ranch and cattle of his own, even if on a small scale. In the San Dimas Canyon, north of Mud Springs, there was living at this time a Dr. Charles Cunningham and his family,
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who had come from San Bernardino not long before and taken up a quarter section of government land. He called Mr. Burdick's attention to part of a section between his land and that of Henry Dalton, in the addition to the San José Tract, near the mouth of the San Dimas Canyon, and urged him to come there. Thus it came about that he selected for his ranch the place on which is now the C. C. Warren house and grove. Here they built a dwelling house, barn and milkhouse. From the Chino ranch they secured a small bunch of selected cows and heifers and a few horses. For a time the venture proved successful. There was plenty of water and feed for the cattle and their stock increased in number.
And then there came the terrible drouth of 1869; the feed gave out; and the stream was dry far up in the canyon. Finding a place where the feed was better, near what was Anaheim Landing, he arranged for pasturage and drove a herd of 100 fine cows over there. Then came a scourge of disease. Every day seven or eight of the animals would come up to the fence by the house and stand there with legs spread out till they dropped down dead. No remedies seemed to avail. So his herd dwindled away and all his capital (and interest, too, in the business ) till he went back to San Dimas and sold out his ranch to the Cunninghams.
Until after 1870 the chief industries of the San José and neighboring ranches had been the raising of cattle, and to some extent also, of grain. Only in a few home plots, near the larger haciendas, had any attempts at horticulture been made. Ricardo Vejar had a small orchard of pears. At the Alvarado and Palomares homes were other deciduous fruits. In the court at "Cactus Lodge"-the old Ygnacio Alvarado place now owned by H. J. Nichols-is an old cherry tree which was doubtless planted before this time, also a number of old olive trees. Farther away, at Billy Rowland's on the Puente ranch, is an orchard of olive trees that must have been planted when the Rancho was first deeded to its grantees. And there are also orange trees, planted in the early fifties. Still farther removed from this Valley were the Vignes and Wolfskill orchards. In the old Mission garden at San Gabriel the padres of a previous generation had planted a few orange trees. This little orchard of perhaps a half acre, enclosed within heavy adobe walls and long guarded under lock and key, was probably the oldest citrus grove in the South.
When Cyrus Burdick turned away from his ranch at San Dimas he was looking not only for a new place of residence but for a new occupation. After careful investigation he decided to engage in horticulture and especially in the raising of citrus fruits. The few experiments mentioned showed that climate and soil were most favorable. As an industry citrus growing was practically unknown : irrigation, save in a few rare instances, was equally foreign ; and as for organized marketing, there was none. But he had faith to make a beginning; and this decision was of much importance, for his experiment was of far more than per- sonal interest and significance. His grove of seedling oranges was the first in this Valley. It was in fact a pioneer enterprise. But it was not an undertaking of large proportions-small indeed as compared with modern orchards, and smal! as compared with contemporary enterprises of other kinds. For the loss of his cattle, and other losses too, compelled him to begin all over again; looking to his father for assistance in purchasing the land for the venture. In selecting the right location not soil but water was the first consideration. In this choice he was aided by his acquaintance with the large ranchers of the Valley. It was Francisco Palomares, son of Ygnacio, who urged him to come to the San José ranch. Here
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at the end of the hills was the finest of soil and abundance of water. To the other Mexican families on the Rancho San José de Ariba the Burdicks were equally welcome and they were able to buy a choice tract of land, with permanent water right in the stream which flowed through his land and in the springs to the north which were its source.
So it came about that Cyrus Burdick, the pioneer American in Pomona, chose for his home and orchard almost the identical spot which had proved so attractive to the original grantees of the Valley, Ygnacio Palomares and Ricardo Vejar, when they first explored this region a generation or more before. The forty acres of land which he bought at this time extended westward from Tomas Palomares' west line, and northward over the hill from the "Old County Road," as Orange Grove Avenue was called. Part of this land is now in Ganesha Park, south of the hills, and part in the new Ganesha Park tract.
The first large planting was about five hundred seedling orange trees bought of a French nurseryman in Los Angeles. It was then supposed that orange trees would not do well if planted by daylight, so the holes were dug, and the trees brought out under cover, and Mrs. Burdick held a lantern while Mr. Burdick and his helpers set them out by night. This was in the spring of 1872. As these trees grew larger they became a source of considerable income, but when the market for navels was established the crop was of little value. With the opening up of the Ganesha Park tract in Pomona, this orchard of the oldest and largest orange trees in the Valley was cut down. Many trees of other varieties were planted from time to time, and when later the navel orange was introduced a number of acres of these were added. Besides the oranges, there were lemons and olives and a row of limes. There were walnuts, and almonds, and apples of many varieties, quinces, pears, peaches and plums. The plain board house with its stone fire- place and chimney, which Mr. Burdick built when he bought the place, was the family home for eighteen years. Conspicuous at first in its coat of whitewash, it was soon embowered in vines and lost among the large seedling orange and walnut trees about it.
At this time, that is in 1870, the generation of Mexicans with whom the story of the Valley began, was passing off the stage, and a new generation was coming on. Those whom Cyrus Burdick found as his neighbors and contemporaries on the San José Rancho were the sons and daughters of the original grantees.
MEXICAN LIFE AT THE SPANISH SETTLEMENT
Before turning to the beginnings and development of the town of Pomona, it will be fitting at this time to consider briefly the passing of the earlier genera; tion of Mexican pioneers, the families which took their place, and their life at the San José Hills before the Americans came, save for the Burdicks and a few who followed them.
The first of the early generation of Spaniards in this Valley to pass off the stage, one of the most noted of his time, was Don Antonio María Lugo, grantee of the great Chino Rancho, who died in 1860. The great estate was now divided among his grandsons and granddaughters or their husbands. The Chino had passed from Colonel Williams, his son-in-law, first to Robert Carlisle, who mar- ried his daughter, Francisca, and then, after the death of Carlisle, to Joe Bridger, who had married another daughter, Victoria. The Cucamonga Ranch was in charge of Colonel John Rains, husband of Maria Merced, still another daughter of the Colonel.
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Don Ygnacio Palomares had died on the second of November, 1864, dividing his half of the San José Rancho among his immediate heirs. It is doubtless true, and will probably continue to be true historically, that the interest of the people will generally center about this one of the two first owners of the land in the San José Valley more than in any other of its worthy pioneers. For this reason we have reproduced parts of the wills both of Don Ygnacio Palomares and of his mother, Maria Benedita Saiz, resurrected from the early records of the Probate Court in Los Angeles.
Excerpts translated from the
WILL OF YGNACIO PALOMARES
State of California ) Township of San José.
County of Los Angeles § My last will.
In the name of God, and of the Great Creator, considering that we are all mortals and being a little ill, I wish to dispose of the small fortune that God has given me, before being deprived of the corporeal faculties with which the nature of man is endowed.
This twenty-third day of April, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, I, Ygnacio Palomares, in due form according to the law of the United States, do name as executors my wife, Concepcion Lopez, and my son, Francisco Palomares ;
Article 1. I charge that when my soul is parted from my body, this shall be buried in the graveyard where part of my family is already laid.
Article 2. My burial shall be simple and without pomp.
Article 3. I leave my wife absolute owner of the following property (speci- fication of horses, cows and sheep) the land of the Rancho, excepting the portions my sons possess, which are the following:
Tomas Palomares, my son, possesses a house with the land which it occupies. His fences shall be forever respected.
I leave my son, Francisco Palomares, owner of the old house ("la casa vieja") and land that is fenced separately from the property of Tomas Palomares. The vineyard of San Antonio and house that is on the land of San José, together with the other house which is on the Camino Real of the same Ranch and the remain- ing property shall be respected as belonging to my wife.
I declare that I have had eight children, four males and four females. First, Luis Palomares died single. Second, Tomas Palomares lives, married. Teresa Palomares lives, married. Francisco Palomares lives, single. Manuel Palomares died, married. Josefa Palomares lives, single. Maria de Jesus Palomares died, single. Carolina Palomares lives, single.
My executors are freed from any bonds.
A vineyard which belongs to the estate of my deceased mother, Benedita Saiz, shall be delivered to her heirs by my executors.
And that my will be respected by my heirs and assigns and by the laws of the United States, I sign this on the Rancho de San Jose, this twenty-third of April, eighteen hundred and sixty-four.
Witness :
YGNACIO PALOMARES.
YGNº ALVARADO his
RICARDO + VEJAR mark
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Filed in the Probate Court with this will are:
1. Witness of Ygnacio Alvarado as to the will and death of Ygnacio Palomares.
2. A receipt by Whiting & King, April 1, 1875, for $200 by Francisco Palomares for "professional" services in the matter of contest of survey of San José Rancho and water rights of said rancho.
3. The appointment in April, 1875, of A. T. Currier, P. C. Tonner, and William Rubottom as appraisers.
4. Petition for probate of will, December 14, 1864, by A. J. King, naming as heirs, Tomas, Teresa, Francisco, Josefa, Carolina Palomares, and Samue! Rubidoux de Palomares.
5. Decree allowing the final account, March 18, 1876.
6. Petition for distribution, March 27, 1876.
7. Decree of distribution, June 3, 1876.
8. Statement of account.
9. Will of Benedita Saiz, mother of Ygnacio Palomares.
The decree of distribution recognizes as heirs: Tomas Palomares, Teresa Palomares, Francisco Palomares, Josefa Palomares, Carolina Palomares, and Concepcion Lopez de Palomares, his wife. It directs that the whole property be delivered to his wife. The property described consists of 3,335 acres of the Rancho San José, of the appraised value of $23,345, and cash amounting to $17,500.
The will of his mother is even more quaint and interesting, especially in the original ; but only a part of the translation is given here :
"In the name of God Almighty, one in spirit and three in person, in whom I have faith to live and die according to the Catholic religion which I profess, and in which I profess to live and die, I, Maria Benedita Saiz, finding myself in sound health and full judgment, have resolved before three witnesses to write this my will :
1st. Committing my soul to the Lord most High, who created me and re -. deemed me with his precious blood, by whose favor I have lived till now in this world ;
2nd. I desire and it is my will that after my death my body shall be buried in the Catholic cemetery of this city of Los Angeles.
3rd. Furthermore, I affirm that I am seventy-three years of age, a little more or less ; that I was married according to the rites of the Catholic Church to Don José Cristobal Palomares in the former mission of Santa Clara of this State of California, at the age of twelve years, a little more or less, by which marriage we have had twelve children. Of them, three died without issue, and the other nine who are living are the following: Francisco, Ygnacio, Barbara, Concepcion, Maria del Rosario, Estefana, Dolores, Josefa, Maria de Jesus. The which I con- stitute my legitimate heirs, and my goods shall be divided among them in equal parts, except my house, which I actually possess, which I leave to my son Ygnacio, as is explained in a separate article.
4th. (No obligations and no bills due.)
5th. Furthermore, I affirm that I have a home situated on Main Street, consisting of three rooms, which I order and it is my wish that it be delivered with its own ground plot to my son, Don Ygnacio Palomares, excepting eleven varas, a little more or less, to the south of said house, which I have deeded to my daughter, Maria del Rosario.
(Omitting 6th and 7th.) 5
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8th. Furthermore, I designate as my lawful executors, my son Ygnacio Palomares, Don José Luis Palomares, and Don Ygnacio Maria Alvarado; and 1 charge these three gentlemen to comply religiously with this my last will, in whose hands I place henceforth all my trust, not doubting that so it shall be justified.
Angeles, 10 December, 1855.
MARIA + BENEDITA SAIZ. witness witness Ca (t)yetano Arenas
José Antº Carrillo
witness José Juan Alvarado."
Of the children of Ygnacio, three had died-Luis, Manuel and Maria de Jesus. Carolina, the youngest, and a most charming girl, lived to be nearly twenty years old and was about to be married when she died. It was natural and fitting that two of the children of Ygnacio Palomares should marry two of the children of Ricardo Vejar, and that the association of these old grantees of the rancho should be in this way perpetuated. Thus Tomas Palomares, the oldest living son, married Madelena Vejar, and Teresa Palomares was married to Ramon Vejar. The home of Tomas Palomares was situated, as has been stated, east of the Burdick place, in a two-story adobe house, long known as the "Alkire Place" and not far from the San José Oak. Don Tomas was a large man, stout and hearty, with a kind heart and a cheery laugh. He wore a full beard and was a good-looking man. Quiet and retiring in disposition, he was thoroughly honest but not shrewd. And because he was not more aggressive he lost much of the land which he inherited. At this time a large family was growing up around them-Ricardo, Luis, Isidora (who later married Mannel Garcia ), Jesus ( wife of Leborio Rowland at Puente ), Ramon, and Carolina.
For a time after the death of Ygnacio, Pancho Palomares, as Francisco was always called, lived with his mother, Concepcion, and the younger children at the home place. This is the adobe built by Ygnacio on the Camino Real, and later known as the Meserve place, on Cucamonga Avenue in North Pomona. The first house, which had stood between the present sites of the "Casa Palomares" and "Cactus Lodge," had been taken down and its adobe bricks used in other buildings. The old homestead on the Camino Real was a popular place in its day ; and its tiendita was a favorite resort.
When Pancho married Doña Lugarda Alvarado they moved to the Casa Palomares, nearer to the San José Hills, and since known as the Pancho Palomares house. Here his children, Concepcion, Cristina, Frank and Porfirio, were born. Pancho Palomares was genial and popular, more energetic than Tomas and more inclined to business. He was designated by his father as an executor of his will and was also his mother's agent in most of her business relations. He was later associated with Mr. Burdick on the school board and in various subdivisions and sales of land. From 1872 to 1875 he held the office of county supervisor.
There was another sister of Tomas and Pancho Palomares, Doña Josefa, who was the second wife of Trinidad, son of Bernardo Yorba, whose grants from the Mexican Government included the Rancho de la Sierra, Rancho Santa Ana, and Rancho de Cañon Santa Ana, a great estate of 165,000 acres, whereon are now the cities of Santa Ana, Orange, and Anaheim, and most of Orange County.
In 1870, Don Ricardo Vejar was still living, well along in years, at the home in Walnut to which they moved in 1849, on leaving the old place by the Spadra hills. This later home place, a two-story adobe, with its home orchard, sur-
.
RAMON VEJAR
MRS. RAMON VEJAR
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rounded by a strong trascorral, was a fine example of the old Mexican hacienda. Here also was built the first chapel in the Valley, and the bell which was hung in this chapel was the first church bell* to ring in this region. Here he spent his declining years till his death, at the age of seventy-seven. His children, now married and with families of their own, were widely scattered. Two of them, Concepcion and Josefa, had married Demetrio and Leonoro Martinez; Pilar was the wife of José Antonio Lugo (of the Antonio Maria Lugo family) ; Maria had married Antonio María Reyes, and after his death Teodoso Perez; Francisco (Chico) had built and occupied the adobe in which Louis Phillips later lived ; and two, as we have seen, married children of Ygnacio Palomares. Of these two we have already referred to Doña Madelena, the wife of Tomas Palomares. The other was Ramon, who married Doña Teresa Palomares. Their estate included then, as now, some 250 acres north of the San José Hills and south of the Lords- burg road. It was Ramon who as a boy of sixteen watched the battle of the Chino Ranch House, and recovered his mount after it had been seized by a soldier. 'l'he Vejar home was another center, not only of ranch and farm life, but of family reunions and general good cheer. Doña Teresa Palomares de Vejar was quite remarkable for her quiet dignity and reserve. Her fine character showed in the strong lines of her face. A perfect lady, "to the manor born," she was fond of her home, bringing up her large family with scrupulous care. Though living to a ripe old age, her mind was always clear and keen. The old adobe house has only recently been destroyed by fire, and with it priceless heirlooms of early Span- ish and foreign origin: Don Ramon is, at the time this book is written, in 1919, one of the last of his generation in the Valley, and though seventy-nine years of age, is still vigorous in mind and full of the memories, both humorous and tragic, of the early days ..
By 1870 Luis Arenas, third of the early grantees, was gone and his children were living, some of them at the Huaje,; others farther west on the County Road, all to bè widely scattered in later years. The wife of Luis Arenas, Doña Josefa Palomares de Arenas, sister of Ygnacio, was, like her niece, Doña Teresa Palo- mares de Vejar, a lady of distinguished appearance and dignified bearing, having the highest respect of all who knew her. The daughters of Señor Luis and Doña Josefa were all beautiful women. And one at least was to become quite rich in her marriage to the "Bean King" of Ventura County.
Beyond the Vejar place to the west on the Mud Springs Road was the ranch of Trinidad Yorba. Sencr Trinidad Yorba was a son of Bernardo Yorba, men- tioned above as one of the leading Spanish gentlemen of the county. In the story of the Puente Rancho, the relation of the Yorba family to the Rowlands, grantees of the Puente Rancho, has been noted. Doña Sinobia Yorba, who married Tomas Rowland, and Doña Leonora Yorba, who married Juan Rowland, brother of Tomas, were both sisters of Trinidad and daughters of Bernardo Yorba. The large family of Trinidad Yorba was reduced, by the early death of six children and of Don Trinidad himself, to the mother, Doña Maria Jesus Lugo de Yorba, and two children, Francisca and Porfirio. Of these, Porfirio now lives with his
* This bell is guarded as a much prized relic by the family of Ramon Vejar: through the'r courtesy it was used at the pageant in the Greek Theater in Claremont, celebrating, in 1913, the twenty-fifth anni- versary of Pomona College. .
t The "Huaje" (Indian for springs) was at the turn of the "Old County Road" now known as Orange Grove Avenue, between Garey and Towne avenues. At that time the county road made no turns between what is now Garey and San Antonio avenues, but ran diagonally in a northeasterly direction and crossed "El Verde" ranch between the house and barn.
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family on the old place, and Francisca is the wife of Frank Vejar, a son of Ramon, their home being on the Vejar estate, to the west of the old homestead.
There was still another family whose name is well known among the ranchers living about the San José Hills in 1870, and whose name, through their children. is a familiar one today. It is a name also closely associated with that of Palomares. For it was through Epomoceno Alvarado, who married Doña Barbara, a sister of Ygnacio Palomares, that the Alvarado family came into the Valley. The older generation soon passed away, but two of the children were living at this time, with their families, south of the San José Hills. The land of Mariano Alvarado lay to the west and south of Cyrus Burdick's. Isidro Alvarado, his brother, lived still farther to the west on the north side of the County Road. Mariano had lived for a time on what was later the Loop place. It is said that he bought the place of Ygnacio Palomares for two horses, as the latter was anxious, while living in the old adobe to the west, to have another family near by, on account of the Indians, who sometimes made trouble. Later, however, the place reverted to the Palomares family and Mariano moved to their place farther west on the County Road. Another brother, Francisco Alvarado, lived near the Rubi- doux Hills, beyond Chino, and his daughter, Dolores, became the wife of Hon. F. M. Slaughter of Rincon. The fine adobe east of the San José Hills and south of the Casa Palomares, now called "Cactus Lodge," was the home of Ygnacio Alvarado. During the later years of his life Ygnacio Alvarado was confined to his bed, stricken with paralysis, but the house continued to be a center of attraction in the community, because of its location and roominess, and because of Doña Luisa Arvila de Alvarado, his wife, whose quiet hospitality stood out in contrast to the brusqueness of the paralytic. The picture of "Tia Luisa," as recalled by one who knew her, is that of a lady in black, dressed always in a loose waist, but- toned in front like a smock, and full-plaited skirt, with a large white neck-scarf or handkerchief over the shoulders, pinned at the throat with a brooch of jet or of Spanish gold, and with white stockings and black cloth slippers on her feet. Her kindness and generosity are well remembered.
Across the road from Tomas Palomares, by the stream which ran south from the hills through the Tomas Palomares place, lived the Garcias, a large family with many children and a saintly mother, who was good not only to her own children but to all poor waifs about, a madrina-godmother-indeed to everyone.
North of the hills the Arnetts leased land for farming for a few years before they moved to Spadra.
Such was the extent and personnel of the settlement around the eastern base of the San Jose Hills in the early seventies. Farther east on the Camino Real was the little settlement that clustered about the Rains' place on the Cucamonga Ranch. Southeast on the road to Warner's Ranch was the Chino Ranch House, now in charge of Joe Bridger, and its surrounding villagers. Down the San José Creek to the southwest was the Phillips Ranch House, Rubottom's and the begin- ning of the Spadra settlement. At Pomona there was nothing-save pasturage and grain for the Phillips herds-not even the name or thought of a name.
The adobe house of Ygnacio Alvarado, with its one spacious room, was always the gathering place for any social or religious occasion. The Alvarado dances were gay affairs. Sometimes the Mexican caballeros were dressed as of old in velvet knickerbockers, long silk hose and silver-buckled pumps, embroidered jackets and bright-colored waists and sashes, but usually riding in from a neigli- boring ranch, they would doff their sombreros and neckerchiefs and dance in their
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high leather boots and clanking spurs, which sometimes, in spite of their easy grace, wrought havoc with the rich silk dresses of their partners. And those dresses of the señoritas, heirlooms from generations of Spanish ancestry, and the Chinese shawls of silk and gold, the lace and the mantillas! All this wealth of dress was only a foil for the beauty of face and figure of those who wore them. To the music of fiddle and guitar or accordion, and with much clapping of hands, while someone called the changes, they danced the old quadrilles, the schottische and the polka. Or they sat around the room on the benches against the walls, while someone more graceful than the rest danced the cachucha, or the garrida. The young men bought cascarones from the old Indians who made them, and the belle of the evening was the señorita, or señora, whose hair was most filled with the sparkling confetti from cascarones broken over her head.
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