USA > California > San Benito County > History of San Benito County, California : with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, farms, residences, public buildings, factories, hotels, business houses, schools, churches, and mines : with biographical sketches of prominent citizens > Part 18
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Friar Serra entered upon his ministry with determination and spirit. Not satisfied with the work accomplished by his predecessors in Lower California, he determined to civilize the natives of Upper California.
With this end in view he embarked 'rom one of the gulf ports in Lower California, carrying a supply of cattle, imple- ments and seeds, to cultivate and seed the soil. The first mis- sion established in Upper California was San Diego, then fol- lowed San Carlos, near Monterey. These two points were probably nsed by the friars as bases of supplies, and thercafter the missions lying intermediately, were established as time and circumstances permitted. The last missions established in Upper California, are those of San Rafael and Sonoma. These were founded by the civil authorities, and were intended more as strategetic points, to guard against the encroachments of the Russians, who had established a trading-point at Bodega, than as civilizers of the Indians.
Under the administrations of Friar Serra, and his successors in office, twenty-one missions were established in Upper Cali- fornia. Their names, and chronological order of foundation,
88
THE SECULARIZATION OF THE MISSIONS.
are as follows: San Diego, 1769; San Carlos, 1770; San Gabriel, 1771; San Autonio, 1771; San Luis Obispo, 1772; San Francisco (Yerba Buena), 1776; San Juan Capistrano, 1776; Santa Clara, 1777; San Buenaventura, 1782; Santa Bar- bara, 1786; La Purissima, 1787; Santa Cruz, 1791; Soledad, 1791; San Jose, 1797; San Juan Bautista, 1797; San Miguel, 1797; San Fernando Rey, 1797: San Luis Rey, 1798; Santa Ynez, 1804; San Rafael, 1819; Sonoma, 1823. The last named is the only mission that was established after the date of Mexican independence, September 27, 1821.
SECULARIZATION OF THE MISSIONS.
By secularization, as used in this connection, is meant tlie appropriation of church property, or property under the con- trol of a church, to seeular or common use; and the transfer of tbe eivil government of a place, from a monastie or religious, to a secular or political government.
The first attempt to seeularize the missions of California, was made by the Governor and territorial deputation of California, on January 6, 1831, under the pretense of ameliorating the condition of the natives. To that end a bando or decree was issued, designating the mode of parceling out the lands aud property of the missions. The attempt was abortive in conse- quenee of not having the countenance of the Home Government. The question was again agitated, and the Congress of Mexico, on the 17th of August, 1833, passed an Act of secularization, wbich received the executive sanction. By this law, tbe title to the mission property passed to the Government. The missions were converted into parishes, and each parish was placed in charge of a priest, of the secular clergy. The churches of the several missions, with their sacred vessels, ornaments and vestments, and such adjacent buildings as were necessary for habitations, were assigned for the use of the parish. The expense of enforcing this law, was to be defrayed out of "tbe estates and revenues, at present recognized as the pious fund of the missions of California."
FREE PASSAGE AND DONATIONS OF LAND.
It being the purpose of the Mexican Government to increase the population of California, a colonization scheme wasinaug- urated. Free passage, and liberal donations of the Government domain (tbe lands of the ex-missions), were offered to all who would emigrate to California, settle there with their families, and assist in establishing local, self-sustaining governments. The offer was accepted by many. Hijar was commissioned Governor of California; and director of colonization. He was anthorized to take charge of all the mission property, esti- mated at that time to be of the value of four million dollars, in grain, cattle, hides, and specie. Hijar left Mexico with a motley erew for California, traveling overland. On reaching .
his destination, lie was informed that bis commission had been revoked, and Governor Figueroa, with the advice and consent of the territorial deputation, deereed that the mission lands, and all the personal property of the late missions, belonged to the converted Indians, and that they were the only owners thereof. Regulations were accordingly promulgated by Governor Figueroa, and the territorial deputation, for distributing the mission lands to every adult Indian, married or single; and likewise to equitably distribute one-half of the personal property among the pueblo Indians; the other half to remain at the disposal of the general Government. Hijar and his chief fol- lowers were subsequently arrested by the California authorities, and returned to Mexico, and that was the end of the Mexican colonization sehemes in California.
SAN ANTONIO MISSION.
The plans of Governor Figueroa did not fare any better. Very few of the Indians availed themselves of the offer. A grant of a small tract for gardening purposes was made in 1838 to Ygnacio Pastor, a former shepherd of the mission floeks, at San Antonio. This title, which was originally a " garden spot," as the name milpitas indicates, grew in extent as it progressed to final confirmation, until the judgment of the United States Supreme Court, in Atherton vs. Fowler, decreed that the holder of the Milpitas title was entitled to cleven square leagues-forty-three thousand two hundred and eighty and ninety one-hundredths acres of land. By this judgment, fifty families were ejected from their homes, where they had lived and toiled, many of them for a quarter of a century, in the belief that their homes were part of the Govern- ment domain. Doubtless the courts reached an bonest con- clusiou, governed as they must have been by the testimony, and by well established principles and precedents. But it is to be regretted that sueli precedents were ever established in Cal- ifornia, with respect to Mexican or Spanish grants of land.
Figueroa was honest and patriotic, and hoped to accomplish some good for the Indians under the secularization laws, but his efforts were futile in consequence of not being seconded by the leading men of California. Figueroa died at Monterey, on September 29, 1835, and was succeeded by General Castro. After Castro, the following were the Governors of California, in the order named: Nicolas Gutierrez, Mariano Chico, Nicolas Gutierrez, Juan B. Alvarado, Manuel Micheltorena, and Pio Pico. Pieo was governor at the time of the conquest by the United States. If any one of these several governors was anxious to accomplish the reforms contemplated by the secularization laws, it is to be remarked, and regretted, that each signally failed.
When the secularization laws were passed in 1833, the mis- sions of California were in a flourishing and prosperous con- dition. Up the coast from San Diego to San Francisco, and
ALMOND ORCHARD" RESIDENCE, OF M. SAN PEDRO, 3 MILES NORTH OF HOLLISTER SAN BENITO CO. CAL.
RESIDENCE OF H.W. COTHRAN, 3 MILES NORTHEAST OF HOLLISTER, SAN BENITO CO. CAL.
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FOUNDATION OF SAN JUAN BAUTISTA MISSION.
thence across the bay to San Rafael, was a complete chain of missions; the Indians had all been reclaimned and subjected to missionary control; tbey tilled the soil, gathered the harvests, and worked in the shops as smiths and carpenters, but always under the guiding hand of the padres. This sustaining hand being removed, it was natural that the Indian, with rare exception, should relapse into a state of semi-barbarians. This relapse was hastoned by the inconsiderate conduct of the " political chiefs " of California. The entire control of the temporal affairs of the missions heing committed to the civil and military authorities, an indecent scramble for the spoils at once began, and the padres being powerless to stay the retro- grade movement, the accumulations of half a century were soon dissipated, and the unfortunate Indians were relegated to a condition infinitely worse than their savage state.
FOUNDATION OF SAN JUAN BAUTISTA MISSION.
The Mission of San Juan Bautista was the fifteenth in order of establishment, in Upper California. The following extract from the mission records, tells the simple story of the founda- tion. The extract is a literal copy of an entry in Book One of Baptisms, San Juan Mission Records :-
+ VIVA JESUS.
" Libro primero de Bautismos, de la mision de San Juan Bautista, precursor de Jesus Christo.
FUNDADA
A expensos del Católico Rey de las Españas, Carlos IV. (Dios le guarde), y de orden del Exmo. Sor Marques de Branciforte virey de N. E. en el paraje llamado por los naturales Popu- lusium, y por los nuestros, desde la primer descubrimiento, San Benito.
COMENZADO
El dia proprio del Santa Patrono Titular, 24 de Junio de 1797. En el que yo, el infrascrito Presidente de las Misiones de la Nueva California, encargados por su magestad al apostolico colegio de Propaganda Fide de San Fernando de Mexico; con asistencia de los R. R. P. P. Pred'res App.cos Fr. Magin Catala y Fr. Josef. Manuel de Mortearena; de la tropa destinada a guarnacer el Establecimiento, presentes muchos Gentiles con- tornos, que se mostraron muy placenteros: hendije agua, el lugar, y una Cruz grande, que adoramos y enarholamos. Enton'e inmediatamente la letania de los Santos, y cante la misa en que predicé, exortando a cooperar a tan Santa ohra, solemnemente el Te Deum. Todo sea para mayor bonor y gloria de Dios Nuestro Seuor Amen.
Queda asi. el parage constituido en Mision, dedicada al glorioso precursor de Jesu Christo Sor Nuestro, el Señor San Juan Bau-
tista, en su proprio dia, y con facultad del App'co Colegio de San Fernando de Mexico de Proproganda Fide. Nombre para sus primeros ministros misioneros a los R. R. P. P.Pred'res App.cos Fr. Josef. Manuel de Mortearena y Fr. Pedro Adriano Martines.
FR. FERMIN FRANCISCO DE LASUEN."
From the foregoing it will be seen that the corner-stone of the mission church was laid on June 24, 1797. Excatly fifteen years aud one day thereafter, the structure was completedl and dedicated with appropriate ceremonies, as appears from an entry in Book One of Baptisms, page one hundred and twenty-six, of which the following is an epitomized tarnslatiou .-
"On this 25th day of June, 1812, Feruando VIL. (whom God preserve), being King of Spain ; Don Fernando Venegas, Vice- roy of New Spain ; Jose Joaquin Arrillaga, Governor of Cali- fornia; Esteban Tapis, President of the missions in California, and Fr. Felipe Arroyo de la Cuesta, minister at the mission, was celebrated tbe benediction (dedication) of the new church at San Juan Bautista."
FIFTEEN YEARS CONSTRUCTING THE CHURCH.
Fifteen years seems a long time to devote to the erection of the church, even when we consider the character of the laborers and the rude tools and appliances used in its construction. But it is manifest that work on the church building, as we find it to-day, was not steadily prosecuted. till its completion. It is likely that that part of the present church now used as a vestry, was first constructed, and occupied as a temporary place of worship until habitations for the civilized Indians and neopbytes, and store-houses could be prepared. I douht if a builder of our day would care to bind himself to finish the present church at San Juan and the adjacent buildings, in less time than fifteen years, having no other or better mechanical appliances, and resources, tban were at the command of the padres. See view on page 17.
THE MISSION BUILDINGS.
The mission buildings proper at San Juan consisted of the church, and the adjacent buildings occupied as habitations by the friar in charge and his assistants, and used as store-houses for the tallow, hides, grain, and mission stores. These huild- ings are still, in the main, in an excellent state of preservation. A short distance from these, say five hundred yards, stood the buildings allotted to tbe neophytes for dwelling-places. These latter consisted of two rows of buildings three hundred feet long, under a common roof, and separated by an aisle or hall- way. Each apartment w.s provided with a single door and window; the door opened from the hall-way, and the window to the outside, to give light and ventilation. There was no means of intercommunication hetween the apartments. Into these
.
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HOW THE MISSION CHURCHES WERE CONSTRUCTED.
apartments, it is said, the unmarried of both scx, adult as well as children, were separately locked at night, the key being in charge of the friars, or the major-domo, generally an Indian of reliable character, corresponding, we may believe, to the " trusty " in the modern jail.
These buildings were standing, roofless, in 1850, but there is now nothing to mark their place, save the mounds made by the crumbling walls. The church and adjoining buildings were so constructed as to form an inclosure or court, two hun- dred feet square. This court served the double purpose of a recreation ground for the padres, and as a protection against sudden raids of hostile Indians, which sometimes occurred in the early days of the inission. Two sides of this court are still standing, and are well preserved; the other sides are long since gone to decay. In clearing away the rubbish of adobes, bricks and tiles, left by the falling of the west wall of this inclosure, which obstructed what is now known as Third street in San Juan, the road master found a roll of sixty silver dollars, all coin of the Spanish realm, and mostly of very early dates in the seventeenth century. Perhaps some neophyte of the mission, who had not profited by the teachings of the padres, had appropriated the coins from the mission funds, and secreted them in a crevice of the adobe wall, where they were forgotten and remained till the wall crumbled, and the pick and spade of modern improvement brought them to light again.
Many of the mission churches of California were of excellent architectural design, well constructed and finely ornainented, witb cornices, niches and capped pillars. This was particularly the case where a stone found in many parts of California, and well adapted to building purposes, was accessible; as was the case at tbe missions of Carmelo and San Luis Rey. The latter is said to have been tbe inost commodious, substantial and ornate church structure in Upper or Lower California.
HOW THE BUILDING MATERIAL WAS PREPARED.
None of this building stone was found in the vicinity of San Juan Bautista, so that its church is built entirely of adobe (sun- dried brick) and ladrillo, a species of brick that was baked in a subterranean kiln. The adobe was made out of a species of soil, common to most parts of California. The material was mixed with straw, thoroughly kneaded by hand and foot, moulded into the desired dimensions, and afterwards spread upon the carth to dry in the sun, being turned twice in the process of drying, to prevent cracking. The regulation adobe was about thirty inches long by sixteen wide and four thick, and weighed fifty pounds. Tbe bricks were made of clay, inixed and kneaded like tbe adobe, and baked in subterranean kilns, witb a slow fire. These brick were twelve inches long, by eight wide and two thick, and are wonderfully durable, as may be seen in the mission church and corridor; the floors of which (heing laid with this hriek) are hardly abraded by the wear and tear of three-quarters of a century.
ARRANGEMENT OF INTERIOR OF MISSION.
The mission church proper at San Juan, is plain, externally, and in the interior-but not unseemly. The walls are of adobe, while the arches are sprung with brick. The building is one hundred and ninety feet long, from the entrance door to the altar. It is forty feet high, from floor to ceiling, and thirty feet wide. The plan of the interior is in the form of a cross. The chancel is separated from the nave by a railing, over which is spruug an arch spanning the full width of the church. The nave is subdivided, on either side, into seven sections, hy as many arches, now filled up, but so constructedas to be easily opened, and so to treble the standing and kneeling capacity of the church. (Pews were unknown in the old times. The worshipers stood and kneeled alternately, as the devotional exercises required.) There are three altars in the church : at the end of the nave, in the sanctuary, is located tbe principal one, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, the titular saint of the mission; behind this altar is a wooden structure, or wall, extending as high as the ceiling, cut into niches, and gaudily painted and frescoed. These niches are occupied by statues representing various saints ; the place of honor being held by a life-size image of St. John, of strikingly fine conception and execution. The transept contains two altars, one on either side. These are less pretentious than the one just referred to, and are painted and decorated in true Mexican style.
The buildings adjacent to the church, and which were for- merly used as habitations and store-houses, were so huilt as to form, with the church, the two sides of the court spoken of before. These buildings front on a corridor, which is sup- ported by twenty arches, resting on pillars of brick.
CONSTRUCTION OF WALLS AND ROOF.
All the walls are built of adohe, while the arches and pillars are constructed of hrick. The whole is roofed with tejas, or Mexican tiles, which are kiln burnt and shaped with the hand into the form of a longitudinal section of a truncated cone. These tiles were laid in the following manner: Redwood sapplings, of convenient length and about six inches at the butt, were used for rafters; these were sccured to a ridge-pole with thongs of soaked rawhide; on the rafters was then spread a layer of willow boughs, and the whole was covered, to the depth of about two inches, with a layer of soft mud; the tiles were then laid on this bed side by side, convex side down, and overlapping at the ends. Adown a row of tiles so placed, another row was laid, so as to present an unbroken surface to the wind, and effectually shed the rain. The tiles were kept in place by their own weight, and the mud which held them fast. Being laid iu inud which soon hard- ened, there was no danger of a crack or break in the tile, which bad an equal hearing on all its parts ; nor was it possible that
91
DEATH AND BURIAL OF A NOTED MISSIONARY.
the tiles could ever slide from their place, on account of the fiat- ness of the roof, the angle of its inclination being seldom more than ten degrecs-barely sufficient to shed the rain.
It is manifest that the projectors of these buildings had in view the ravages of Time's decaying hand, as well as the earth- quake shock, and accordingly, thade due provision for their permanency.
The walls throughout are massive, being of a uniform thick- ness of four feet, and provided, in all cases where the wall is over twenty feet high, with exterior supports or abutments of brick; these walls were covered with a thick coat of lime mortar, which, as is the case with the Mission of San Juan, has resisted the encroachments of the wind and rain down to the present time. Not until now have the most exposed parts given any sign of yielding to the merciless and continued pelting of the rain and wind, than which there is nothing more trying to work of this kind.
THE MISSION BELLS.
The church was provided with a chime of nine bells, ranging in size from the treble of a hundred pounds in weight to the deep base of many tons. These bells, according to the inscrip- tions, were cast in Peru. They were of a remarkably rich and mellow tone; only one of them is now in existence in its orig- inal form at the mission. Some were given to other churches, others, being cracked, were recast in San Francisco; but it is a singular circumstance that the original tone was not preserved, altbough tbe metal of the old bells was used, and they were recast to their original weight, and very nearly in their orig- inal form.
THE ORCHARD OF THE MISSION.
The mission orchard consisted of a well-assorted variety of apples, pears, and quince, and is situated in the fertile valley immediately under the plateau, whereon the church is built. Ten acres were devoted to this orchard, and the trees matured without irrigation. All the apple-trees have decayed; but several bundred of the pear-trees are still standing, yielding annually an abundance of fruit, and are, apparently, still vigorous enough to outlive the present generation of men.
The mission vineyard, olive and peach orchards, were situated about a mile south from the church, and contained thirty acres. Half a dozen olive-trees, and the remains of the deep ditch, that formerly inclosed tbe space, are the only evidences now to be seen of the fact that another generation labored here, and reposed under the grateful shade of the trees that their hands had planted and nursed to fruition.
THE MISSION CEMETERY.
The cemetery, or graveyard, consisted of about half an acre of ground, inclosed on three sides by a wall of solid masonry ; the
north wall of the church forming the inclosure on the other side. Entrance to the ground was obtained from the main church building. On the outside, these walls varied in height from ten to twelve feet, while on the inside, the surface of the ground was level with the tops of the walls, so that, a person from the outside, witnessing a burial, was forcibly reminded of a Parsee funeral, which consists, it is said, in depositing the corpse on the top of a high tower, where the flesh is devoured by carrion birds.
I am at a loss how to account for the peculiarity of this burial ground. Earth was certainly not carted in to fill up the space, and it is hardly probably that long use and frequent inter- meuts raised the inner surface of the ground to the tops of the walls. The latter is the theory of some of the ohl Indians, one of whom once told me, that as a boy he could not scale thie walls of the graveyard from the inside. .
I find from the mission record of burials, that the whole number of bodies interred iu this ground is four thousand three hundred and fifty-six. I have seen many a grave dug there, and in no instance have I failed to see the bones of at least one skeleton unearthed; sometimes as many as three skulls were tossed to the surface from one new-madle grave. The place was actually and literally a " bone-yard.", Burials are no longer permitted there. More commodious grounds are pro- vided, where the mourners can leave their dead with the assur- ance that the next funeral party will not disturb his rest. When a priest died, his body was not buried in the common ground, but under the floor of the church.
A NOTED MISSIONARY HERE BURIED.
In Book One of Burials, page 155, is an entry recording the fact of the death and burial of Fr. Esteban Tapis in the mis- sion church.
Fr. Tapis is the only one of the missionaries who died at San Juan. From an obituary notice, appended to the above entry, tbe following facts are obtained: Fr. Tapis was born in the vil- lage of Santa Coloma de Farnese, province of Gerona Cataluña, Spain. His services in the order of St. Francis, as novitiate and priest, extended over a period of forty-eight years. He was for forty years an anointed priest. He labored as an evangelist, in America, forty years; thirty-five of which were spent in Upper California. He was successively in charge of the Missions of Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, Santa Ynez, San Carlos and San Juan Bautista. He expired at San Juan Bautista, at two o'clock and ten minutes in the afternoon of the fourth day of November, 1825.
Fr. Tapis was, according to this account, a man of great learning. He wrote the music for the chureb. Three heavy volumes of this music are still preserved in the church, The music is written on well-prepared parchment, in bold and elear characters.
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SOME EARLY RECORDS OF SAN JUAN MISSION.
The record furtber shows that the remains of Fr. Tapis were committed to their final resting.place, under the floor of the chancel of the church, with the solemn ceremonies that his mother church was wont to bestow on the remains of her sons who wrought well, and rendered a good account of their stewardship.
The only books of records now to be found at San Juan Mis- sion, are those containing the records of birthis, marriages and deaths, and half a dozen or so odd volumes, containing the census lists of the civilized Indians.
NAMES OF INDIAN TRIBES.
From the census lists I copy the names of some of the tribes of Indians, as follows: Nopthrinthre, Cynlahuas, Copcha, Chausita, Genche, Paucho, Uthrocus, Notaliths, Cotbsemejait, Thrayapthre, Acbilia, Silclamne, Cucunum, Ausaymas, Pai- cines, Tructra.
This list is incomplete, as is evident from a foot-note, made by Fr. Arroyo, to one of the lists, stating that twenty-one tribes had been reclaimed and Christianized. From this list it will be found that two of the ranchos of San Benito county get their names from the Indians wbo inhabited the locality ; they are the Cienega de los Paicines, and San Felipe y Ausaymas.
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