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 6
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FIRST SCHOONER BUILT.
1831 .- William Wolfskill was born March 20, 1798, near Richmond, Kentucky. Until the year 1831 he roamed through the grent West as n hunter and trapper. In February of that
- RESIDENCE DF HENRY WATSON, PAICINES, SAN BENITO CO. CAL.
31
BIOGRAPHIES OF PIONEER SETTLERS.
year he reached Los Angeles with a number of others, and here the party broke up. Aided by Friar Sanchez, then in charge of San Gabriel Mission, he, in company with Nathaniel Pryor, Richard Laughlin, Samuel Prentiss, and George Young, late of Napa county, (all Americans) built a schooner at San Pedro for the purpose of hunting sea-otter.
FIRST BILLIARD TABLES MADE.
1832 .- Joseph Pawlding was a native of Maryland, and entered California from New Mexico in the winter of 1832-3, by way of the Gila river. He afterwards traveled a good deal in both countries. He was a carpenter by trade, and made the first two billiard tables ever made in California; the first for George Riec, and the second for John Rhea. He died at Los Angeles, June 2, 1860.
IIUNTERS AND TRAPPERS OF 1832.
1832 .- About the middle of .1832 another band of trappers, under Michael Laframboise, came into San Joaquin valley from the north and until the next spring spent the time in trapping on the streams flowing through the great valley. The Hudson Bay Company continued sending out its employés into this region until about the year 1845. Their trappers in California belonged to the "Soutbern Trapping Party of the Hudson Bay Company," and were divided into smaller parties com- posed of Canalians and Indians, with their wives. The trap- ping was carried on during the winter in order to secure a good class of furs.
The free trappers were paid ten shillings sterling for a prime beaver skin, while the Indians received a moderate compensation for their services.
The outfits and portions of their food were purchased from the company.
HUDSON BAY COMPANY.
The Hudson Bay Company employed about ninety or one hundred men in this State. The greater part of the Indiaus were fugitives from the missions, aud were honest and peace- ably inclined, from the fact that it was mainly to their interest to be so.
From 1832 the chief rendezvous was at French Camp, about five miles south of Stockton. About 1841, the com- pany bought of Jacob P. Leese the building he had ereeted for a store in San Franciseo, and made that their business center for this territory.
The agents were Alexander Forbes and William G. Ray. The latter committed suicide in 1845. His death, and the searcity of beaver and otter, caused the company to wind up their agency and husiness in the territory.
FIRST ENGLISH HISTORIAN OF CALIFORNIA.
Mr. Forbes was for a long series of years the British consul at San Francisco, and by his genial manners, superior culture, and finished education, made a record which places him among the noted men of the State. This gentleman now resides in Oakland; and, although seventy-five years of age, his faculties are as strong as ever. His memory is wonderful, and this power of retention, with the vast fund of knowledge possessed, has been of great service to the historian. He has the honor of being the first English historian of California, his " California," published in London in 1839, being written in Mexico four years previous to the date of its publication.
1832. - In 1832 came Thomas O. Larkin from Boston, intending to manufacture flour. Mr. Larkin's home was in Monterey, and he probably did far more to bring California under the United States flag than any other man.
1833 .- James Peace, a Sevtehman, came into the country in 1833, having left a ship of the Hudson Bay Company He was of a somewhat roving disposition, and became ac- quainted with all the earlier pioneers from Monterey to the Sonoma District. Was with his countryman, John Gilroy, in Santa Clara county ; was with Robert Livermore, an English seaman, who settled and gave the name to the Livermore valley in Alameda county, and was at New Helvetia, the establishment of General Sutter.
Probably no foreigner antedated him as a lumberman in the San Mateo redwoods, as he was whip-sawing lumber there long before the Mexican war, during which he was taken prisoner and conveyed to Mexico.
FIRST AMERICAN RESIDENTS OF SAN FRANCISCO.
1835. - William A. Richardson moved from Saneelito to Yerba Buena (San Franciseo), opened a store, and began trad- ing in hides and tallow in the summer of 1835.
Jacob P. Leese, for a number of years a resident of Los Angeles, in July, 1836, built a store in Yerba Buena. He had previously met wany obstacles in obtaining a grant of laud upon which to locate the building, but by the authority of Governor Chico, this was finally effeeted.
Previous to the location of Riebardson andl Leese, the only inhabitants of the pueblo and mission at Yerba Buena were Spaniards, Mexicans, and Iudiaus.
EARLY EMIORATION SOCIETIES.
Iu 1837 several societies were organized in the American States to promote emigration to the Pacific coast. During that and ensuing years, thousands of emigrants journeyed across the rocky and snowy mountains, euduring toils and hardships indescribable, to settle in California and Oregou.
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32
SETTLERS ORDERED TO LEAVE CALIFORNIA
Others came by the way of Mexico or l'ape Horn, and soon the valleys of the northern rivers were people by American agrienlturists; and the southern and coast towns by American traders, who speedily monopolized the whole business of the country, and even in some communities formed the numerical strength of the white population.
We have mentioned a few of the carly pioneers so as to give somne idea of the extent and kind of settlers up to about 1840, at which time numerous parties arrived, and we shall only now mention those of the most importance.
SETTLERS FORBIDDEN TO COME.
The Mexican Congress, feeling that California was about to slip from their country as Texas had done before, passed laws against the intension of foreigners; but there was no power in the State competent to put these aliets into excention.
FIRST SAW-MILL ERECTED.
1833 .- Isaac Graham came from Hardin county, Kentucky, to California in 1833. He settled near Monterey, and his . naine is intimately associated with Santa Cruz and vicinity.
It is said that he erected on the San Lorenzo, somewhere in the neighborhood of where the powder works nuw are, the first saw-mill in California.
Early in life he went to New Mexico, and Benjamin. D. Wilson met him at Taos. Mr. Wilson has described him as being at that time a very disreputable character. He also says that Graham left a family in Tennessee, being obliged to Hee that State to escape the consequences of some offense he : had committed.
EARLY DISTILLERY IN MONTEREY.
He reached Los Angeles in company with Henry Naile about 1835, and remained there until the following year, when he removed to the " Natividad," Monterey county, and (according to Mr. Wilson) " established a small distillery in a tule hut, which soon became a nuisance owing to the disrepu- table character of those who frequented it."
Graham was a brave and adventurons man, a thorough frontiersman, at home with his rifle in his hand, and this had become known lo the native California officials in Monterey.
When, in 1836, Juan B. Alvarado, a subordinate enstoms officer, was plotting revolution and contemplated the oxpulsion of Governor Guiterrez, he came to Gralmam and sought his assistance, and that of the foreigners who acted with him in the matter.
INDEPENDENCE OF MEXKG CONTEMPLAYKI.
On condition that all connection with Mexico should be severed, and that California should become independent, the assistance of Graham and others was promised.
And in due time it was rendered. And by means of it Guiterrez was sent away, and Alvarado and his party became masters of the situation. Now was the time for the fulfill- ment of the promise of independence of Mexico.
But Mexico, instead of punishing Alvarado, proposes to con- firm him in his usurped authority. Alvarado, pleased and flattered by this, quickly breaks his promise to Graham.
But in so doing he feels a wholesome fear of those rifles, by the assistance of which he had himself gained his promo- tion.
FOREIGNERS BEGIN TO BE FEARED.
His first care seems to have been to disable that little force of foreigners, and to put it out of their power to punish his breach of laith.
Orders are sent out secretly to all the Alcaldes in this part of the country simultaneously, on a certain night to arrest foreigners and bring them to Monterey. Jose Castro himself heads the party for the arrest of Graham.
GENERAL ARREST OF FORERINERS.
It was on the morning of the 7th of April. 1840, before light, that the party reached Graham's dwelling. They broke in the doors and shattered the windows, firing at the inmates as they saw them rising from their beds. One of the assailants thinking to make sure of Graham himself, discharged a pair of pistols aimed at his heart, the muzzle touching his cloak, which he had hastily thrown over his shoulders.
This assassin was amazingly surprised afterwards on secing Grabain alive, and he could not account for it till he examined his holsters, then he found the reason. There, sure enough, were the balls in the holsters! The pistols had been badly loaded. and that it was that saved Isaac Graham from instant death.
He was however hurried to Monterey, and placed in confine- ment, as also were other foreigners, arrested on that same night.
What followed is best toll in a memorial which these sune prisoners afterwards addressed to the Government of the United States, asking that. Mexico be required to restore their property, and compensate them for their injuries and lost time.
We quote from an unpublished manuscript, which Rev. S. H. Willey obtained in Monterey, in 1849 ;-
APPEAL TO THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT.
"To his Excellency, John Tyler, President of the United States:
" On the morning of the seventh of April, one thousand eight hundred and forty, wo, your petitioners, citizens of the United States of North Amerien, and many more of our countrymen. together with several of H. B. M. subjects, engaged in business in Monterey and its vicinity, were, without any just cause or provocation mest. illegally seized, taken from our lawful deen-
33
CAPTURE AND IMPRISONMENT OF SETTLERS.
pation, (many being married to natives of the country), and incarcerated in a loathsome prison in Monterey. The number was subsequently increased by the arrival of others for the space of some ten or twelve days. No warrant or civil process was either read or shown them (at the time of their seizure; f nor has the Government of California conceded to this present day in any official manner, why or wherefore that our persons were thus seized, our property taken from us, what crime we had committed, and why transported like so many criminals to a province of Mexico.
"The perpetrators of this must outrageous action against the rights and privileges allowed to American citizens (accordling to treaty) were principally officers and soldiers appertaining to this Government and acting hy authority and command (as the undersigns have heard and firmly believe). of his Excellency, Don Juan Bautista Alvarado, Governor of the two Californias. " Some of us were inarched on foot to prison, some forced to go on their own animals, and, on their arrival at the prison door, saidl animals and equipments taken from them, including what was found in their pockets, and with menacing, thrust into prison. The room in which we were confined, being about twenty feet square, without being floored, became very damp and offensive, thereby endangering our health, at times, One had to stand while another slept, and during the first three days not a mouthful of food found or offered us by onr oppressors, but living on the charity of them that jutiedl us.
" To our countryman, Mr. Thomas O. Larkin, we are bound in conscience to acknowledge that he assisted us not only in food, but in what other necessaries we at the time stood in need of and what was allowed to be introduced; some of us were taken out of prison from time to time and released by the intercession of friends or through sick ness.
PRISONERS EXAMINER BY THE AUTHORITIES,
" Eight of the prisoners were separately called npon and examined by the authorities of Monterey, having as interpreter a native of the country (who himself frequently needs in his occupation one to interpret for him), there being at the same time, inen far more equivalent for the purpose than he was, but they were not permitted; the above-mentioned eight were, after examination, taken to another apartment and there man- acled to an iron bar during their imprisonment in this port, After fifteen days confinement, we were sent on board of a vessel bearing the Mexican flag, every six men being shackled to an iron bar, and in that condition put into the hold of said vessel and taken to Santa Barbara, a sea-port of this province, and there again imprisoned in company with the mate of an Amer- ican vessel, recently arrived from Boston, in the United States, (and part of the crew) said vessel being sold to a Mexican, resident in this territory, without, as before mentioned, any just or legal cause being assignel, why or wherefore.
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"On arriving at Santa Barbara, we were landed and taken some distance; three of us in irons were put into an ox-cart, the remainder on foot; among the latter some were chained in pairs, in consequence reached the prison with much difficulty. Here we were put into a room without light or means of air entering only through a small hole in the roof, For the first twenty-four hours we were not allowed food or water, although we had been some time walking in a warm sun. One af the prisoners became so completely prostrated, that for some time he could not speak, nor swallow when water was brought to him, and would have expired but for the exertions of a Doctor Den, an Irish gentleman living in the town, who, with much difficulty, obtained admittance to the sufferer. By his influence and some Americans in the place, food and water were at last sent us,
VIEW OF MONTEREY IN 1846.
" In Santa Barbara our number was increased by the addition of more of our countrymen; some of those brought from Mon- terey were discharge I and received passports to return; the remainder were marched to the beach, again put in the holl of a vessel (in irons), and in this manner taken to the port of San Blas, landed, and from thenec, in the midsummer of a tropical climate, marelied on fout sixty miles to the city of Tepic, and there imprisoned. Some time after our arrival we were discharged by the Mexican Governor, and in the space of four hundred and fifty-five days from the commencement of our imprisonment, we again returned to Monterey, From the day we were taken up until our return we had no opportunity to take care of our property ; we were not even allowed when orderel on board in Monterey, to send for a single garment of clothing, nor permitted to carry any into the prison, but such as we had on; and not once during our said imprisonment in Monterey, although in a filthy and emaciated condition, per- mitted to shave or wash ourselves.
"When in prison, in the hold of the vessel, and an our march, we were frequently threatenedl, pricked and struck with swords by the subaltern officers of the Mexican Gov- erninent
.
34
SETTLERS RELEASED AND INDEMNIFIED. .
SUFFERINGS OF THE PRISONERS.
" Ont sufferings in prison, on board ship, and when drove on foot in a warm sun, then ordered to sleep out at night in the dew, after being exhausted by the heat and dust, surpass our power of description, and none but those who were with us ean realize or form a just conception of our distressed situation.
" For many weeks we were fed in a manner different from the common mode, kept in a filthy and disgusting condition, which, combined with the unhealthy state of the country where we were taken to, has caused death to some, and rendered unhealthy for life, others of our companions.
" Up to this time the undersigned sufferers, as aforsaid, have received no redress of their wrongs and losses sustained, nor have they been so much as allowed common facilities for prov- ing accounts and establishing just claims, several of the Alcaldes of California having positively refused to examine claims or take testimony against the Government, or to otherwise aid citizens of the United States in recovering lost property, or in sceking just indemnifieation therefor.
"Sinee our return to California from our confinement in Mexico, Captains Forest and Anliek have visitedl this port at different periods, in command of United States vessels. Each of those gentlemen took up the subject of our claims and ill-treatment, and, as we believe, received fair promises from the Governor of the province; but the stay of those officers at Monterey having been limited to a few days only, was entirely too short to effect any good. The Governor's promise, orally, made by a deputy to Captaiu Aulick, on the eve of his depart- ure, so far from being complied with or adhered to, was, as we have reason to believe, abrogated by his orders to Alcaldes, not to listen to the complaints of Americans, i. e., citizens of the United States.
" In conclusion, we beg leave to add that our grievances have not been a little heightened by the apparent neglect of our native country. The Government of the United States, so far as we are apprised up to this time, not having come forward in our behalf; whilst our fellow-sufferers, subjects of H. B. M. have had their complaints promptly attended by her Minister, resident at Mexico, and a man-of-war was sent here to demand. and promptly received redress sought for the outragu perpie- trated on H. M. subjects.
" We, the undersigned, citizens of the United States, aforesaid, were among the prisoners, some of us to the last day, and have never given provocation to the Mexican Government for such cruel treatment, nor do we know of any given by our compan. ions, and respectfully submit to your notice, the foregoing statement of facts, in hopes that through your means, this affair will be fully represented, so that the Government of the Unitedl States will take prompt measures to secure to ns indemnity for the past, and sceurity for the future, according to the rights and
privileges guaranteed to us by treaty, existing between our Government and Mexico.
"ISAAC GRAHAM, WILLIAM BARTON,
" WILLIAM CHARD, ALVIN WILSON,
" JOSEPH L. MAJORS, CHARLES H. COOPER,
" CHARLES BROWN,
AMBROSE Z. TOMILSON,
" WILLIAM HANCE,
HENRY NAILE.
" Monterey, Upper California, the 9th of November, 1842."
Two years later these persons were returned to California, the charges not having been proven; and Mexico was obliged to pay them a heavy indemnity to avoid serious complication with the American Government. All these died several years ago.
It appears that after Alvarado, Castro and company, had got their dreaded company of foreigners in confinement on board a vessel ready to sail to Mexico, seven citizens of note, of Califor- nia, signed and issued the following proclamation, which is a curiosity in itself and illustrative of the men and the times :-
A SPECIMEN PROCLAMATION.
"PROCLAMATION MADE BY THE UNDERSIGNED .--
" Eternal Glory to the Illustrious Champion and Liberator of the Department of Alta California, Don Jose Castro, the Guardian of Order, and the Supporter of our Superior Gor- ernment.
" Fellow-Citizens and Friends: To-day, the eighth of May, of the present year of 1840, has been and will be eternally glo- rious to all the inhabitants of this svil, in contemplating the glorious expedition of our fellow-countryman, Don Jose Castro, who goes to present himself before the Superior Goverument of the Mexican nation, carrying with him a number of suspi- cious Americans, who, under the mask of deceit, and filled with ambition, were warping ns in the web of misfortune; plunging us into the greatest confusion and danger; desiring to terminate the life of our Governor and of all his subalterns; and, finally. to drive us from our asylmins; from our country : from our pleasures, and from our hearths.
" The bark which earries this valorous hero on his grand commission goes filled with laurels and crowned with triumphs. płonghing the waves and publishing in distinct voices to the passing billows the loud vices and rejoicings which will resound to the remotest bounds of the universe. Yes, fellow-citizens and friends, again we say, that this glorious Chief shonkl have a place in the innermost recesses of our hearts, and be hold as dear to us as our very breath. Thus we desire, and in the name of all the inhabitants, mako known the great rejoicing> with which we are filled, giving, at the same time, to our Superior Government the present proclamation, which we make for wid worthy chiel; and that our Governor may romain santistie , that
35
FIRST SETTLER IN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY.
if he (Castro) has embarked for the interior of the Republic, there still remain under his (the Governor's) orders all his fel- low-countrymen, companious in arms, etc., etc."
DISAPPOINTMENT AND HUMILIATION.
But a great disappointment awaited this heralded hero on his arrival in Mexico. I find the description of it in another manu- script, as follows :-
" Commandant Castro and his three or four official friends rode into Tepic in triumph, as they thought, and inquired for the house of the Governor. On their arrival at his Excellency's they were refused admittance and ordered to go to prison, which one of them said could not be compared in comfort to the meanest jail or hole in all California. Here they had time to reflect on their scandalous conduct to so many human beings. Castro was then ordered to the City of Mexico and tried for his life, Mr. Packenham, the Euglish Minister, having every hope of his being sent a prisoner for life to the prison of San Juan de Uloa in Vera Cruz. The culprit himself afterwards con- fessed that suchi would have been his fate bad Mr. Ellis, the American Minister, exerted himself equally with Packenham.
After an absence of two years and expending eight or ten thousand dollars, he returned to California a wiser and bet- ter man than when he left it, and never was afterwards known to raise a hand or voice against a foreigner. His officers and soldiers returned to California in the best manner they could, leaving their country as jailors and returning prisoners."
FIRST SETTLER IN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY.
1835 .- Dr. John Marsh arrived at the foot of Mount Diablo and purchased the "Ranchos los Megauos" in 1837, of three square leagues of land, and settled upon it in the same year, and occupied it afterwards until his death, which occurred in 1856. The doctor lived in a small adobe house near where he afterwards constructed what is known as the "Marsh Stone House." So that the doctor was the first born uative American citizen who ever resided permanently in this county, or within the district comprised in its territorial limits as originally defined. It would he difficult now to conceive of a more lonely and inhospitable place to live.
Until about 1847, Dr. Marsh had no American neighbors nearer than within about forty miles, and dwellings on adjoin- ing Spanish ranches were from twelve to fifteen miles distant.
All early emigrant parties made Dr. Marsh's ranch an object- ive point, as it was so easily sighted, being at the foot of Mount Diablo. All parties met with a cordial reception.
Sutter's Fort and Marsh's Ranch were the two prominent set- tlements in northern California at that date. Dr. Marsh was an educated man and an able writer, as will be seen from the following letter :--
DR. JOHN MARSH TO HON, LEWIS CASS .*
FARM OF PULPUNES, NEAR ST. FRANCISCO, } UPPER CALIFORNIA, 1842.
HON. LEWIS CASS-Dear Sir: You will probably be some- what surprised to receive a letter from an individual from whom you have not heard, or even thought of, for nearly twenty years; yet although the lapse of time has wrought mauy changes both in men and things, the personal identity of us both has probably been left. You will, I think, remember a youth whom you met at Green Bay in 1825, who, having left his Alma Mater, had spent a year or two in the "far, far West," and was then returning to his New England home, and whom you induced to turn his face again toward the setting sun; that youth who, but for your influence, would probably now have been administering pills in some quiet Yankee village, is now a gray-haired man, breeding cattle and cultivating grape-vincs
VIEW ON SAN JOAQUIN RIVER BY MOONLIGHT,
on the shores of the Pacific. Your benevolence prompted you to take an interest iu the fortunes of that youth, and it is there- fore presumed you may not be unwilling to hear from him again.
I left the United States in 1835, and came to New Mexico, and thence traversing the States of Chihuahua and Sonora, erossed the Rio Colorado at its junction with the Gila, near the tide-water of Gulph, and entered this territory at its southeru part. Any more direet route was at that time unknown and considered impracticable.
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