USA > California > San Mateo County > History of San Mateo County, California, including its geography, topography, geology, climatography, and description, together with an historical sketch of California; a record of the Mexican grants; the early history and settlement, compiled from the most authentic sources; some of the names of Spanish and American pioneers; legislative history; a record of its cities and towns; biographical sketches of representative men; etc., etc > Part 14
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In 1840 Copinger erected an adobe building at the place where Woodside now stands. This old dwelling-house is still standing, but would not be recognized now by those who knew it in its pristine simplicity. The old walls are hidden by an outside dress of weather-boarding, while within the house is ceiled in accordance with the more modern suggestions of taste and home architecture.
When war broke out between the United States and Mexico, Copinger identi- fied himself at once with the side of the former, and enlisted for active service under the stars and stripes. He was taken prisoner and sent to Mexico, but was afterwards released, when he returned to California, and remained at his ranch until his death, which occurred on the 23d of February, 1847. His remains were interred at the mission burying ground at San José. His daugh- ter Manuela is the only one of his children now living. She was born May 20th, 1847, and still resides, with her husband, Antonio Miramontes, on the land she inherited from her father.
The next pioneer in the order of arrival was Charles Brown, whose name is well remembered. He was born in the State of New York, in 1814. In 1828 he sailed out of New York harbor on the whaling ship Alvins, Captain Brews-
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ter, and arrived in San Francisco bay in the spring of 1829. While the vessel lay in this harbor, Brown found means to escape from her, and he hid himself in the house of Juana Briones, where he remained until the search for him was given up and the vessel had departed. He then went to San José, and made that his home for several years. Harry Bee says that Brown was living at the Pueblo in 1833, and that two years thereafter-in 1835 -- he removed and settled near Copinger. Subsequently, he purchased of Mr. Copinger a piece of the Cañada de Raymundo grant, and erected there his domicile, which has ever since been known as the Mountain Home Ranch.
Soon after 1835 Brown married Francesca Garcia, but had no children by this union. He put up on his ranch an adobe house near the present site of Searsville. Brown sold the ranch to Col. John Coffey Hayes, in 1852, having in 1850 moved his residence to San Francisco. His first wife had been dead for some years, and in 1850, after his removal to San Francisco, he married the widow of Augustus Andrews, by whom he had five children. He died at his home on Dolores street, San Francisco, December 10th, 1882.
Another name in the list of old pioneers is that of John Cooper, a native of Suffolk, Ekgland, who came to Yerba Buena in the capacity of steward on board of a British man-of-war, in 1833. He also deserted and sought a retreat in the redwoods, south on the peninsula. He lived in the old adobe at San Mateo, or in its immediate vicinity, and died there at the age of 68 years. His remains were laid away in the burying plat at the Mission de San Jose, in Alameda county.
Augustus Andrews, still another of the early settlers of San Mateo county, came to San Francisco in 1837. He was a carpenter by trade, born in Salem, Massachusetts. In 1844 he married Rosalia De Haro, present widow of Charles Brown. In 1846 he went, with his wife, to Woodside, where they rented land of Julin Copinger, and after two years' residence there, they returned to San Francisco, where Andrews died in 1849.
Dennis Martin, a pioneer of 1844, in which year he came to this coast with the Murphys, settled at Woodside shortly after his arrival. He lived in that immediate vicinity until about one year ago, when he removed from San Mateo county to San Francisco, his present home.
At this point in the notices of early adventurers of San Mateo county, a sketch of one whose name is associated with scenes and events of a less peace- ful nature, may not be amiss. The reader of the early reminiscences of Cali- fornia is not altogether unfamiliar with the name of Francisco Sanchez, once the owner of the Rancho San Pedro, and known in history as Colonel Sanchez. In order that the part he took in the stirring episodes of his time may be clearly understood, a narrative of what preceded his debut and brought him into his- torical prominence, will be in place.
When the present century had but come of age, Mexico ceased to be a
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portion of the Spanish realm, and plunged, by itself, into the undiscovered mysteries of statecraft. Iturbide, under the title of August I, was elected constitutional emperor, May 19th, 1822, and after reigning for a brief period, was forced to abdicate; he, however, returned to the government of his empire, and lost both his head and his crown.
About this time California would appear to have found extreme favor in the jealous eyes of three great powers, namely: France, the United States, and Great Britain. In the year 1818, Governor Sola received a communication from Friar Marquinez, of Guadalaxara, in Old Spain, wherein he informs His Excellency of the rumors of war between the United States and Spain, while, in February of the following year, Father Jose Sanchez writes to the same official that there is a report abroad of the fitting out of an American expedi- tion in New Mexico. Both of these epistles remark that California is the coveted prize. Great Britain wanted it, it is said, for several reasons, the chief of which was, that in the possession of so extended a coast line she would have the first harbors in the world for her fleets. This desire would appear to have been still manifested in 1840, for we find in February of that year, in the New York Express, the following:
" THE CALIFORNIAS .- The rumor has reached New Orleans from Mexico of the cession to England of the Californias. The cession of the two provinces would give to Great Britain an extensive and valuable territory in a part of the world where she has long been anxious to gain a foothold, besides securing an object still more desirable-a spacious range of sea-coast on the Pacific, stretching more than a thousand miles from the forty-second degree of latitude south, sweeping the peninsula of California, and still embracing the harbors of that gulf, the finest in North America."
In the meantime that epidemic, so chronic to Mexico, a revolution, had broken out in the year 1836, but nothing of interest occurred in respect to the portion of California of which we write save the departure from San José of a few of the settlers to join the opposing factions. While this strife was going on, Governor Alvarado was appointed to rule California, an office he held until December, 1842, before which time the differences between the government and the revolutionists had been arranged.
This adjustment, however, left misunderstandings rife between the two highest functionaries in the department of California; the civil and military authorities could not agree; each therefore complained of the other to the central government, who secretly dispatched General Micheltorena to assume the two-fold power of civil and military governor in place of Governor Alva- rado and General Vallejo. On seeing the turn which affairs had taken against them, the two officials agreed to lay aside their bickerings and make common cause against Micheltorena, whom they designated an usurper, and, aided by
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.
General Castro, drive him from the soil they deemed he tainted. The trium- virate declared California independent, and proclaimed war against the repre- sentative of Mexico. General Micheltorena having seen the gauge of battle thrown in his teeth, took the field to bring to a speedy end the insurrection; he advanced to within twelve miles of San José, but discovering that this portion of the country was up in arms, he beat a retreat, and halted not until he reached San Juan Bautista, which the insurgents carried in spite of Michel- torena's defense, in November, 1844. From this blow he never rallied, and at last, in February, 1845, he paid eleven thousand dollars for a passage on board the bark Don Quixote, Captain Paty, to be taken to San Blas. He joined this craft at San Pedro with about a hundred of his officers and men, and then proceeding to Monterey, took the general's lady and several others, and sailed for a more propitious shore. On the termination of strife, Pio Pico was immediately voted to the gubernatorial chair, and Jose Castro appointed general.
In the month of March, 1845, Brevet-Captain John Charles Fremont departed from Washington for the purpose of organizing a third expedition for the topographical survey of Oregon and California, which having concluded, he left Bent's Fort on or about April 16th, his command consisting of sixty-two men, among them being Kit Carson and six Delaware Indians. Passing through the Sierra Nevada in December, they arrived at Sutter's Fort on the 10th of that month, which, after a stay of only two days, they left, for Fre- mont was in search for a missing party of his explorers. It is not possible here to follow him in his long tramps over mountain and through valley, on this humane undertaking. Not being able to discover the whereabouts of Talbot and Walker, and having lost and consumed most of his horses and cattle (forty head of the latter he had procured from Captain Sutter), he determined to retrace his steps to that hospitable haven, which he reached January 15th, 1846. On the 17th, Fremont left Sutter's Fort in a lauuch for Yerba Buena, where they arrived on the 20th; the 21st saw him and Captain Hinckley sailing up the Bay of San Francisco in a whaleboat to the embarca- dero at Alviso, and on the 22d they proceeded to San José, where they received intelligence of the lost expedition being encamped on the San Joaquin, whither he at once dispatched two companies under Kit Carson to guide them into Santa Clara valley. Fremont and Hinckley then visited the New Almaden mines, and returned to San Francisco. On the 24th, Captain Fremont was on the move. He started from Yerba Buena, and that evening halted at the rancho of Francisco Sanchez; the following evening he passed near the San José Mission; the next night at the home of Don José Joaquin Gomez, in the Cañada of San Juan, and on the morning of January 27th, 1846, reached Monterey.
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Captain Fremont, in company with Thomas O. Larkin, United States Consul, then called upon General Castro, and stated the cause of his journey; he was in want of provisions, and requested that his party might pass unmolested through the country. The request was granted verbally, but when asked for the necessary passport in writing, the General excused himself on the plea of being ailing, but hinted that no other assurance was needed than his word. A visit of a like nature was then made to the Prefect of the district, Don Manuel Castro, and the same statement made, which he, too, verbally declared all right. He then received funds and provisions from the Consul, and made all haste to San José, where he was joined by his band, safely led from the San Joaquin by Kit Carson, but not finding here such stores as were needed by him, he determined to retrace his steps to Monterey, and after some fifteen or twenty days, camped in the Santa Clara valley, on the rancho of Captain William Fisher, known as the Laguna Seco. While here, a Mexican made his appearance and laid claim to certain of his horses, on the bold plea that they had been stolen. Now observe how from a little great things spring! On February 20th, Captain Fremont received a summons to appear before the Alcalde of San José, to answer to a charge of horse-stealing, an action which brought forth, the next day, the following communication from the gallant Captain :
"CAMP NEAR ROAD TO SANTA CRUZ, February 21, -1846.
"SIR: I received your communication of the 20th, informing me that a complaint had been lodged against me in your office for refusing to deliver up certain animals of my band, which are claimed as having been stolen from this vicinity about two months since, and that the plaintiff further complains of having been insulted in my camp. It can be proven on oath by thirty men here present that the animals pointed out by the plaintiff have been brought in my band from the United States of North America. The insult of which he complains, and which was authorized by myself, consisted in his being driven or ordered to immediately leave the camp. After having been detected in endeavoring to obtain animals under false pretenses, he should have been well satisfied to escape without a severe horse-whipping. There are four ani- mals in my band which were bartered from the Tulare Indians by a division of my party which descended the San Joaquin valley. I was not then present, and if any more legal owners present themselves, these shall be immediately given or delivered upon proving property. It may save you trouble to inform you that, with this exception, all the animals in my band have been purchased and paid for. You will readily understand that my duties will not permit me to appear before the magistrates in your towns on the complaint of every straggling vagabond who may chance to visit my camp. You inform me that unless satisfaction be immediately made by the delivery of the animals in ques-
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tion, the complaint will be forwarded to the Governor. I beg you will at the same time inclose to His Excellency a copy of this note.
"I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, "J. C. FREMONT, U. S. Army.
" To Sr. Don Dolores Pacheco, Alcalde of San José."
Hence the intrepid Pathfinder moved, by easy marches, in the direction of the Santa Cruz mountains, which he crossed about ten miles from San Jose, at the gap where the Los Gatos creek enters the plains; he then made his way towards the coast, and on March 1st encamped on the ranch of Edward Petty Hartnell. While here he received, late in the afternoon of the 5th, at the hands of a Mexican officer, protected by an armed escort, a dispatch from Don Manuel Castro, Prefect of the District, charging him (Fremont) with having entered the towns and villages under his (the Prefect's) jurisdiction, in contempt of the laws of the Mexican Government, and ordering him out of the country, else compulsory measures would be taken to compel him to do so. On the receipt of this, Fremont did not display much hesitancy in arriving at a con- clusion. That evening he struck his camp, and ascending " Hawks Peak," a rough looking mountain on the Salinas range, about thirty miles from Monte- rey, and two thousand feet above the sea level, commenced the construction of a rude fort, protected by felled trees, and stripping one of its branches nailed the "stars and stripes " to its highest point, full forty feet above their heads, and the morning of the 6th of March found him waiting further developments.
Let us now take a glance at the movements of the Mexican General. On the day that Fremont had fairly established himself on " Hawks Peak," Castro communicated the accompanying letter to the Minister of Marine, in Mexico: "In my communication of the 5th ultimo, I announced to you the arrival of a Captain, at the head of fifty men, who came, as he said, by order of the Government of the United States, to survey the limits of Oregon. This per- son presented himself at my headquarters some days ago, accompanied by two individuals (Thomas O. Larkin, Consul, and Captain William A. Leidesdorff, Vice Consul), with the object of asking permission to procure provisions for his men that he had left in the mountains, which were given to him, but two days ago, March 4th, I was much surprised at being informed that this person was only two days' journey from this place (Monterey). In consequence, I immediately sent him a communication, ordering him, on the instant of its receipt, to put himself on the march and leave the department, but I have not received an answer, and in order to make him obey, in case of resistance, I sent out a force to observe their operations, and to-day, the 6th, I march in person to join it and see that the object is attained. The hurry with which I undertake my march does not permit me to be more diffuse, and I beg that you will inform His Excellency, the President, assuring him that not only shall
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the national integrity of this party be defended with the enthusiasm of good Mexicans, but those who attempt to violate it will find an impregnable barrier in the valor and patriotism of every one of the Californians. Receive the assurances of my respect, etc. God and Liberty ."
We left Captain Fremont in his hastily constructed fort, every avenue to which was commanded by the trusty rifles of his men, calmly awaiting the speedy vengeance promised in the communication of the Prefect. To carry it out, Don José had summoned a force of two hundred men to the field, strength- ened by one or two cannon of small calibre, but nothing beyond a demonstra- tion was attained. In the language of the late General Revere (then Lieu- tenant), " Don José was rather in the humor of that renowned King of France, who, with twenty thousand men, marched up the hill and then marched down again." Castro's next move was the concocting of an epistle to Fremont, desiring a cessation of hostilities, and making the proposition that they should join forces, declare the country independent, and with their allied armies march against Governor Pio Pico, at that time at Los Angeles. To John Gilroy, an old Scotch settler, was intrusted the delivery of this exquisite piece of treachery. He reached "Hawks Peak" on the night of the 10th, but found the fort untenanted. Fremont had wearied, after three days' waiting for General Castro's attack, which, not being made, he struck his camp, threw away all useless articles that might impede a forced march, and the morning of the 11th found him in the valley of the San Joaquin. Gilroy, on his return, related his story of the camp-fires still alight, the discarded pack-saddles, and no Fremont, which so elated the brave Castro, that he at once resolved on attacking the fort, which he was the first to enter; after performing prodigies of valor, and sacking the inclosure, he sat down on one of Fremont's left-off pack-saddles, and penned a dispatch to Monterey, descriptive of the glorious victory he had gained, and that his return need not be looked for until his promise, long ago given, should be fulfilled.
And so matters for a time rested. The American settlers began to feel far from safe, and should the necessity for defense arise, no time should be lost in preparing for the emergency. Rumors were rife. The Governor, Pio Pico, looked upon them with deep hatred; their arrival and settlement was to him a source of poignant jealousy, while his feeling inclined him, in case the country should ever change hands, towards England rather than the United States. At a convention held at the San Juan Mission, to decide which one of the two nations, Great Britain or America, should guarantee protection to California against all others, for certain privileges and considerations, Gover- nor Pico is reported to have spoken in these terms:
" EXCELLENT SIRS: To what a deplorable condition is our country reduced ! Mexico, professing to be our mother and our protectress, has given us neither arms nor money, nor the material of war for our defense. She is not likely to
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do anything in our behalf, although she is quite willing to afflict us with her extortionate minions, who come hither in the guise of soldiers and civil officers, to harass and oppress our people. We possess a glorious country, capable of attaining a physical and moral greatness corresponding with the grandeur and beauty which an Almighty hand has stamped on the face of our beloved California. But although nature has been prodigal, it cannot be denied that we are not in a position to avail ourselves of her bounty.
"Our population is not large, and it is sparsely scattered over valley and mountain, covering an immense area of virgin soil, destitute of roads, and traversed with difficulty; hence it is hardly possible to collect an army of any considerable force. Our people are poor, as well as few, and cannot well govern themselves and maintain a decent show of sovereign power. Although we live in the midst of plenty, we lay up nothing; but, tilling the earth in an imperfect manner, all our time is required to provide subsistence for our families. Thus circumstanced, we find ourselves suddenly threatened by hordes of Yankee emigrants, who have already begun to flock into our country, and whose progress we cannot arrest. Already have the wagons of that per- fidious people scaled the almost inaccessible summits of the Sierra Nevada, crossed the entire continent, and penetrated the fruitful valley of the Sacra- mento. What that astonishing people will next undertake I cannot say; but in whatever enterprise they embark they will be sure to prove successful. Already are these adventurous land-voyagers spreading themselves far and wide over a country which seems suited to their tastes. They are cultivating farmis, establishing vineyards, erecting mills, sawing up lumber, building workshops, and doing a thousand other things which seem natural to them, but which Californians neglect or despise. What then are we to do? Shall we remain supine while these daring strangers are overrunning our fertile plains and gradually outnumbering and displacing us? Shall these incursions go on unchecked, until we shall become strangers in our own land? We cannot successfully oppose them by our own unaided power; and the swelling tide of immigration renders the odds against us more formidable every day. We cannot stand alone against them, nor can we creditably maintain our indepen- dence even against Mexico; but there is something we can do which will elevate our country, strengthen her at all points, and yet enable us to preserve our identity and remain masters of our own soil. Perhaps what I am about to suggest may seem to some faint-hearted and dishonorable. But to me it does not seem so. It is the last hope of a feeble people, struggling against a tyran- nical government, which claims their submission at home, and threatened by bands of avaricious strangers from without, voluntarily to connect themselves with a power able and willing to defend and preserve them. It is the right and the duty of the weak to demand support from the strong, provided the demand be made upon terms just to both parties. I see no dishonor in this
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last refuge of the oppressed and powerless, and I boldly avow that such is the step that I would have California take. There are two great powers in Europe, which seem destined to divide between them the unappropriated countries of the world. They have large fleets and armies not unpracticed in the art of war. Is it not better to connect ourselves with one of those powerful nations, than to struggle on without hope, as we are doing now ? Is it not better that one of them should be invited to send a fleet and an army to defend and protect California, rather than that we should fall an easy prey to the lawless adven- turers who are overrunning our beautiful country ? I pronounce for annexation to France or England, and the people of California will never regret having taken my advice. They will no longer be subjected to the trouble and grievous expense of governing themselves; and their beef and their grain, which they produce in such abundance, would find a ready market among the new-comers. But I hear some one say: 'No monarchy!' But is not monarchy better than anarchy ? Is not existence in some shape, better than annihilation ? No monarch ! and what is there so terrible in a monarchy ? Have not we all lived under a monarchy far more despotic than that of France or England, and were not our people happy under it? Have not the leading men among our agriculturists been bred beneath the royal rule of Spain, and have they been happier since the mock republic of Mexico has supplied its place ? Nay, does not every man abhor the miserable abortion christened the republic of Mexico, and look back with regret to the golden days of the Spanish monarchy? Let us restore that glorious era. Then may our people go quietly to their ranchos, and live there, as of yore, leading a thoughtless and merry life, un- troubled by politics or cares of State, sure of what is their own, and safe from the incursions of the Yankees, who would soon be forced to retreat into their own country."
It was a happy thing for California, and, as the sequel proved, for the views of the Government of the United States, a man was found at this juncture whose ideas were more enlightened and consonant with the times than those of the rulers of his country, both civil and military. Patriotism was half his soul; he, therefore, could not silently witness the land of his birth sold to any monarchy, however old; and he rightly judged that, although foreign pro- tection might postpone, it could not avert that assumption of power which was beginning to make itself felt. Possessed at the time of no political power, and having had few early advantages, still his position was so exalted, and his character so highly respected by both the foreign and native population, that he had been invited to participate in the deliberations of the Junta. This man was Don Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo. Born in California, he commenced his career in the army as an alferes, or ensign, and in this humble grade, he volunteered, at the suggestion of the Mexican Government, with a command of fifty soldiers, to establish a colony on the north side of the Bay of San
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