USA > California > Santa Barbara County > History of Santa Barbara county, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 22
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County Clerk allowed $7.50 per day for ser- vices $30 00
For acting as Justice in a criminal case.
10 00
Bill of Deputy Sheriff and Treasurer of Los
Angeles County in the Sanchez arrest
allowed
391 40
MARCH 24th.
Same Board.
Emidio Ortega allowed for acting as Coroner on the body of an Indian .. $40 00 Sheriff allowed for acting as Jailer and feed- ing prisoners, one month 30 00
For services from April 4th to May 20th
216 00
Octaviano Gutierrez for acting as Coroner on
the body of an Indian
33 00
Rent for building used as C. H., 7 months.
315 00
AUGUST 4, 1851.
Same Board.
Teodoro Arrellanes, Juan Camarillo, and de la Guerra complained of their assessments being too bigh.
AUGUST 5th.
Jury lists made by Court.
AUGUST 6th.
A. F. Hinchman appointed Justice of the Peace, to act as Associate Justice.
List of taxable citizens made by the Assessor and accepted by Court.
Grand Jury list made out.
AUGUST 7th.
Rate of taxation established at fifty cents on each $100.
1
89
NEW ALLEGIANCE.
Esteban Ortega and A. F. Hinchman, as Indian Commissioners, presented a report on the condition of the Indians.
V. Hearne, Deputy Sheriff, presented account of Sheriff, for services as Jailer and feed- ing prisoners from May 23d to June 9th; allowed $67 00 Deputy Sheriff Streeter allowed for fecding prisoners, twelve day's 6 00
Sheriff allowed for ten days' attendance (subsequently reconsidered) 80 00
County Assessor E. S. Hoar allowed
266 00
Assistant Assessor Rodriguez allowed
144 00
OCTOBER 7, 1851.
E. Ortega as Associate Justice, three days, allowed $ 18 00
E. Ortega as Coroner in Heavey's case.
50 00
J. W. Burroughs, as Sheriff, from August 7th to October 7th. 90 00 As Clerk of Board of Sessions and money for stationery 20 00 Thomas Robbins allowed for rent of Court House, for six months. 447 00
Antonio Maria de la Guerra, County Treas-
urer, for county expenses
332 24
Eugene Lies, as Interpreter
12 00
OCTOBER 10th.
A. F. Hinchman thirty-nine days as Auditor_$133 00
Complaints were made by Teodoro Arrellanes, Luis Arrellanes, Luis T. Burton, and Isaac J. Sparks, that their property in San Luis Obispo County had been assessed as in Santa Barbara; whereupon the Assessor was instructed to confine his operations to Santa Barbara alone.
DECEMBER 9th. Judge, Carrillo; Associates, Ortega and Burroughs. Francisco Leyba allowed for rent of C. H., two months $ 50 00
Esteban Ortega as Coroner and J. P.
103 00
J. W. Burroughs as County Clerk and Audi-
tor, for three months.
189 00
DECEMBER 10th.
Account of County Treasurer, Antonio Maria de la Guerra, from January 14th to De-
cember 9th, allowed. $328 00
Account of J. W. Burroughs as J. P. 33 00
FEBRUARY 16, 1852.
Ordered that taxes paid by Teodoro Arrellanes on property in San Luis Obispo be transferred to that county.
Esteb.in Ortega allowed, as Associate Justice, $24 00 Esteban Ortega allowed, as Coroner 31 00
J. W. Burroughs allowed, as J. P. and other services 38 00
FEBRUARY 18th.
Bill of Clerk for services and stationery _____ $71 45
Wholesale resignations and appointments. APRIL 6th.
Edward S. Hoar resigned as Assessor; Antonio Maria de la Guerra, as Treasurer and J. W. Bur- roughs, as County Clerk.
J. W. Burroughs was appointed Treasurer, Fran- cisco de la Guerra Assessor and Charles E. Huse County Clerk.
County Auditor was allowed per day .. _$ 1 00 Treasurer from December 8, 1851, to April .. 8, 1852. 122 00
J. C. Vidal as Coroner and Justice of the
Peace
60 00
County Clerk
71 00
APRIL 26, 1852.
Rates of taxes established at one-half of one per cent. It being doubtful whether this amount could be assessed, it was conditionally set at one-fourth of one per cent.
JUNE 8th.
A. F. Hinchman appointed District Attorney.
JULY 2d.
Sitting as a Board of Equalization, the following assessments were raised :-
Juan Fittles from
$4 000 to $5 000
John Todd.
980 to 1 250
Thomas Gannon
170 to
500
Ramon Malo
8 741 to 11 741
Pascal Bottilleas was raised $1.000, José Lorenzano, $3.000, Isaac J. Sparks, $5.000, .William Foreman, $2.000, Luis Arrellanes, $2.000, William Hatch, $2.000, Leandro Saing, $1.000, Maria Jesus Olivera de Cota, $12.000, Gasper Oreña, $8.500.
AUGUST, 1852.
John A. Vidal as Justice of the Peace, and Associate Justice was allowed $93 00
Colin Campbell, as Interperter
40 00
Edward S. Hoar as Assessor
560 00
C. E. Huse as County Clerk and Clerk of
Board of Sessions and Auditor 151 00 Ordered that an additional tax of one quarter of one per cent. be levied to build a jail.
OCTOBER 11th.
Judge, Joaquin Carrillo; Associates, Jose Carrillo, and Pedro C. Carrillo.
Claims were presented for taking Zavaleta and two other persons to Los Angeles. These persons were the murderers from San Gabriel, mentioned in a former part of the chapter. The parties presenting bills for horses were
Pacifico Sanchez $40
José A. Ramon.
10
Leandro Gonzales
80
José M. Romero
10
The affair looked so much like lawlessness, that Judge Carrillo refused to entertain it, and upon his associates recommending the allowance, he stepped down from the bench, and refused to sanction the matter, even by his presence.
90
HISTORY OF SANTA BARBARA COUNTY.
BILLS APPROVED.
Charles Fernald Sheriff for summoning Jury_$47 50
For services in the Courts of J. P. 68 50
José Carrillo for criminal investigation 62 00
Pedro Carrillo for same 75 00
Charles E. Huse for acting as County Auditor and for stationery .298 00 The pay of E. S. Hoar as Census taker was fixed at $16.00 per day.
OCTOBER 13, 1852.
Judge, Joaquin Carrillo; Associates, Pedro C. Carrillo, José Carrillo.
The bill of the Treasurer, Burroughs, allowed for 179 days' service $179 00
The house of Fabrigat was rented for a Court House.
DECEMBER 1st.
Judge, Joaquin Carrillo; Associates, Pedro Carrillo, Vicente Moraga.
W. W. Twist, Sheriff, for arresting Wm. Taylor, and board allowed. 86 00
DECEMBER 4th.
Antonio Rodriguez, taxes refunded to the amount of. $281 17
County Clerk authorized to purchase books
and stationery to the amount of_ 300 00
JANUARY 10, 1853.
Joaquin Carrillo appeared as County Judge for the last time, becoming Judge of the 2d Judicial District.
FEBRUARY 21st.
No Judge having been appointed, the Court ad- journed sine die.
APRIL 4th.
Charles Fernald appeared as County Judge, ap- pointed by Governor Bigler.
Russel Heath was appointed District Attorney to fill the place made vacant by the resignation of Charles Fernald.
FIRST ASSESSMENT ROLL (1850).
Names on for $5,000 and upwards.
The details as to the kind of property, other than personal and real, were given.
NAMES.
PERSONAL.
REAL.
TOTAL.
Aguerre Antonio
$ 1,000
$ 8,000
$ 9,000
Arrellanes Teodoro
19,460.
21,770
41,230
Ardissan Estevan,
6,000
3,000
9,000
Arrellanes Luis
2,648
3,725
6,373
Ayala Crisogono
5,500
4,500
10,000
Burton Lewis T
4,056
5,000
9,056
Carrillo Carlos Antonio,
22,892
16,690
39,572
Lompoc Rancho.
11,400
6,060
17.460
Carrillo Anastacio
6,750
8,400
15,150
Carrillo José
2,140
2,920
5,060
* Carrillo Raymundo
2,340
5,800
7,840
NAMES.
PERSONAL.
REAL.
TOTAL.
Camarillo Juan.
4,340
1,666
6,006
Cavallero Francisco.
4,100
4,350
8,456
Covarrubias José Ma.
7,360
8,550
15,910
Cota Francisco
18,560
8,970
27,530
Cota Manuel.
750
12,000
12,750
Cordero Miguel
8,190
1,810
10,000
Den Nicolas A
19,000
12,000
31,000
Den Richard S
2,800
6,600
9,400
Dominguez Francisco Vil-
la (widow).
2,550
2,900
5,450
Foxen Benjamin
2,654
2,600
5,245
Gonzales Leandro
12,700
22,100
34,800
Gonzales Rafael
9,560
1,260
10,820
de la Guerra José y No-
riega
89,440
39,444
128,884
de la Guerra Antonio Ma.
8,336
8,970
17,306
Hill Daniel
7,100
5,500
12,600
Janssens Augustin
3,860
4,330
8,190
Kays John
6,000
4,000
10,000
Moraga Joaquin Alvarado (widow)
1,750
4,050
5,800
Olivera Diegot
7,844
5,150
12,994
Ortega Antonio Ma.
670
4,800
5,470
Ortega Madalina de Cota
1,624
5,400
7,024
Oreña Gaspar.
6,560
6,190
12,750
Reyes José
3,435
2,700
6,135
Robbins Thomas M.
9,425
6,450
15,875
Į Rodriguez Maria Roma- na de.
4,940
4,120
9,000
Ruiz José Pedro, estate ..
21,660
9,500
31,160
Isaac J. Sparks
19,900
1,100
20,000
College of Santa Ynez
16,600
10,880
27,480
Santa Barbara Commons
(town land).
Thompson Alpheus B.
17,992
9,645
27,637
Tico Fernando
7,055
5,600
12,655
Santa Cruz Island
12,000
§ Valenzuela Joaquin
3,700
1,500
5,200
Ximenes Manuel
4,000
7,050
11,050
LEWIS T. BURTON, Assessor.
The reader will notice the evident lumping of the property into fives and tens of thousands, and an apportionment afterwards into real and personal property. The total assessment was $992,676. The American names on the roll under $5,000 were: Samuel Barney. Charles Brown, Wm. Brown, James Burke, Henry Carnes, John Davis, Robert Ellwell, John Fahy (Priest), the Chapman children with Spanish Christian names, Wm. T. Johnson, Francis W. Lewis, Geo. Nidever, James B. Shaw, John Sparks, W. D. Streeter, David B. Streeter, Simon B. Steere, John Temple, John Todd, John A. Vidal, Thomas Warner, John Wilson, Albert Packard, James Scott, J. B. Meacham.
*Ten of this name on the Assessment Roll.
tTen by this name on the Roll.
¿Eleven by this name.
§Ten of this name.
11,500
Sanchez Juan
18,000
Rancho del Rincon.
Carrillo Joaquin
91
THE LOST WOMAN.
Cattle were generally valued at $8 per head, sheep $3, and land at twenty-five cents per acre, and some- times, in case of a widow, or a poor and deserving person, as low as ten cents per acre.
José de la Guerra y Noriega had the ranches :-
Conejo,
containing. 53,280 aeres
Simi,
108,000
Las Posas,
26,640
San Julian,
¥
20,000
Salsipuedes,
35,200 =
CHAPTER XVII.
THE LOST WOMAN.
Statement of John Nidever-Removal of Indians in 1836- Signs of Life on the Island in 1851-Second Visit-Discov- ery of the Woman-Unexpected Welcome-In the Hunter's Camp-Removal to Santa Barbara-General Interest in the Woman-A Subject of Kindness-Her Death.
THE subject is a favorite with romaneers, and has been written up so much that the public is greatly misinformed, and a plain statement of the facts, with- out any attempt to weave it into a romantic form, will be the most acceptable. The story begins with the removal of a number of Indian women from the Island of San Nicolas, in 1836. According to the best authorities, the Island of San Nicolas, as well as the others, were once thiekly populated; in fact, the large piles of shells, bones, and other refuse prove the fact without other evidence. According to Nidever and others who hunted around here as early as 1835, the Alaska Indians were in the habit of making periodic visits to the islands for otter and other skins. They were a savage race, and made fierce attacks against all who attempted otter hunting on any of the islands. They were supplied with fire-arms, and were dangerous foes even to the white man, and much more so to the natives who had only stone implements of warfare. In 1836 a company of these Indians who were left on the islands by a Russian vessel, chased Nidever and his party to their landing, and were only repelled by a sharp fire which killed several of their men. The chase was on the water in boats, and the contest was in trying to prevent them from landing at the only practicable place. According to the best authorities, a party of these Indians took possession of San Nicolas Island for the purpose of hunting otter, and finally took possession of the women, and slew every man and male child on the island, in the quarrel that ensued. When the Indians abandoned the island, after the hunt was over, they left the women to their fate. It was some years subsequent to this that the padres employed Sparks and the others to remove the survivors. Recent investigations in the remains on the islands place the former inhabitants among the Toltees or Aztecs, and hence the white skin and pleasant man- ners of the wild woman. The following account is
mostly compiled from notes furnished by Dr. Dim- mick, of Santa Barbara :-
STATEMENT OF JOHN NIDEVER.
I arrived on the coast in the year 1834, in the month of November. In the early part of the fol- lowing year (1835), 1 eame to Santa Barbara, and engaged in otter hunting, which I have followed almost uninterruptedly until within a few years. At the beginning of 1835, Isaac J. Sparks and Luis T. Burton,* Americans, also otter hunters, settled here, and chartered the schooner Peor es Nada (worse than nothing) for a trip to the Lower California coast. The schooner was commanded by Charles IIubbard, who was hired by the owner of the schooner, a Spaniard at Monterey. The crew placed in her by Sparks and Burton was, with two or three excep- tions, composed of Kanakas. The Peor es Nada left Santa Barbara about the latter part of April, 1835. About three months after, she returned to San Pedro, and from there went directly to the Island of San Nicolas for the purpose of taking off the Indians then living there. Sparks, who hunted with me for several years afterwards, told about removing the Indians, but I cannot now recollect who authorized or caused their removal. I remember distinctly, however, that a man by the name of Williams, a former acquaintance of mine in the Rocky Mount- ains, was an interested party, as he assisted in their removal. I am under the impression also that another man in Los Angeles took an active part in the affair. The circumstances of leaving the Indian woman alone upon the Island were, as near as I can recollect, from what Sparks told me, as follows :-
REMOVAL OF THE INDIANS.
Having got all the Indians together on the beach ready for embarking, one of them made signs that her child had been left behind, wherenpon she was allowed to go back and feteh it. She was gone some time, when a strong wind springing up, they did not dare to wait longer for her, fearing for the safety of the schooner.
The water, which is quite shoal about the island, becomes exceedingly rough in a storm, and there is no harbor of any kind that would afford shelter in a heavy gale. They ran before the wind, and reached San Pedro in safety. IIere the Indians were put ashore, some being taken to Los Angeles, and FOIne to the Mission of San Gabriel. It was the intention of the captain of the schooner to return for the woman who had been left on the island, as soon as possible. From San Pedro the Peor es Nada eame direet to Santa Barbara, took Sparks and me over to the Santa Rosa Island, and then sailed for Monterey where she had been ordered, to take a cargo of lumber to San Francisco. At the entrance to the Golden Gate the Peor es Nada capsized, and her crew
. Burton spelled his first name Lewis; the Spanish 'Luis. The Spanish changed the spelling ol many names: Albert to Alberto; Alfred to Alfredo, etc.
92
HISTORY OF SANTA BARBARA COUNTY.
were washed ashore. It was afterwards reported that the schooner drifted out to sea, and was picked up by a Russian vessel, though the report was never confirmed. There were now no craft of any kind larger than the Indian canoe, and the boats of the otter hunters left on the coast, and none eared to attempt the passage of the channel in an open boat. It was soon known throughout the coast that an Indian woman had been left on the island, but so far as I can learn, no attempt was ever made to rescue her. As years passed by, all thought she had per- ished.
SIGNS OF LIFE ON THE ISLAND.
In 1851 I had occasion to visit the San Nicolas. I found signs that led me to believe that the woman still survived, or that a human being was living upon the island. I had with me a man named Tom Jeffries. He and I with one of the Indians landed near the lower end of the island and walked along the beach, and on the bank close to the beach for a distance of five or six miles. Soon after starting out we found the foot-prints of a human being, that, in all probability, had been made during the previous rainy season. They were sunk quite deep in the ground, that was now quite dry and hard. They were dis- tinctly defined, and from their size we concluded that they were those of a woman. We also discovered three small cireular inclosures, about two hundred yards back from the beach, something like a mile apart and situated on slightly rising ground. They were cireular in shape, six or seven feet in diameter, with walls, perhaps five or six feet high, made of brush. Near the huts or inclosures, there were stakes of drift-wood stuek in the ground, and sus- pended upon them, at a height of five or six feet, were pieces of dried blubber, which had the appear- anee of having been placed there within a month or two, as they were still in a good state of preservation. With these exceptions there was nothing about the inclosures, or, as I call them, wind-breaks, that indi- cated that they had been occupied for years. We had come ashore early in the morning, and, after finding the foot-prints and wind-breaks, we intended to make further search, but before noon a strong wind sprung up, and we hastened back to the schooner. We were hardly on board when the wind increased to a gale and continued to blow for about eight days, so strong at times that we expected to be blown out to sea. We were on the south side of the island, or under its lea, and in a measure protected from the wind, but the sea was so rough that we found it almost impossible to remain at anchor. Once our anehor dragged and we were compelled to improvise a second one by filling a bag with stones. The eighth day the wind having gone down, we were enabled to leave the island.
SECOND VISIT.
In the winter of 1852 I made a second trip to the island for otter, having seen large numbers on my
previous trip. On this trip I was accompanied by Charles Brown. We landed, as on our former visit, at the lower end of the island. We took two Indians ashore with us and left them in charge of the boat, while Brown and I walked along the beach, or on the top of the bank when we could not get down to the beach, towards the head of the island. We went partly to see where the otter lay, and partly to see if we could find any signs of the Indian woman, as Father Gonzales, to whom we had reported the dis- coveries made on our former visit, assured us there was no longer any doubt of her being alive. We had decided to go to the head of the island, as, for vari- ous reasons, we concluded that if alive she would be most likely to be found there. The water is better and more abundant there, and it is a better place for both fish and seal. We visited the huts that Jeffries had discovered and found them and their surround- ings unchanged, except that it seemed to me that the seal blubber, which I had seen on my former visit, had been removed and fresh blubber hung in its place. In the neighborhood of the huts near the shore we saw seven or eight wild dogs. They were about the size and form of a coyote, of a black and white color. I have scen the same kind of dogs among the Northwest Indians. They were very wild and ran off as soon as they saw us. When within about a half a mile of the head of the island, we struek a low, sandy flat that extended from one side of the island to the other. Here we thought she must, in all probability, be living, as the ground both to the north and east of this flat was high and exposed to the wind. After searching around for some time and finding no signs of her, we were about to return, having concluded that the dogs must have caten her, as not even her bones were to be found, when I discovered in the erotch of a bush or small tree a basket, and upon throwing off the piee ; of seal skin that covered it, we found within carefully laid together, a dress made of shag skins eut in squire pieces, a rope made of sinew, and several smaller articles, such as abalone fish-hooks, bone needles, etc. After examining them Brown proposed replacing them and returning the basket to the tree where we found it, but I seattered them about on the ground, telling him that if upon our return we should find them replaced in the basket it would be positive proof of the woman's existence. As it was now quite late we returned to the schooner, intending to renew the search at the first opportunity, as the extreme head of the island was still unexplored by us. For the next few days, however; we were busy hunting otters, and about the fourth or fifth day a southeast wind began to blow, which soon increased to a gale. We waited about six or seven days for it to go down and then with some difficulty we ran over to the San Miguel Island.
DISCOVERY OF THE WOMAN.
I next fitted out for a hunt on the San Nicolas in
John & Steams,
JOHN P. STEARNS.
THE subject of this sketch is a descendant of Charles Stearns, one of the first settlers of Water- town, Massachusetts, who came to America from Suffolkshire, England, in the ship with Governor Winthrop, in the year 1630, and. strange as it may seem, he is only the fifth generation from that ances- tor. Shubæl Stearns, his father, was born at Am- herst, New Hampshire. May 20, 1783, being the twenty-third child of Samuel Stearns, who was seventy years of age at the time of the birth of this, his youngest child, who emulated the example of his illustrious sire so far as to become the father of sixteen children, notwithstanding he died at the early age of sixty-one years. John Peck Stearns, the eleventh child of Shubæl and Lydia Peck Stearns, was born at Newport, Vermont, August 18, 1828. His mother was a descendant of John Peck, who, when eleven years of age, with the rest of his father's family, emigrated from Suffolkshire, England, in the year 1638, and settled in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, where many of his descendants now live.
Writers on the subject of the growth of races and families assert that the people take the impress of character from the surroundings; that the climate and picturesque mountains of Athens, the fertile plains and lofty mountains of Italy, the sunny clime of Provence, and the dark, fog-obscured land of the Saxons, all left the impress of circumstances on the characters of the people who became such factors in the civilization of the world From England to Massachusetts, and especially that part of it inhab- ited by Mr. Stearns' ancestors, was not intended to breed effeminacy in the character of any race, for the climate, soil, and surroundings permitted only "the survival of the fittest." Rocks on rocks, which have to be dug out and carted away, stand between the owner of the land and a harvest. But, though the harvest in grain is scanty, the strife necessary to maintain life results in a crop of men and women who become, on more genial soil, centers of wealth and refinement.
In his youth Mr. Stearns received the rudiments of an English education in the common schools of his State, and afterwards pursued his studies still further at Brownington Academy, then one of the leading institutions of that class, in Northern Vermont, and when about twenty-two years of age he immi-
grated to Stevenson County, Illinois, and some two years later, following the example of many young men of the West, crossed the plains to California, reaching the Sacramento River the 27th day of August, 1853, at Redding, Shasta County. The first few years after leaving Vermont he directed his attention to school teaching, devoting the most of his spare moments to the study of law, and was admitted to the practice in the District Court of the Third Judicial District, and was soon after elected District Attorney of Santa Cruz County, which office he held for two consecutive terms, and for some years afterward was associated with his snc- cessors in the prosecution of the most noted criminal cases of the county. The celebrated murder case of People vs. Sanchez, reported in the 24th Cal. Reports, was prosecuted by him alone. Near the close of the late war he was appointed U. S. Assistant Assessor for the division of Monterey and Santa Cruz Coun- ties, and served some three years, with credit to himself and to the full satisfaction of the Government.
In the fall of 1867 he quit the practice of law, sold his library, and removed to Santa Barbara, where he opened a lumber yard and a general assortment of building material, being the first establishment of the kind ever opened in the county, and for ten years did an extensive business in that line. During this time, secing the commerce of the place suffering for want of suitable wharf facilities, he resolved on con- structing the wharf now bearing his name at the foot of State Street, in this city, at a cost of $41.000, said to be the largest structure of its kind on the Pacific Coast outside of the bay of San Francisco.
A wharf sufficient to accommodate lighters from vessels which anchor out near the kelp had been built by the Santa Barbara Wharf Company some years previous, but no vessel larger than a hundred tons dared to make fast to it. Passengers and goods from the steamers or sailing vessels were passed over the sides of the vessels in the swell. and took the chances of a drenching, both at the vessel and at the wharf, where the waves frequently broke near the sea end of the structure. Passengers were landed by means of stairs, and sometimes would fail to mount them in safety. Though no fatal accidents ever occurred, the landing in this way was always unpleasant.
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