USA > California > San Bernardino County > Ingersoll's century annals of San Bernadino County, 1769-1904 : prefaced with a brief history of the state of California : supplemented with an encyclopedia of local biography and portraits of many of its representative people > Part 3
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102
3
HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA
strate that California was a peninsula, although even this fact was not fully accepted for two centuries after this.
Cortes returned to Spain in 1540, where after vainly trying to obtain from the king some recognition of his services and some recompense for his outlay, discouraged, disappointed and impoverished, he died.
The next voyage which had anything to do with the discovery and ex- ploration of California was that of Hernando de Alarcon. With two ships, he sailed from Acapulco, May 9, 1540, up the Gulf of California, or Sea of Cortes, as it was sometimes called. His object was to co-operate with Coro- nado. The latter with an army of four hundred men, had marched from Culiscan, April 22, 1540, to discover and conquer the "Seven Cities of Cibola," which the romancing friar, Marcos de Niza, "led by the Holy Ghost" and blessed with a fertile imagination, claimed to have seen somewhere in the wilds of what is now Arizona. Alarcon, at the head of the gulf, discovered the mouth of a great river. Up this river, which he named the Buena Guia- now the Colorado-he claimed to have sailed eighty-five leagues. He was probably the first white man to set foot in territory now included in the state of California.
While Coronado was still absent in search of the "Seven Cities" and of Quivera, a country rich in gold, lying somewhere in the interior of the conti- nent, the successor of Cortes entered into a compact with Pedro de Alvarado, governor of Guatemala, who had a fleet of ships lying at anchor in the harbor of Navidad, Mexico, to unite their forces in an extensive scheme of explora- tion and conquest. An insurrection broke out among the Indians of Jalisco and in trying to suppress it, Alvarado was killed. The return of Coronado dispelled the myths of Cibola and Quivera and put an end to further ex- plorations of the interior regions to the north of Mexico.
By the death of Alvarado, Mendoza became heir to his ships and it be- came necessary to find employment for them. Five ships were placed under the command of Ruy Lopez de Villalobos and sent to the Islas de Poniente (Isles of the setting sun-now Philippines) to establish trade with the natives. Two ships of the fleet, the San Salvador and the Vitoria. were placed under the command of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo and sent to explore the northwest coast of the Pacific. He sailed from Navidad June 27. 1542. Rounding the southern extremity of the peninsula of Lower California, he sailed up its outer coast. On August 20th he reached Cabo de Engano, the most northern point of Ulloa's exploration. Continuing his voyage along the coast, he discovered a number of bays and islands. On September 28. 1542, Cabrillo entered a bay called by him San Miguel, now known as San Diego bay. October 3d, after three days' sailing, he discovered the islands, now known as Santa Catalina and San Clemente, which he named San Salvador and Vitoria, after his ships. From the islands, on October 8th, he crossed to the mainland and entered a bay which he named Bahia de los Fumos (Bay
4
HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA
of Smokes), now San Pedro bay. The bay and mainland were enveloped in smoke from the burning of the dry grass on the plains which was periodically set on fire by the Indians to drive out the small game. On October 9th, Cabrillo anchored in a large ensenada, or bight, supposed to be what is now Santa Monica bay. Sailing northwestward he passed through the Santa Barbara Channel and discovered the islands of Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa and San Miguel. Continuing up the coast he found a long narrow point of land, extending into the sea, which from its resemblance to a galley boat, he called Cabo de la Galeria-the cape of the Galley-now Point Concepcion. Novem- ber 17th, he doubled Point of Pines and entered Monterey Bay, which he named Bahia de los Pinos-the Bay of Pines. Finding it impossible to land on account of the heavy seas, he proceeded northward until he reached a point on the coast in 40 degrees north latitude, as he estimated. On account of cold weather and storms, he turned back and ran down to San Miguel, where he decided to winter. Here, from the effects of a fall, he died January 3, 1543, and was buried on the islands. His companions named the island Juan Rodriguez, after the brave commander, but subsequent navigators have robbed him of this small honor. The discoverer of California sleeps in an unknown grave.
The command of the expedition devolved on Bartholome Ferrelo, chief pilot. Ferrelo prosecuted the voyage of discovery with a courage and daring equal to that shown by Cabrillo. On February 28th he discoverd a point of land which he named Cape Mendocino in honor of the Viceroy-a name that it still bears. Passing this cape he encountered a furious storm which drove him violently to the northeast and greatly endangered his ships. On March Ist the fogs lifted and he saw Cape Blanco, in the southern part of what is now Oregon. The weather continuing stormy and the cold increasing, Ferrelo was compelled to turn back. He ran down the coast and reached the island of San Clemente. Here, in a storm, the ships parted and Ferrelo, after a search, gave up the Vitoria as lost. The ships, however, came together again at Cerros Islands and from there, in sore distress for provisions, they reached Navidad April 18, 1543.
The next navigator who visited California was Francis Drake, an Eng- lishman. He was not so much seeking new lands as a way to escape capture by the Spaniards. Francis Drake, the sea-king of Devon, and one of the bravest men who ever lived, sailed from Plymouth, England, December 13, 1577, in command of a fleet of five small vessels on a privateering expedition against the Spanish settlements on the Pacific coast. When he sailed out of the straits of Magellan into the South Sea, he had but one ship, the Golden Hind, a vessel of one hundred tons burden; all the others had been lost or had turned back. With this small ship he began a career of plundering among Spanish settlements that for boldness, daring, and success, has no equal in the world's history. The quaint chronicler of the voyage sums up the pro-
5
HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA
ceeds of his raids at "eight hundred and sixty-five thousand pesos of silver, a hundred thousand pesos of gold and other things of great worth." Plunder- ing as he went he reached the port, Guatulco, on the Oaxaca coast. Surfeited with spoils and his ship laden to her fullest capacity, it became a necessity for him to find some other way of returning to England than the one that he came. In the language of the chronicler, "he thought it was not good to re- turn by the straits, lest the Spaniards should attend for him in great num- bers." So he sailed away to the northward to find the "Straits of Anian," which were supposed to connect the North Pacific with the Atlantic. For two hundred years after the discovery of America navigators searched for that mythical passage.
Drake, keeping well out to sea, sailed northward for two months. The cold, the head winds and the leaky condition of his vessel compelled him to turn back. He sailed down the coast until he found a fit harbor under the lee of a promontory, now known as Point Reyes. Here he repaired his ship, took formal possession of the country in the name of his sovereign, Queen Elizabeth, and named it New Albion from a fancied resemblance to Old Albion (England).
He had his chaplain, Parson Fletcher, preach a sermon to the natives. The savages were not greatly impressed with the sermon, but were delighted with the psalm singing. After a stay of thirty-six days, on the 23rd of July, 1579, Drake sailed for England by the way of Cape Good Hope. After an absence of nearly three years during which he had circumnavigated the globe, he reached home safely and was knighted by Elizabeth. Drake sup- posed himself to be the discoverer of the country he named New Albion.
Sixty years passed after Cabrillo's voyage before another Spanish ex- plorer visited California. The chief object of Sebastian Viscaino's voyage was to find a harbor of refuge for the Philippine galleons. These vessels on their return voyage sailed northward until they struck the Japan current which they followed across the ocean until they sighted land in the vicinity of Cape Mendocino, then sailed down the California coast to Acapulco. Vis- caino sailed from Acapulco, May 5, 1602, with three ships and 160 men. He followed substantially the same course that Cabrillo had taken. November Ioth he anchored in Cabrillo's bay of San Miguel, which he named San Diego in honor of his flag ship. He remained there ten days, then sailed up the coast and on the 26th, anchored in a bay which he named Ensenada de San Andres, but which is now San Pedro bay, named-not after the apostle Saint Peter-but for St. Peter, Bishop of Alexandria, who suffered martyrdom November 26th, A. D. 368. From the mainland he passed over to an island which he named Santa Catalina-this was Cabrillo's San Salvador. Viscaino also changed the name of Cabrillo's Vitoria to San Clemente. He then sailed through a channel, to which he gave the name Santa Bar- bara, and visited the different channel islands. He found many towns on the
6
HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA
main land but did not stop to visit them. The natives came off in canoes to visit the ships and one enterprising chief, as an inducement to the Spaniards to stop at his town, offered ten wives to each man who would visit him. After passing Point Concepcion, heavy fogs obscured the land. On the 16th of December, Viscaino rounded the Point of Pines and entered a bay to which he gave the name of Monterey, after the viceroy who had fitted out the expe- dition. The scurvy-that scourge of the sea in early times-had broken out on his ships and sixteen had already died. The San Thomas was sent back to Acapulco with the sick; twenty-five died on the way and only nine reached their destination. With his two remaining ships, the San Diego and the Tres Reyes (Three Kings), Viscaino continued his voyage northward. He saw Cape Blanco-discovered and named by Cabrillo-and at this point turned back. The scurvy had made fearful inroads on his crew. The Tres Reyes had become separated from the flag ship and sailed about one degree further north than Viscaino himself reached. On her return voyage her two commanders and all the crew except five, died of the scurvy. After eleven months absence, Viscaino reached Mazatlan, having lost nearly half of his crew.
Viscaino wrote the king a glowing account of the harbor of Monterey and the adjacent country, which he pictured as almost a terrestrial paradise. His object was to induce the king to establish a settlement on Monterey bay. In this he was doomed to disappointment. Delay followed delay until hope had vanished. Finally in 1606 orders came from Philip III to the viceroy to fit out immediately a new expedition for the occupation and settlement of Monterey, of which Viscaino was to be made commander. In the midst of his preparations for the dearest object of his life, Viscaino died, and the expe- dition was abandoned. Had it not been for Viscaino's untimely death a colony would have been planted on the Pacific Coast of California a year before the first English settlement was made on the Atlantic Coast of North America.
Two hundred and twenty-seven years had passed since the ships of Cabrillo had first cut the waters that lap the shores of Alta California, and yet through all these years the interior of the vast country whose sea-coast he had visited remained a terra incognita-an unknown land. For more than two centuries the Manila galleons had sailed down the coast on their return voyages : but after the death of Viscaino and the colonization scheme that died with him, no other attempt had been made to find a refuge on the Cali- fornia coast for the storm-tossed and scurvy-afflicted mariners of the Philip- pine trade.
7
HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA
CHAPTER II.
COLONIZATION.
The Jesuits began their missonary work among the degraded inhabitants of Lower California in 1697. Under their devoted leaders, Salvatierra, Kino, Ugarte. Piccolo and their successors, with a perseverance and bravery that were highly commendable, they had founded sixteen missions on the penin- sula. Father Kino, or Kuhn, besides his missionary labors, had made between 1697 and 1702, explorations around the head of the gulf of California and up the Colorado to the mouth of the Gila which had clearly demonstrated that the peninsula was part of the mainland instead of an island as was still thought by some. Father Kino formed the design of establishing a chain of missions around the head of the gulf and down the inner coast line to Cape San Lucas, but did not live to complete his ambitious project. The Jesuit missions of Baja California never grew rich in flocks and herds. The country was barren and the few fertile valleys around the missions gave the padres and neophytes, at best, but a frugal return for their labor.
For years there had been growing up in Spain a strong hostility to the Jesuits, which finally resulted in the issuance of a decree by Carlos III, in 1767, banishing the order from that country and its American possessions. Without previous warning the monks in California were forced to abandon their missions and hurried from the country. The missions were turned over to the Franciscan order. At the head of the Franciscan contingent that came to California to take charge of the abandoned missions, was Father Junipero Serra, a man of indomitable will and great zeal.
Don Jose de Galvez, visitador general of New Spain, had been sent to the peninsula to regulate affairs-both secular and ecclesiastical-which had been thrown into disorder by the sudden expulsion of the Jesuits. He had also received orders to advance the scheme for the occupation and coloniza- tion of San Diego and Monterey in Alta, or Nueva California. Galvez was a man of energy and of great executive ability. As soon as he had somewhat systematized matters on the peninsula, he set vigorously to work to further the project of occupying the northern territory. Father Serra entered heartily into his plans and church and state worked together harmoniously. Galvez decided to fit out four expeditions-two by sea and two by land. These were to start at different dates but all were to unite at San Diego and after occupy- ing that place, pass on to Monterey.
On January 9, 1769, the San Carlos sailed from La Paz with sixty-two persons on board, twenty-five of whom were soldiers under Lieutenant Fages. She carried supplies for eight months. On the 15th of February, the San Antonio sailed from Cape San Lucas, with two friars-Vizcaino and Gomez
8
HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA
on board beside the crew, and a few mechanics. The first land expedition started from Velicatá, the most northern settlement in Lower California, on March 24th. It was commanded by Rivera y Moncado, and consisted of twenty-five soldiers, forty-two natives and Padres Crespi and Cañizares. The last expedition which was under the immediate command of Governor Gaspar de Portola, left Velicatá, May 15th. It consisted of ten soldiers with a band of Lower Californians and was accompanied by Father Serra.
The San Antonio, although the last to sail was the first to arrive. She cast anchor in San Diego bay, April 11, 1769. The San Carlos, after a most disastrous voyage, drifted into the harbor on April 29th. The crew were prostrated with scurvy and there were not enough well men to man a boat to go ashore. The sick were landed, but when the scourge had run its course there were but few of the crew left. Rivera's land expedition, after an uneventful march, reached San Diego, May 14th. On the first day of July, Portola's command arrived and the four divisions aggregating 126 persons who had come to remain, were united. The ravages of the scurvy had so depleted the crews of the two vessels that only enough men remained to man one vessel. The San Antonio was sent back to San Blas for supplies and a crew for the San Carlos. A third vessel, the San Jose, named for the patron saint of the California expedition, had been fitted out by Galvez and loaded with supplies for the missionaries. She was never heard of after the day of sailing.
On July 16th, Father Serra formally founded the first mission in Nueva California, which was dedicated to San Diego de Alcalá-St. James of Alcalá-a Franciscan friar who died in 1463 and was canonized in 1588. On July 14th, Governor Portala with Padres Crespi and Gomez and a force made up of soldiers and natives of Lower California, numbering in all sixty-five persons, set out from San Diego to go overland in search of Monterey bay and found the intended mission and settlement there. The route of the expedition was mainly along the coast, with an occasional divergence inland. On the second of August they camped on the future site of Los Angeles. Along the coast of the Santa Barbara Channel they found many Indian vil- lages, some quite populous. The explorers passed by Monterey bay without recognizing it and traveled along the coast to the north. On November 2nd, some of the hunters of the party climbed a hill and saw what they termed a "brazo de mar," an arm of the sea. This is the body of water that we know as San Francisco bay. Their provisions were exhausted and many were sick. The expedition turned back and, following the trail it had made on the northward journey, reached San Diego in January, 1770. Portola's expe- dition had failed in its object-to found a mission on the harbor of Monterey, but it had accomplished a far greater feat, it had discovered the bay of San Francisco.
In April, 1770, Portola set out again with a force of twenty-five soldiers
9
HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA
and natives for Monterey. At the same time Father Serra sailed on the San Antonio for the same destination. On June 3, 1770, the mission of San Carlos Borromeo de Monterey was formally established on the beach, with solemn church ceremonies, accompanied by the ringing of bells, the crack of musketry and the roar of cannon. Father Serra conducted the services and Governor Portola took possession of the country in the name of the king of Spain-Carlos III. A presidio, or fort, of palisades, was built and a few huts erected. Portola, having formed the nucleus of a settlement, turned over the command of the territory to Fages and sailed to Lower California on the San Antonio, July 9, 1770. This was the end of his term as governor. The Mis- sion of San Carlos, shortly after its founding, was transferred to the Carmelo valley, about five miles from its former site.
The third mission, founded by Junipero Serra was that of San Antonio de Padua, June 14. 1771. It was located on a branch of the Salinas river in a beautiful oak-covered valley. The bells were hung from a live oak tree and rung loudly ; a cross was erected and President Serra said a mass beneath a shelter made of branches; but there were no Indians there to hear it. The patron saint of the mission, San Antonio de Padua, was born in Lisbon, 1195, and died at Padua 1231, and was canonized in 1232. His day in the church calendar is June 13th.
The fourth mission established was that of San Gabriel de Arcangel on the San Gabriel River, then known as the San Miguel. The founders, Padres Somera and Cambon, with a supply train of mules set out from San Diego August 6th; following Portola's trail they reached the river San Miguel, where a spot was selected and the mission founded, September 8, 1771. In 1775, the site was removed five miles north from its first position. The Padres made slow progress at first in the conversion of the Indians. The soldiers stationed at the missions as a guard were a bad lot and abused the natives. Although christians, their morals were, if anything, worse than those of the heathen.
The fifth mission established was that of San Luis Obispo (St. Louis, the Bishop), founded September 1, 1772, by Father Serra. The mission sys- tem may now be considered as firmly established in California. Father Serra went to Mexico in 1773 and secured a number of concessions favorable to the missions and an increase of supplies. With increased supplies and an addi- tional force of missionaries, the work of founding new missions progressed rapidly. The following list gives the names and the date of founding of the twenty-one missions established in California, excepting those already named : San Francisco, October 9, 1776; San Juan Capistrano, November 1, 1776; Santa Clara, January 18, 1777; San Buenaventura, March 31, 1782; Santa Barbara, December 4, 1786; La Purisima Concepcion, December 8, 1787; Santa Cruz, August 28, 1791 ; La Soledad, October 9, 1791 ; San Jose, June 11, 1797; San Juan Bautista, June 24, 1797; San Miguel, July 25, 1797 ; San Fernando
IO
HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA
Rey, September 8, 1797; San Luis Rey de Francia, June 13, 1798; Santa Inez, September 17, 1804: San Rafael, December 14, 1819; and San Francisco de Solano, August 25, 1823.
It was not the intention of the Spanish government that these estab- lishments should remain permanently as missions. According to the law, at the end of ten years from the founding of each mission it was to be con- verted into a municipal organization, known as a pueblo or town, and the property of the mission, both personal and real, was to be subdivided among the neophytes of the mission. But the training the natives received at the missions did not fit them for self-government. They were forced to labor and were instructed in some of the ceremonial observances of the church ; but they received no intellectual training and they made no progress. The padres persistently urged that the neophytes were incompetent to use and manage property. During the time California was subject to Spain no at- tempt was made to secularize the missions. In form the different mission buildings resembled one another. Col. Warner thus describes them: "As soon after the founding of a mission as the circumstances would permit, a large pile of buildings in the form of a quadrangle, composed partly of burnt brick, but chiefly of sun-dried ones, was erected around a spacious court. A large and capacious church which usually occupied one of the outer corners of the quadrangle was a conspicuous part of the pile. In this mission build- ing, covered with red tile, was the habitation of the friars, rooms for guests and for the mayor-domo and their families, hospital wards, store-houses and granaries." A guard of four or five soldiers was kept at each mission to control the neophytes. Each establishment held possession of large tracts of land contiguous to its buildings. These lands were divided, for con- venience, into ranchos, over which roamed vast herds and flocks under charge of Indian vaqueros. The lands were supposed to be held in trust by the padres for their Indian wards and were to be divided among the neophytes. Some of the brighter Indians at each mission were taught mechanical trades and became fairly good blacksmiths, weavers, tanners, shoemakers, saddlers and brickmakers. The Indian received for his labor, food and scanty cloth- ing. All the profits of these vast establishments, holding as they did in some cases, millions of acres of land in their possession, went to the padres.
The neophytes, for the most part, were docile and easily managed, but sometimes they rebelled. At the mission of San Diego, November 4, 1775, three or four renegade neophytes stirred up a rebellion among the "gentile" population ontside of the mission who attacked the mission in large numbers, killing one of the friars and two of the mechanics stationed there. The other friar and the five soldiers escaped after a desperate fight.
II
HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA
CHAPTER III. PRESIDIOS AND PUEBLOS.
For the protection of the missions and to prevent foreigners from en- tering California, military posts, called presidios, were established at San Diego, Monterey, Santa Barbara and San Francisco. These enclosures were in the form of a square and were surrounded by adobe walls ten or twelve feet high. Within were the officers' quarters, the soldiers' barracks, a guard house, chapel, granaries, or storehouses. A military force, usually consisting of one company was stationed at each post under the command of a lieutenant or captain. The largest force was kept at Monterey, the capital of the territory. The governor, or commandante-general, who, under Spanish rule, was always an army officer, was commander-in-chief of the troops in the territory. The principal service of the soldiers was to keep in check the neophytes, to protect the missions from the incursions of the "gen- tiles" or wild Indians and to capture deserting neophytes who had escaped to their unconverted relatives.
The mission fathers were opposed to the colonization of the country by white people. They well knew that the bringing of a superior race into con- tact with a lower would result in the demoralization of the inferior race. As rapidly as they could found missions they arrogated to themselves all the choice lands within the vicinity of each establishment. A settler could not obtain a grant of land from the public domain if the padres of the nearest mission opposed the action. The difficulty of obtaining supplies from Mexico for the soldiers at the presidios, necessitated the founding of agricultural colonies in California. Previous to 1776. the governor of "Las Californias" as the country from Cape San Lucas to the most northern point of the Span- ish possessions was called, resided at Loreto, in Lower California. In that year the territory was divided into two districts and a governor appointed for each. Felipe de Neve, who had succeeded Felipe de Barri in 1774, was made governor of Nueva California, of which Monterey was designated as the capital : and Rivera y Moncada was appointed governor of Lower California, to reside at Loreto.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.