Pen pictures from the garden of the world, or Santa Clara county, California, Part 5

Author: Foote, Horace S., ed
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 844

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Their agricultural products were limited, and their implements rude. They cared to raise no more than was necessary for their own subsistence. Wheat, beans, maize, melons, and pumpkins constituted nearly their entire crop, although the different fruits were cultivated to some extent at the mission. Stewed beef and beans, well seasoned with red peppers (chili colorado) was their principal dish, while for bread they used the tortilla, a flat, wafer-like cake made generally of wheat flour, but frequently of corn meal, and was baked on flat irons before the fire. This was a rude sort of diet, but, with their skill in preparation, it was very palatable and wholesome; dyspepsia was an un- known disease among them. Their plows were con- structed from branches of trees, where a proper crook could be found, the portion representing the point and share being sometimes shod with a bullock's horn or iron. An oak branch served the purpose of a harrow. Their beasts of burden were oxen; horses, although numerous, were hardly ever used for this purpose. The yoke was placed across the foreheads and fastened with rawhide thongs. Their vehicles had but two wheels, and these were sections of a log with holes bored through the center for the insertion of the axles, which were held in place by hard-wood pins on each side. There was no lubricator known that would modify the unearthly screeching emitted from these rude carts when in motion. A good representation of these rude vehicles will be found in the picture of the Santa Clara Mission on the following page.

The crops were cut with a sickle or any other im- plement that would serve the purpose. The grain- fields were protected from invasion by the wandering herds of horses and cattle by means of rows of brush,

PEN PICTURES FROM THE "GARDEN OF THE WORLD."

or ditches. Their methods of threshing were still more rude. The process is thus described by Judge R. F. Peckham, a pioneer of 1846 :-

" The floor of the corral, into which it was custom- ary to drive horses and cattle in order to lasso them, from constant use had become hardened. Into this inclosure the grain would be piled, and upon it, the manatha, or band of mares, would be turned loose to tramp out the seed. The wildest horses, or mayhap the colts that had been driven but once, and then to be branded, would be turned adrift upon the straw, when would ensue a scene of the wildest con-

SANTA CLARA MISSION.

fusion, the excited animals being urged, amidst the yelling of vaqueros and the cracking of whips-here, there and everywhere, around, across, and length- wise-until the whole was trampled and naught was left but the grain and chaff. The most difficult part, however, was the separating of these two ar- ticles. Owing to the length of the dry season there was no urgent haste to effect this; therefore, when the wind was high enough, the trampled mass would be tossed into the air with large wooden forks cut from the adjacent oaks, the wind carrying away the lighter chaff and leaving the heavier grain. With a favorable breeze several bushels of wheat could thus be winnowed in the course of a day; while strange as it may appear, it is declared that grain so sifted was much cleaner than it is now."

From the same source, also, we have the following description of an old-time Spanish mill :-

"The mill in which their grain was ground was made of two stones, as nearly round as possible, of about thirty inches in diameter, and each being dressed on one side to a smooth surface. One was set upon a frame some two feet high, with the smooth face upwards; the other was placed on this with the even face downwards, while through an inch hole in its center was the wheat fed by hand. Two holes drilled partly through each admitted an iron bolt, by means of which a long pole was attached. To its end was harnessed a horse, mule, or donkey, and the animal being driven round in a circle caused the stone to revolve. We are informed that these mills were capable of grind- ing a bushel of wheat in about twelve hours!"

The people themselves were of a light-hearted, joyous temperament, best described by our word "jolly." They never made a toil of a pleasure, nor permitted labor to inter- fere with their amusements. With all this they were rev- erent in religious matters, the women in particular being very devout in their observance of all the church ordinances. The men al- ways uncovered in passing the church door, which was always open. Their principal amusements were competitive trials of horsemanship, music, dancing, bull-fighting, and gambling. Bull-fighting was abol- ished by law in 1854, but no legislative enactment could ever restrain the Spaniard's passion for gam- bling. They would gamble on horse-races, cock-fights, bull and bear-fights, but their principal game was monte, and at this they would wager money, horses, cattle, and even the clothing from their backs. With- in the memory of some of the older pioneers are the names of many rich families who were reduced from affluence to poverty by this vice. To obtain money with which to gratify this passion, lands would be pledged or sold, and, in this manner, vast domains were lost to the original holders. With all this, they were a temperate people, intoxication being almost entirely unknown prior to the American occupation. Their disputes were few and easily adjusted. . The

PEN PICTURES FROM THE "GARDEN OF THE WORLD."

administration of justice was simple and effective, and the results generally satisfactory, the more so because cases were decided on their merits and not on techni- calities. Judge Peckham says of the administration of justice under the Mexican régime :-

"There were neither law books nor lawyers, while the laws were mostly to be found in the traditions of the people. The head officer in each village was the Alcalde, in whom was vested the judicial function, who received, on the enactment of a new law, a manuscript copy called a bando, upon the obtaining of which a person was sent round beating a snare drum, which was the signal for the assemblage of the people at the Alcalde's office, where the act was read, thus promul- gated, and forthwith had the force of law. When a citizen had cause of action against another, requiring the aid of court, he went to the Alcalde and verbally stated his complaint in his own way, and asked that the defendant be sent for, who was at once summoned by an officer, who simply said that he was wanted by the Alcalde. The defendant made his appearance without loss of time, where, if in the same village, the plaintiff was generally in waiting. The Alcalde com- menced by stating the complaint against him, and asked him what he had to say about it. This brought about an altercation between the parties, and, nine times out of ten, the Alcalde could get at the facts in this wise, and announce judgment immediately, the whole suit not occupying two hours from its begin- ning. In more important cases three 'good men' would be called in to act as co-justices, while the tes- timony of witnesses had seldom to be resorted to. A learned American judge has said that the native Cal- ifornians were, in the presence of their courts, gen- erally truthful. What they know of false swearing or perjury they have learned from their associations with the Americans. It was truthfully said by the late Edmund Randolph, that the United States Board of Commissioners to settle private land claims in Cal- ifornia had been the graves of their reputations."

Until 1803 the only church in the jurisdiction was the mission church at Santa Clara. In that year the population of the pueblo and surrounding country had increased to such an extent that it was considered necessary that a place of worship should be erected nearer home.

The petition for the establishment of a chapel within the limits of the pueblo set forth not only that the mission church was too distant for the poblanos to attend regularly, but that the journey was fraught with too many dangers. What constituted the haz-

ard in passing this short distance we are not informed by the petitioners, and whether it was the danger of being gored by wild cattle or of being drowned by the high waters of the Guadalupe, is left to conjecture. Whatever criticisms might have been made on the petition, they did not amount to serious objections, and the building of the new church was agreed to. An invitation was sent to Don Jose de la Guerra, commandante at San Carlos or Carmel, near Mon- tery, to act as sponsor. He replied that, while he felt flattered by the invitation, his daily walk was so full of errors, or, as he put it, so full of impiety, that he did not feel himself fit for the duty; but he appointed Don Jose Estudillo, a cadet, to officiate in his place. The corner-stone was laid on the twelfth day of July, with appropriate ceremonies. The following state- ment, written in the Spanish language, was deposited, among other things, in the stone, and gives a full ac- count of the proceedings :-

"In the pueblo of San Jose de Guadalupe, the twelfth of July, 1803, Señor Don Carlos IV. being King of Spain, Don Jose Joaquin de Arrillaga, Governor ad interim and Lieutenant-Colonel of the Royal Army; the retired sergeant, Macario de Castro, Commissioner of the Pueblo; Ignacio Archuleta, ordinary Alcalde, and Bernardo Heridia and Francisco Gonzales, regi- dores, at six o'clock on the evening of said day was made the consecration of the first stone and mortar of the church, which was commenced in the said pu- eblo, dedicated to the patriarch Señor St. Joseph and the virgin Guadalupe; which ceremony was celebrated with much solemnity by the Reverend Friar, Jo eph Viader, minister of the Santa Clara Mission; Don Jose Maria Estudillo, cadet, acting as god-father, by proxy, from Alferez de Jose Antonio de la Guerra y Noriega, commandante at the presidio at Monterey, and who placed under the first stone money of every sovereign, and a duplicate of this document, in a bottle sealed with wax, for its preservation in the future; and for the present we sign it in the said pueblo, the day, month, and year aforesaid.

1158673 " FR. JOSE VIADER, " JOSE MARIA ESTUDILLO,

" As proxy for Alferez de la Guerra y Noriega. "MACARIO DE CASTRO, Commissioner."

In the first quarter of the present century two im- portant events occurred which had a marked effect upon the country. We refer to the throwing off by Mexico of the yoke of old Spain and the establish- ment of the Mexican republic, and the secularization of the missions. The independence of Mexico was

PEN PICTURES FROM THE "GARDEN OF THE WORLD."

acknowledged in 1821, and the practical destruction of the missions followed soon after. As early as 1813 it was suggested by the home government that the missions, as a distinct institution, had accomplished their work and could be turned over to the secular clergy, and the services of the Fathers be dispensed with. It is thought that this suggestion was animated by a desire on the part of the government to absorb the "pious fund," a revenue which had been set aside for the support of the missions. Whether or not this suspicion was true, it had that effect. Some idea of the work accomplished by the Fathers up to this period may not be uninteresting. Between the years 1802 and 1822 seven thousand, three hundred and twenty-four Indians were baptized at Santa Clara Mission, two thousand and fifty-six were married, six thousand five hundred and sixty-five had died, and one thousand three hundred and ninety-four still lived. It is estimated that there were four thousand Indians in the surrounding rancherias who had not succumbed to the influence of the Fathers, and were what were called "wild."

The proposition to confiscate the pious fund was a menace which tended to unsettle affairs at the mis- sion. As Father Gleeson says : "It was not to be ex- pected that with such a resolution before their eyes the Fathers would be as zealous in developing the nat- ural resources of the country as before, seeing that the result of their labors was, at any time, liable to be seized on by the government and handed over to strangers." The converts soon perceived this lack of zeal and became imbued with the same spirit. The new republic showed as much hostility to the mis- sions as the Spanish crown had done, and finally, in 1826, the Federal government issued an order to the authorities in California directing the liberation of the Indians, and a few years later an act was passed by the Legislature ordering the whole of the missions to be secularized and the religious to with- draw. To justify this act, it was stated that the missions were never intended to be permanent estab- lishments, but were to give way, after a time, to the regular ecclesiastical system, when the people would be formed into parishes, attended by a secular clergy. The decree was passed in 1833 and put in force in 1834. The lands were handed over to the Indians to work or to abandon, and they generally chose the latter.

When the decree went into effect there were eighteen hundred Indians at the mission of Santa Clara, while the mission owned seventy-four thou-

sand two hundred and eighty head of cattle, four hundred and seven yoke of working oxen, eighty-two thousand five hundred and forty sheep, one thou- sand eight hundred and ninety horses broken to the saddle, four thousand two hundred and thirty- five brood mares, seven hundred and twenty-five mules, and one thousand hogs. Eight years later there were only four hundred Indians at this mis- sion, with fifteen hundred head of cattle, two hun- dred and fifty horses, and three thousand swine. This decrease continued until in a few years the work of the missions was only a matter of history. The orig- inal cross erected by Father Peña still stands as a monument to the memory of the fathers whose relig- ious zeal led them into the wilderness of the new world for the purpose of teaching to the benighted natives the doctrines of Christianity and the arts of civilization. Some remnants of the orchards planted by them are still in existence, and show how, at the very commencement of the history of this country, its future destiny was indicated.

The first enumeration of the inhabitants of the pu- eblo was taken in 1831, and showed one hundred and sixty-six men, one hundred and forty-five women, one hundred and three boys, and one hundred and ten girls, making a total of five hundred and twenty-four. This would not seem, now, as a very great increase of population for a period of forty years, but when we consider that this was drawn principally from colo- nies which were themselves sparsely peopled, the growth of the pueblo of San Jose de Guadalupe will be more justly estimated. The colonists had nearly the whole Pacific Coast from which to select their lo- cations, and the fact that so many chose the Santa Clara Valley shows that even then its wonderful fer- tility and magnificent climate were duly appreciated.

While these events were transpiring in this locality, other portions of the Pacific Coast were being looked over by a different class of people. Adventurous navigators had visited the different natural ports, while Vancouver had made his survey of the coast along the present California line. The Russian fur traders

had founded Sitka, and extended their operations even to California. Ships from the East India Company visited here in the latter part of the last century, at which time American vessels began to make their ap- pearance. The British fur companies came in later, and in 1811 John Jacob Astor, the organizer and leader of the Pacific Fur Company, founded the town of Astoria near the mouth of the Columbia. This colony, however, soon succumbed to the British traders, and

PEN PICTURES FROM THE "GARDEN OF THE WORLD."

many of the colonists came to California. It was from the ships that visited this coast that the first foreigners came to this valley. Overland travel to California did not commence until the forties. The first foreigner to locate in this valley was John Gilroy, who was a sailor on board a vessel belonging to the Hudson Bay Company, that touched at Monterey in 1814. He was a Scotchman and the causes for his abandoning his ship are differently stated. One re port is that he had a quarrel with one of his officers and deserted, while it is just as positively stated that he had a severe attack of the scurvy and was left on shore to be cured. However that may have been, it is well authenticated that, in that year, he found his way into this valley from Monterey, and stopped at San Ysidro, which was afterwards named Gilroy from him.

He was hospitably received and finally married into the wealthy family of the Ortegas. He was a man of considerable force of character, and accumu- lated a large property in lands and cattle, but at last died poor in 1869. His real name was said to be John Cameron, but he was always known here as Gilroy. He was accompanied, on his advent into this valley, by a comrade whom he called "Deaf Jimmy," who tarried but a short time and then went north of the bay.

Prominent in the history of California is the name of Robert Livermore, also a native of Scotland, who came here in 1816, but remained only a short time, when he went north and settled in the valley which now bears his name. In those early days every person was called a foreigner who was not a Spaniard or a Mexican, and there was a distinction made even between these. The Spaniards, or Cas- tilians, as they insisted on calling themselves, were those whose families came from Spain and whose de- scendants had never intermarried with the natives of the New World. They were very proud of the purity of their blood. The Mexicans were the descendants of those who had mixed with the native races of Mexico, and into whose language had crept many of the old Aztec words and phrases.

In 1818 there came here a man whose name is his- toric in this community, Don Antonio Suñol. He was a native of Barcelona, Spain, but had served in the French navy under the First Empire. He was an officer of distinction and was present when Napo- leon surrendered after Waterloo. He then sought the New World and settled in this valley, where he achieved distinction, wealth, and respect. Hedied in San Jose

in 1865, after an experience here of nearly half a century. The first citizen of the United States to settle in the Santa Clara Valley was Philip Doak. He was a block and tackle maker employed on a whaling vessel. He left his vessel in 1822 at Monterey and came here, settling near Gilroy. He located him- self on the ranch of Mariano Castro, afterwards known as the "Las Animas," and finally married one of Castro's daughters. Matthew Fellom came here in the same year and located near San Ysidro, or Old Gilroy, as it is now called. Fellom was a Dane, and also belonged to a whaler, which he left at one of the northern ports and made his way overland to San Jose. The land on which he made his location is now owned by W. N. Furlong. He lived until 1873.

These were the only foreigners that we have any record of as living here up to 1830, if we except one William Willis, an Englishman, who was known to be in the pueblo in 1828, but whose antecedents or subsequent history are unknown. It has been esti- mated that, at this time, the number of foreigner's in the whole of California did not exceed one hundred. From this time on the arrivals in this valley became more frequent. John Burton came here in 1830; he was afterwards Alcalde of the pueblo. Harry Bee, the oldest living inhabitant of the county, came to this valley in 1833, but he had been on the coast for six years prior to that time. He had passed most of the intervening time at Monterey, where he had come in 1827 with a Dr. Douglas, a naturalist. He was quite active during the Mexican War, performing valu- able services for General Fremont as scout and courier. At the same time came William Gulnac, James Alexander Forbes, James Weekes, Nicholas Dodero, John Price, William Smith, nicknamed " Bill the Sawyer," George Ferguson, Thomas Pepper, who the Californians called "Pimiento," William Welsh, a man called "Blind Tom," Charles Brown, and a per- son called "Moche Dan." Thomas Bowen and Will- iam Daily came in 1834. Of these, several were prominent, either in the early days or in the later history of the county. Gulnac was for many years mayor domo at the Mission San Jose. He married into the Ceseña family. Forbes was vice-consul for Great Britain. Weekes served as Alcalde in 1847. In 1838 Henry Woods and Lawrence Carmichael arrived.

These people all came by vessel and chance decided their location. They affiliated with the Spanish popu- lation, in many instances marrying into their families and adopting, to a great extent, their customs and methods of living. Overland travel commenced about

PEN PICTURES FROM THE "GARDEN OF THE WORLD."

1841. Even before this time settlements had been made in Oregon, and that country was much better known than California. For this reason, and because California was a foreign country, nearly all the over- land trains were pointed to Oregon. Some of these having reached the Sierras and hearing something of California, came here instead. In 1841 Josiah Bel- den, Charles M. Weber, and Grove C. Cook came overland, as did also Henry Pitts, Peter Springer, William Wiggins, and James Rock. In 1843 Major S. J. Hensley, Julius Martin, Thomas J. Shadden, and Winston Bennett made the trip across the plains. The advent of this party was an important incident, as with it came three ladies, wives of Martin, Shad- den, and Bennett, the first foreign ladies to settle in the district. The next year, 1844, came the Murphy party. The history of these people is important, from the fact that they were the first to cross the mount- ains with wagons, and that from their advent to the present time they have been an important factor in the development of the State.

STORY OF THE MURPHY PARTY.

Martin Murphy, Sr., was born in County Wexford, Ireland, November 12, 1785. Here he grew to man's estate, an intelligent, industrious, and pious man, but dissatisfied with the meager amount of political liberty accorded to the Irish citizens of Great Britain, in Ire- land. He married, at an early age, a Miss Mary Foley, whose family afterwards became prominent in America, two of them becoming archbishops and others achieving high places in commercial and manufacturing pursuits. Several children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Murphy in Ireland. As the family increased, so did Mr. Murphy's desire for larger free- dom, and in 1820 he emigrated to Canada, taking all his children except his oldest son, Martin, and his daughter Margaret. He settled in the township of Frampton, near Quebec, where he purchased a tract of land and commenced to create a home. Two years afterwards his son Martin and his daughter Margaret joined them from Ireland. Martin, Jr., went to work at Quebec, where he met and married Miss Mary Bulger, July 18, 1831. The next year, the cholera having become epidemic at Quebec, young Martin purchased a tract of land near his father, and moved on to it with his family. Old Mr. Murphy was still not satisfied with his political surroundings and looked longingly across the border to the great republic, beneath the folds of whose starry flag perfect re- ligious and political liberty was maintained. Finally, in 1840, he removed his family (except his sons Mar-

tin and James, with their families) across the then western wilds to the State of Missouri, and settled in Holt County, on what was then called the Platte Pur- chase. Martin Murphy, Jr., who, when he left Quebec, had settled in Frampton, bought land, hewed timbers, and erected a roof-tree for his young family, remained in Canada until 1842, when he sold his property, and, with his brother James, joined his father in Missouri.

The Murphys were essentially a family of pioneers; not from a nomadic disposition that rendered them uneasy unless in motion, but because they were seek- ing certain conditions and were determined not to rest until they found them. That no obstacle would stop them in their search for political liberty was demonstrated when they abandoned their native land to seek a home in America, and still further proved when they left the home built up in Canada, for the unknown wilds of Missouri. This second journey was full of inconvenience, and at that early day was .an undertaking formidable enough to cause the bravest to hesitate. The course was as follows : Up the St. Lawrence River past Montreal and across Lake St. Louis to Kingston; thence across Lake Ontario and up the Niagara River to Lewiston, near the Falls; thence across the country to Buffalo; thence across Lake Erie to Cleveland; thence by canal south, across the State of Ohio, to the town of Portsmouth, on the Ohio River; thence down the Ohio to the Mississippi, touching at Cincinnati and Louisville; thence up the Mississippi to St. Louis, and thence up the Missouri to the Platte Purchase.

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Pen pictures from the garden of the world, or Santa Clara county, California, Part 5

Author: Foote, Horace S., ed Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 844

Author: Foote, Horace S., ed
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 844