USA > California > San Diego County > San Diego county, California; a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 8
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
PRIESTS OF SAN DIEGO MISSION
1769-July 16. Mission founded by Father President Junipero Serra. Also present, Fathers Hernando Parron and Juan Viscaino.
1770-Fathers Juan Crespi and Francisco Gomez had been at San Diego but departed with the land expedition for Monterey on July 14th. They returned January 24, 1770, and all five priests were present until February 11th, when Viscaino went south by land to Vellicata with Rivera. On April 17th, Serra and Crespi sailed for Monterey with Portola (left at San Diego, Parron and Gomez, the former in charge).
1771-April. The San Antonio came up from Mexico with ten friars and left some of them at San Diego, among them Pedro Benito Cambon, Francisco Dumetz, and Father Somera. Same ship took Gomez to Monterery. Dumetz was in charge. In July, the San Antonio arrived with six friars from the north, and Cambon and Dumetz went overland to Mexico.
1772-May. Crespi came from the north and Dumetz returned with Father Tomas de la Pena to take Cambon's place. September 27th, Crespi and Du- metz left for San Carlos with two friars, Usson and Figuer, came from Mexico.
1773-August 30. Father Francisco Palou arrived overland from Mexico, with Fathers Pedro Benito Cambon, Gregorio Amurrio, Fermin Francisco Lasuen, Juan Prestamero, Vicente Fuster, Jose Antonio Murguia and Miguel de la Campa y Cos, assigned to different missions.
57
HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY
September 5. Paterna, Lasuen and Prestamero departed.
October 26. Palou, Murguia and de la Pena departed.
This left at San Diego Luis Juame, Vicente Fuster and Gregorio Amurrio as supernumerary.
1774-March 3. Serra came by sea from Mexico. With him came Father Pablo Mugartegui, who remained for a time, but later went north.
April 6. Father Serra departed for Monterey, by land.
1775-November 5. Destruction of the Mission, Fathers Luis Juame and Vicente Fuster in charge; the former killed, as related. At the Presidio, Fathers Lasuen and Amurrio.
1776-July II. Serra arrived by sea from Monterey to arrange for rebuild- ing the mission.
October 17. Three friars, Fuster, Lasuen and probably Santa Maria, oc- cupied the new mission.
December. Serra departed the last days of the year for the north, with Amurrio, and never returned.
1777. Juan Figuer came and served to December 18, 1784, when he died and was buried in the church.
1785. For about a year after Figuer's death, Lasuen served alone. In No- vember, 1785, he went to San Carlos and his place at San Diego was taken by Juan Mariner (arrived 1785). With him was associated Juan Antonio Garcia Riboo (arrived 1783), till October, 1786, then Hilario Torrens (arrived 1786). Mariner and Torrens served till the last years of the century. Torrens left California at the end of 1798, and died in 1799; Mariner died at the Mission, January 29, 1800.
1800. Their successors were Jose Panella (arrived June, 1797), and Jose Barona (arrived May, 1798). Pedro de San Jose Estevan was supernumerary, April, 1796, to July, 1797. Panella was accused of cruelty to the neophytes and was reprimanded by President Lasuen. He left the country in 1803. Barona remained as minister throughout the decade (1800-1810). Panella was replaced for about a year after 1803 by Mariano Payeras, and then Jose Bernardo San- chez took the place in 1804. Pedro de la Cueva, from Mission San Jose, was here for a short time in 1806, and Jose Pedro Panto came in September, 1810.
1810. Father Sanchez continued to serve until the spring of 1820, when he was succeeded by Vicente Pascual Oliva. Panto died in 1812, and Fernando Martin took his place.
"Panto," says Bancroft, "was a rigorous disciplinarian and severe in his pun- ishments. One evening in November, 1811, his soup was poisoned, causing vomit- ing. His cook, Nazario, was arrested and admitted having put the 'yerba,' powdered cuchasquelaai, in the soup with a view to escape the Father's intolerable floggings, having received in succession fifty, twenty-five, twenty-four and twenty- five lashes in the twenty-four hours preceding his attempted revenge. There is much reason to suppose that the friar's death on June 30th of the next year was attributable to the poisoning."
The new Mission church was dedicated November 12, 1813 (this is the build- ing whose ruins yet remain). The blessing was pronounced by Jose Barona, of San Juan. The first sermon was by Geronimo Boscana, of San Luis, the
58
HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY
second by the Dominican Tomas Ahumada, of San Miguel, and Lieutenant Ruiz acted as sponsor.
1820. Father Martinez served for a time in 1827.
1830. Fathers Oliva and Martin continued in charge. Martin died October 19, 1838. He was a native of Robledillo, Spain, born May 26, 1770. He was a Franciscan and arrived at San Diego July 6, 1811. He was regarded as an exemplary frey. He was one of the few missionaries who took the oath of al- legiance to Mexico.
1840. Oliva remained alone, and was the last missionary to occupy the mis- sion till August, 1846. Upon the secularization of the missions in 1835, Jose Joaquin Ortega was placed in charge as majordomo or administrator, and 1840 he was replaced by Juan MI. Osuna. Others served at different times. Some Indians lingered at the place and in 1848 Philip Crosthwaite leased the mission. Oliva went first to San Luis Rey, then to San Juan Capistrano, where he died in January, 1848.
CHAPTER IX
AMUSEMENTS OF THE CALIFORNIAN OF EARLY DAYS
It was in their amusements more than in anything else that the Californians took an abiding interest. Amusements in fact were a part of the serious busi- ness of life. Besides the regular ancient festivals of the church, there were numerous national festivals. In 1822 the imperial congress decreed that thence- forth, in commemoration of important events in the history of Mexican inde- pendence, the anniversaries of February 24th, March 2d and September 16th and 27th should be observed as national holidays and celebrated with festivities. In 1840, in the time of Alvarado, who had little fancy for strutting around with a feather in his hat and thought entirely too much time was devoted to holiday soldiering, the Mexican government deemed it necessary to call his attention to the subject and enjoin, by special order, that officials should attend solemn festivities and celebrations. It insisted that such attendance was necessary to preserve the brilliancy and dignity of the national government and the respect with which it should be regarded in the eyes of the people.
The chief national holiday was September 16th and this was almost invariably celebrated with great pomp and circumstances not only by the people in gen- eral but by the government. In 1843, for example, Governor Micheltorena issued a long official paper, prescribing the order of ceremonies to be observed at Monterey. On the previous evening the castillo or fort was to fire a salute of five guns, the band to play and fireworks to be exhibited. On the anniversary itself there were to be artillery salutes throughout the day, a grand mass at the church and military evolutions in the morning, a bull-fight on the plaza in the afternoon and a ball at night, and all official persons were required to present themselves in rigorously full dress and take part. Horse-racing and gambling were adjuncts to the celebration, but bull-fighting was a national sport, au- thorized and regulated by government and therefore a part of the regular program. Sometimes within a few days of an approaching celebration the vaqueros would make arrangements for lassoing a bear. For this purpose they would select a bright moonlight night, expose the carcass of a slaughtered bullock in some place frequented by bears and conceal themselves. If a bear approached, they would pounce upon him from their ambush with lassos, and they usually suc- ceeded in tumbling him over, gagging and securing him. When the feast came on, they would place him on an ox cart or large bullock's hide and drag him to the plaza, where he would be chained and pitted against a wild bull. In the contests between bears and bulls the combat was often bloody and victory un- certain. Sometimes the bear was gored to death and sometimes the bull's jugular
59
60
HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY
torn open. If either animal showed signs of giving up, it was goaded into des- peration, and the more desperate and bloody the conflict the greater the pleasure and satisfaction of the spectators. On the other hand, the ordinary fights be- tween bulls on the one side and human beings on the other were, to a very great extent, deprived of their zest by an order of government, that in such contests the tips of the bull's horns should be first cut off. Under these circumstances the ordinary bull-fight was a rather tame affair, a mere spectacle of cruelty. But such as it was, it was considered an amusement and occupied the place and served the purpose of its prototype and original, the gladiatorial show of Rome.
Besides the frequent national holidays, there were numerous church feast days and festivals, and all were celebrated with more or less observance and eclat. Not only Christmas and Easter, Lady Day and Michaelmas, but every Sunday had its religious festivities and amusements. Every mission had its anniversary, every family its reunion, every individual his saint's day. Every wedding was made a festival, every funeral a time of amusement. The ancient poets feigned an Arcadian age of universal plenty and enjoyment, when the skies were always sunny, when the fields produced their fruits spontaneously, when there was no labor and no anxiety, when from day to day and month to month and year to year there was one long, unbroken, uninterrupted holiday. Such an age was an impossibility for men constituted as they are. But the nearest approach to it in the world, perhaps, was the pastoral age of Alta California.
Robinson witnessed the celebration of the religious festival of "la noche buena-the holy night" at San Diego. Estudillo, the commandante of that place, directed the customary exhibition of "Los Pastores" or the dramatic play of the Shepherds. Those who were to take part in the performance rehearsed night after night until at length Christmas eve arrived. At an early hour, illumina- tions commenced, fireworks were ignited, the church bells rang and the path- ways leading to the presidio church were enlivened with crowds hurrying to prayer and devotion. At midnight a solemn mass was celebrated. At its con- clusion, Father Vicente de Oliva, who officiated, produced a small image repre- senting the infant Saviour, which he held in his hands for all to approach and kiss. After this, at the sound of a guitar on the outside, the body of the church was cleared and in a few minutes afterwards the procession of performers en- tered, dressed in appropriate costumes and bearing banners. They consisted of six females, three men and a boy. The females represented shepherdesses, one of the men Lucifer, one a hermit, the third Bartolo, a. lazy vagabond, and the boy the archangel Gabriel. The performance commenced with the arch- angel's appearance to the shepherdesses, his annunciation of the birth of the Saviour and his exhortation to repair to the scene of the manger. The shep- herdesses set out but Lucifer endeavored to prevent the prosecution of their journey. His influence and temptations were about to succeed when the arch- angel again appeared, and a long dialogue took place, in which the hermit and Bartolo played respectively prominent parts, and the whole ended with the frustration and submission of the arch-fiend. The play was interspersed with moral and religious teachings, with music and songs, with farce and buffoonery, and a medley was thus presented, in which every spectator found something to his taste. For several days the spectacle was repeated at the principal houses, at each of which the performers were entertained with presents and refresh-
61
HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY
ments, and, as they passed from house to house through the streets, they were followed by a crowd, particularly of boys, who were enraptured with the comicali- ties of Bartolo and the hermit and enthusiastically wild to witness over and over again what seemed to them so splendid and glorious a sight.
While the celebration of Christmas thus took place at night, that of Easter was a day-time spectacle. Dana was present on the occasion of such a festival at Santa Barbara. The population was dressed in holiday attire, the women sat on carpets or rugs before their doors and the men rode about visiting front house to house. Under one of the piazzas, two men, decked out with ribbons and bouquets, played the violin and guitar. These social amenities were, however, mere additions to the religious mass and the inevitable fandango, which were a part of every festival. There was also every year a hanging and burning of Judas Iscariot or rather an image, supposed to represent the arch-traitor, stuffed with straw and fire-crackers and remarkable for its prominent nose.
On December 12th of each year was celebrated the apparition of the image of Santa Maria de Guadalupe or the Aztec virgin. In issuing an order for this festival at Monterey in 1833, Governor Figueroa directed the streets and houses to be decorated during the day time and illuminated at night. He also ordered all places where liquor was sold to be closed until after midday. On a similar occasion at Los Angeles in 1839, an appropriation of municipal money was made for the purpose of providing gunpowder for salutes during the religious ceremonies.
Every Sunday was likewise a festival. After mass the day was devoted to amusement. As there was no impiety in firing salutes to accompany the Sunday mass, so there was no sin in Sunday military parades. A man who attended church in the morning was at liberty to enjoy himself in the afternoon as suited his fancy. He could turn out if he pleased with rattling drum and ear-piercing fife, or, if he liked better, he could spend the remainder of the day without impeachment of his orthodox devoutness, at the race course or the gaming table. There was no offense in Sunday laughter or hilarity, and no one imagined that Sunday dancing was damnable.
The carnival season of extravagancies was represented by what were called the "carnes tolendas." They corresponded with the three days previous to Ash Wednesday. When this season approached, eggs were emptied of their natural contents by blowing through small holes pierced in their ends, the shells then partly filled with cologne or other scented water, and the holes sealed up with wax. It was always allowable during these days to greet an acquaintance by crushing such an egg on his or her head, but the chief amusement consisted in accomplishing the sweet drenching at an unexpected moment. On some oc- casions select companies were assembled at a particular time by special invita- tion to enjoy the sport, and then there was what might be called a noisy, up- roarious battle, every participant being armed in advance with a supply of prepared eggs. When ladies took part, there was a limit to the game, but when gentlemen alone were engaged, the sport not infrequently advanced from eggs to wet napkins, with which they slapped one another, from wet napkins to tumblerfuls of water, from tumblers to pitchers, and from pitchers to bucket- fuls. Robinson witnessed a frolic of this kind on the occasion of the wedding of Manuel Jimeno Casarin at Santa Barbara. Among those present were Father
62
HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY
Antonio Jimeno and Father Menendez. They joined in the sport and, becoming heated, reached the stage of throwing water over each other. Father Menendez, being the weaker of the two and finding himself worsted, retreated to an ad- joining chamber and closed the door. Father Antonio pursued, when Menendez, seeing no means of escape, seized the first vessel he could lay his hands on and let fly full into Father Antonio's face. Thus, even among the father mission- aries themselves, amusements could be carried to very great lengths.
When Dana was at Santa Barbara in 1835, he attended the funeral of a little girl whose body was being conveyed by a long procession from the town to the mission for interment. The little coffin was borne by eight companions and followed by a straggling company of girls in white dresses adorned with flowers, which included as he supposed from their number all the girls between the ages of five and fifteen in the neighborhood. Those who bore the coffin were continually relieved by others running forward from the procession and taking their places. The company played and amused themselves on the way, fre- quently stopping and running all together to talk or pick flowers, and then run- ning on again to overtake the coffin. A few elderly women brought up the rear, and a crowd of young men, some on foot and others mounted, walked or rode by the side of the girls, frequently addressing them with jokes and banter. But the strangest part of the ceremony was that played by two men who walked, one on each side of the coffin, carrying muskets and continually loading and firing them into the air.
Music, singing and dancing, particularly the last, constituted a part of almost every occasion of amusement. There could scarcely be a social gathering with- out a fandango. This was properly speaking a dance, but it was usual to devote a portion of the time to vocal and instrumental music. Though the violin was common, the favorite instrument, and especially as an accompaniment to singing, was the guitar. In singing it was not unusual to hear the words of the song improvised and addressed, sometimes in honor of strangers who might be present, sometimes in compliment to the ladies, and sometimes in satire and ridicule of the follies of the day or of society in general. A couplet or strophe, commenced by a gentleman, was often finished by a lady. Duflot de Mofras attended one of the social reunions at Santa Barbara in 1842, when the country was very much excited about the seizure of Monterey by the Americans. A gentleman commenced a couplet in a doleful strain, to the effect that "If Yankees come the country's lost; there's no one to defend her." A charming damsel, with a roguish look at the stranger, immediately added: "If Frenchmen come, the women folks will willingly surrender."
The voices of the Californians, as well as their language, were peculiarly adapted for singing. Dana was much struck with the fineness and beauty of the intonations of both sexes. He said that every ruffian looking fellow, with a slouched hat, blanket coat, dirty underdress and soiled leather leggins, ap- peared to speak elegant Spanish. A common bullock driver on horseback, de- livering a message, spoke like an ambassador at a royal audience. It seemed, he went on to say, as if a curse had fallen upon the people and stripped them of everything except their pride, their manners and their voices. Even among the Indians at the missions, music, instrumental as well as vocal, was to some extent cultivated. Each establishment had its Indian choir. At Santa Barbara
63
HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY
Father Narciso Duran taught a company of about thirty upon violins, flutes, trumpets and drums, and their performances were well executed. Robinson often saw the old padre standing bareheaded in the corridor of the mission, leading a rehearsal and beating time against one of the pillars, and he was so skillful a teacher that he could instantly detect and correct a false note by any of his pupils. At that mission as well as at others, it was not unusual for the church music to consist of the most lively dancing tunes, and thus solemn masses were not infrequently chanted to the air of reel or hornpipe. Duflot de Mofras heard the Marseillaise played as an accompaniment to mass at the mission of Santa Cruz.
The dances were of many kinds and exceedingly graceful. Some were per- formed in companies, some in couples and some by single individuals. There was one called "el son," executed by one person only, in which the sound of the feet formed an accompaniment to the music. When performed by a lady, and particularly when well performed, there was always much enthusiasm among the gentlemen spectators, who, if relatives or sufficiently intimate friends, would ap- plaud with a shower of silver dollars. A very brilliant execution or a very special desire to please would sometimes evoke a golden doubloon instead of the customary dollar.
Robinson was present at a grand fandango, which took place at the house of Juan Bandini at San Diego in 1829, and described several of the dances. The occasion was that of having the house "bendecida" or blessed. This part of the ceremony, which was conducted by one of the missionaries marching through the various apartments, sprinkling holy water and reciting Latin verses, took place at noon, in the presence of a large company consisting of the pro- prietor and his family, Governor Echeandia and his officers, many friends and their families, and a few invited strangers. After the blessing, the company sat down to a luxurious dinner, and when the cloth was removed the guitar and violin invited those who wished to the dance. But this was merely preliminary to the grand fandango of the evening, for which nearly all reserved themselves. At an early hour after dusk the various avenues to the house were filled with men, women and children hurrying to the scene. On such occasions everybody attended and the common people were expected without the formality of an in- vitation. When Robinson arrived, he found a crowd collected about the door and every now and then shouting their approbation of the performances going on within the house. With some difficulty he managed to effect an entrance and found a lady and a gentleman upon the floor executing a dance called "el jarabe." The sound of their feet was so rapid, precise and harmonious with the music that he compared it to the rattle of drumsticks in the hands of able professors. The attitude of the lady was erect, with her head a little inclined to the right shoulder and her eyes modestly cast on the floor, while her hands, which were gracefully disposed at the sides of her dress, held it just high enough above the ankles to expose the movements of her feet. The gentleman was mean- while under full head of locomotion and rattled away with wonderful dexterity, so disposing himself as to assist and set off the evolutions of his partner. His arms were thrown carelessly behind his back and, as they crossed each other, secured the points of his serape, which still held its place upon his shoulders. He had not even laid aside his sombrero or broad-brimmed hat, but in all
64
HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY
respects appeared as if he had just stepped forth from the outside crowd and placed himself upon the floor.
In an inner apartment, which was about fifty feet in length by twenty in width, there was a crowd of smiling faces. Along the sides were children and Indian girls and their parents and mistresses. A lively tune commenced. One of the managers of the evening approached the nearest lady and, clapping his hands in accompaniment with the music, succeeded in bringing her into the center of the floor. There she remained a few moments, gently tapping with her feet, or, if young and skillful, executing admirable movements, and then with several whirls she glided back to her seat. Then another was called out in the same manner, until the compliment had passed throughout the company. This was another variety of the dance called "el son" already described, but instead of showering dollars, an enthusiastic spectator would place his hat upon the head of a lady, with the tacit understanding that he would afterwards redeem it with a present. At intervals during the entertainment refreshments were served. Occasionally the waltz was introduced, when ten or a dozen couples would start off in independent gyrations. But the most interesting and graceful of all the dances was the contradanza, in which a large number participated in unison. This included intricate figures and charming combinations, borrowed from other dances, and thus, to some extent, embraced the most attractive movements of them all, while at the same time it was social and equalizing in its pleasures. The poetry of motion was not only seen but was also felt in the bows and glides and whirls of this popular and favorite amusement.
As has already been incidentally stated, the Californians would often ride a great distance to a fandango. Duflot de Mofras in 1841 accompanied a party of about thirty persons, male and female, from Sonoma to the Russian farm of Knebnikoff. The occasion was the saint's day of Helene de Rotschoff, wife of the Russian commandante. They started in the morning, rode all day and in the evening arrived at their destination; there they danced all that night, all the next day and all the following night, and the following or third day at sun-up they started on the journey back home again. The distance ridden in this instance, counting both ways, was some eighty or a hundred miles, but for a dance lasting several days, it was regarded an easy thing to go a hundred leagues or more.
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.