Marin County CA Archives History - Books .....III Father Of The Pioneers: John Reed 1958 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/copyright.htm http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com April 11, 2007, 12:55 am Book Title: Shark Point - High Point III Father of the Pioneers: John Reed THE FIRST English speaking white man in Marin County was John Thomas Reed. (Reed has been found spelled in several ways: Read, Reade, Reid, as well as Reed. A facsimilie signature on a map dated 1861 reads "Juan Reid". The 1884 map of SF&NPC Railroad uses Reed. The Sollom branch of the Reed heirs maintains the Read spelling.) Born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1805, Reed was given ideas of the world beyond Ireland by his sailor uncle. In 1820, he shipped with his uncle to South America. For six years he lived in Acapulco, Mexico, learning to speak Spanish and to understand the Spaniards and Mexicans who controlled the Pacific Coast. In those days California was the northern frontier of Mexico and a place where a young man who wasn't afraid of work might build a fortune out of the wilderness. When his ship reached San Francisco Bay, young Reed jumped ship at "Saucelito". That same year, 1826, Reed, applied to the Mexican government for Rancho Saucelito. The grant was denied on the grounds that the land was being held for government purposes, possibly a mission. Disappointed, Reed went to Sonoma County in 1827 and applied for a grant named after the Indians of the area, Cotati. He tilled a part of Cotati Rancho, but hostile Indians drove him off and put the torch to his crops before the first harvest. He was only 22. He returned to Mission San Rafael and lived there for six months, serving as major domo. He was the first English-speaking white man to receive this honor from the Spanish-Mexican church in this area. In 1832 he again tried to establish rights in Saucelito. He built a cabin and ran a ferry from Marin to Yerba Buena, the first regular ferry service on the bay. Interestingly, he was also the first to take and record soundings of San Francisco Bay. He applied a second time for Saucelito and was a second time refused. While major domo for Mission San Rafael, he had made many trips to the presidio at Yerba Buena. Here he became acquainted with the lovely Hilaria (Ylaria) Sanchez, daughter of the commandante, Don Jose Antonio, whose rancho extended from modern San Mateo to Mission Dolores. By 1831, the young couple were good friends. About this time a naturalized Mexican citizen, William Antonio Richardson, married into one of the old Spanish families and received Rancho Saucelito as part of his bride's dowry. The claim was contested by a Spanish-Mexican, Nicolas Galindo. Political dealings and re-grants seem to have been fairly common. When Galindo, for some unknown reason, fell from favor with the Monterey government, Captain Richardson seemed likely to get the land. Reed then began looking around for a second choice. After the necessary naturalization as a Mexican citizen, Reed asked for the Mill Valley-Tiburon area and was granted these lands in 1834 by Governor Figueroa on the condition that he build a sawmill and provide cut wood for the presidio. Reed accepted the terms and named his holdings Rancho Corte Madera del Presidio (which means "cut wood for the Persidio"). This was the first grant in Marin County. On an 1861 map, "Lands of Marin County", Reed's rancho is listed at 8,878.82 acres. On the 1884 grant survey which confirmed the estate to the heirs, the holdings are listed as 7,845.12 acres. Reed's new rancho spanned the rolling hills and the green salt marshes of the Tiburon Peninsula from Mill Valley to the San Quentin sloughs and included land northwest of Raccoon Strait. Reed wanted to ask for the hand of Hilaria, but he wanted a home first. So he built a saw mill and his home - a large adobe - in what is now Mill Valley. He was the first white man to climb Mount Tamalpais, and on the highest peak erected a large wooden cross which could be seen on a clear day as far as the Farallones. The Tiburon area he kept as a cattle ranch. He had his own salt houses, his own brick yard and his own quarry. October 12, 1836, John Thomas Reed married Hilaria Sanchez in old Mission Dolores in Yerba Buena. Reed, the "don from Dublin", did build the fortune of which he dreamed. The Rancho Corte Madera del Presidio became one of the greatest cattle ranches of its day in Northern California. An average of 20,000 head of cattle were run on the Tiburon pastures. One report also lists 5000 sheep and 1000 horses. John and Hilaria had four children: Inez, who married Thomas Boileau Deffebach; Hilarita, who married Dr. Benjamin Lyford; Ricardo, who died as a child, and John Joseph. Inez and Hilarita received some land as their dowry, but the bulk of the land was held for John Joseph, who lived on the ranch. (John Joseph received 2061.51 acres when the rancho was divided after his fathers death, according to an 1869 map. Hilarita received 1021.51 acres at "Punta de Tiburon" as well as 446.47 acres at Strawberry. Inez Reed Deffebach received 646.51 acres in the Mill Valley-Alto area.) It was the Lyfords who settled on Strawberry, the Deffebachs who inherited the Mill Valley home and grounds, and John Joseph who built the great white mansion that still stands in the eucalyptus groves behind Bel Aire, near the base of the Tiburon Peninsula. Reed was building a new house for the family in Mill Valley when he died. Indians from Sutter's Fort (skilled craftsmen) were building for him. This big house, completed later, was located about where the present Sollom-Deffebach residence stands at 90 Locust Avenue in Mill Valley. Don Juan, as the Indians and paisanos called him, was a hard worker all of his life, building the fortune he hoped to enjoy in his old age. But he was only 38 when he suddenly became ill from a fever. In 1843 no doctors were in the area and his friends did the only thing they knew to do. They bled the sick man, believing that this would take out the sick blood and cure him. Already weakened by the fever, he died from loss of blood. He was buried in the old Catholic cemetery by San Rafael Mission. Reed still is known by local historians as the "Father of the Pioneers" and his heirs still hold parts of the original land, though squatters and sales cut down the holdings in a single generation. Hilaria Sanchez Reed married a second time, after Reed's death, into one of the old Spanish families, the Garcias. Additional Comments: Extracted from: Shark Point - High Point An Illustrated History of TIBURON & BELVEDERE IN MARIN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA BY EIGHTH GRADERS OF THE REED SCHOOL CLASSES OF 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958 PUBLISHED BY THE REED SCHOOL DISTRICT PARENT-TEACHER CLUB BELVEDERE-TIBURON MCMLVIII Designed by Lawton Kennedy, San Francisco 3000 Copies Printed by R. G. Fontana & Son, San Anselmo File at: http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/ca/marin/history/1958/sharkpoi/iiifathe513nms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/cafiles/ File size: 7.3 Kb