Monterey County CA Archives Biographies.....Bach, Maria Antonia ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com October 31, 2010, 9:09 pm Source: California and Californians, Vol. IV, Published 1932, Pages 115 - 116 Author: The Lewis Publishing Company MARIA ANTONIA BACH, of Monterey, in her life and personality has helped to preserve the beautiful traditions of the older California. Her ancestry includes many family names of renown, historically and socially, and she is justly proud of the dignity and virtues of her mother's people. Her father, Henry Bach, was born at Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany, March 12, 1852. He was reared and educated in his native land and in 1880 came to America and settled at Cleveland, Ohio. Six years later he arrived in San Francisco. For a time he was in the hotel business in that city, and later moved to Monterey, where he took the management of the ranch and live stock of Mrs. Maria Antonia Castro de Sanchez y Galvan. He managed these properties until her death in 1890. On May 19, 1884, Henry Bach married a daughter of his employer, Miss Eduviges Sanchez y Galvan. Mrs. Bach passed away July 11, 1917. Their only child is Miss Maria Antonia Bach. Miss Bach's grandfather was Rafael Sanchez y Galvan, a native of Cadiz, Spain. He came to Mexico as secretary to General Emanuel Michthorena, and accompanied the general to California. Here Galvan was given a Spanish grant of 12,000 acres, known as the San Lorenzo Rancho, near King City. He established his home at Monterey. While he was educated for the law he did not practice that profession. In 1846 he married Maria Antonia Castro, whom he had met at a ball in the historic old Custom House in Monterey, a building still preserved for its historical interest. Maria Antonia Castro was a sister of General Manuel Castro, who fought against Fremont on Hawke's Peak, now known as Fremont's Peak in Monterey County. She was a cousin of Governor Jose Castro, one of the early governors of California. This Castro family founded the town of Castroville. Her brother, Juan Bautista Castro, was state treasurer and assemblyman. Other brothers were also prominent in their day, including Jose Francisco, Jose Antonio and Leandro. Her sister, Juana Castro, became the wife of Superior Judge Josiah Merrit, the first man to hold that office in Monterey County, 1851-54. The mother of Maria Antonia Castro was Maria Antonia Pico, who married Simon Castro, the first alcalde of Monterey and who owned a vanish grant of 60,000 acres in Monterey County, given him by the King of Spain. One famous member of Mrs. Henry Bach's family on the paternal side was Saint Teresa of Jesus, founder of the Carmelite Order in Aurelia, Spain. On the maternal side was Lieutenant Cota, who came to the Pacific Coast with Father Junipero Serra. Simon Castro built a beautiful home for his bride at Monterey in 1828. This old home stood where the Woolworth Building and the Monterey Bank are now located. The house itself was torn down in 1890, and through Mrs. Henry Bach most of the tiles were used at the Midwinter Fair in San Francisco. Portions of the old adobe walls on the grounds which surrounded the house stood for many years afterwards. Mrs. Dolores Sanchez y Galvan and Mrs. Josefa Geil, sisters of Mrs. Bach, attended St. Catherine's Academy, the first Dominican academy in California, located on the site now occupied by the San Carlos Hotel. One of the teachers was Conception Arguello, who in the early days of California had been engaged to a Russian. Her fiance went to Siberia and never returned, and in her grief she took the veil. Maria Antonia Pico was a sister of the famous Governor Pico of Los Angeles. Miss Maria Antonia Bach is principally and intellectually an interesting type of the old hispanic regime. She has a regal bearing, clear, fair skin, black hair and eyes, beautiful teeth, and shows the influence of her ancestry and her culture. She is of the fourth generation to own the property where she lives, at 449 Main Street. A large part of the old holdings of the family have gone into other hands. She owns an interest in the Rancho Bolsa Nueva y Moro Cojo, near Castroville. Miss Bach does a great deal in a quiet way for charity and is a devout Catholic. Her mother's sister, Josefa, married Samuel Franklin Geil, for many years a prominent attorney of Monterey. The children of this marriage were: Anna Geil Andreson; Edina Geil Norris, wife of Walter E. Norris, an attorney at Salinas; and Dolores Sanchez y Galvan. Miss Bach and her cousin, Mrs. Norris, with her son, Joseph Geil Norris, are the only members of the family now living. On October 19, 1931, Miss Bach was married in the Spanish Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe in San Francisco to Mr. Harry Nils Thompson by Rt. Rev. Msgr. Antonio Sartandreu. Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/monterey/photos/bios/bach1085gbs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/monterey/bios/bach1085gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/cafiles/ File size: 5.4 Kb