Monterey County CA Archives History - Books .....Chapter IV Commencement Of The Mission Era 1893 ************************************************ 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 June 2, 2006, 6:26 pm Book Title: Memorial And Biographical History Of The Coast Counties Of Central California. CHAPTER IV. COMMENCEMENT OF THE MISSION ERA. IN the year 1767 the Jesuits were, by royal decree, expelled from all the dominions of Spain, and Baja or Lower California, where that order had built up extensive establishments, was turned over to the Franciscans. Jose" de Galvez, Visitador-general, and afterward Minister-general, a man of great energy and executive ability, arrived the following year in Lower California with orders from the king, Carlos III, of Spain, to send an expedition, by sea, to re-discover and settle the ports of San Diego and Monterey. Father Jcinfpero Serra, whose name became so intimately connected with the subsequent early history of California, and especially with that of the Mission of San Carlos, where his ashes now repose, and a friar of dauntless energy and zeal, entered enthusiastically into Galvez' plans; and an expedition, both by land and by sea, was organized to go in search of San Diego, and thence to proceed on to Monterey. The forethought and practical wisdom of these two men are evidenced by the comprehensive provision they made, for the material as well as spiritual welfare of the missions and presidios, which they were to establish among the heathen of Alta California. All manner of seeds and grain and useful animals, ganado mayor y menor; such farming implements as were obtainable, etc., were gathered from the various Missions of the Peninsular, as well as church ornaments and vestments; and these latter were placed on board the vessels. In the archives of this State is to be found the manifest of the San Carlos, the flag-ship of this expedi-dition, which includes a list of the persons on board, sixty-two in all, and an inventory of eight months' provisions. The cattle, about 200 head, horses, 140 head, and forty or fifty mules and asses, were by direction of Galvez gathered from the various missions, and after many delays, were taken to San Diego with the land expeditions, in order that the new country, which he believed was fertile, might be stocked and cultivated, so that in future years there should be no want of something to eat. No wonder that the new missions, under such wise managers as these, afterward became prosperous and wealthy. In Galvez' instructions to Captain Vicente Villa, of the San Carlos, and to Lieutenant Pedro Fages, commander of the twenty-five soldiers which sailed with Captain Yilla, he declared the objects of the expedition to be, to establish " the Catholic religion among a numerous heathen people submerged in the darkness of paganism; to extend the dominion of the king our lord; and to protect this peninsular from the ambitious designs of foreign nations," etc.; and that these objects had been entertained since 1606, when Philip III ordered Vizcaino to make a second voyage to the coast of California, but which was prevented by the latter's death. Galvez charges them to spare no labor or fatigue to accomplish such just and holy aims, and adds in his own hand-writing the following: "Note: That to the fort or presidio, which may be constructed, and to the pueblo (village) of the mission, which may be established at Monterey, there shall be given the glorious name of San Carlos de Monterey. " Jose DE GALVEZ. "(Rubric.)" The land expedition under command of Governor Gaspar de Portala, accompanied by Father Junipero Serra, president of the Missions of Baja California, and Father Crespi, arrived in San Diego, where they found the two vessels the San Carlos and the San Antonio at anchor. They immediately set about founding a mission at that place. In the meantime, to-wit, on the 14th of July, 1769, Governor Portala and Father Juan Crespi, with a company of sixty-live persons in all, and a pack-train of provisions, pushed on northwardly by land, to re-discover and occupy Monterey, in pursuance of Galvez' orders, and of Philip III's scheme promulgated 163 years before. In Bancroft's History of California, Vol. I, pp. 140, et seq., a very full and interesting account of this expedition is given, including a description of the route taken, as described in Friar Crespi's diary and Lieutenant Fages' narrative. Portala and his party were gone more than six months; they were at Monterey, where they set up a cross without recognizing the place, which Vizcaino had described as it appeared in approaching from the sea. This caused them to keep on their journey, forty leagues farther to the northward, where they discovered the bay of San Francisco. Returning, they reached San Diego January 24, 1770, where they found the small band which they had left there six months before, short of supplies and very much discouraged; and Portala determined to abandon the mission, if relief did not soon arrive. However, the San Antonio, which had been dispatched to San Blas, returned with abundance of provisions on the 19th of March, and also brought fresh instructions from the viceroy and from Galvez, which entirely changed the aspect of affairs. Portala and Crespi at once made preparations in obedience to the new orders, for another expedition overland to Monterey, which this time they found; and, together with Father Junipero, who arrived in the San Antonio a few days later, to-wit, on the 31st of May, they made ready to take formal possession, in the name of the king, Carlos III, which was done after solemn religious ceremonies, by raising and saluting the royal flag of Spain, June 3, 1770. Father Junipero, with pious enthusiasm, wrote that he found the lovely port of Mon-tery the same, and unchanged in substance and circumstance, as the expedition of Sebastian Vizcaino left it in 1603; and that all the officers of sea and land, and all their people assembled in the same glen and under the same oak where the Fathers of Vizcaino's expedition had worshiped; and there they arranged their altar, hung up and rang their bells, sang the Veni Creator, blessed the holy water, and set up and blessed the cross and the royal standards, concluding the whole with a Te Deum. The realization of the long-cherished plans of the crown of Spain, and of its vice-regal representatives in Mexico, of the occupation of the important port of Monterey, and thereby, by implication of the vast region, known as Alta California, was the cause of much rejoicing in the city of Mexico when the news was received there. The bells of the cathedral and of all the other churches were rung; the viceroy and Galvez received the congratulations of the populace at the palace; and the news of the auspicious event was hailed with universal satisfaction by the people of both New and Old Spain. Father Junipero removed his mission soon after from Montery [sic] to the Carmelo valley, where there were good water and land, and where his neophytes might be away from the immediate, and not always salutary influence of the presidio soldiers. Here permanent and substantial buildings were erected; here, the venerable founder and president of the missions of California made his home during the remainder of his life; from this point he made excursions to the other missions which had been established under his direction; and here, under the altar of the church, which he had built, his remains lie buried. He died August 28, 1784. One hundred years later, in 1884, his death was commemorated by the restoration of his old church to its former state, by his admirers, under the leadership of Honorable Antonio F. Coronel and of the parish priest of Monterey, Reverend Angel Casanova. There were nine missions established under Father Serra's administration, namely: San Diego July 16, 1769 San Carlos de Monterey June 3, 1770 San Antonio de Padua July 14, 1771 San Gabriel, Archangel, September 8, 1778 San Luis, Obispo September 1, 1772 San Francisco, Dolores October 9, 1776 Santa Clara July 18, 1777 San Buenaventura March 31, 1782 San Juan Capistrano November 1, 1776 In order to protect the missions, four military posts called presidios were established during this period of Father Serra's presidency, at the following sea-ports, namely: San Diego 1769 Monterey. 1770 San Francisco 1776 Santa Barbara. 1780 After Serra's death the missions continued to prosper, subjecting large numbers of wild Indians to their rule; other missions were founded under the presidency of Serra's successors, Palou, Lasuen, Tapis, Senan, Payeras, etc., till the number amounted in all to twenty-one. These later-founded missions were: Santa Barbara December 4, 1786 La Purisiuna. December 8, 1787 Santa Cruz September 25, 1791 La Soledad October 9, 1791 San Jose June 11, 1797 San Juan Bautista June 24, 1797 San Miguel July 25,, 1797 San Fernando September 8, 1797 San Luis Rey June 13, 1798 Santa Ines September 17, 1804 San Rafael December 14, 1817 San Francisco Solano August 25, 1823 As the missions practically controled most of the land, and as domestic live-stock increased with astonishing rapidity, and moreover as the Fathers taught their neophytes that industry was only second to the creed itself in importance, the mission establishments all prospered wonderfully in worldly possessions; so much so, in fact, that the impression gained currency in Mexico that the Franciscan Fathers in California lived in luxury, which was liable to slacken their zeal and lessen their usefulness and solemn monitions came back from the proper authorities, warning the missionaries against the supposed dangers which threatened them in this direction. THE NEW WORLD COLONIZED ON A POLITICO-RELIGIOUS BASIS. The plan adopted by Spain for the occupation and settlement of the Californias, has often been unjustly criticised, because it was not understood. The founding of religious colonies in the New World was not alone peculiar to Spain or to the Latin races. Probably the people of Europe generally were much more devout, one, two and three centuries ago, than they are to-day. At any rate, people mixed up--their-religion with their politics to a greater extent then than they do now, or at least in a different fashion. Most of the Anglo-Saxon colonies of North America were settled largely on a religious basis. Moreover, Spain had been successful in making good citizens, by the religious colony system, of the Aztecs and other Indians of Mexico, as well as of various tribes in South America, and in the Islands of the South Seas. PARTIAL FAILURE OF THE MISSION SYSTEM. That the experiment partially failed in the Californias was not so much the fault of the system as it was of the Indian himself. Even if the critics of the mission system had taken him in hand, and had eliminated all Christian or religious teaching from their methods, and had only dosed him with social maxims, or diluted political economy, it is doubtful if they would have succeeded any better with him than did the good Franciscan Friars. The "Digger Indians" of California did not have within them capabilities for the making of self-governing, enlightened citizens. The methods also of the missionaries have often been commented on unfavorably. But if we compare their methods with those adopted by even religious white people, in the New England and other colonies, toward the Indians which formerly inhabited the territory now included in the United States, we are compelled to admit that the Franciscans lose nothing by such comparison. Though, in strict justice, it must be said, that, if the latter were not forced into bloody wars of extermination, it was perhaps mainly, but not altogether, because the Diggers did not have the spirit- shall it be said, the warlike spirit?-of the Pequots, the Mohawks or of the Seminoles. It would seem to be the rule with Anglo-Saxon colonists that the contact of a superior with an inferior and non-assimilative race, results, almost invariably, in the disappearance of the latter. With colonists of the Latin races, the rule has exceptions, notably in the ease of Mexico, and in Peru and some other South American States, where the native races showed a capacity, both for assimilation and for development; and where they eventually acquired, purely through the inherent qualities of their blood, a prominent, if not a dominant, position in the State. It was hoped by Spain that the missionaries, who were fired with zeal for the propagation of their faith, would be able to gather into the missions the Indians of this new country, and gradually civilize them and mold them into citizens, so that in a few years the missions might be converted into self-governing pueblos or towns, as had been done in the central portions of New Spain. And thus the experiment went on from year to year till Mexico, having declared her independence, found that the long-tried experiment could never result in success; and so she took up the matter with vigor, as the mission Indians had not, neither was there any likelihood that they ever would, become, citizens; and the possession or occupation of the lands for the use of the missions and of the Indians prevented her real or actual citizens, as well as foreigners who might desire to become citizens, from settling up the country. By a decree of the Mexican Congress of August 18, 1824, very liberal provision was made for the granting of lands to actual settlers. Of course the missionary fathers were averse to what they looked upon as an encroachment of the secular power on their rights. The contest between the secular and ecclesiastical authorities in the province continued for years, having commenced under the Spanish regime; and although the Government of Mexico was kindly disposed toward the mission authorities, it could not let things drift indefinitely. Finally, August 17, 1833, the Mexican Congress passed a law secularizing the missions, and depriving the Friars of all control of the mission property, thus opening the entire territory of Alta California to settlement by Spanish-American citizens, or to foreigners who should have become such. While the mission system failed to realize the enlightened views of either the Spanish or Mexican government in the settlement of the country, nevertheless its achievements in other directions were not inconsiderable. The French traveler and writer, De Mofras, who visited California in 1841, estimated that the twenty-one missions of Alta California had, at the time they were secularized, 30,650 Indians under their control; that they owned 424,000 horned cattle; 62,500 horses, mules and asses, not counting the large number of these latter which had run wild; 321,500 head of sheep, goats and swine; and that the com, wheat and other grains raised by them annually amounted to 122,500 bushels. Thus is apparent that Galvez and Serra had provided cattle, seeds and grain, etc., for the new establishment, sixty-five years before, to some purpose. PUEBLOS. During the mission era, three pueblos, or secular towns, were established. These were Los Angeles, San Jose and Branciforte; and it was thought that through them the burden of supplying the presidios with rations, recruits, etc., by the Mexican Government would be greatly facilitated. The king's ranch, El Rancho del Rey, in the Salinas valley, helped also to furnish supplies for the presidios. As Monterey was the capital of Alta California throughout nearly the entire period of both the Spanish and Mexican regimes, and as the governors usually resided at Monterey, where also the custom house was located, a list of those officials will not be without interest in a history of Monterey, whose port, from the settlement of the country, till 1846, was really the most important port in California. SPANISH GOVERNORS. Gaspar de Portola 1767 to 1771 Felipe de Barri. 1771 " 1774 Felipe de Neve 1774 " 1782 Pedro Fages 1782 " 1790 Jose Antonio Romeu 1790 " 1792 Jose J. de Arrillaga (ad int.) 1792 " 1794 Diego de Borica 1794 « 1800 Jose J. de Arrillaga 1800 " 1814 Jose Arguellp (ad interim) 1814 " 1815 Pablo Vicente de Sola 1815 " 1822 MEXICAN GOVERNORS. Pablo V. de Sola Nov. 1822 to 1823 Luis Arguello 1823 to June 1825 Jose M. de Echandia June 1825 " Jan. 1831 Manuel Victoria Jan. 1831 " Jan. 1832 Pio Pico Jan. 1832 " Jan. 1833 Jose Figueroa Jan. 1833 " Aug. 1835 Jose Castro Aug. 1835 " Jan. 1836 Nicolas Gutierrez Jan. 1836 " May 1836 Mariano Chico May 1836 " Nicolas Guntierrez 1836 " Juan B. Alavarado 1836 " Dec. 1842 Manuel Micheltorena Dec. 1842 " Feb. 1845 Pio Pico Feb. 1845 " July 1846 Additional Comments: Extracted from: Memorial and Biographical History of the Coast Counties of Central California. Illustrated. Containing a History of this Important Section of the Pacific Coast from the Earliest Period of its Discovery to the Present Time, together with Glimpses of its Auspicious Future; Illustrations and Full-Page Portraits of some of its Eminent Men, and Biographical Mention of many of its Pioneers, and Prominent Citizens of To-day. HENRY D. BARROWS, Editor of the Historical Department. LUTHER A. INGERSOLL, Editor of the Biographical Department. "A people that take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote descendants."—Macaulay. CHICAGO: THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY. 1893. File at: http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/ca/monterey/history/1893/memorial/chapteri166gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/cafiles/ File size: 18.5 Kb