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Vol. XV, No. 4

Fall,

1969

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THE GONZALES-RAMIREZ ADOBE

By Florence Slocum Wilson

PREFACE Somewhat removed from the center of present day Santa Barbara stands the little adobe built by Rafael Gonzales overlooking the old Estero. Owned and lived in by Gonzales and his daughter over a period covering almost 100 years it has since then had only two other ow’ners: the A. L. Murphy Vhays who bought the place from Gonzales’ daughter’s estate in 1923 and lived here until a little over a year ago, and now the Hastings Harcourts.

In 1878 Thomas Savage interviewed the old soldier for H. H. Bancroft.

Although Gonzales was 81 at the time “his memory is remarkably good” reports Savage and this is corroborated by contemporary documents. While he “talks in a disconnected manner” nevertheless in his ow'n way Gonzales paints a vivid picture of a soldier’s life in those times. There is also a certain poignancy in his observations of the caste system under which he lived and in the recollection of events he deemed important.

Rafael Gerardo Gonzales Arrives In 1771 Only two years had passed since the arrival of the famed Portola Ex pedition when a young soldier from the Villa de Sinaloa in Mexico arrived in California. The year w’as 1771 and the young man was Rafael Gerardo Gonzales, Soldado de Cuero and future father of the principal of our story.

After several years of soldiering on this frontier Gerardo, as he was called, met and married Tomasa Quintero in the Mission of San Buena Ven tura in 1775.

This young Mexican woman was a native of the Real de los Alamos and had come to California with her parents who were pobladores with the Rivera expedition. The purpose of this expedition was to found the Pueblo of Los Angeles and the child Tomasa travelled and suffered through wild country, through arid wastes for over 1,000 miles to be an innocent par ticipant in this historic event. The date was September 4, 1781.

Such was the stock of which young Rafael Gonzalez w’as bred. It was tough and it was enduring.

Some time during the following years in this Spanish frontier Gerardo and Tomasa moved to Santa Barbara.

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In the Book of Baptisms of the Santa Barbara Royal Presidio, Vol. I, No. 156, it states in part: “On the 20th day of the month of February of the year 1797 in the Church of this Mission of Santa Barbara I baptized solemnly a male infant recently born legitimate son of Rafael Gerardo Gon zales already dead and of Tomasa Quintero his legitimate wife. I named the child Jose Rafael Marcelo . . .

Signed “Fr. Jose de Miguel.”

Widowed by Treachery After only twelve years of married life Tomasa was suddenly widowed, alledgedly by Indian treachery.

It seems her husband having retired from the military, devoted his time to cultivating his fields and employed some Indian boys to help him.

One day he found it necessary to chastise these boys who had proved negligent in their duties so he gave each one a whipping. According to his son who related the incident, “This apparently disturbed the Indians’ kins men.” This has to be the understatement of the year. The fact is that it “disturbed” them so much that they prepared some fish with poisoned herbs and offered this to Gerardo who ate the offering and died.

Thus we find in the Book of Burials, Vol. 1, No. 45, “On the 14th day of the month of February of the year 1797 in the cemetery of this Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara I gave ecclesiastical burial to the body of an adult named Rafael Gonzales commonly known as Gerardo . . . .” Signed “Fr. Estevan Tapis.”

On the 20th of February only six days later we find the grieving young mother having her baby son baptized.

Born in sorrow young Rafael grew up in the shadow of the Presidio and heir to a military heritage.

Remembered Earthquake of 1812 The first event of any importance that he could remember occurred when the boy was 15 years old. It was the earthquake of 1812.

“The day dawned beautiful” he recalled “and soon after sunrise were heard deafening thunder or noises in the earth from the direction of north west and we did not know what it might have been when suddenly there were felt some terrible earthquakes; . . .. these earthquakes continued for several months . . . .” Fearing a tidal wave the people living around the

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Presidio were ordered up to the mission where they stayed for three or four months. “In spite of the strong earthquakes” Gonzales told Savage, “no house fell in the Presidio even though several split and cracked.” The Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara continued to function as a disciplined garrison under the Spanish flag in spite of this statewide catastrophe.

Gonzales then goes on to tell of what discipline was like at a Presidio.

It was harsh, what we today would consider cruel. For the most minor in fraction of the rules a most severe punishment was meted out. At one presidio some soldiers had been shot because they complained of the food.

As Gonzales himself said, speaking of an incident that occurred at the Presidio in 1838: “Discipline was rigid and Spanish order reigned which orders loss of life even for trivial things being in truth strange that anyone remain alive after he had been put in the ranks.” In memory of the men who served under this discipline Santa Barbara named its streets: Ortega, Cota, Arguello, Carillo, Guttierez, etc.

Young Gonzales in Charge of Presidio Horses In 1816 young Gonzales, now nineteen years of age, enlisted in the Santa Barbara garrison following in his father’s footsteps.

Here he was put in charge of the horses belonging to the Presidio. As the men were constantly called out on sorties, Gonzales and the horses were shifted around the countryside. Most of these earlier campaigns were in search of Christian Indians fleeing from the Mission. However at one time some Indians killed 2 soldiers at San Buenaventura and Gonzales was sent there. A little later there was a fracas of some kind, again at Ventura, and a company including Gonzales went down. They had 2 canon with them on this venture, Gonzales remembered, and to show how spirited was the fighting he related that the canon “were shot 2 or 3 times during the day.”

At another time Gonzales was sent to Ventura on guard duty. “It was the custom during mass” he told Savage “to place a guard of 2 soldiers near the altar, one on either side.”

“In February, 1824,” he continued “occurred the uprising of the Indians of the Santa Ines and La Purisima Missions on a Saturday, and those of Santa Barbara the following day.” Gonzales was sent to La Purisima and when that problem was taken care of the soldiers returned to Santa Barbara to find all the Indians had gone to the Tulares — an area near Bakersfield. Gonzales accompanied the Santa Barbara group who went in search of these fugitives aided by people he referred to as “neighbors from the Pueblo of Los Angeles.”

There seems to have been a continual campaign against the wild or pagan Indians who swept down from the mountains burning and looting.

This particular problem persisted well into the 1850’s and was the curse of the ranchero.

In the spring of 1825 our young soldier was sent to Santa Ines as cor poral of the guard and here he remained stationed till January 5, 1827, when he returned to Santa Barbara. “During that time” Gonzales states laconically “nothing happened.”

Well, all we can say to that statement is that had Maria Antonia Guevara been alive and present at this interview with Mr. Savage, there would doubt less have been a few salty Spanish phrases hurled at poor old Gonzales head.

In all likelihood Maria would have felt pretty strongly about this sort of thing for, according to Vol. I, Book of Marriages, Santa Barbara Royal Presidio, it was on October 18, 1825, about five months after Gonzales was transferred to Santa Ines that he returned briefly to Santa Barbara and was married” in the Church of this Mission” to Maria Antonia Guevara “native of the Pueblo of Our Lady of the Angeles.” Fr. Antonio Ripoll then lists the witnesses as ■Joaquin Ortega married to Casimira Pico . . . and Albert Geljehuit married to Demetria, neophytes of this Mission,” During the course of this marriage Maria had born her husband at least seven children.

Gonzales Chases Fugitives Following this marriage ceremony that obviously didn’t seem to rate very high on Gonzales’ list of interesting or important events in his life, the young couple went back to Santa Ines where the new husband once again assumed his military duties. Among these were the constant chasing of fugitive Indians, tracking down murderous ones, avoiding ambush and being subjected to the various occupational hazards of a soldado de cuero of these

times.

Returning to Santa Barbara at the end of 1827, he obtained his discharge from what was now the Mexican Army, and was promptly chosen as first alcade of the town. It was doubtless at this time that he built himself a home.

Soldiers retiring from active duty built adobes in the environs of the fort for protection, while their sons and grandsons took their place in manning the garrison. By 1800 quite a village had grown up around the Presidio in a pretty much helter skelter fashion. No two streets ran parallel. By 1843 when there were less than 40 houses, one man was led to remark “The town was laid out by means of a blunderbus loaded with adobe houses and discharged from the top of Dr. Finch’s hill.”

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Troops Rebel in 1829 In 1829 the troops at Monterey rebelled under the leadership of a convict who imprisoned their officers. They had also taken possession of the presidio of San Francisco as the troops there had joined the rebels. News was received that this group of insurgents was coming South to take over Santa Barbara. In this emergency Jose Maria de Echeandia, Commandante General, arrived from San Diego. The Alcalde Gonzales and other members of the town council stopped by to pay their respects to Echeandia who was staying at the commandancia of the Presidio. Gonzales speaks of this out standing event in his life: Gonzales Meets Echeandia “Upon our entering the plaza Sr. Echeandia rose and he walked about ten paces toward us and he greeted us with much cordiality. He took me by the hand and brought me without releasing my hand until reaching the place where he seated himself. Upon greeting me he called me Don Rafael, something that impressed me greatly because until that time I had not been accustomed to such treatment, nor that all of a personage as a Commandante General should take me by the hand thus cordially, like an equal to an equal.

We the soldiers and the people of the town had always been accustomed to being treated like dogs and not like people.

Then Senior Echeandia kept me by the hand a long time, and with the wonderment that it caused me, I wish to sniff my hand in order to see if there had remained on it some very agreeable fragrance.”

The garrison was now readied to withstand the expected attack from the north and sentinels were posted to warn the Presidio. Gonzales was one of those entrusted with this responsibility ■— the signal honor bearing weight ily on the shoulders of this simple man. He speaks of the incident: “In those days at the request of Senior Echeandia, I and two men lo cated ourselves on the roof of the church of the Presidio so as to give notice of all we might observe from there for which purpose he entrusted to me his spy-glass. This was another sign of confidence that the Commandante General made to me which filled me with satisfaction because. I repeat, we were not accustomed here to such fine treatment.”

After several days and no sign of the insurgents, word arrived at Santa Barbara that the Monterey troops, according to Gonzales, had “counterrevolted” in favor of the Governor.

Then there was a little insurrection here that lasted three days but it petered out because the insurgents repented.

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In 1831 there was a “revolution in the south,” Gonzales remembered, and troops were hurried to the Los Angeles area.

After the Secularization Act of 1832 which separated the missions froiji most of their tremendous land holdings, Gonzales recalls a large colony from Mexico arriving in Santa Barbara in 1834. This was the first sizeable colony to come north to this area expressly to claim mission lands.

Gonzales Assigned Important Posts Rafael Gonzales was made majordomo of La Purisima in 1836. In 1837 he was one of the grantees of Rancho Rio de Santa Clara o la Colonia along with his brother-in-law Valentin Cota and other members of the Gonzales family. This rancho was located near Ventura.

In 1838 Governor Alvarado made him Administrator of Mission San Buenaventura where he remained for several years before returning to Santa Barbara to assume again his former position as Alcalde.

As it was 1845 when he re-assumed this position, he was doubtless still in office at the time of the American takeover. He doesn’t tell us this. The interview was at an end, and Mr. Savage asked him if he would sign his name to the interview-statement but he didn’t. He made a cross. The hand that held the hand of none other than the Commandante General couldn’t even sign its own name.

In 1865 a daughter of Gonzales, Maria Solome Francisca Gonzales, married Cristobel A. Ramirez and the old adobe homestead was deeded to this daughter the following year. Here she lived till a few months before her death in 1923, when it was sold to A. L. Murphy Vhay. The Vhays are re sponsible for the restorations as we see them today.

The adobe is in the form of a rectangle made of 24” adobe walls on three sides and a four foot wall on the southeast from which direction came the severest rains. Originally the house faced the Presidio. This is now the patio side. Since its restoration in the early 20’s windows have been added in the southeast wall, what is now the front of the house. Also added at this time were the brick fireplaces and chimneys for prior to this all cooking was done out of doors and braziers were used for heating rooms.

The floors, originally of dirt, were later made of wood and are now covered with square hand-made tile. The roof tiles, however, are mostly the original ones made by Indian neophytes at the Mission.

Earthquakes have shaken this area ever since the Spanish first set foot here. Buildings of adobe always suffered and the quake of 1925 destroyed many of them. But the simple home of Rafael Gonzales has stood through all earth’s tremors. As humble and yet as sturdy as the man who built it, the casa Gonzales stands today a quiet but enduring reminder of the men who carved out a corner in the wilderness and finally called it “home.

BIBLIOGRAPHY SANTA BARBARA NEWS-PRESS, 1968 SANTA BARBARA NEWS-PRESS, 1965 THE ROYAL PRESIDIO, compiled by Community Arts Association, Santa Barbara.

SANTA BARBARA HISTORICAL SOCIETY PAMPHLET, 13, No. 1

NOTICIAS,

Volume

Notes on Adobe from Mrs. Henry Griffiths, Director, Santa Barbara Historical Society Museum Transcript Interview of Rafael Gonzales by Thomas Savage, 1 878 Presidio Chapel Records of Marriages, Births ,Deaths, Santa Barbara, Vol. 1 Book of Burials — Santa Barbara Mission Archive Library The Romero Expeditions 1823-1826 by Lowell John Bean and William Mar vin Mason, published by the Ward Ritchie Press, 1962, Los Angeles, for The Palm Springs Desert Museum

In Appreciation Once again we are indebted to artist-historian Russell A. Ruiz for his cover illustration, drawn especially for Florence Slocum Wilson’s Gonzales-Ramirez article.

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Wood polychrome sculpture from the Presidio Chapel. Now in the Historical Society Museum.

A LEGEND OF SANTA BARBARA

By Lt. Col. Joseph H. Barnard

The following article was written by the late Lt. Col. Joseph H. Barnard during the latter part of World War Jl. In commemoration of St. Barbaras birthday, December 4th, we are pleased to include this bit of memorabilia in our Fall, 1969 issue of NOTICIAS.

Some years ago in happier times, Mr. Robert E. Easton used to give an annual barbecue at his Sisquoc Ranch. To reach it from Santa Barbara, one traversed the gorges of Gaviota Pass. Even today, with wide paved roads throughout, and many of its formidable features altered, it would make an excellent defensive position. One can imagine what it was when travel was slow and difficult, the road narrow and unpaved. Thence to the wide oak studded valley where Fremont’s army advancing on Santa Barbara, had camped in December, 1846.

From here the route led past the old Sisquoc Church and to the ranch and thence to Santa Barbara by San Marcos Pass. This pass in 1846 was the way unknown to all but Foxen and the route over which he guided Fre mont to Santa Barbara, thus avoiding the Gaviota Pass defensive position.

It was in those days of enormous difficulty. Today it is a broad paved road that through skillful engineering is easily and swiftly travelled.

The barbecue was, through the cooperation of the church, preceded by the celebration of High Mass in the Sisquoc Church. It was always a notable affair. The church is simple and austere to a degree, though of the dignity that always sets such edifices apart. The service was presented with all the color and splendor of the age-old ritual, the beauty and solemnity of which was added to by the fresh young voices of the choir from Saint Anthony College in Santa Barbara.

Following the Mass, memorial services were held at Foxen’s grave in the churchyard, and then everyone went to the ranch house for the barbecue. This was in the best tradition of open-handed, heart-warming California hospi tality and, appropriate to the occasion, there were many eloquent expressions of gratitude to General Fremont and Benjamin Foxen for the happy outcome of what might have been a tragic event on that long ago December day in 1846.

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The more I thought of this, the more I became convinced that not to them alone, or even principally, or even as more than agents, belonged the glory. And this led me, on the occasion of the next barbecue to an account substantially as here follows. It was sufficiently well received to justify its repetition at the next barbecue and in August of that year on invitation of of the Franciscan Fathers, it was given from the steps of the Old Mission as part of the opening ceremony of the annual Santa Barbara Fiesta. It is now published in great modesty in the hope that it may give some pleasure to those who read it.

When Santa Barbara was captured, the United States and Mexico were at war. The conflict was marked on both sides by the most unflinching and desperate courage.

Here every preparation had been made for a battle that could not fail to have been tragic and bloody. And such battles leave ugly, ineffaceable scars.

How was that battle avoided? Why was no blood shed? Why no memories of the glory of victory nor the bitterness of defeat?

This much seems true that there has always been here a spirit of peace and good will. Not sanctimonious — not oppressive. On the contrary, a light, a happy and a joyous spirit — that turns rage to laughter, that makes a gay fiesta of what might have been a fight. Whence springs that spirit?

Certainly in our men there is no lack of valor nor quick readiness for war. Many a battlefield, all of our enemies, will testify to that. And through all the rolls of those young men who since that year have fought the battles of the Republic appear the names of descendants of both sides of that sad war.

And now we are in the midst of the last and greatest, and our men are everywhere engaged. Do we not find it easier, as we have desperate need, to believe in a merciful Heaven? May we not hope the gentle saint may continue to watch over our men and our peaceful vale?

—H.B.

Santa Barbara 1944

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COVARRUBIAS ADOBE WALLS STRENGTHENED 153-YEAR OLD STRUCTURE GETS NEW LEASE ON LIFE

One of the obligations of an historical society, especially one like ours, which owns and uses historical buildings, is to maintain its properties in good order. In the case of relatively new structures, this is not too critical a job.

But when its properties are very old, there is a recurring and never-ending obligation to do whatever the condition of the buildings demand in order to prevent them from falling into decay or being destroyed altogether.

The Santa Barbara Historical Society owns, in addition to its fine new museum, the Trussell-Winchester Adobe, dating back to the 1860’s, the Victorian Fernald house, the Covarrubias Adobe, and the Historic Adobe, former built in 1817.

Through the generosity of the Dow Chemical Company and six local Pest Control companies, the Trussell-Winchester House was fumigated last summer for termites, thus assuring many more years of useful service.

In September the venerable Covarrubias adobe, headquarters of the Society’s Education Department and used constantly as an auditorium, was given a sort of face lifting in the shape of a new outside surface of concrete to preserve it against decay due to moisture.

Here is how News-Press writer, Walker A. Tompkins, told the story in the September 21 issue of his paper.—Ed.

Important Historic Landmark The Covarrubias Adobe at 715 Santa Barbara St., one of California’s most important historic landmarks of the Spanish period, is undergoing a large-scale reinforcement project designed to protect the 153-year-old adobe walls from collapse.

During the course of one and a half centuries, ground water had per colated through the fieldstone rubble which the Indian laborers laid as a foundation in 1817, and moisture has been absorbed by the three-foot-thick adobe brick walls to a height of three to five feet.

To protect these spongelike courses of dried mud, now saturated with moisture and crumbling badly, work crews have cut away the outer surface

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Temporary shoring timbers brace the 153-year-old ivalls of the Covarrubias Adobe at 715 Santa Barbara St. as crews apply gunnite to the water-softened loiver courses of adobe bricks. Col. Henry Forbes, USAf (ret.), in the white jacket at right, is overseeing the restoration project for the Historical Society.

—News-Press photo

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and perforated the walls with ll/^*inch holes to a depth of eight inches, filling these borings with cement in which are imbedded metal spikes.

These protruding spikes serve as anchor points for two layers of gunnite approximately four inches thick, forming a wainscot of waterproof concrete approximately four feet above ground level.

The supervising engineer is Col. Henry Forbes, USAF (ret.), who is donating his technical services to the Santa Barbara Historical Society, owner of the building. Oswald Da Ros, local stone masonry contractor, is supplying the labor crews.

The foundation stones, laid by Indians hired by Don Domingo Carrillo in 1817, have been exposed by trenching and have been concreted in. The trench will be refilled with decomposed granit for better drainage and at a distance from the building, another trench will be filled with gravel and perforated pipe in an effort to keep ground water and rainwater from the roof from filtering to the underfooting of the ancient walls.

Only the thickness of the walls has prevented the walls from collapsing from the weight of upper courses of brick and the heavy timbered supports for the tile roof, Col. Forbes said. When the job is completed, Dara Emery, a professional botanist from the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, will recommend new plantings to landscape the building which will not require heavy ir rigation.

Built by Domingo Carrillo in 1817 The Covarrubias Adobe was built by Carrillo for his bride, Concepcion Pico, who was the sister of the last Mexican governor of California, Pio Pico.

In the summer of 1846, when Pio Pico fled Monterey to escape the American invaders, his sister offered him the use of her Santa Barbara home.

For a brief period it served as the official capital of California and the last meeting of the California Congress was held under its roof.

In 1853 the adobe was acquired by Pio Pico’s secretary, Jose Maria Covarrubias, the man who delivered California’s 1852 electoral college vote for Franklin Pierce and who was greeted at the wharf in New York by the entire membership of Tammany Hall. Covarrubias was also one of the signers of the California Constitution in 1849.

Known as the Covarrubias Adobe for more than a century, the building was acquired by the Santa Barbara Historical Society in recent years from Los Rancheros Visitadores.

—Walker A. Tompkins

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Photograph through courtesy of Edwin Gleclhiil

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CHARLES FLETCHER LUMMIS For many years the name of Charles F. Lumrais was almost a household word in Santa Barbara. “Stand Fast, Santa Bar bara” was an admonition from the pen of that remarkable and inspired man who, more than any other, was responsible for the preservation and restoration of the missions from San Diego to San Fernando.

His appeal to the people of Santa Barbara to resist the intrusion of anything not compatable with the traditions of early California published in the News-Press an nually for nearly half a century has been a reminder to all of us that we had something unique that is too precious to lose and that once lost can never be regained.

To those still living who knew Lummis, it is unfortunate that the new generation knows little of him except that he was the founder of the Cali fornia Landmarks Club and of the Southwest Museum. Of his unique char acter and his personal life, little has been written in recent years, and I fear little has been read.

Philosophy Revealed in Letter His last letter to me, written early in 1928, the year he died, reveals something of his “empathy” and his own philosophy of life. “That is a fine and inspiring glimpse you gave me of your inner workings” — he wrote, “which needs no interpreter to me. I think perhaps it is as well you didn’t but time is begin your career at twenty. You would have ‘saved time’ often the last thing that should be saved! It is the chief Purchasing Power we have; and it is meant to be expended. You certainly couldn’t have come to your lecturing and writing with anything like this ripeness of thought and breadth and depth of insight, if you hadn’t had these fifteen years in the Big School. Of course you would have learned many things if you had started in with your majority to write and talk; but you couldn’t have learned the same things, or as valueable things, as in your contacts with an actual world.

“Your most important achievement in the way of learnings you cer tainly couldn’t have acquired either in your twenties nor in your present profession alone — your catholic feelings for humanity, your realization

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of the great truth that underlies the frequent cant about Brotherhood of Man by people who have no real thought of anyone else as a brother, or even a brother-in-law.

“Human nature is the same raw material the world over, and has been since the Dawn of Intelligence. And there is very little essential difference in it anywhere — except that, your ‘people in mansions in Boston’ aren’t as likely to be Right Human as those down on the Bowery, nor nearly so human as the folk of the Terraced Houses in the Southwest.’ The installment price we pay for civilization is so much down daily of our own human nature and our own Individuality, which is a large part of it. I find I have to make more allowance for the Beacon Street Brahmens than I do for the Paisanos of New Mexico, California or Chihuahua or Peru.”

Luramis, who was already suffering from terminal cancer, and had been apprised of his condition by his doctor, suffered a stroke (from which he died a few days later) on November 10, 1928.

Associated with Lummis were several remarkable men whom it was my great good fortune to know intimately. Chief among these were Frank Miller, “Master of the (Mission) Inn” in Riverside, and John Steven McGroarty, poet and author of the famous Mission Play of San Gabriel, which ran daily for many years, with special cars bringing thousands of visitors from Los Angeles to the Mission Play Theatre.

These two men deserve a far greater place in California history than they have been accorded.

McGroarly’g Eulogy The day after Lummis died, John Steven McGroarty wrote these words in tribute to his friend: “If it was so ordained that when a man passes out of this life into the spiritual world, he would appear before the Gates of Paradise in the familiar guise by which he was known on earth, it would have been interest ing to witness the arrival of Charles Fletcher Lummis at St. Peter’s watchtower yesterday when his blithe soul had taken wing upon the journey that leads beyond the tracery of the stars.

“The folk loitering on the high ramparts of Heaven would have seen a little old fellow arrayed in corduroy, a red sash around his waist, a soft shirt and collar, a red cravat and a cowboy Stetson banded with leather on his head; a little old fellow with a face tanned by sun and wind, his eyes deep and eager, a challenge on his lips.

“Mostly it would be the old pagans who would flock to greet him, for he was essentially one of them by reason of some strange throwback which

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made him so, although he was New England born and bred and steeped in the pools of Pilgrim tradition at his birth. He was pagan in the way he re sented conventions and that he lived his life in his own way. I knew him well and admired him tremendously. All of us who scribble at the history of California and the Southwest are indebted to him for inspiration. He was the master. No other man was so steeped in our lore or had the same embrasing sympathy that he had for the things and the people who were here before we came. The dust of the road was not off his sandles before the Spanish Californians had taken him in their hearts and he had taken them to his . . ..”

Lummis Walks 3,705 Miles That remark of McGroarty’s about the dust off his sandles was quite literal. In 1884, Lummis, then editor of the Scioto Gazette in Chillicothe, Ohio, having seen a number of copies of the Los Angeles Times and read the editorials of its publisher, Harrison Gray Otis, wrote to that gentleman stating that he, Lummis, planned to walk across the continent “for pure pleasure and no limitation of time” and would Otis be interested in a letter a week about his walking adventures, and could he have a job when he got to Los Angeles. When Lummis received a favorable reply he started out on a 3,705 mile trek, to be personally received on arrival in San Gabriel by Otis who made him the first City Editor of the Times.

The population of Los Angeles then was 15,000. The Times was in the old Downey block where the Federal Building is today. There wasn’t a paved road in the town, and the dust and mud in the streets made going miserable, remembered Lummis later when he talked about his first months in Los Angeles.

The public library was in two or three dingy little rooms “in that dingy block.” Mary Foy, a graduate of the first class of the old Los Angeles High School was Librarian. Later, and for five years, Lummis became City Librarian and organized it upon a professional basis.

Lummis explored the wilds of Peru and Bolivia and returned to Los Angeles in 1894. He became nationally noted for his work in defense of the American Indian, and spent much time in the Southwest. He wrote the first report of the capture of Jeronimo, the renegade Apache Chief, when he was assigned to follow Generals Crook and Miles in pursuit of the Indian.

His books on the history of Spanish America were standards for a generation, both here and abroad. He was knighted by the King of Spain in 1915. He is credited with coining the phrase, “See America First.”

Lummis was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, March 1, 1859. He attended Harvard in 1891. He once told me that he was “kicked out of Harvard” for a prank. Later the University awarded him an honorary Doctorate.

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Lummis was a close personal friend of President Theodore Roosevelt and accompanied him on part of his visit to California in 1904. He was highly regarded and counted a close personal friend of such men as Chancel lor David Star Jordan of Stanford, Theodore H. Hittell, the historian, Edwin Markham, William Keith, Joaquin Miller, Ina Colbrith, Frederick W. Hodge, Ed Borein, Maynard Dixon, and many more. These were all names at the top of the list of nationally known authorities in the early years of this century.

Lummis became known widely as editor of “Out West” magazine, for merly “Land of Sunshine,” which he founded. Today these are rare collec tor’s items in Californiana. He continued to devote a large part of his time to his magazine until the burden of work in the Public Library forced him to discontinue “Out West.”

Founds Landmarks Club He began to spend more and more time on the “Landmarks Club,” which he organized in 1895. The stated objectives of this organization were “To preserve from further decay and vandalism the Old Missions of Cali fornia; to assist in the restoration of such of the Mission buildings as may be found adaptable for uses in harmony with their original purposes, and to safeguard and conserve other historical monuments, relics and landmarks of the State.” Lummis paid high tribute to Miss Tessa L. Kelso, who, in 1892, while head of the Los Angeles Public Library, helped to organize, along with members of the Historical Society of Southern California, an “Association for the Preservation of the Missions.” It was Lummis who made the words of these inspired pioneers father to the deeds which over the years restored San Diego, San Juan Capistrano, Pala, and San Fernando.

These were the Missions, said Lummis, most in need of immediate attention.

At San Luis Rey the Franciscans were in residence, San Gabriel and Ventura were attended by secular Priests, while Santa Barbara had continued from the beginning as a Franciscan Mission. Pala was an asistencia of San Luis Rey, but was deserted and in advance stages of decay.

No mention of California landmarks should be made without giving full credit to the Native Daughters of the Golden West, who in 1888 began their outstanding work to mark hundreds of forgotten landmarks from one end of California to the other, a work which continues to this day. In this respect the Native Sons of the Golden West must also be given generous credit.

Of all the great Californians I have known, none looms brighter than Lummis. An eccentric in many ways, an individualist and completely un conventional, he still remains in my memory as one of California’s greatest benefactors.

—C.M.

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HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE ROYAL PRESIDIO CHAPEL

By R. A. Ruiz

ft

4

Roeuu^iz.

The Presidio was founded April 21, 1782, under the direction of Gov ernor Felipe de Neve and Father Junipero Serra, as the Spanish union of Church and State provided for the spiritual welfare of the military garrison and its dependents. Father Serra blessed the site, conducted ceremonies proper to the occasion and concluded with a low mass — the traditional Spanish manner of founding new military establishments was carried out.

The day after the founding wood was cut in the vicinity to build a crude chapel of boughs. We have no idea of the size of the structure, but we do know that it was very small. Father Serra remained with the Presidio garrison for three weeks, thus giving him time to arrange the Presidio Chapel Baptisimal, Marriage and Death registers — which were separate from those of the Mission. These records are still extant and give much data on the Chapel during its entire history.

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Except when the priest of the Ventura Mission would come up to the Presidio, nothing of a religious significance took place until Father Serra returned to the Presidio, November 23, 1783, when the rite of Confirmation was performed on adults and children of the Presidio community. This rite was usually reserved to the Bishop, but California being without such a prelate, the faculties to perform such rites were given to Father Serra.

After living in makeshift quarters for over a year, the first Commandante, Jose Francisco de Ortega, erected adobe structures — with great difficulty. The site bore out the displeasure of Father Serra who found the area lacking in good building materials. The adobe was of very poor quality and the bricks were so bad that most of the new structure came down under its own weight within two years.

In 1784, Ortega was transferred to Monterey. He was replaced by Felipe de Goycoechea, an officer from Buenavista Presidio in Sonora, Mexico. Upon his arrival Goycoechaea took steps to enlarge and rebuild the Presidio on a greater scale — with the guard house of the old building serving as a tem porary chapel. In this structure the baptism of the first three Indian converts took place on December 31, 1786, with Goycoechea standing as their God father and Father Antonio Paterna performing the rite.

Goycoechea Becomes Commandante In the later part of 1786 an adobe church was built. The dimensions were 20 varas in length, 8 varas in width and

varas in height, being lined with mortar, white-washed and having a roof of beams and finished boards and “good tile in the Moorish style.” The soldier, Tomas Gonzalez, was paid 100 pesos to adorn the chapel and paintings were secured from Mexico to complete the decoration. Also built was a Sacristy, 5 varas in length and 4 varas in width, which was covered with the same type of tile. as in (The new chapel must have been built close by or around the old the drawing of the Monterey Presidio Chapel by the Artist, Jose Cordero, of the Malespina expedition, the new stone chapel appears to be in the process of being built around the old chapel. Such building practices were carried out at some of the missions — the Santa Barbara Mission’s new church, after 1812, being a case in point.)

The first marriage of Christian Indians in Santa Barbara took place in the Presidio Chapel on March 21, 1787. when Father Oramas married at Holy Mass, Juan Josef and Maria Guadalupe, Indian neophytes from Santa Barbara Mission.

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In 1794

fire damaged the chapel and work was begun to refurbish

and enlarge the Chapel — a work that was not completed until three years later. In 1797, the Royal Engineer, Alberto de Cordoba, was sent to California to inspect and improve the defensive works. {There was not a single engi neering work in the Province that he did not inspect or improve.) The quick completion of the Chapel after his arrival at the Presidio (mid-1797) showed his influence was not wasted. The Chapel was dedicated December 8, 1797, to Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Heavenly Patron of the Americas.

The date of the construction of the belfry is not known. The bells for the Chapel were brought from Lower California during the time of the found ing of the Presidio. Mission La Purrisima Conception de Cadegomo in Baja California supplied the bells, which were packed for the channel establish ment by Father Serra himself. The belfry was the simple Campanario type, a pierced wall with two arched openings for two bells. The deteriorated tower appears in the drawing of G. M. Wasenrtz of Sandels, a Swedish gen tleman who visited Santa Barbara in 1842-43.

Earthquake of 1806 Cracks Walls At midnight, March 24, 1806, a large earthquake cracked the Chapel walls in three places. Commandante Raymundo Carrillo obtained materials from the Santa Barbara Mission for the repair of the Chapel. Unfortunately, the roof tiles of the Chapel were still removed when the heavy storm of May 24 struck Santa Barbara, whereupon the Chapel was nearly destroyed as the thick walls suffered extensive damage from the rains. The Chapel was ap parently repaired, for no notice of a new Chapel being built is recorded.

The year 1812 is known as the year of the quakes as Santa Barbara was hit by a series of giant earthquakes that did extensive damage to the Presidio buildings. Father Jose Senan wrote to the Bishop of Sonora that early in January, 1813, not a single building of the Presidio was useable.

The quakes were centered off Santa Rosa Island — perhaps caused by a movement along the giant Murray fracture. Five seismic waves, generated by the quakes, moved one-half mile inland and destroyed three adobes in the lower part of Santa Barbara: which were a short distance from the front entrance of the Presidio.

After the earthquake a temporary chapel, 18 varas in length and 6 varas in width, built of wood and covered with tile, was finished on March 18, 1813.

The earthquake-damaged church building was repaired, for we find it once more in use the following year (1814).

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Because of the fear of tidal waves, much thought was given to moving the Presidio to higher ground, and by 1816 conditions had not greatly improved as the reports to the Governor described the buildings in sad condition.

The Chapel of the Presidio was used as a burial place from its found ing and it remained the only burial place until the establishment of the Presidio Cemetery outside the defensive wall, directly behind the Chapel.

The Presidio Cemetery was closed in 1818 and the Mission cemetery was used thereafter; however, burials were made inside the Chapel as late as 1847.

On October 8, 1820, the Spanish Governor Pablo Sola, in the Presidio Chapel, before Father Sunen, Captain De La Guerra and the people of Santa Barbara, took the oath to accept the liberal constitution of 1812.

King Don Fernando VII, having been forced to take the oath earlier in the year, was followed by Viceroy Apodaca and all the people of New Spain.

In 1822 Canon Don Agustin Fernandez de Vicente of Durango came to California, being commissioned by the Mexican Emperor, Agustin I to raise the Imperial Banner of Independence from Spain. The Spanish flag was lowered and, in the Presidio plaza in front of the Chapel, the troops took the Oath of Allegiance to the Mexican Empire, the people of Santa Barbara taking the oath at an assemblage in the Chapel.

In 1826 the military company of the Presidio bought, for $350.00, from the proceeds made from the sale of cattle at the national ranch at San Julian, an organ for the Presidio Chapel — an indication of the soldiers concern for the proper observance of divine services.

First Public School The Chapel was used as a classroom during the last half of the 1820’s, with Diego Fernandez as instructor. The first public school after the Ameri can conquest was held in the Presidio Chapel in 1855. There were forty students, who for want of books studied their alphabet written in chalk on the walls. Spanish was the medium of instruction.

Mexican Governor Jose Figueroa died September 29, 1835 at Mon terey and his body was brought to Santa Barbara by ship for burial at the Mission. Because the day he arrived, October 28, 1835, was a holy day of obligation the body was taken with all possible splendor to the Presidio Chapel where the town and Presidio paid their respects to the late governor.

The following day the body was taken to the Mission for burial.

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In November, 1836, Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado, at the Presidio raised the banner of California independence from Mexico. The following year, on January 6, 1837, the town council and citizens of Santa Barbara swore allegiance to Alvarado’s government.

On July 29, 1843, Governor Manuel Micheltorena and hiS wife, Dona Josefa Puentes, with the entire Presidio as witnesses, received the nuptial blessing from the hand of Bishop Diego Moreno in the Presidio Chapel.

This blessing was usually given during the Mass, after the marriage cere mony. (The Governor had been married in Mexico years before without this blessing.) This was not their marriage ceremony as reported in Bancroft.

Presidio Fails Into Ruins The Presidio during the 1840’s had mostly fallen into ruin. An American soldier, Walter Murray of the 1847 American Army of Occupation de scribed. the Presidio as “a ruin with roofless walls being used as a corral for cattle and horses.” He was referring to the East and Southeastern parts of the quadrangle.

Manuela Lugo de Garcia, who was born in the Presidio, described the Chapel of the 1840’s “In the church the floors were earthen and there were no seats or benches and we all sat on the floor, the men on one side and the women on the other. It was not nicely finished. There were no statues of the Virgin or of Christ or of the Saints that those good people had been accustomed in the beautiful churches of Mexico, in which there had been many such statues.”

The Chapel was Spartan in its simplicity but not completely bare of decoration. Mr. Ignacio Flores, son of Gumercindo Flores, second to the last Commandante of the Presidio, told of an incident when as a child he took the statues of the Saints, stole the pipes of the organ in the choir loft and gave the musical instruments away to the townspeople. A statue of St. Barbara, now owned by the Santa Barbara Historical Society, was part of the Chapel adornment. (Shown on page 8.)

The Chapel from the founding of the Presidio in 1782 until its destruc tion by the Fort Tejon earthquake of 1857 was the nucleus of the Presidio and later the town of Santa Barbara. Within and without its walls Santa Barbara found spiritual and material comfort that protected the natives and invited the stranger to its warm inner circle. The restoration and preserva tion of this historic site is of great value to all Californians.

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POSTSCRIPT The site of the Santa Barbara Presidio chapel was acquired in 19/56 by the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation. The old Buddist church was razed and work by volunteers under Timothy Hillebrand and Richard Humphrey was begun. '‘Bud” Decker became Excavation Director in 1967, and invaluable assistance has been given by Jeremy Hass and Lynn R. Spear, the latter as coordinator of the nearly forty volunteers. Students and teachers from UCSB, Santa Barbara High School, the Santa Barbara County Archaeol’Ogical Society and other interested citizens have given countless hours of work to keep the project going. The present Site Director is John Walker.

Russell A. Ruiz has always kept himself available for advice and counsel while his wife, Alice, and his son, Russell C. have worked in “the diggings.”

The work continues periodically, and anyone interested in “lending a hand as and when the excavating continues, is invited to file his or her name with the Historical Society, the Trust for Historic Preservation, P. 0.

Box 388, or with the Volunteers at 1316-A, East Mason Street, Santa Bar bara, Calif. 93103.

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SANTA BARBARA HISTORICAL SOCIETY OFFICERS Paul G. Sweetser

President First Vice President ..

.. Mrs. Wilson Forbes

Second Vice President

Hugh J. Weldon

Secretary

Mrs. Charles Cannon

Treasurer

John Gill

Past President

Thomas J. McDermott

DIRECTORS Rev. Virgil Cordano

John Jordano, Jr.

Francis Price

Mrs. Edwin Deuter

Dr. Edward Lamb

William K. Serumgard

Col. Henry de B. Forbes, Jr.

Mrs. Leo T. McMahon

Mrs. W. Edwin Gledhill

Mrs. Godwin Pelissero

Garrett Van Horne * John Galvin Thomas M. Storke*

Museum Director

Mrs. Henry Griffiths

Courtenay Monsen, Curator of Education .... Editor of Noticias

HISTORICAL SOCIETY MEMBERSHIPS Classes of membership: Benefactor, $5000.00 or more; Life, $1000.00; Patron, $500.00; Fellow, $100.00; Associate, $50.00; Contributing, $25.00; Sustaining, $10.00; Active, $7.50; Student, $5.00. Dues are tax deductible.

Mailing Address: 136 East De la Guerra Street

♦

Santa Barbara, California 93101 ●Honorary Directors « * Deceased

Non-Profit Org. QUARTERLY BULLETIN OF THE SANTA BARBARA HISTORICAL SOCIETY 136 EAST DE LA GUERRA STREET

U. S. Pettago PA I D Santa Barbara, Calif.

Ptrmit No. 534

SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA 93101

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