Journal of San Diego History Volume 55 Issue 3
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The Jour nal of Volume 55 Summer 2009 Number 3 • The Journal of San Diego History San Diego History Cover.indd 1 9/8/09 9:56 AM Publication of The Journal of San Diego History is underwritten by a major grant from the Quest for Truth Foundation, established by the late James G. Scripps. Additional support is provided by “The Journal of San Diego Fund” of the San Diego Foundation and private donors. The San Diego Historical Society is a museum, education center, and research library founded in 1928. Its activities are supported by: the City of San Diego’s Commission for Arts and Culture; the County of San Diego; individuals; foundations; corporations; fund raising events; membership dues; admissions; PRESERVE A SaN DIEGO TREASURE shop sales; and rights and reproduction fees. Your $100 contribution will help to create an endowment for Articles appearing in The Journal of San Diego History are abstracted and indexed in Historical Abstracts and America: History and Life. The Journal of San Diego History The paper in the publication meets the minimum requirements of American Please make your check payable to The San Diego Foundation. Indicate on National Standard for Information Science-Permanence of Paper for Printed the bottom of your check that your donation is for The Journal of San Diego Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. History Fund. The San Diego Foundation accepts contributions of $100 and up. Your contribution is tax-deductible. The San Diego Foundation 2508 Historic Decatur Road, Suite 200 San Diego, CA 92106 (619) 235-2300 or (858) 385-1595 [email protected] Front Cover: Collage of photos from the Edward H. Davis Collection. ©San Diego Historical Society. Back Cover: The Old Globe/USD Graduate Theatre Program’s 2006 production of “Much Ado About Nothing.” Directed by Richard Seer Photo: J.T. MacMillan. Cover Design: Allen Wynar Cover.indd 2 9/8/09 9:56 AM The Journal of San Diego History IRIS H. W. ENGSTRAND MOLLY McCLAIN Editors THEODORE STRATHMAN DAVID MILLER Review Editors Published since 1955 by the SAN DIEGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY 1649 El Prado, Balboa Park, San Diego, California 92101 ISSN 0022-4383 The Journal of San Diego History VOLUME 55 SUM MER 20 09 NUMBER 3 Editorial Consultants Published quarterly by the San Diego Historical Society at 1649 El Prado, Balboa MATTHEW BOKOVOY Park, San Diego, California 92101. University of Nebraska Press A $60.00 annual membership in the DONALD C. CUTTER San Diego Historical Society includes Albuquerque, New Mexico subscription to The Journal of San Diego WILLIAM DEVERELL History and the SDHS Times. Back issues University of Southern California; Director, are available at www.sandiegohistory.org. Huntington-USC Institute of California and Articles and book reviews for the West publication consideration, as well as VICTOR GERACI editorial correspondence, should be University of California, Berkeley addressed to the Editors, The Journal of San Diego History, Department of PHOEBE KROPP History, University of San Diego, 5998 University of Pennsylvania Alcalá Park, San Diego, CA 92110 ROGER W. LOTCHIN All article submissons should be typed University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and double-spaced with endnotes, NEIL MORGAN and follow the Chicago Manual of Style. Journalist Authors should submit three copies of their manuscript, plus an electronic copy, DOYCE B. NUNIS, JR in MS Word or in rich text format (RTF). University of Southern California The San Diego Historical Society JOHN PUTMAN assumes no responsibility for the San Diego State University statements or opinions of the authors ANDREW ROLLE or reviewers. The Huntington Library ©2009 by the San Diego Historical Society RAMON EDUARDO RUIZ ISSN 0022-4383 University of California, San Diego Periodicals postage paid at San Diego, CA Publication No. 331-870 ABE SHRAGGE (619) 232-6203 University of California, San Diego www.sandiegohistory.org RAYMOND STARR San Diego State University, emeritus Note: For a change of address, please call (619) 232-6203 ext. 102 or email DAVID J. WEBER [email protected]. Southern Methodist University ii CONTENTS VOLUME 55 SUMMER 2009 NUMBER 3 ARTICLES Charles C. Painter, Helen Hunt Jackson and the Mission Indians of Southern California Valerie Sherer Mathes and Phil Brigandi 89 Cassius Carter Centre Stage Darlene Gould Davies 119 The San Diego Clippers: A Dream Ends Travis Degheri 133 Scientific Excavations at Palomar Mountain’s Nate Harrison Site: The Historical Archaeology of a Legendary African-American Pioneer Seth Mallios 141 BOOK REVIEWS 161 iii Charles C. Painter, Helen Hunt Jackson and the Mission Indians of Southern California Valerie Sherer Mathes and Phil Brigandi The Indian rights movement of the late nineteenth-century was led by a variety of dedi- cated individuals–clergymen, former abolitionists, writers, educators, philanthropists, editors, and some Indians. One of the more powerful but lesser known Indian advocates was Charles Cornelius Coffin Painter.1 During the 1880s, he made several visits to villages and reservations in Southern California. The long letter below describes just a portion of his 1887 inspection tour through San Diego and what is now Riverside County.2 Born on March 21, 1833, in Draper’s Valley, Virginia, Painter was one of twelve children of George Painter, a Presbyterian clergyman, and his wife Jane C.C. Painter. Courtesy of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. B. (Temple) Painter. Like his father, C. C. Painter became a pastor, but in the Congregational Church. His early schooling was at Christiansburg Academy in Virginia. In 1854 he moved north, at- tended Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts (1854 to 1858), graduated Valerie Sherer Mathes, Professor Emerita, City College of San Francisco, is author of numerous academic articles and three books, Helen Hunt Jackson and her Indian Reform Legacy, The Indian Reform Letters of Helen Hunt Jackson, and The Standing Bear Controversy: Prelude to Indian Reform, co-authored with Dr. Richard Lowitt. Phil Brigandi has been researching and writing local history since 1975. Though born and raised in Orange County, he has long had an interest in the Riverside/San Diego County backcountry. He is the author of more than a dozen books, including histories of Borrego Springs and Temecula. This is his fourth article in The Journal of San Diego History. 89 The Journal of San Diego History with honors, and then studied at the Theological Institute of Connecticut. Follow- ing his 1862 graduation,3 he was ordained at New Marlborough, Massachusetts on September 23, 1863. He married Martha Gibson on June 2, 1868, and shortly thereafter moved to Grand Haven, Michigan where he served as acting pastor for a year before moving on to Naugatuck, Connecticut. In 1873 he was called by a congregation at Stafford Springs, Connecticut. For as yet an unknown reason, late in 1878 Painter changed professions from preacher to teacher, becoming a Profes- sor of Theology at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. One of his tasks was to raise money for the theological department.4 At the suggestion of Samuel Chapman Armstrong, founder of Virginia’s Hamp- ton Institute, which like Fisk educated African-American students, Painter also served as the Washington, D.C. agent for the American Missionary Association (AMA), an appointment which eventually “led to an active interest in the other great problem of Indian Rights.”5 The 1880 census listed his occupation as editor; in March of that year he had been appointed editor and manager of the American Mis- sionary, the association’s monthly magazine. In addition, he occasionally wrote for the magazine.6 He also served as corresponding secretary of the National Educa- tion Committee.7 In 1880, Painter, his wife, and their eleven year old son, Charles,8 were living in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Until Painter’s death, this would remain their permanent residence. Three years later, again at Armstrong’s suggestion, Painter was hired by the Boston branch of the Indian Rights Association (IRA). But since that branch, the first one, was undergoing organizational difficulties and unable to raise his salary as promised, he transferred in April 1884 to the central office in Philadelphia, beginning his decade long service as the association’s Washington, D.C. agent or lobbyist, but he was not “the smooth, ingratiat- ing figure usually associated with the term ‘lobbyist.’” Herbert Welsh, the association’s founder, informed Arm- strong that “[H]alf, or more than half, the value of our organization would be gone if Professor Painter left it.” His re- ports “featured colorful and sometimes caustic descriptions of government personnel which made his pamphlets widely read on the reservations.” In addition to Painter’s investigative and writing skills, he was thoroughly acquainted with the Washington scene, Helen Hunt Jackson, ca. 1880. Photo courtesy obtaining information from the clerks University of San Diego Special Collections. and personnel of the Indian Office, adeptly tracing bills through Congress, and deciding where and when to exert pressure. He often conferred with President Grover Cleveland, interior secretaries and Indian commissioners.9 Founded in 1882, the IRA joined the Women’s National Indian Association 90 Charles C. Painter (WNIA), established in 1879, and the Lake Mohonk Conference created in 1883 as the major proponents of the government’s policy of Indian assimilation.10 The latter, a three-day conference at the resort of Albert K. and Alfred H. Smiley