The Carrillos of San Diego ...: a Historic Spanish Family of California
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The Carrillos of San Diego ...: A Historic Spanish Family of California (Concluded) Author(s): Brian McGinty, Maria Ignacia Lopez, Joaquin Carrillo and Julio Carrillo Source: The Historical Society of Southern California Quarterly, Vol. 39, No. 4 (December, 1957), pp. 371-391 Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the Historical Society of Southern California Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41169299 . Accessed: 18/05/2014 20:01 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. University of California Press and Historical Society of Southern California are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Historical Society of Southern California Quarterly. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 136.152.126.71 on Sun, 18 May 2014 20:01:13 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions The Carrillosof San Diego. A HistoricSpanish Family of California By BrianMcGinty (Concludedfrom the SeptemberQuarterly) pageant of Spanish and Mexican historyhas been rememberedby historiansfor the romanticspirit of adventurewith which it abounded. It was a time of free and open ranch life, of generoushospitality, of rodeosand fiestas,clicking castanets and plaintiveSpanish guitars. But the periodhad yet anotherface - one of solid historicalachievement, of exploration,trail blazing,and pioneersettlement; of the build- ing of towns,missions, and forts:and of the conquestof savage Indians. The yearsof California'sdomination by the flagsof Spain and Mexico were thus of greatimportance for their fundamental contributionsto the greatstate that, in 1846,was to emergeas part ofthe United States of America. The partplayed by Californiosin pavingthe way foreventual Californiastatehood was perhapstheir greatest historical achieve- ment; but it was also the supremelypainful irony of theirlives in California.By preparingthe GoldenState forultimate Ameri- can conquest,they sealed theirown doomas a people. Vastlyout- numberedfrom the days of the greatGold Rush,Spanish Califor- niens progressivelylost their importance as an elementin the gen- eral population. Those who could be of use in the new society werequickly absorbed by it; but thosewho could not survivewere as readilylost to theages. The Carrillofamily was in manyways representativeof Cali- forniosas a whole. Prosperousin the days of the great ranchos, it declineddrastically in wealthand importancein the earlyyears of Americanrule. Its last triumphwas on the Californiapolitical stage. Romualdo Pacheco, whose full name in the old Spanish 371 This content downloaded from 136.152.126.71 on Sun, 18 May 2014 20:01:13 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA traditionwould have been Pacheco y Carrillo,embodied the finest traditionsof the old and the new and California.For the Carrillo family,his life was the last great momentof serviceand glory. For theCalifornios it was theclimax and finaleof a historicalepoch. Part XIII MariaIgnacia Lopezde Camilo mother and guardian of all the Carrillosof San Diego was Doña María Ignacia Lopez de Carrillo. Born in San Diego, probablyin the early 1780's, she was the daughterof JuanFrancisco Lopez and María Feliciana Arballode Gutierrez.During her lifetimeshe was knownby boththe names of her fatherand her mother- Lopez y Arballo. But becauseforty yearsof her life wrerespent as the wife,and lateras the widow,of Don JoaquinVictor Carrillo,patriarch of the Carrillofamily in San Diego, she has cometo be knownin thechronicles of California historyas Maria Ignacia Lopez de Carrillo. Her marriageto JoaquinCarrillo took place on September3, 1809, in the PresidiaiChapel of San Diego.1 The Carrillos'early marriedlife was centeredaround the adobe walls of the Presidio of San Diego, and was maintainedonly by Joaquin'sslender wages as a "leather-jacket"soldier. As life in the cradle-cityof Spanish Californiacrept slowly by, Doña María Ignacia gave birthto five sons and seven daughters.The firstof these,Josefa, was born in 1810; the last, Marta, firstsaw the light of day some twenty-five yearslater. The friendshipof ComandanteFrancisco Ruiz of the Presidio of San Diego playedan importantpart in the lifeof Maria Ignacia and Joaquin. The adobe house that Ruiz built between1810 and 1820 outsidethe walls of the Presidiowas long the home of the Carrillofamily. ComandanteRuiz, a determinedbachelor, could be difficultand irksomeat times- as when he sentencedJoaquin to the stocksin San Diego for givingwhat the Comandantecon- sideredan unsatisfactoryviolin performance.But at hearthe was kindly,generous, and keenlyattached to the Carrillos. For many 372 This content downloaded from 136.152.126.71 on Sun, 18 May 2014 20:01:13 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions The Carrillosof San Diego years beforehis death in the late 1830's, Ruiz continuedto live in the the Casa de Carrillo,and beforehis death he deeded his famousorchard of pear, pomegranate,and olive treesto threeof the Carrillogirls. In 1834, a large group of Mexican colonistsunder the joint leadershipof José María Padres and José María Hijar passed throughSan Diego on its way to the pueblos of the North. Hos- pitableto friendsand strangersalike, the Carrillofamily took into its home and cared foras many of the colonistsas possible. One memberof the partywas the later-prominentAgustín Janssens. Many yearslater, writing in his Life and Adventuresin California, Janssenswrote that while in San Diego he and othercolonists were caredfor by Maria Ignacia Lopez de Carrillo"in such a kindman- ner thatwe could almostlook on her as a mother."2The widowed RamonaCarrillo de Pacheco was at that time visitingher mother in San Diego. "Motherand daughter,"Janssens wrote, "did every- thingpossible for our comfort,giving us milk, greenvegetables, fruit,and whateverelse we wished,or whichthey saw we needed, withoutaccepting a single cent. They continuedto do forothers whatthey did forus duringthe wholetime we werein San Diego. It is impossibleto findwords of gratitudeto describethe generous conductof these ladies."3 The death of JoaquínCarrillo, in about 1836, was a source of greatsorrow to the family,and it was to changethe entire course of theirlives. Joaquínhad passednearly all ofhis lifein the fledg- ling Californiamilitary corps, whose memberswere ineligibleto receiveland grantsfrom the government.When he died, he left virtuallyno property.Three of the family'sdaughters, Josefa, Ramona, and Francisca,had by this time chosen husbandsand goneto live in theirnew homesscattered throughout the province. But nine boys and girlsstill remainedwith Doña María Ignacia, demandingher love, protection,and financialsupport. To providefor her family,Señora Carrillolooked to the rich Californiaearth - to the fertilevalleys and mountainsof the Gold- en State- where,with luck, she mightbegin a new life. In par- ticular,she hopedto acquirea ranchowith which to build a future and eventuallegacy forher youngfamily. She foundthis almost 373 This content downloaded from 136.152.126.71 on Sun, 18 May 2014 20:01:13 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA six-hundredmiles northof San Diego, on the rugged northern frontierof California. Maria Ignacia and herchildren moved to thepueblo of Sonoma in 1837,and a yearlater to thepastoral Santa Rosa Valley. Califor- nia's northernfrontier was ruled almostsingle-handedly by Señora Carrillo's son-in-law,General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo. On January19, 1838, she petitionedto the governmentfor a grant of land at Santa Rosa,and fivedays laterpermission to occupytwo leagues in the centerof the Valley was given her by General Vallejo.4 Her ranchowas formerlynamed Cabeza de Santa Rosa. On September30, 1841, the grantwas completedby ActingGovernor Manuel Jimeno,and on the last day of the year Señora Carrillo tookjuridicial possession. In the old medievaltradition, she "broke branches,pulled up grass,and threwstones to the fourwinds."5 Soon afteroccupying Cabeza de Santa Rosa, Maria Ignacia selecteda site on the banks of the Santa Rosa Creek,where con- structionof an adobe house was soon begun. Her sons,Joaquín, José Ramon, Julio,Juan, and Dolores, were assistedin building the house by Indians recruitedfrom the nearbyhills and by Cap- tain Salvador Vallejo, the husband of María de la Luz Carrillo. Soon afterits completion,the Carrilloadobe at Santa Rosa became a popularrendezvous of life and gayetyin the valley. Beforeits doorsstretched the 8,000 fertileacres of the Carrillo rancho. Indian servantsplanted and winnowedwheat, while the Carrillo boys rodewatch over the rapidly growing herds of cattle. In therancho's firstyears, prosperity was abundant,with large numbersof sheep, 1200 to 1500 horses,and 3,000 cattleroaming the valley floorand surroundinghillsides.6 Maria Ignacia was a vigorouswoman, who oftenrode the range on her ranchopersonally supervising the many and varied activities.She was also a woman who knew her own mind. Her daughter,Josefa Carrillo de Fitch,wrote vividly of Señora Carrillo's ideas on the meaningof