Last update: 1
August 2009
Heritage News
PLEASE NOTE THAT HERITAGE RELATED
EVENTS IN
BOTH NORTHERN & SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
ARE LISTED ON THE CALENDAR PAGE
click here: Calendar
information
from
Heritage Preservation (HP)
Committee Report
Mike Ford, Chairman
Heritage Preservation Committee Report,
July 2009
The stated objective of this committee is to cover
the Los Californianos purpose of providing an accurate and authentic
interpretation of Alta California’s history. The committee is responsible for
discovering and investigating sites and structures deemed worthy of preservation
as historical landmarks and any other projects worthy of recognition or
preservation.
“As much as we all must
admire our state for preserving the Missions, lives of people who built
communities and worked to raise and feed their families explain a wider sense of
California origins.”
- Jeanne Farr McDonnell, Author & Historian Member
Castro Adobe (near Watsonville) – Retrofit
work has the building relatively safe from earthquake. And much of brickwork is
done. The focus is now on the roof, so that all that adobe will be safe from
the future rains.
Rancho Higuera de Agua Caliente Restoration Project
(Alameda County) – Lack of funding by government agencies led to a
highly successful effort to obtain private funding for much needed projects,
notably a new roof for the adobe and an educational kiosk. The CandleLighters
service group, Washington Township Historical Society, Mission Peak Heritage
Foundation, Museum of Local History, Portuguese Heritage Society of San Jose and
Alameda County Historical Society all helped. More funds are needed. Members
in that area and descendants of the Higuera family should provide as much help
as possible to this worthy cause.
The San Marino Historical Society
has less to worry about because of the budget crisis hitting all public
agencies. The High School District has set aside plans (at least for now) which
would have endangered the adobe on their property. The Society now has more
time to plan alternatives to that scenario. Members in that area should make
themselves available to help this effort. It may involve purchase (and perhaps
moving) of the building.
Presidio of SF
– Boyd de Larios has written a letter to the Trust Board explaining why they
have not handled the planning process properly. “A restart of a valid planning
process with demonstrated and legitimate purpose and need leading to appropriate
land uses furthering the mandated goals of the Presidio park is necessary.”
Will they finally get the message?
Briones House – Jeanne McDonnell is looking
optimistically past the remaining legal activities. The hope is that the
current owners will eventually abandon their plans to destroy the building, and,
instead, sell it. Ideas are being accepted on 1) potential uses for the
property, 2) locating funding sources, and 3) finding an organization or
coalition to own and manage the property.
State Park funding – On June 15, the
Legislature’s Budget Conference Committee voted (6 to 4) to eliminate the state
funding for our state parks (the Governor’s proposal). And it voted to enact the
State Park Access Pass ($15 increase in vehicle registration in exchange for
free day use entrance into the state parks). A majority of the legislature then
voted to cut the $70M from the budget (but it didn’t get the required 2/3s).
And the Access Pass vote failed by 4 votes in the Senate. The Governor has now
stated he will veto this legislation if it does pass. At this time, the several
state park buildings connected with our Californio heritage are not safe!
My list of “Most Endangered” Alta California
heritage sites/structures (if I published it today) would be topped by places we
thought were safe in the hands of the Federal and State governments. I will
share my proposed list with other committee members, historian members, other
interested individuals and will have it ready for publication before the end of
the year. Hopefully, the shame of being on the list will help bring about
changes in attitude. Then we can get back to fighting the more traditional
battles against over aggressive, thoughtless development.
Misinformation – We are in pretty good shape if this is the only
thing we need to correct at this time. Some info was sent out by the Monterey
County Historical Society. They are attempting to increase membership and raise
funds for a new roof for the Eusebio Boronda Adobe in Salinas. I support their
efforts, but a statement on their “Membership Contest” flyer caught my eye. It
claimed that the Boronda Adobe is the “only standing adobe in the Salinas
Valley”. While it is true that most of the dozens of adobes that once dotted
the valley are gone, we are not quite down to just this one. The City of
Soledad is attempting to preserve and protect the Los Coches Adobe, located near
the Salinas River, just south of town, along Highway #101. The plan is to
develop the area around the adobe while maintaining the historical integrity of
the adobe. The Monterey County Historical Society should be aware of the
existence of this adobe and should be offering their experience and assistance
to the City of Soledad to make this dream come true. Let us hope this adobe
will be open for visitation soon and the Eusebio Boronda adobe gets that much
needed new roof too.
Provision of an Accurate and Authentic
Interpretation of Alta California's History.
Elementary Education
California State Standards.
The California State Standards for social studies are available on the
Internet.
Members and friends are encouraged to review the 4th Grade standards and
curriculum.
Los Californianos wishes to support educators in presenting a relevant
and accurate history of our state.
We are working to produce supplemental material for 4th grade teachers
and all others interested in the facts.
If you have Adobe Reader, (available free on the Internet)
you can to
access the standards at
http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/hstgrade4.asp
San Francisco Chronicle Letter.
On November 8, 2004, the San Francisco Chronicle of a lengthy
op-ed piece by Elias Castillo.
The entire article was greatly inaccurate and very derogatory of our
Hispanic ancestors. Professor Emeritus Robert Hoover provided us with an
excellent detailed rebuttal, but the newspaper declined to publish it.
[You may read this rebuttal by clicking on the following link:
Dr. Robert Hoover.]
Heritage Memorial Fund
The
Heritage Memorial Fund has been established as a means for members to make
contributions in memory of a deceased member or because a member wishes to make
a tax deductible contribution to a worthy cause which is close to the heart of
all members of Los Californianos, the preservation of our heritage.
Contributions are not part of the general fund and will be used for
restoration projects or other projects as recommended by the Heritage
Preservation Committee. Checks may
be made to Los Californianos referencing the Heritage Memorial Fund and sent to:
Marcia Bandy, Los Californianos Treasurer
4002 St. James Place, San Diego, CA 92103-1630.
Mission 2000 Project
Rudecinda (Cindy) Lo Buglio
Publications' Chairman, Los Californianos
To quote directly from the Mission 2000 Home Page,
http://www.nps.gov/tuma/M2000.html,
"Mission 2000 is a searchable database of Spanish mission records of the
Pimería
Alta (southern
Arizona
and northern Sonora, Mexico) containing baptisms, marriages, and
burials from the late seventeenth century to the mid-nineteenth century.
Please read the two paragraph introduction for an understanding of the
kind of material which is contained within the Mission 2000 database.
A group of dedicated researchers, led by Donald T. Garate, Interpretative
Historian at
Tumacacori
National
Historical
Park,
http://www.nps.gov/tuma/, have
been extracting and entering pertinent information from the extant mission
registers of the aforementioned areas into the Mission 2000 database.
Several years ago, Don Garate led a group of Los Californianos' members on a
tour of
Sonora, Sinaloa, and Arizona and, while visiting San Miguel de Horcasitas, a
tremendous discovery was made. They found books in a scrap pile on the floor
in the sacristy of the church. These were the heretofore unidentified
registers of the Mission.
Arrangements were naturally made to have them microfilmed and, unfortunately,
fell through a couple of times, but finally they were successfully copied by
the Mormon Church, and are now available by loan to the Family History
Centers. Many of the
records from Horcasitas have been transcribed and translated, and the
information was added to the database of the Mission 2000 Web site.
They can be accessed by entering “Horcasitas” in the Event Place box in
the Event Information section of the
Searchable Spanish Mission Records page at:
http://data2.itc.nps.gov/tuma/search.cfm.
The surname help page includes information about variant spellings of many of
our Alta California families, including a familiar Anza Expedition family
–there are at least 21 different ways that Albizu
is spelled in the original documents: “Albizu,
Albiso,
Albisso, Albisu,
Albissu,
Arbiso, Arbisso,
Arbisu,
Arbissu, Arbizo,
Arbizu, Alviso, Alvisso,
Alvisu,
Alvissu, Arviso,
Arvisso,
Arvisu, Arvissu,
Arvizo,
Arvizu."
Since the project began, thousands of entries have been extracted from
original Mexican records and added to Mission 2000, and also can be accessed
through the search engines found on the Web site listed in the previous
paragraph:
http://data2.itc.nps.gov/tuma/search.cfm .
In
addition to using the search engine for genealogical and historical records,
you will find priceless information listed in the Help Area, which will open
up new areas of research for you—in many cases you will even be led to
facsimiles of the original documents, as well as to information about
surnames, place names, tips for reading Spanish language documents, to name
but a few of the lessons available on this Web site.
In these records you will find many ties to Anza Expedition members,
with leads to branches of the same families, who did not answer the call to
.
In
addition to using the search engine for genealogical and historical records,
you will find priceless information listed in the Help Area, which will open
up new areas of research for you—in many cases you will even be led to
facsimiles of the original documents, as well as to information about
surnames, place names, tips for reading Spanish language documents, to name
but a few of the lessons available on this Web site.
In these records you will find many ties to Anza Expedition members,
with leads to branches of the same families, who did not answer the call to
In addition to using
the search engine for genealogical and historical records, you will find
priceless information listed in the Help Area, which will open up new areas of
research for you—in many cases you will even be led to facsimiles of the
original documents, as well as to information about surnames, place names,
tips for reading Spanish language documents, to name but a few of the lessons
available on this Web site.
In these records you will find many ties to Anza Expedition members,
with leads to branches of the same families, who did not answer the call to
In addition to using
the search engine for genealogical and historical records, you will find
priceless information listed in the Help Area, which will open up new areas of
research for you—in many cases you will even be led to facsimiles of the
original documents, as well as to information about surnames, place names,
tips for reading Spanish language documents, to name but a few of the lessons
available on this Web site.
In these records you will find many ties to Anza Expedition members,
with leads to branches of the same families, who did not answer the call to
In addition to using
the search engine for genealogical and historical records, you will find
priceless information listed in the Help Area, which will open up new areas of
research for you—in many cases you will even be led to facsimiles of the
original documents, as well as to information about surnames, place names,
tips for reading Spanish language documents, to name but a few of the lessons
available on this Web site.
In these records you will find many ties to Anza Expedition members,
with leads to branches of the same families, who did not answer the call to
In addition to using
the search engine for genealogical and historical records, you will find
priceless information listed in the Help Area, which will open up new areas of research for you—in many cases you will even be led to
facsimiles of the original documents, as well as to information about
surnames, place names, tips for reading Spanish language documents, to name
but a few of the lessons available on this Web site.
In these records you will find many ties to Anza Expedition members,
with leads to branches of the same families, who did not answer the call to
In
addition to using the search engine for genealogical and historical records,
you will find priceless information listed in the Help Area, which will open
up new areas of research for you—in many cases you will even be led to
facsimiles of the original documents, as well as to information about
surnames, place names, tips for reading Spanish language documents, to name
but a few of the lessons available on this Web site.
In these records you will find many ties to Anza Expedition members,
with leads to branches of the same families, who did not answer the call to
In
addition to using the search engine for genealogical and historical records,
you will find priceless information listed in the Help Area, which will open
up new areas of research for you—in many cases you will even be led to
facsimiles of the original documents, as well as to information about
surnames, place names, tips for reading Spanish language documents, to name
but a few of the lessons available on this Web site.
In these records you will find many ties to Anza Expedition members,
with leads to branches of the same families, who did not answer the call to
In
addition to using the search engine for genealogical and historical records,
you will find priceless information listed in the Help Area, which will open
up new areas of research for you—in many cases you will even be led to
facsimiles of the original documents, as well as to information about
surnames, place names, tips for reading Spanish language documents, to name
but a few of the lessons available on this Web site.
In these records you will find many ties to Anza Expedition members,
with leads to branches of the same families, who did not answer the call to
In
addition to using the search engine for genealogical and historical records,
you will find priceless information listed in the Help Area, which will open
up new areas of research for you—in many cases you will even be led to
facsimiles of the original documents, as well as to information about
surnames, place names, tips for reading Spanish language documents, to name
but a few of the lessons available on this Web site.
In these records you will find many ties to Anza Expedition members,
with leads to branches of the same families, who did not answer the call to
In
addition to using the search engine for genealogical and historical records,
you will find priceless information listed in the Help Area, which will open
up new areas of research for you—in many cases you will even be led to
facsimiles of the original documents, as well as to information about
surnames, place names, tips for reading Spanish language documents, to name
but a few of the lessons available on this Web site.
In these records you will find many ties to Anza Expedition members,
with leads to branches of the same families, who did not answer the call to
California.
The
first entry below concerns the parents of the last child (of eight live
births) born during the Anza Expedition, who was often called the
"Christmas Babe," (Salvador Ignacio Linares--I
can hear Judge José de Larios talking about his
"Uncle Sal" every time I see his name). This entry was extracted and
translated from the San Miguel de Horcasitas register:
"On July 18, [1770], I married and veiled in ecclesiastical matrimony,
the necessary marriage banns having preceded, -- Ignacio Linares
and María Gertrudis de Ribas
--. Witnesses were Féliz Robledo and Don Antonio
de Ribera, and I sign == Bachiller
Joseph Nicolas de Messa"
The
two Alviso entries which were extracted and translated from the San Miguel de
Horcasitas registers are:
"On the said day [May 1, 1770] I provided ecclesiastical burial in the
same place [beneath the choir loft] with low cross for María Josepha,
infant daughter of Domingo Albisso and Angela Trexo
and I sign == Bachiller Joseph Nicolas de Messa"
"In the village of San Miguel de Horcasitas on the twelfth of the month
of December of 1763, I, the Bachiller Don Miguel
Joseph de Arenibar, designated priest, benefactor
for His Majesty, vicar and ecclesiastic judge of this Province of Sonora,
provided ecclesiastical burial for the body of Santiago, Spaniard and infant
son of Domingo Albizu and Angela Trexo,
with the low cross beneath the choir loft, and for this truth I signed ==
Miguel Josef de Arenibar"
It
takes a great deal of time to extract and post each entry, and I believe the
hours put in on the project are strictly volunteer and squeezed into what are
unbelievably busy schedules by those involved, but yet each week a little more
is added to the Mission 2000 database. Be sure to visit it regularly for the
continuing update. What you are looking for may not be there today, but
somewhere down the line it may possibly be added .
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