Felipa Osuna and Other Women in Early San Diego Historical Background In 1769, the Spanish empire sent out the first expedition of soldiers and Franciscan missionaries to Alta California from the region presently known as Baja California, Mexico. Settlers occupied the port of San Diego under the military leadership of Governor Gaspar de Portola and the spiritual guidance of Father Junipero Serra. These military and missionary efforts resulted in the establishments of missions, presidios and pueblos throughout Alta California.[8] The Franciscan missionaries soon encountered the Amerindian population of San Diego and zealously began to conquer and convert them. The missionary priests identified the Indians as a group to convert for the Christian god, and also as minds to turn into gente de razón, or people of reason.[9] Consequently, Indians would also serve the Spanish-Mexican settlement as laborers. Since an insufficient number of Mexicans had come to colonize the vast region of San Diego, Indians became an essential component of the military and Franciscan venture.[10] As male settlers founded the region, the missionaries realized that complete integration would require the incorporation of women as well. Thereupon began the gendered colonization of California. To colonize the Amerindian population, missionaries believed that it was essential that Amerindian women be socialized and disciplined in the fundamentals of "civilized life" as it pertained to women. In particular, they were concerned with the domestic arts and "womanly virtues". As the missionaries saw it, Spanish-Mexican women would serve the Spanish empire by attracting the Indians to the missions and to Christianity.[11] The Spanish missionaries, therefore, effectively used Spanish-Mexican women in the colonization of California. Some women traveled to Alta California as early as 1774 as widows or orphans, but most arrived as the wives or daughters of soldiers, farmers and artisans. Women raised families and worked alongside their fathers or husbands, herding cattle and tending crops.[12] Women worked in the missions, which were fundamental in the acculturation, social indoctrination and control of the Indian labor force.[13] These women and their daughters lived through the Mexican War of Independence in 1821 after which Alto California brought down the Spanish flag and raised the Mexican one.[14] Spanish-Mexican women continued to live in California as European-Americans arrived and conquered the territory economically and politically.[15] Although many historical accounts ignore women in the frontier, it is evident that women were visible and active residents of California. Three Pioneer Californianas in San Diego The historiography of California has tended to ignore the experiences, activities and lives of Spanish-Mexican women. Although Thomas Savage's intentions were to focus on men's experiences, his interviews provided information about the women of frontier San Diego. The accounts refuted stereotypical images of women as passive and male-dominated. The women addressed their distinct backgrounds and provided a view into the lives of the Spanish-Mexican women of Alta California. The following profiles are derived from the Savage interviews. Apolinaria Lorenzana migrated from Baja California, Mexico with her mother and a group of orphan girls that traveled as possible marriage partners for other settlers. She arrived in California in 1800 as a child. Her mother married there and returned to San Blas, where she soon died.[16] Early in Lorenzana's life, the priests of Mission San Diego arranged for her to be raised by several families of San Diego. She taught herself to read and write, and became a teacher for other children. As a young woman, Lorenzana became seriously ill. As a result, the priests took her in at the mission. In an effort to both improve her health and prepare her for production labor, the priests arranged for Lorenzana to be a nurse at the mission. She states, "It was mostly [the priest's] purpose to do something good for me, because there was little I could do, since I was still pretty sick."[17] Consequently, Lorenzana spent much her life dedicated to the service of the mission. She provided supervision over many tasks. As a result of Lorenzana's protection by the priests, she was rewarded with a land grant for a ranch. She was one of few women to receive such a boon. With respect to her kinship network, Lorenzana boasted to have served as godmother to more than 200 Spanish-Mexican and Amerindian children. "I had the satisfaction that all-young and old, rich and poor liked me well," she stated.[18] Felipa Osuna was born in 1809 in San Diego. Her parents were native Californios. Her father served as a soldier and held different political positions in San Diego. As a young woman, Osuna worked at the mission taking care of an ill priest. In appreciation for her dedication, the priest bequeathed all his possessions to Osuna.[19] When European-Americans began to occupy San Diego, Osuna and her husband were captured and imprisoned. After their release, Californios met them angrily, for they assumed that Osuna and her husband had joined forces with the European-Americans. The Osunas faced execution but were eventually cleared of the charges.[20] Thomas Savage commented, "She seems quite intelligent, but is entirely unable to remember dates, and her memory is at fault upon many events that occurred in her earlier years."[21] However, careful examination of Osuna's personal history contradicts Savage's perception, for Osuna discussed incidents and individuals of historical importance. Osuna was knowledgeable about the history of San Diego. Juana Machado was born in 1814 in San Diego's presidio. Her parents were native Californios, and her father served as a soldier in the San Diego company. As a young woman, she married a soldier named Dámasio Alipáz. Their wedding celebration began in the morning and lasted late into the night. Because of their military contacts, many political officials of San Diego attended their wedding.[22] Machado discussed her personal life briefly with Thomas Savage. In her accounts, she preferred to discuss the many political and social changes of San Diego. Although she notes, "I was very young to occupy myself with governmental affairs," it is apparent in her personal history that for much of her adult life she lived as a well-informed citizen of San Diego.[23] She mentioned her encounters with the clergy and the politicians of San Diego, as well as her opinions on the work of California's governor and other politicians. Altogether, Machado's knowledge of political events is impressive. These brief biographies provide valuable insights into the vast array of experiences lived by these women. They also reveal that women had specific experiences as female settlers and citizens of San Diego. Franciscan priests believed that women of razón should serve as "civilizing" agents in converting the Amerindian population, therefore Lorenzana was appointed as educator and supervisor for the mission. Lorenzana supervised Indians, especially women, in their labors. She states, "I taught the Indian women to sew and had them continuously working in the sewing for the church or for the priests. All was done under my direction and care."[24] She worked as the principal supervisor for many activities at the mission. For Lorenzana, typical work days revolved around Indian labor. Many of the needed items of San Diego, such as clothing and food, were produced at the mission. In the morning, the Indians who lived at their village came to eat at the mission cookhouse before attending mass. Single Indian men and women lived at the mission, and ate after mass under the watch of their supervisor. Lorenzana trained the Indian women to wash the mission laundry, and together they made many necessary items, such as tablecloths, napkins and towels. She was also responsible for organizing the labor of men.[25] Throughout their dialogue with Savage, these women discussed their contact and involvement with the Amerindian population. Most of their relationships were work-related, but some women had personal amicable relations with Indian men and women. Yet, they also indicated that women feared periods of conflict between the Spanish-Mexican and Amerindian populations. The three women discussed two particular Amerindian attacks on San Diego. They deliberated over the stress that women experienced, since they often became the spoils of war. For instance, Lorenzana discussed an event at Rancho Jamul, which she described as a "sad scene."[26] An Amerindian woman informed ranch employee Doña María that Indians planned to attack the ranch. She ran with the news to her husband, Leyva, who convinced her to ignore the woman. He assured her that they were safe because he kept fire weapons within his reach. Several Amerindians attacked the next morning and killed several men, including Leyva. Doña María escaped with her young son, but the Indians carried off her daughters, Tomasa and Ramona. Although many attempts were made by officials, they all failed to rescue the girls.[27] Lorenzana noted that, "Doña María suffered for the rest of her life, without ever consoling herself. At the end, she succumbed to the weight of her loss."[28] Several men reported seeing Tomasa and Ramona with several Indians and stated that the young women cried out for help.[29] Lorenzana's account reveals that women experienced danger particular to their gender. Not only could women be killed, but they could also be carried off during attacks by Indians or other invaders. A similar incident occurred when Felipa Osuna overheard several Indian men plan an attack in San Diego. Osuna understood the Indians' language and informed others that Indians planned to enter Henry Fitch's store to steal, kill store clerk Lawrence Hartwell, and carry off Osuna and her friend Josefa Fitch. Because her account was heeded, when the Indians attempted to enter the store, Osuna's husband and Hartwell stood by armed and prepared. The Indians fled the scene without causing harm. The following day Sergeant Macedonio Gonzalez captured several Indians. They received a quick trial which resulted in their execution.[30] After the incident at Fitch's store, Gonzalez led a violent persecution of Indians. He and his troops hunted down Indians in the streets. Several ran into the homes of gente de razón and begged for help, while soldiers lassoed others in the streets. "It pained me to see Macedonio's people chase after the Indians...When I saw the Indian's troubles it saddened me to have given information against them," stated Osuna.[31] She felt guilty about uncovering the Indian attack, but also felt that saving the lives of the other people in San Diego should be her priority. "What would have been the fate of the women of San Diego if the Indians would have taken a hold of them?" she asked.[32] This discussion again reveals that women and men experienced attacks differently. Both women and men faced getting robbed or killed, yet women also faced the danger of kidnap. Women became the spoils of war in these attacks, and sexual violence was used as a way of dominating and terrorizing the group under attack. Hence, Californianas experienced sexual violence as a result of the war that some Indians and the Spanish-Mexican community waged on each other.[33] Juana Machado reiterates this point in noting, "I say in a positive way that Macedonio González lived in San Diego," since San Diegans did not feel safe "until the Indian ring-leaders had been shot."[34] Gonzalez brought security to the people of San Diego, especially to the women who feared the same fate as Tomasa and Ramona. She refers to Gonzalez as a "celebrated Indian fighter," implying the need for a force against the Indians.[35] Consequently, she felt personal danger and accepted the repression of the Amerindian population. Conclusion In this study, I contribute to the historical revision of early California history by relying upon the voices of nineteenth-century California women. Lorenzana, Osuna and Machado revealed that their experiences and concerns as women in frontier California tell the story of how conquest and annexation differs by gender. Women encountered specific predicaments as female settlers and residents of San Diego. For instance, Lorenzana was assigned to work alongside Indians at the mission, later becoming their supervisor and educator. Osuna and Machado discussed the fear women experienced in the periods when cultures collided. Their statements revealed that the colonization of California affected them by both granting them privileges over Indians and also by exposing them to the possibility of violence. These women supported and partook in the colonizing of frontier California and accepted the ideologies that forced Indians into subordination. Yet, one must note that women did not lead the colonization of California, rather they were expected to participate in the oppression of Amerindian population of California. It is fortunate that Thomas Savage recorded women's personal stories, indirectly telling the women's stories by conducting interviews. In this research on Californianas of San Diego, I unearth the voices of women in documents that come from indirect sources. These accounts provide important insights into the lives of Spanish-Mexican women.

(from writings of Angelica Berraza)

Sixth Generation Californian I am descended from the soldiers who accompanied Gaspar de Portola and Father Junipero Serra on the sacred expedition to found Mission San Diego in 1769 and what became the chain of 21 missions. We are a blend of Spanish blood and that of the 19th Century Boston sea traders who intermarried with Old Town families during the pre-Gold Rush period immortalized by Dana in "Two Years Before the Mast". I am a sixth generation Californian, born in Los Angleles , the daughter of Grace Barker Debley. Our history starts in about 1785 with the birth of Juan Maria Osuna, who lived to be about 60, dying around 1847. He married Juliana Lopez in February of 1806. He was 21 , she was 15. One of their daughters, Felipa Osuna was born in 1809 and was still alive as of 1878. Juan Maria Osuna was active in San Diego politics for many years and served as Alcalde in 1835. During the revolution of 1831, which was a successful bid to overthrow the Mexican governor as part of the movement to secularize the Missions, we find the first link between Juan Maria Osuna, who would be my great-great-grreat grandfather, and Juan Maria Marron, my great-great grandfather. Both were members of the first "raiding party" of the revolution. Juan Maria Marron married Juan Maria Osuna's daughter, Felipa, in 1834. He was Alcalde in 1846. It was their daughter, Maria Marron who married John Sprague Barker, a Boston sea captain (possibly the master of a vessel listed on a San Francisco ship registry as the "Edward"). An 1850 census shows John and Maria living in San Diego. (he actual date of the census was February 27, 1851). He was 35 and she was 18. No children were listed then. John and Maria were my great grandparents. In regard to land held by our family it goes back to Juan Maria Osuna, who because of his status as Alcalde, etc. and the "Act of Secularization of 1832", Juan Maria was able to choose the land he wanted. The area he selected was called "Rancho San Dieguito", among the best of the Mission lands. The tract lay 20 miles north of San Diego and about 3 miles inland from the sea - approximately at the location of the present city of Solano Beach. The grant given to this soldier-turned politician-turned rancher was for 8,824.71 acres. He began living on the land in 1836 when he was about 51 years old. Juan Maria and Juliana built two homes on the ranch. The first they gave to their son, Leandro. Juan Maria Marron owned considerable property, including a rancho called "Cueros de Venado", and at San Juan Capistrano, and the important "Agua Hedionda Rancho" - 13,311 acres lying along the coast just south and east of Carlsbade, on our Hwy 101. The Marron city home stood at the corner of Congress and Twiggs Streets in Old Town. It was there that Felipa first came to "fame". She played an impotant role in San Diego history (her memoirs, "Recuerdos", are stored in the Bancroft Library at Berkeley) and have become valuable historiacal data. Even though she was widowed in 1853, she was able to maintain her own affairs with skill and she had the distinction of being the first person in Southern California to own a horse-drawn carriage. Ownership of her ranch, Agua Hedioonda, was assumed by Francis Hinton, and on his death was willed to Robert Kelly, whose family was prominent in San Diego ranching. It was later bought by Leo Carillo, the actor. San Deguito, the Osuna Ranch, remained in that family until 1906. At that time it was sold to the Santa Fe Land Improvement Comany and subdivided into Rancho Santa Fe.

Agua Hedionda Carlsbad: Rancho Agua Hedionda Agua Hedionda means "stinking water" in English. The name is supposed to have been given the area by the first Spanish explorers. The odor they reported might have come from a nearby Indian village, a sulphur spring, or possibly from decayed matter on the shores of the lagoon. Don Juan María Marrón ruled Rancho Agua Hedionda in the 1840s. His 13,311 acres extended from the Pacific Ocean inland almost to Vista and from Carlsbad south of Encina Canyon. Don Juan had been a ship's captain before coming to San Diego in the early 1820s. He soon became prominent politically and married Doña Felipa, daughter of Juan María Osuna, the first alcalde of the pueblo of San Diego and the owner of Rancho San Dieguito. Rancho Agua Hedionda was granted to Marrón in 1842. Original diseño supporting claim to the land. During the Mexican War, Don Juan supported the Americans against many of his Mexican friends. This support caused him considerable hardship and embarrassment at time. Richard F. Pourade in his book, The Silver Dons, relates an incident which took place in 1846: "One morning, along the road from the mission, came Alcade Juan María Marrón, husband of Felipa Osuna, carrying a white flag. He wanted to visit his wife. Capt. Miguel de Pedroena took him into custody, but Commodore Robert F. Stockton finally gave Felipa and her husband a pass through the lines, to go to their rancho. With their children they walked all the way to San Luis Rey Mission, where another band of Californios seized them and threatened to shoot Marrón for having collaborated with the Americans. They released him but stripped his Agua Hedionda Rancho of horses and cattle." Several adobe homes were built on the rancho by members of the Marrón family through the years. Most of the strutures have disappeared, but several were incorporated into modern residences. One of these was the home of Carroll R. Kelly, whose grandfather was Matthew Kelly Sr., brother of the fourth owner of the rancho. Carroll Kelly farmed and raised cattle on the rancho for thirty-five years. In 1958 he rebuilt the house where Don Juan lived, reinforcing the twenty-six-inch walls and constructing additional wings along the foundation lines laid out by the original owner. Another ancient adobe built by Juan María Marrón, grandson of the original grantee, was in ruins in 1968 but several of its walls were still standing. It was on the north side of Highway 78 less than a mile east of El Camino Real intersection, in a grove of pepper and eucalyptus trees. This property was owned by the Steiger family of Oceanside. John A. Steiger, a realtor, said his grandfather started making the bricks for the house about 1895. His mother, Mrs. Laura Steiger, lived in the adobe as a child. Steiger's grandmother was Doña Lorenza Serrano de Marró, a direct descendant of José Antonio Serrano, grantee of Rancho Pauma. On the south side of Highway 78, nearby, was the adobe home of Silvestre Marrón, brother of Don Juan. Two walls were all that remained of it in 1968. Don Juan María Marrón died in 1853 at the age of forty-five; his widow and four children inherited Rancho Agua Hedionda, with the exception of 360 acres bequeathed to Silvestre. The latter also was given grazing rights on all of the huge rancho. The Marróns leased Rancho Agua Hedionda to Francis Hinton in 1860 for a loan of $6000, with José Marrón and José María Estudillo retaining the right to come and gather salt from the lagoons for their families. In 1865, Hinton assumed ownership of the rancho. Six thousand dollars seems a small price for land worth millions today, but it was considered fair at that time, as drought had laid waste to thousands of acres of grazing land and there was no market for the starving cattle. Hinton was born in New York in 1818. His real name was Abraham Ten Eyck de Witt Hornbeck. When he was twenty-seven years old he changed his name, joined the Army and served throughout the Mexican War. He was a supply sergeant of Company A, 1st U.S. Dragoons. Cave Couts, later to become owner of Rancho Guajome, was a lieutenant in the same unit. Both Hinton and Couts came to California with the Boundary Commission guard. Hinton died at the rancho in 1870. He had never been married and willed Agua Hedionda to his mayordomo, Robert Kelly, who also was a bachelor. Kelly had been mayordomo of Jamacha Rancho on the Sweetwater River and also a merchant in San Diego. He died in 1890, leaving Rancho Agua Hedionda to his nine nephews and nieces, children of his brother, Matthew Kelly. The last of these heirs, William Sherman Kelly, died on May 10, 1950, at the age of eighty-five. Holdings of his son, Allan, 820 acres of the Marrón grant, included the upper part of Agua Hedionda Lagoon. From Allan Kelly's home can be seen the lagoon into which empties the creek of the same name, the Encina power plant and the ocean. In the distance to the south is Palomar Airport which had been carved out of the original land grant. Within the same boundaries are two high hills, or mountains, which on county maps bear the historic names of Mount Kelly and Mount Hinton. Although Matthew Kelly Sr. never owned Rancho Agua Hedionda, he lived on adjacent patented land, Rancho Los Quiotes, until his death. The Kelly heirs in 1922 sold Los Quiotes to a San Francisco syndicate, from which Leo Carrillo, movie actor, purchased the ranch in 1938. Carrillo died in 1961, leaving the property, 840 acres, to his adopted daughter, Mrs. Marie Antoinette Carrillo Delpy. The actor had remodeled the old two-story Kelly adobe ranchouse and made it into a modern showplace.

Anza Expedition Anza's party set out from Tubac on January 8, 1774 bound for Mission San Gabriel. Serving as Anza's guides were Father Gracés, a Franciscan on friendly terms with the local Indian tribes, and Sebastian Tarabal, a Cochimí Indian, who was a last minute, but fortuitous, addition. The expedition headed north and reached the Yuma village at the junction of the Gila and Colorado rivers without much difficulty. With the help of the Yuma Indians, the Spaniards crossed the Colorado River, and proceeded southward in an attempt to circumnavigate the sea of sand dunes. Anza's party only succeeded getting lost. After ten days of wandering around the desert, they found their way back to the Colorado river and were reunited with the Yuma Indians. Determined to continue, Anza followed Tarabal's suggestion, which dictated a more northerly route through the San Gabriel mountains. Within days they camped along the San Jacinto River, reaching Mission San Gabriel on March 22 and Monterey on May 1. After staying only three days in Monterey, Anza retraced his route and arrived back in Tubac at the end of May. Anza had found an overland route, but whether it could be used for large-scale expeditions remained to be seen. Anza's second expedition put his route to the test. As charged by Viceroy Bucareli, Anza was to recruit and lead an expedition of settlers from Mexico to the San Francisco bay, where they would establish a presidio and two missions. Spain believed that the stronger the settler presence in California, the stronger its hold on the region. The expedition Anza spear-headed reflected the colonial mandate. He was joined again by Gracés and Tarabal, while for his second-in-command, he chose José Joaquin Moraga, an eighteen-year military veteran. The expedition also consisted of: Father Pedro Font, three officers, eighteen veteran soldiers from the presidios of Sonora and Tubac, twenty recruits, twenty-nine women (wives of the soldiers), four volunteer families, 128 children, twenty muleteers, three vaqueros, three servants, three Indian interpreters, 695 horses and mules, and 355 cattle. Anza also recruited some 170 settlers, most of them living on the edge of poverty, to make the journey. The number of people on Anza's colonizing expedition is the subject of debate. Anza's diary indicates 240, but recent scholarship analyzing his letters suggests it might have been closer to three hundred. Whatever the number, it was quite a large group to be shepherding across Baja California's formidable landscape. The colonizing expedition set out from Tubac on October 23, 1775, after being delayed by Apache raids. The first night out, a woman died in childbirth; she would be, remarkably, the only casualty of the expedition. At San Xavier del Bac, Father Font presided over the woman's burial and the marriage of four couples. With their departure from San Xavier del Bac, the expedition left behind the last Spanish settlement until Mission San Gabriel. Anza's party slowly made its way northward up the Santa Cruz river valley (past what is now present-day Tucson), then followed the Gila River west until it intersected with the Colorado River. Frequent bouts of sickness affecting both humans and animals delayed their progress, as did the birth of a second baby. They reached the Colorado River on November 28 and, with the help of the Yumas, crossed it without incident. On December 4, the expedition parted company with the Yumas and Father Gracés, who stayed behind to conduct missionary work. As they followed the Colorado River west, Anza divided the expedition into four groups: three groups of settlers and one group of livestock, each traveling a day apart. He hoped that staggering the expedition would make better use of the available water supply and increase the opportunities for foraging. Mid-December brought unseasonably cold temperatures. The weather conditions, which alternated daily between wet and dry, made life miserable on the trail. Rain and snow produced damp clothing and the increased chance of illness. Dry weather created its own problems. Thirst-plagued cattle stampeded, resulting in the loss of fifty cows intended to feed the settlers in California. Just before Christmas, Anza's party made their way into Coyote Canyon, and Christmas Eve brought the birth of a third baby. On December 26, the expedition finally reached the pass serving as the gateway to Alta California. Its arrival in Mission San Gabriel on January 4, 1776 effectively doubled the European population of Alta California. Mission San Gabriel was to be a stopover at which to regroup and forge ahead, but the expedition stayed longer than anticipated. Anza was recruited by the comandante of California, Fernando Rivera y Moncada, to help suppress hostilities between Spanish settlers and the Kumeyaay Indians around San Diego. The expedition finally continued up the coast in mid-February. After 130 days and nearly two thousand miles, the expedition reached the Monterey Presidio and Mission San Carlos del Carmelo on March 11, 1776. Despite accomplishing the treacherous journey, the colonists were forced to wait several months before finally calling San Francisco their home. Ignoring Anza's enthusiastic report, Rivera refused to grant them permission to establish a settlement. Citing his own 1774 exploration of the bay, Rivera declared San Francisco unsuitable for colonization. Ironically, it would not be Anza who led the expedition into San Francisco Bay. Frustrated with the bureaucratic games and regarding the major part of his task completed, Anza departed for Mexico in April 1776. Rivera relented and on June 17, with Lieutenant Moraga in the lead, the colonists departed for San Francisco bay. Ten days later, they reached their new home and began the task of building Mission San Francisco de Aísi. Over the next five years, enough settlers, soldiers, and cattle followed Anza's trail. Two new pueblos were founded, San Jose and Los Angeles. After a Yuma uprising in 1781, Anza's route was abandoned by the Spaniards, although in the nineteenth century, the Gila River section became part of the Butterfield Overland Mail Route. It was also the last leg of the "southern route" many Americans followed to strike their fortunes in the California Gold Rush. from FRIARS, SOLDIERS, AND SETTLERS: a new website tracks Spain's Expeditions to California by Meredith Hindley. URL: http://www.neh.fed.us/html/magazine/98-01/deanza.html

California Here I Come

PICTURE GALLERY

Gaspar de Portola

Father Junipero Serra

Mission San Diego