While numerous scholars and historians have alluded to the real
pobladores of Alta California and the Southwest, the myth still persist
that the Spanish settled California. However, nothing could be farther
from the truth. Are the Spanish the adelantados, or the racial mix-
bloods, mestizos, of the new world?
By the time of the Portolá expedition of 1769, of which the correo
extraordinario Juan Bautista Valdez was a soldado de cuera, La Nueva
España, (Mexico) was 248 years old. Much older than the United
States of today, and a melting pot whose inhabitants felt that they
were neither, Spanish, Indian, nor black.
Consider, the aforementioned expedition where of all the Spaniards,
peninsulares, who helped make the four-pronged expedition, two by
land and two by sea, only eight remained in California. Of these Miguel
Costanso, Gaspar de Portolá, and Father Viscaíno soon left for La
Nueva España. It is from this point forward that records began to
show that these mestizos, who came from a variety of cultures, have
truly been under represented.
Further, consider the Juan Bautista de Anza Expedition of 1775/76,
where only Fathers Font and Garcés were of Spanish origin or
peninsular, and Father Eixach was of French ancestory. The remaining
192 souls, whom Anza says were recruited in the poverty ridden
alcaldias of Sinaloa, Culiacan, Alamos, and el Fuerte, were of criollo,
mestizo, indio, or mulato origin, and went on to establish el Real
Presidio de San Francisco.
In addition, el Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe, founded on
November, 27, 1777, by Josef Joaquín Moraga, a mestizo, with
pobaldores from el Real Presidio de San Francisco, and Monterey,
lists in its padron of 1778, thirty-eight Spaniards (no doubt criollos),
thirteen mestizos, six mulatos, and eleven Native Americans.
Furthermore, consider the founding of Los Angeles in 1781 by a group
of eleven pobladores and their families, recruited by Captain Fernando
Javier de Rivera y Moncada, a mestizo. They were forty four poblanos
in all, and as the diary reveals, most had little or no trace of Spanish.
Refrencing these founders of Los Angeles, Dr. Bolton says "these
pobladores were recruited in the northwestern states of La Nueva
España and were of a strange mixture" and were as follows:
José de Lara, Spaniard, wife Indian, three children;
José Antonio Navarro, mestizo, wife mulata, three children;
Basilio Rosas, Indian, wife mulata, six children;
Antonio Mesa, Negro, wife mulata, two children;
Antonio Villavicencio, Spaniard, wife Indian, one child;
Alejandro Rosas, Indian, wife Coyote, one children;
Pablo Rodriguez, Indian, wife Indian, one child;
Manuel Camero, mulato, wife mulata;
Luis Quintero, Negro, wife, mulata, five children;
José Moreno, mulato, wife mulata;
Antonio Miranda, chino, one child.
The latter family, even though on the list, did not make it to Alta
California due to being quarantined because of smallpox. The blood of
Africa flowed in the veins of twenty-six pobladores or about 59%.
Clearly, this mélange of humanity - the gente de razon - and not the
Spanish were the real founders of el Pueblo de la Reina de Los
Angeles.
Recently the ethnicity of Feliciana Arballo, the darling of the Juan
Bautista de Anza Expedition of 1775/76 who danced at the San
Sebastian campsite, has been found by Professor Rena Cuellar of the
University of Culiacan. She found this treasure of information at the
Catedral de Culiacan, Sonora, Mexico, where in their book of records,
Feliciana is registered as Mulata Libre, or free black woman. Her
daughter Maria Eustaquia went on to marry José Maria Pico, of mulato
origin as well, and went on to become the mother of Pio Pico, the last
governor of California under Spanish rule.
Feliciana's daughter, Maria Ignacia Lopez, a mulata, from her second
marriage to Francisco Lopez, married Joaquin Carrillo, and one of their
daughters, Francisca Benicia Lopez de Carrillo went on to marry
General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo.
Dr. Charles Chapman in his book, The History of California,
The Spanish Period, says, "the founders of California, the people of
reason, were of varying shades of color; indeed, the great majority
were mestizo - part white and part Indian."
Lastly, in 1782, the garrison of el Real Presidio de San Francisco lists
six of its members as mulato, ten as mestizo, and ten as Spanish -
certainly criollo who were born in La Nueva España, two hundred fifty
plus years after the Spanish made landfall at Veracruz.
No doubt these are the populators that Dr. Servin refers to when he
says, "these Mexican mixed-bloods were the true pioneer settlers
who toiled the soil, erected buildings, carried the mail, and guarded the
missions and presidios."
Therefore, given this over-whelming evidence, there is no doubt that
the great majority of the fundadores of California were of criollo,
mestizo, Indian, and African stock, and not Spanish, peninsular, and to
deny this fact is a deception of great proportion and unjust to the real
history of California.
PV
Sources:
The Census of 1790, a Demographic History of Colonial California,
William Marvin Mason, Ballena Press, 1998
A History of California. The Spanish Period, Charles E. Chapman, Ph.D
El Presidio de San Francisco, A History under Spain and Mexico
1776 - 1846, Langellier and Rosen 1996
California's Hispanic Heritage, The Journal of San Diego History
The First Census of the Pueblo de San José of 1778
Hoja de Servico de Josef Joaquín Moraga
Diario del Capitan Fernando Javier de Rivera y Moncada, Burris OFM,
Madrid, España, 1988
Spanish Bluecoats, Dr. Joseph P. Sanchez, University of New Mexico 1990
El Pueblo Grande, Weaver, the Ward Richie Press 1973
Mission 2000, Arballo, Feliciana
The Anza letters, Phil Valdez Jr. 2004 @www.theanzaletters.com
Frequent Contributer to Somos Primos,
Phil Valdez Jr., shares some ideas about myth
and reality concerning race, ethnicity, and the
first Hispanic Californios. This article has
appeared in several publications including
Noticias de Anza