Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T04:45:16.917Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The California Missions and their Visitors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Francis J. Weber
Francis J. Weber*
Affiliation:
Queen of Angels Seminary, San Fernando, California
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Because of its geographical separation from other Spanish colonies and the rigid mercantilistic policy of its mother country, Alta California was completely isolated from outside influence during its first sixteen years as a Spanish province. Gradually, however, as a result of the explorations of Captain James Cook (1728-1779), foreign vessels began to appear in the area. When the fur trade started flourishing in the Pacific Northwest, European and American ships as well as overland expeditions were attracted further south to the ports and population centers of California.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 24 , Issue 4 , April 1968 , pp. 319 - 336
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1968

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 The great English navigator made the first explorations for his country along the Alaskan coast on his third voyage in 1776. Cook’s published account of his travels, first released from London in 1784, was widely circulated in European capitals.

2 Though the “mission period” or Provincial Era technically ended on April 27, 1840, with the erection by Pope Gregory XVI of the Diocese of Both Californias, this survey extends the treatment an additional two years to include the observations of Eugene Duflot de Mofras and Alfred Robinson, both of whom commented on the change in ecclesiastical government. Such an extension seems all the more justified in view of the fact that the newly consecrated prelate, the Right Reverend Francisco Garcia Diego y Moreno, O. F. M., did not arrive at Santa Barbara until 1842.

3 A fairly complete chronological list of printed sources for the period, relating exclusively to the missions, is Waters’, Willard O., Franciscan Missions of Upper California (Los Angeles, 1954)Google Scholar.

4 The eminent Franciscan historian, Maynard J. Geiger, has noted that “it was largely these men who made of California a success story. All tried, most were successful, a few were failures. Each deserves his niche in history.” Cf. “ Biographical Data on the California Missionaries (1769-1848),” California Historical Society Quarterly, XLIV (December, 1965), 296 Google Scholar.

5 Eldredge, Zoeth Skinner, History of California (New York, n. d.), II, 99 Google Scholar.

6 Two Years Before the Mast (New York, 1840), p. 210 Google ScholarPubMed.

7 A distinction must be made between the collector who merely seeks rare books and the historian who ferrets out the important ones for research purposes. Though both may be biblio-maniacs, their aims are usually at odds. Hence, Cowan, Robert E. noted that “what may be the rarest and most important works depends upon the point of view of the historian, bibliographer, book-collector, or book-seller.” Cf. Hanna, Phil Townsend, Libros Californianos (Los Angeles, 1931), p. 20 Google Scholar. Those listings which cater to the common interests of the above mentioned would necessarily include both categories. Thus in the collection of 11,620 entries of “ uncommon and significant books relating to the continental portion of the United States,” Wright Howes lists twenty-one of the twenty-four narratives mentioned here. Cf. U. S. IANA (New York, 1963)Google Scholar.

8 Cf. “ A Symposium,” California Historical Society Quarterly, X (March, 1931), 79–83 Google Scholar. The publication date of the works in question is important insofar as certain of the narratives were still unpublished when these evaluations were made.

9 A list was also submitted by Robert Ernest Cowan, the “doyen of all California bibliographers,” but it contained none of the cited selections.

10 Phil Townsend Hanna, op. cit., p. 3.

11 Viz., Leslie E. Bliss, Homer D. Crotty, Phil Townsend Hanna, J. Gregg Layne, Henry R. Wagner and Robert J. Woods.

12 California Pastoral (San Francisco, 1888), p. 758 Google ScholarPubMed.

13 The Missions and Missionaries of California (San Francisco, 1912), II, xxxvii Google Scholar.

14 California (New Jersey, 1953), p. 335 Google ScholarPubMed.

15 “Duhaut-Cilly’s Account of California in the Years 1827–28,” California Historical Society Quarterly, VIII (June, 1929), 131 Google Scholar.

16 Chapman, Charles E., A History of California: The Spanish Period (New York, 1923), p. 495 Google Scholar.

17 Charles Franklin Carter, op. cit., p. 159.

18 Forbes, Alexander, California (London, 1839), p. 200 Google Scholar.

1 Rudkin, Charles N. (trans.), The First French Expedition to California: Lapérouse in 1786 (Los Angeles, 1959), pp. 59–76 Google Scholar.

2 Hittell, John S., “California Under the Friars,” Californian, III (May, 1881), 432 Google Scholar.

3 Cleland, Robert Glass, From Wilderness to Empire (New York, 1954), pp. 93–94 Google Scholar.

4 Rolle, Andrew F., California (New York, 1963), p. 97 Google Scholar.

5 Allen, Edward Weber, The Vanishing Frenchman (Vermont, 1959), p. 68 Google Scholar.

6 Engelhardt, Zephyrin O. F. M., San Francisco or Mission Dolores (Chicago, 1924), p. 109 Google ScholarPubMed.

7 Engelhardt, , Mission San Carlos Borromeo (Santa Barbara, 1934), pp.. 110–111 Google Scholar.

8 Woods, Robert J. in The Zamorano 80 (Los Angeles, 1945), p. 38 Google Scholar.

9 Stillman, J. D. B., “Footprints of Early California Discoverers,” The Overland Monthly, II (March, 1869), 258 Google Scholar.

10 Wilbur, Marguerite Eyer (ed.), Vancouver in California, 1192–1194 (Los Angeles, 1954), pp. 20–29 Google Scholar; 35–48; 63–68.

11 Engelhardt, Zephyrin O. F. M., The Missions and Missionaries of California (San Francisco, 1912), II, 469 Google Scholar.

12 Andrew F. Rolle, op. cit., p. 98.

13 Cowan, Robert E., A Bibliography of the History of California and the Pacific West, 1510–1906 (San Francisco, 1914), p. 236 Google Scholar.

14 Bancroft, Hubert Howe, History of California (San Francisco, 1884), I, 526 Google Scholar.

15 Chapman, Charles E., A History of California: The Spanish Period (New York, 1923), p. 407 Google Scholar.

16 Caughey, John Walton, California Heritage (Los Angeles, 1964), p. 82 Google Scholar.

17 Theodore Hittell, H., History of California (San Francisco, 1898), II, 516 Google Scholar.

18 Newcombe, C. F. (ed.), Menzies’ Journal of Vancouver’s Voyage (Victoria, B.C., 1923), p. x Google Scholar.

19 Eastwood, Alice (trans.), “Menzies’ California Journal,” California Historical Society Quarterly, II (January, 1924), 272–274; 295–296 Google Scholar.

20 Anderson, Bern, Surveyor of the Sea (Seattle, 1960), p. 127 Google Scholar.

21 “Shaler’s Description of California,” in Cleland, Robert Glass, A History of California: The American Period (New York, 1926), pp. 475–477 Google Scholar.

22 Bancroft, op. cit., II, 23.

23 Lockey, Joseph B., “Book Review,” Pacific Historical Review, V (September, 1936), 279 Google Scholar.

24 Caughey, op. cit., p. 104.

25 Chevigny, Hector, Lost Empire, The Life and Adventures of Nikolai Petrovich Rezanov (New York, 1944), p. 319 Google Scholar.

26 Russell, Thomas C. (trans.), Langsdorff’s Narrative of the Rezanov Voyage to Nueva California, in 1806 (San Francisco, 1927), pp. 45–52 Google Scholar; 100–104.

27 Pratt, Helen Thropp, “Book Review,” California Historical Society Quarterly, VII (June, 1928), 197 Google Scholar.

28 Voyage of Discovery into the South Sea and Beering’s Straits (London, 1821), I, 278–284 Google Scholar.

29 Engelhardt, , The Missions and Missionaries of California, III, 189 Google Scholar.

30 Bancroft, op. cit., II, 525.

31 Ibid., II, 374.

32 Steck, Francis Borgia O. F. M., A Tentative Guide to Historical Materials on the Spanish Borderlands (Philadelphia, 1943), p. 100 Google Scholar.

33 Rudkin, Charles N., Camille de Roquefeuil in San Francisco, 1817–1818 (Los Angeles, 1954), pp. 8–11 Google Scholar; 17–18.

34 Stillman, op. cit., p. 263.

35 Rolle, op. cit., p. 139.

36 Narrative of a Voyage to the Pacifie and Beering’s Strait (London, 1831), pp. 14–24; 31–39Google Scholar.

37 Bancroft, op. cit., III, 123.

38 Engelhardt, , The Missions and Missionaries of California, III, 264 Google Scholar.

39 “Journal of Rogers, Harrison G.,” in Dale, Harrison Clifford, The Ashley Smith Explorations and the Discovery of a Central Route to the Pacific, 1822–1829 (Glendale, 1941), pp. 194–202 Google Scholar; 205–207; 212–214; 215–217.

40 Caughey, John Walton, California (New Jersey, 1953), p. 188 Google Scholar.

41 Carter, Charles Franklin (trans.), “Duhaut-Cilly’s Account of California in the Years 1827–1828,” California Historical Society Quarterly, VIII (June, 1929), 142–144; 149–150; 151–152; 158–161 and 164Google Scholar.

42 Howes, Wright, U.S. IANA (New York, 1963), p. 75 Google Scholar.

43 Bancroft, op. cit., Ill, 130.

44 Carter, op. cit., p. 132.

45 Wright, Doris Marion (trans.), A Description of California in 1828 by José Bandini (Berkeley, 1951), pp. 5–8 Google Scholar.

48 Bancroft, op. cit., IV, 151.

47 One of his sons became Archbishop of Lima.

48 Wright, op. cit., p. vi.

49 Flint, Timothy (ed.), The Personal Narrative of James O. Pattie, of Kentucky (Cincinnati, 1833), pp. 211–217 Google Scholar.

50 Ghent, William J., Dictionary, of American Biography (New York, 1943), XIV, 310 Google Scholar.

51 Cleland, From Wilderness to Empire, p. 82.

52 J. Gregg Layne in The Zamorano 80, p. 48.

53 Rolle, op. cit., p. 172.

54 Op. cit., III, 171–172.

55 Engelhardt, San Francisco or Mission Dolores, p. 408.

56 Journal of a Tour on the North West Coast of America in the Year 1829 (New York, 1915), pp. 93–98 Google Scholar.

57 Cf. Drury, Clifford M., “A Chronology of Protestant Beginnings in California,” California Historical Society Quarterly, XXVI (June, 1947), 164 Google Scholar.

58 Seventy-five Years in California (San Francisco, 1929), pp. 57–59 Google ScholarPubMed; 204–205.

59 Phil Townsend Hanna in The Zamorano 80, p. 20.

60 Cowan, Robert Ernest, “Book Review,” California Historical Society Quarterly, VIII (June, 1929), 184 Google Scholar.

61 Rice, William B., “Southern California’s First Newspaper: The Founding of the Los Angeles Star,” Historical Society of Southern California Quarterly, XXIII (March, 1941), 48 Google Scholar.

62 The Indians of Los Angeles County (Los Angeles, 1926), pp. 42–70 Google Scholar.

63 Bancroft, op. cit., I, 180 n.

64 Cf. Caughey, John Walton (ed.), The Indians of Southern California in 1852 (San Marino, 1952)Google Scholar.

65 Gregg Layne, J., “Annals of Los Angeles,” California Historical Society Quarterly, XIII (September, 1934), 215 Google Scholar.

66 San Gabriel Mission (San Gabriel, 1927), p. 354 Google Scholar.

67 Quoted in Dakin, Susanna B., “Hugo Reid, Humanitarian,” Historical Society of Southern California Quarterly, XXXI (March-June, 1949), 59Google Scholar.

68 Adventures on the Western Coast of South America and the Interior of California (London, 1847), pp. 154–159 Google Scholar; 168–171.

69 Cowan, Robert Ernest, A Bibliography of the History of California and the Pacific West, 1510–1906, p. 57 Google Scholar.

70 Waters, Willard O., Franciscan Missions of Upper California (Los Angeles, 1954), n. p.Google Scholar

71 Op. cit., III, 411.

72 Califorma: A History of Upper and Lower California (London, 1839), pp. 210–231 Google Scholar.

73 Cowan, , A Bibliography of the History of California and the Pacific West, 1510–1906, p. 88 Google Scholar.

74 Hittell, op. cit., II, 293.

75 Caughey, California, p. 223.

76 Bancroft, op. cit., IV, 151.

77 Wilbur, Marguerite Eyer (trans.), Duflot de Mofras’ Travels on the Pacific Coast (Santa Ana, 1937), I, 141 Google Scholar.

78 Quoted in Engelhardt, , The Missions and Missionaries of California, II, 277Google Scholar.

79 Ibid., III, 557.

80 Two Years Before the Mast. A Personal Narrative of Life at Sea (New York, 1840), pp. 209–211 Google Scholar.

81 Chapman, op. cit., p. 495.

82 Leslie E. Bliss in The Zamorano 80, p. 20.

83 Bancroft, op. cit., III, 413.

84 Hittell, op. cit., II, 291.

85 Rolle, op. cit., p. 264.

86 Clinch, Bryan J., California and Its Missions (San Francisco, 1904), II, 454 Google Scholar.

87 Faxon was the father-in-law of novelist Gertrude Atherton.

88 Nunis, Doyce B. Jr., (ed.), The California Diary of Faxon Dean Atherton, 1836–1839 (San Francisco, 1964), p. xiii Google Scholar.

89 Ibid., pp. 5–11; 18–22.

90 Rudkin, Charles N. (trans.), Voyage of the Venus: Sojourn in California (Los Angeles, 1956), pp. 38–43 Google Scholar.

91 Bancroft, op. cit., IV, 149.

92 Blue, George Verne, “The Report of Captain Laplace,” California Historical Society Quarterly, XVIII (December, 1939), 326 Google Scholar.

93 The Campagne de Circumnavigation de la Fregate l’Artemise is translated in H. A. Torchiana, van Coenen, Story of the Mission Santa Cruz (San Francisco, 1933), pp. 438–443 Google Scholar.

94 Bancroft, op. cit., IV, 155.

95 Torchiana, op. cit., p. 364.

96 Bancroft, op. cit., IV, 157.

97 Engelhardt, , The Missions and Missionaries of California, IV, 814 Google Scholar.

98 Cleland, From Wilderness to Empire, p. 98.

99 Travels in the Californias, and Scenes in the Pacific Ocean (New York, 1844), pp. 100–101 Google Scholar; 109–112; 349–351.

100 Wheat, Carl I., Books of the California Gold Rush (San Francisco, 1949), Entry No. 73 Google Scholar.

101 Hittell, op. cit., II, 291.

102 Wilbur, , Duflot de Mofras’ Travels on the Pacific Coast, I, 134–142; 144–146Google Scholar.

103 Robert J. Woods in The Zamorano 80, p. 23.

104 Bancroft, op. cit., IV, 253.

105 Hittell, op. cit., II, 292.

106 Cowan, A Bibliography of the History of California and the Pacific West, 1510–1906, p. 74.

107 Howes, op. cit., p. 174.

108 Bancroft, op. cit., IV, 253.

109 Engelhardt, San Gabriel Mission, p. 197.

110 Wilbur, , Duflot de Mofras’ Travels on the Pacific Coast, I, 141 Google Scholar.

111 Bancroft, op cit., V, 698.

112 Cf. Ogden, Adele, “Alfred Robinson, New England Merchant in Mexican California,” California Historical Society Quarterly, XXIII (September, 1944), 193–218 Google Scholar.

113 Life in California (New York, 1846), pp. 195–199 Google Scholar.

114 Chapman, op. cit., p. 495.

115 J. Gregg Layne in The Zamorano 80, p. 54.

116 Barrows, H. D., “Alfred Robinson,” Historical Society of Southern California Annual, IV (1899), 234–235 Google Scholar.

117 Walker, Franklin, A Literary History of Southern California (Los Angeles, 1950), p. 34 Google Scholar.

118 Gentilcore, R.Louis, “Missions and Mission Lands of Alta California,” Annals of the Association of American Geographers, LI (March, 1961), 46 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

119 Conaty, Thomas J., The Lordliest of California’s Missions (Los Angeles, 1905), p. 5 Google Scholar.