Digging up your San Diego family Who was Pio Pico? Life at the Presidio

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Couts-Bandini pedigree

How to do genealogy in SD

“On July 1, 1769, shortly after Father Serra’s arrival, burials began in the sacred grounds on Presidio Hill … Although people began to leave Presidio Hill and settle in the old town, burials always found still held within the Presidio walls. These burials included both early settlers and missionary Indians. The last recorded burial at this location was Henry Delano Fitch, who died in 1849. In the 1870s, Indians buried their dead on Presidio Hill. “

Barbara Palmer, March 15, 2001 | Read the whole article

Pio Pico with his wife

Pio Pico’s catastrophic addiction

Pico favored the British. He was close to many English people, including his brother-in-law John Forrester. Garza says Pico also preferred a UK takeover because he thought the Americans were aggressive and impatient. “He was quite upset at how they were changing the country. They run farms, plant vineyards, build mills, saw up wood, build workshops and do a thousand other things that seem natural to them, but which the Californians neglect or despise. “

Jeanne Schinto, April 12, 2001 | Read the whole article

Cannon at Presidio, 1928

Photo from the San Diego Historical Society

Crude camp on non-Christian land

Candles were never in abundance and lighting was limited by today’s standards. “People slept on bunks, mud-brick benches or on rawhide stretched over wooden frames. In large families, the sons “threw their blankets wherever they wanted, outside or on the covered walkway that surrounded the inner space.” Families bought sheets, blankets, and pillows when they could afford them, but “even in the simple ones You could find satin pillowcases with lace or embroidery in houses. “

Jeff Smith, July 19, 2001 | Read the whole article

Artist’s impression of Presidio, 1874

Photo from the San Diego Historical Society

Guests have at the Presidio. ate good

“Usually the chapel bells rang the ‘Ave Maria’ and everyone knelt and prayed or recited the angelus. The food was consumed afterwards. ”People ate pozole (barley or other bean-cooked grains – and sometimes stew, including corn, pork feet, pumpkin, and peppers) and puchero soups made from available meat and vegetables (especially cabbage and pumpkin) were manufactured. Another staple food: potatoes mixed with chili and cheese.

Jeff Smith, August 2, 2001 | Read the whole article

Edward Everett Hale

Forgotten romance gave us “California”

The strongest and most beautiful woman in the world, Calafia, lived on a remote island, “very close to the earth paradise” – that is, Eden, which, according to Columbus and all the explorers who followed him, was at the “right hand” of India . Calafia was a black queen and ruled the “strongest island in the world”, called California, also at the “right hand” of India. It had “steep cliffs and rocky banks”.

Jeff Smith, September 6, 2001 | Read the whole article

Hernan Cortes

Cortés is looking for Amazons

In 1539, Cortez still believed that Baja was an island. He ordered Francisco de Ulloa to sail three ships from Acapulco to La Paz and then up the east coast of Baja to find a passage to the north. Ulloa lost a ship while passing through the notorious storms of the Gulf of California. When he reached the mouth of the Colorado River, the tides whirled his ships around – proving that “California” was indeed a peninsula. Few believed his report.

Jeff Smith, September 13, 2001 | Read the whole article

Joseph Markey

Photo from the San Diego Historical Society

Dr. Markey duped the Historical Society

What makes Markey special: his résumé impressed, but he still added something. He wasn’t just a journalist; he worked with Damon Runyan. He lived in the Algonquin Hotel, the famous literary center. And his writing shows a flare-up of the sensational, as if his goal were violent reactions, not truth. His novel For Women Only, published in 1932, vividly described the “sins” of almost every officer in the 11th Marine District for the time.

Jeff Smith, July 11, 2002 | Read the whole article

Rancho Guajome – “One of the last salvageable structures from the great rancho era of the 19th century”

Photo by Sandy Huffaker, Jr.

The big families who created this city are still angry

“I would rather have a monarchy than a republic. The majority of the people here cannot rule themselves. We Californios did not support the idea of ​​the Mexican Republic. That feeling was passed on in a subtle way. We have never celebrated Cinco de Mayo. We’re also not celebrating September 16, Independence Day. I believe that a monarchy is a way of connecting the individual with the past. “

Bill Manson, November 14, 1996 | Read the whole article

“Other visitors called it a ‘miserable port city’ at the time.”

Historic Society of San Diego

Letters from 1849

“The only reason half of the emigrants don’t return is because they are out of money; the other half move on out of false pride. San Diego was ‘nothing more or less like an Indian village’. There were none of the conveniences of the established Eastern communities. No hotels, no pensions. The once prosperous San Diego Mission was now old and deserted … Other visitors at the time called it ‘a wretched port city’. “

Jeff Smith, July 2, 1998 | Read the whole article

Indian children with nun in the San Diego Mission

Photo from the San Diego Historical Society

A little revolution

The Spanish colonists believed that the Indians were primitive “graves” that never communicated with any other settlement. But in 1775, more than 40 rancherias banded together to attack the San Diego Mission. This included Indians “from [the Laguna Mountains] accompanied by Christian and non-Christian coastal Indians. ”Around 1:00 am on the morning of November 5th, between 600 and 1000 Indians came on the mission. They looted the church with arrows, arrows, stones and clubs and set the buildings on fire.

Jeff Smith, July 16, 1998 | Read the whole article

Old Town from Presidio Hill, c. 1867

Photo from the San Diego Historical Society

How people lived in the old town

“The sales of whiskey surpassed all other items in popularity. Customers bought it by drink, bottle, demijohn, barrel and barrel. ”Second, tobacco:“ Most men and some women smoked; Almost every account showed tobacco sales. “Spices are very important. “At a time when there was no refrigeration, spices were a necessity in order to preserve food and make it tasty. It is no coincidence that the Mexican dishes we enjoy today are spicy. “

Jeff Smith, August 12, 1999 | Read the whole article

J. Couts cave

Photo from the San Diego Historical Society

Indebted Indians

Low wages put the Indians in an “ongoing debt cycle”. Rancheros would loan them food and then take work to repay the “loan.” The food bills were so inflated that the Indians owed weeks of labor for the donation (one Indian worked a month to pay off $ 2). An English traveler observed in 1834 that on the ranchos “the livestock were looked after by Indians who cost them just a little more than they eat”.

Jeff Smith, July 13, 2000 | Read the whole article

Indians at Mission San Diego de Alcalá c. 1900

Photo from the San Diego Historical Society

Insurgent Indians

“The soldiers on recruitment trains would drive the Indian men away and free the women with the lasso to satisfy their lust.” The women responded with abortion and child murder. The abortion prevented “an Indian child from being born into the missionary institution that aimed to destroy Indian culture and society.” Women committed infanticide of mixed race children. “Their disgust and loathing have never left them … In fact, every white child born under them for a long period of time has been secretly strangled and buried.”

Jeff Smith, July 20, 2000 | Read the whole article

Elisa Babcock, c. 1890

Photo from the San Diego Historical Society

Coronado was a wedding present

When Don Carillo claimed the land, “Thousands of black brandies or geese recently moved to their winter gathering place, and now curlews, willets, dowitchers and snipes waded along the coast. Sandy soil nearby resulted in the dense growth of Spanish bayonet (a stiff, short-stemmed plant with rigid, thorn-tip leaves) and lemonade berries, an evergreen shrub or small tree with white or pink flowers. Resistant sumac brushes and cacti also grew in abundance on the ‘island’. “

Jeff Smith, August 3, 2000 | Read the whole article

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