Los Angeles Ca ....and It's Mulatto Settlers The Founding of .. San Jose ......California's First City The Bancroft Museum.... Good source of Information The Original Pueblo of San Francisco California                               Related Link ... Click here

 

The Truth about the Racial Backgrounds of the Original Californians Racial origins changed over time

. Los Angeles and it's early Mulatto settlers . Of the 44 original pobladores [colonists] who founded Los Angeles, only two were white, Of the other 42,............. 26 had some degree of African ancestry 16 were Indians or mestizos [people of mixed Spanish and Indian blood]. — William M. Mason, 1975 [3] . Alta California, as the province was known then, marked the northern frontier of the Spanish empire in the New World. The story of California's African heritage began in 1781, when the forty-four settlers founded El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles, and more than half of these original pobladores—Antonio Mesa, Manuel Camero, Luis Quintero, José Moreno, their wives, and the wives of José Antonio Navarro and Basilio Rosas—had African ancestors, as was typical in the northern provinces of New Spain.[4] The descendents of these early settlers eventually developed their own culture and sense of place and became the Californios. Some became owners of large landed estates, granted to them by the Crown, others became government leaders. . . Some historians and people in general have emphasized a difference between a "Spaniard" and a "Mexican" in terms of race. For example, "colonial Mexicans" are "persons of mixed blood." The implication is, of course, that Spaniards are persons of "unmixed blood" or racially "pure" types. This is a gross oversimplification and ignores the fact that "the population of the Iberian Peninsula was anything but ethnically homogeneous." As Magnus Mörner has observed, the seven centuries prior to the discovery of the New World in Spain "witnessed extraordinary acculturation and race mixture." Furthermore at one time in the history of Mexico there were more African slaves held in Mexico than in the colonial United States north of the border. Moreover, "Mestizos born in wedlock, at least during the sixteenth century, were accepted as criollos, that is, as 'American Spaniards'. In short, the definition of "Mexican" often confuses race with nationality in the modern period and with caste in the colonial period. In addition, by this definition of "Mexican," neither an Indian, nor a Criollo, nor a Black would be Mexican because they are, by social definition at least, of "unmixed blood."[5][6] Like the original settlers of other parts of California and the American Southwest in general, the Pobladores reflected varied backgrounds: Peninsular (born in Spain), Criollo (born in the Americas of Spanish ancestry), Indian, Black, Mestizo (of mixed Spanish and Indian ancestry), Mulatto (of Spanish and African ancestry), and Zambo (of mixed Indian and African ancestry), among other combinations. Most of the colonists were of mixed racial backgrounds, and the process of mestizaje (racial mixing) continued in California, to include mixing with the various California Indian societies. . . Many Mestizos and Mulattos strove, sometimes successfully, to become identified as pure-blooded Spaniards, and many Indians and Black became Mestizos and Mulattos, because racial identity affected and reflected socio-economic mobility. At least seven of the 22 original, adult settlers managed to do this in the 1790 census of Los Angeles. In general, this meant that the descendents of the original settlers came to identify themselves as either Mestizo, or among the more socially prominent, as Spaniards. .     Important Facts about the Hispanic/ Mulatto Population   who settled the Great Cities of California     Records show that by 1790, 18%.....of the residents of San .Francisco, 24%.... of San Jose, 20%.... of Santa Barbara 18% ...of Monterey.... were black. Los Angeles was founded by 44 persons comprising 11 families. Of these, 26 were people of colour, 2 were Caucasians and the others were natives or of mixed Native American and Caucasian extraction.       More on The Pico Family The mixed race Picos were examples of the most politically powerful families of California while it was still a Mexican province. Today they are the ancestors of much of the state's "old money". In 1845, Pio Pico, whose grandmother had been listed as a mulata in the 1790 census, was appointed the last Mexican governor of California. Although few know it, this African American figure is the person commemorated by L. A.'s 'Pico Boulevard.' And then there is Maria Rita Valdes, the grand-daughter of two of the black founding fathers of Los Angeles. She was the owner of what is now known as Beverly Hills. Franciso Reyes, another black settler in the area held the land rights to most of the San Fernando Valley. Because of the enormous dowerys in just land alone the young women from these families could bring to their husbands, they became prize catches for the Yankee men who went west just prior to and after the American take over. So much so, that by the end of the 19th century these vast Mexican inheritances were by far and large in the hands of families bearing such names as Richardson Ord Livermore Baker Fitch Stearns Hill  Robinson Dalton Hartnett Den Black Burdell Cooper The Picos who were intermarried with a number of the other Hispanic families left a rather considerable progeny. Commenting on the fecundity of the family, one of the early Californian historians who personally knew them pointed out that a brother of Pio Pico's had ninety odd grandchildren and a cousin, over a hundred. Some of the Americans I have been able to track this far who wooed and wed Picos or their relatives were:   Thomas W.Robbins John Coffin Jones Lewis T.Burton William G. Dana (only realized a couple of days ago, 6/14/94, that this last was a member of the same Boston family as was the noted abolitionist lawyer who worked with Sumner.) P. A. Forrester, died 1885, six children John Forster, nine children Judge William Graves, died 1884 Other families today descended from the Picos are: Morrell Covarubias Shirell Lugo Whitmer Arellanes Hendricks Rodriguez Maas Castro La Fontaine La Questa Graves Del Valle Pariseau Carrillo Cannell Wiley Wickenden Campodonicio Johnston There are some muscial references to this family, too. The subject of "When the Swallows come back to Capistrano" is the Mission de San Juan Capistrano which was an estate of Governor Pico's and which for decades was in the posession of his Forster descendants. And, the young woman who inspired the song "Ramona" was a cousin of the Governor's. As a younger man, he had played a rather romantic role in helping her elope with her Americano, the incident on which this classic is based. Researched and Written by Mario de Valdes y Cocom.   .

 

 

 

 

The Wikipedia search on the Californios

 

Gen Pico at the battle of San Pasqual click here