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The History of Orange County, California
William Butler YeatsThere are adepts outside of what is called alchemy who have achieved great things in these areas and there are .....
Orange County, CA History
Orange County, California is located on the West coast of what
was called the New World in the 1500's, known today as the
United States. The history of Orange County, California began
when God made the earth, including the land of Orange County.
Archaeologically, Orange County rock formations date back to at
least 225 million years ago during the "Age of Reptiles" (Source). Moving
ahead, the American Indians dwelled in Orange County until the
period of Spanish colonization in the late 1700's. American
Indians hunted and gathered food. They also moved from place to
place searching for food. Their local government was monarchial.
Leadership was handed down from one generation to the next
within one particular family. A group of counsel members were
also appointed to help govern. The two major groups of American
Indians in Orange County were thought to originate from the
Shoshonean family. They came to be known as the Gabrieleos and
the Juaneos because of their proximity to the San Gabriel and
San Juan Capistrano Missions (Source
).
In the late 1700's the Spanish set out on a military campaign to
colonize the West coast of the New World. The Spanish
expeditionary leaders sought to rapidly transform California's
American Indian population into Spanish citizens to strengthen
ties to Spain. In 1769, Gaspar de Portol, became the first
Spanish military leader from Europe to officially explore and
write about the territory of Orange County. He named many of its
rivers, mountains and valleys after the Catholic Saints (Source
). The Spanish Empire wanted to colonize quickly on the West
coast of the New World because their enemy, Britain, was
preoccupied on the East coast with the Revolutionary War from
1763-1775. The Spanish promised to give land to the American
Indians in exchange for their support of colonization. This was
the opposite of the British, who were opposed to assimilating
American Indians into the British colonies. The Spanish also
encouraged intermarriage between Spanish soldiers and American
Indians. For example, Jose Antonio Yorba, born in Spain in 1746,
from whom Yorba Linda in Orange County was eventually named,
became a corporal under Gaspar de Portol during the Spanish
expedition of 1769. Yorba married an American Indian by the name
10 CommandmentsI thought I would draw this article up as a reference page in the event any of you ..... of Maria Garcia Feliz at Monterey and had two children. One boy
drowned at age six, and another died in his mid-twenties.
Yorba's wife also died early in 1781. Yorba then married a 16
year old by the name of Maria Josefa Grijalva, an older daughter
of another Spanish military leader named Juan Pablo Grijalva who
eventually received the highest rank in the Spanish expedition
in California and who also founded Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana
(Source).
While the Spanish military was busy colonizing California for
its resources, the Spanish Christian missionaries migrated to
California to convert American Indians into children of
Christianity. Father Serra from the Christian Franciscan order,
an order best known for its vows of poverty, traveled with other
Christian missionaries funded by the Spanish Empire and the
Jesuits from Baja California to build missions and teach
American Indians Christianity. On November 1, 1776, the
Franciscans built the first modern building of Orange County,
known as the San Juan Capistrano Mission, which became the
seventh mission of twenty one in California (Source). Father Serra soon
fled the mission after it was built because of opposition by the
American Indians. However, he came back and began to teach the
American Indians the Christian religion and because language was
such a significant barrier between the Spanish and American
Indians the Christian missionaries taught American Indians
practical job training skills such as tanning, wine making,
blacksmithing, small business operations, and ranching (Source).
Christian missionary life took place in the midst of a very
aggressive military campaign by the Spanish Empire. The Spanish
military was trying to colonize large amounts of California
real estate in hopes of eventually taking over the New
World. To date there seems to be more bad reports depicting how
the American Indians were treated within the Christian missions
than there are good reports, but it is important to note that
the most powerful force in the colonization of California was
the Spanish military and not the Spanish Christian missions,
even though the Christian mission did become the most widely
recognized historical icon going back to that time in Orange
County history. Some Christian missionaries created laws that
were very bad, including demanding the American Indians not
leave the missions once they were converted to Christianity.
Many runaways were hunted down and forced into slave labor at
the mission after conversion. However, most of the Christian
missionaries were frustrated by the idea of American Indian
labor used by the military and the settlers. Many American
Indians joined the missions willingly. It has also been
discovered that at the highest point of missionary development
in California, many American Indians worked only 4-5 hours a day
and spent the rest of the time in choir, mass, instruction, and
worship (Source
). The problem was that the Christian friars at the highest
levels viewed the new American Indian converts, or neophytes as
they were called, as spiritual children and not as equal and
capable leaders. Thus, American Indian social growth was stunted
as they were not recognized as equal citizens. However, the
California mission period did not last long enough to really
establish a mutual trust between the two cultures.
The missionary period in California lasted less than two
generations, conservatively from 1776-1833, but probably not
even that long. It is difficult to understand how much influence
the Spanish military and war factions had in the operations of
the mission. There was also the problem of disease brought by
the Spanish to the American Indians. The majority of American
Indians were not killed by violence, but rather were decimated
by three major epidemics, two of which were breakouts of small
pox and measles, and both had no cure at the time. These
periodic outbreaks caused many American Indians to doubt the
Christian faith (Source
).
Between 1776-1821 Spain remained in sole control of the real estate in Orange County and
California with hardly any land concessions to individual
families. There were one or two exceptions. One military leader
Juan Pablo Grijalva received title to some California lands. During this
time period, small bands of British, Russian and French traders
also came to the region to trade with the missionaries and
American Indians. In 1810, a major change occurred when the
Mexican and Spanish governments began fighting for land. In 1821
Mexico beat Spain and declared themselves an independent nation.
The following year the Mexican flag replaced the Spanish flag in
Orange County (Source).
Almost immediately afterwards Mexico took away the promise of
land from the American Indians and gave land to certain
petitioning individuals who could show that they had enough
resources to build a dwelling on the land in less than one year
and who could cultivate the land for the Mexican government (Source).
American Indians were deeply upset over their lost promise for
obtaining land and were no longer happy about living in the
missions. Since Spanish resources were spread thinly across
North and South America during the fighting, supplies going to
the missions became scarce. The missions and American Indians
were left to fend for themselves. Immediately many missions in
California were abandoned and the churches fell in ruins (Source).
In 1833 the Mexican government secularized all of the California
missions and took them away from control by the church (Source). At
this time the mission system of California had ended. The
Mexican government tried to revert the land to American Indian
control immediately (Source). However,
once the land was taken from the church the Spanish and Mexican
governments and local factions fought for ownership of the real
estate in Southern California and surrounding regions. The
American Indians were out numbered by ranchers from the United
States and Mexico who forced the American Indians into slavery
on their growing private ranches. Some American Indians managed
to retreat away from the ranch settlements into the
mountains.
The Mexican government's control of Orange County remained
passive between 1821-1846. Mexican Governor Juan B. Alvarado
gave the following land owners these lands:
In 1837
Rancho Cienega de las Ranas was granted to Jos Seplveda.
In 1837 San Juan Cajn de Santa Ana was granted to Juan
Pacfico Ontiveros. In 1841 Rancho Bolsa Chica was
granted to Joaqun Ruiz. in 1842 La Bolsa de San
Joaqun was granted to Seplveda. in 1842 Rancho Caada
Live By Faith, Not By SightDo you feel like you are experiencing roadblocks to your dreams' Do you feel like you are striving for ..... de Los Alisos was granted to Jos Serrano. in 1842
Rancho Niguel was granted to Jos vila. In 1843
Mexican Governor Manuel Micheltorena gave the Rios tract to
Santiago Rios. In 1845 Rancho Potrero Los Pios was
granted to Don Juan Forster who also bought the San Juan
Capistrano Mission for his own personal residence. In
1846 Rancho Boca de la Playa was granted to Emigdio Vejar and
Rancho Lomas de Santiago was granted to Teodocio Yorba, both by
Mexican Governor Po Pico.
While Mexico controlled California, large rancher owners oversaw
development of the commercial
property, homes and land in Orange County for their own
commerce. During that time an influx of United States Americans
from the Midwest and Eastern United States began to colonize the
West. There were disturbances between Mexican provincial
administrators and the United States citizens. Soon thereafter
the United States and Mexico were in a war. The US - Mexican War
lasted from 1846 to 1848. The Mexican government fled as US
troops advanced and on February 2, 1848 the Treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo was signed in which the Mexican government sold 55% of
its territory, including Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas,
and parts of Colorado, Nevada and Utah for $15 million to
compensate for war damages (Source). California became the 31st state of the United
States. A year later in 1849 the California gold rush began. At
this time Orange County was only a part of the real
estate in Los Angeles County (Source)
.
After California became part of the US, any land owner who did
not have paperwork for their ownership lost possession of their
land. Most land owners lost their land since Spain and Mexico
did not normally provide adequate paperwork to show proper
boundaries for the land in California. The US
government took the land and sold it back at very affordable
rates to local farmers and pioneers from the Eastern and
Midwestern United States who came to California to dwell
there.
In 1862, a horrendous set of natural disasters struck Orange
County and changed everything. First a flood swept through the
region and set up the perfect conditions for a massive plague
academic which became a small pox outbreak that killed many
Tribal MasksOriginal Tribal masks are often seen by unknowing eyes as art objects in themselves. That ..... Americans. Not long afterwards within the same year a massive
drought dried up all of Orange County crops and cattle ranches
(Source).
The once rich ranchers who received land from the Mexican and
Spanish government from before the US - Mexico War lost all of
their cattle and were forced into bankruptcy by huge interest
rates set by merciless North American businessmen at a rate of
3% interest due per month on average (Source).
Local farmers also went bankrupt and lost their land.
The rest of the story had to be cut off in order to fit on this
website, but it may be published elsewhere.
This history of Orange County, California, was part of
an original research project by South
California Real Estate Agent John-Robin Middlebrook posted
June 11, 2005.
About the author:
I love Southern California and am familiar with many of its
landscapes from the beach to the mountains, from the LA Metro to
Orange County, uptown, downtown, Beverly Hills or Huntington
Beach. I grew up both surfing, snowboarding, playing football
and baseball. I have also traveled extensively throughout the
United States, Europe, and Asia.
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