User:Asiaticus/sandbox/José María Quintana

José María Quintana (1824 - 1909), also known as Gerónime or Geronimo Quintana, was born in Santa Fe de Nuevo México. After coming to Alta California as a child, he grew up on his fathers rancho at Paso Robles and with Tomás Herrara, obtained the grant of the Rancho San Juan Capistrano del Camote in eastern San Luis Obispo County. He later served in the Mexican Army in California during the Mexican American War, and with Tomás Herrara raising and leading a detachment of Californio and New Mexican troops from the vicinity of San Luis Obispo. After the war he was a ranchero, businessman and landowner in San Luis Obispo County, California until 1875 when he returned to New Mexico Territory, married and raised a family. Dieing there in 1909.

José María Quintana came to Alta California over the Old Spanish Trail during the spring of 1843 with the party of his fater Estevan Quintana who immigrated with his family and nine other families from Abiquiu to Agua Mansa. His six year old brother Miquel was killed in a mountain landslide and buried along the trail.

Bankroft

José María Quintana and Tomás Herrera led a detachment of 30 New Mexicans and other Mexicans in the small army of Manuel Castro

Bankroft, p. 363 n.? "... Alvarado, Hist. Cal., MS., v. 256-8, says the army was organized in three divisions or companies of over 30 men each: 1st, veterans under Gabriel de la Torre; 2d, militia under Jesus Pico; 3d, Mexicans and New Mexicans under Herrera and Quintana."

Ranchos granted S. Juan Capistrano del Camote, 10 1., 1846, T. Herrera and G. Quintana. Bankroft, p. 637 n.?

Oct. 23d, Gen. Flores appoints Manuel Castro comandante of brigade for operations in the north, with Francisco Rico as second in command. Castro, Doc., MS., ii. 147. , p.321 n.?

Americans at Natividad: Co. G, Bluford K. Thompson, capt.; D. A. Davis, 1st lieut; James Poock, 2d lieut. Charles Burroughs, capt. pp.357-

Castro led that force northward to harass the force of Freemont by guerilla war, cutting off supplies and reinforcements, to delay and oppose when an opportunity offered, the advance of Freemont southward from Monterey. They were engaged in the November 16, 1846 Battle of Natividad. , pp.357-372 637 n.?

On Sunday, the 15th of November, Captain Charles Burroughs, a newly arrived immigrant who had taken an active part in recruiting, arrived at San Juan Bau- tista from the Sacramento with about 34 men and a drove of several hundred horses. The same day there arrived Captain Thompson with about the same num- ber of men from San Jose, and all camped for the night at San Juan. Knowledge of their presence, and especially that of the horses, was promptly for- warded to Castro's camp on the Salinas. It was also on the 15th that Thomas 0. Larkin set out with one attendant, William Matthews, from Monterey for Yerba Buena. He had previously sent his family there for safety, and had just received from his wife a letter makins^ known the illness of his child, ton^ether with a message from Captain Montgomery, who de- sired an interview. Larkin had no suspicion of dan- ger, and stopped for the night at Los Verjeles, the rancho of Joaquin Gomez, sending Matthews on to San Juan, and intending to follow him next morning.

But news of his trip reached Castro's camp,^*^ and Chavez conceived the project of capturing the consul. The other officers, while admitting the advantage of such a capture, seem to have opposed the act as likely to make known their presence prematurely and pre- vent the success of their main purpose; but Chavez either overcame their fears, or, as some say, undertook the enterprise without their consent; and at any rate, he appeared about midnight at Gomez's rancho with a dozen men. Larkin was roused from sleep, obliged to dress in haste, and carried on horseback as a pris- oner to the Salinas camp; but he was treated with the greatest kindness by all the Californian officers from the beginning to the end of his captivity. The plan was to utilize the possession of so important a man in later negotiations for a truce, exchange of prisoners, surrender, or escape from consequences of broken paroles, as circumstances might require. They also tried at first to induce the prisoner to aid their attempt on San Juan by writing letters to put the garrison on a false scent; but Larkin refused to write; and they in turn refused his proposition to be ex- changed for Pablo de la Guerra and others under arrest at Monterey. On the 16th the whole force started northward in four divisions, Larkin being taken along closely guarded. The plan, as he under- stood it, was for a small party to attack San Juan in the night, and by a retreat to draw out the garrison in pursuit, to be cut off by the main body.^^

As had been feared, Larkin 's capture resulted in making Castro's presence known to the Americans. So far as can be determined from the complicated and contradictory testimony. Captain Thompson started from San Juan early on the 16th for Monterey, to consult with Fremont, accompanied by a small guard and leaving the rest of his men in camp. He seems to have taken a short cut; while Captain Burroughs with all his men and horses, set out a little later by the main road. At Gomez's rancho Thompson not only learned what had happened there in the night, but saw and pursued ineffectually two scouts who had been sent by Castro to make observations. Fail- ing to capture these, Thompson sent a warning to Burroughs and hastened back to San Juan to bring up his men. Meanwhile Burroughs reached the rancho, learned what had occurred, and sent out a party of six or eight scouts southward into the plain to learn the enemy's whereabouts and numbers. ^^

The Californians advanced northward, Joaquin de la Torre with a dozen horsemen as scouts in advance. Then came the vanguard under Castro, followed by Chavez's company, with Larkin in charge, while Rico commanded the rear guard, including a party in

charge of horses and munitions under Sergeant Ld- zaro Soto. It was perhaps 3 o'clock p. m., or even later, when the advance arrived at the Natividad rancho and met the American scouts. These were the men, six to ten in number, who had been sent out by Burroughs before Thompson's arrival. They included George Foster, often called captain, John (or James) Hayes, the two Delaware Indians, Tom Hill, and James Salmon, and several Walla Wallas. I think they had been in the vicinity several hours. On seeing the foe, two or three of the Indians fled to the rancho to give the alarm, while the rest posted themselves in the encinalito, or little grove of oaks, close at hand, where they were presently attacked by Torre, and completely surrounded as soon as Castro and Chavez came- up. The fight at the grove lasted an hour, according to the estimate of Larkin, who was a spectator. The consul was desired to go to the Americans and induce them to surrender; but refused to do so unless he could offer a safe retreat to San Juan or Monterey, to which Castro would not consent. The riflemen behind trees had an advan- tage notwithstanding the disparity of numbers against the horsemen with their few ineffective muskets. Lieutenant Chavez and Alferez Juan Ignacio Cantua were badly wounded,^^ and probably two or three Californians were killed, to be scalped by the Indian warriors. But Foster, riddled with musket-balls, at last fell dead at the foot of the tree that had pro- tected him; and Hayes was disabled by serious wounds in the thighs. Then the main body of the Americans appeared in sight; 25 or 30 men were left

68 NATIVIDAD AND SANTA CLARA.

to besiege the few remaining scouts; Rico's rear guard was moved up; and the Californian army, about 65 strong, was drawn up on the plain to the right or east of the grove, to meet the enemy.^^

When Thompson arrived with reenforcements from San Juan, after the scouts had been sent out but be- fore the encinahto fight began,^^ there arose a discus- sion as to what should be done. Thompson and many of the men in both companies favored an advance to attack the Californians; but Burroughs with much reason hesitated to incur the needless risk of engag- inof in a conflict which misfht result in a loss of his horses and the failure of all Fremont's plans. The controversy became heated as time passed on, and taunts of cowardice were flung at the captain by the irresponsible volunteers, Thompson, a reckless fire- eater, becoming extremely violent in his remarks.^® If any further incentive was needed, it came presently in reports from the Walla Walla scouts of what was going on at Natividad.^ Detaching fourteen men to guard the horses in Gomez's corrals, and committing 369

to their care a field-piece found at the last moment to be unserviceable for the fight, Burroughs gave the order to advance, and the little army of about fifty men began their march, perhaps half an hour or more after the encinalito fight had begun.

The Californians were superior in numbers and were skilful horsemen; but their weapons were a miscella- neous collection of improvised lances, reatas, ineffective escopetas, and pistols, with powder for only a few dis- charges of the fire-arms. The Americans were, most of them, but indifferent riders; but they were well armed with rifles and had plenty of ammunition. Coming in sight of the enemy, Burroughs' men advanced rap- idly over the plain. Castro's men fired their muskets at long range, doing no harm. The Americans, halt- ing, discharged their rifles, and at once charged upon the foe at full speed, with wild shouts, in a manner more creditable to their valor than to their discipline, each man for himself, with Captain Burroughs in ad- vance on his gray charger ^Sacramento.' The charge was a blunder like that committed at San Pascual a little later, and with similar results. ^ The Californians feigned flight, in accordance with their usual tactics ;^^ but presently turned to attack their pursuers, as they came at full speed over the plain in disorder and armed with empty rifles. At the same time apparently the 20 or 30 men at the grove rushed up to attack the Amer- icans on the rear or flank.-^^ Some writers describe what followed as a desperate hand-to-hand fight, last- ing from ten to twenty minutes; but this is shown by the results to be an exasfoferation. In such a conflict a large number of Americans must have fallen. But

^^ Indeed, 30 or 40 of them ran away in good earnest, according to Larkin, who was still a spectator. These were probably men who were serving against their will. During the fight, Lorenzo Soto, in his wrath at seeing a relative fall, rushed upon Larkin to kill (or scare?) him, but L. saved himself by backing his horse behind others ! L. was, however, compelled to change ani- mals successively until he was reduced to a *$1 horse and $2 saddle.'

^' Henry Marshall, Statement, MS., 2-3, was wounded by a lance in this f)art of the fight, which he describes more fully than any other, being fol- uwed by Lancey. 'E. C. K.' also mentions this movement, stating that 2 Americans were killed and one wounded. pp.363-369

370 NATIVIDAD AKD SANTA CLARA.

I suppose that only the foremost pursuers, and a few of Castro's men, came actually to close quarters for a very brief period. The brave Burroughs, however, leading the charge, fell dead, pierced by a pistol- bullet;^^ two or three others were killed; and several were wounded. Very soon, however, the Americans fell back into a more compact body; some of those in the rear, who had either reserved their fire at first or had time to reload, fired upon the advancing foe, killing and wounding several; and Castro's men again fled.^^ The Californians remained in sight until night- fall, and may have indulged in some charges and evo- lutions at a safe distance; but there was no more fighting, and at last the enemy disappeared in the distance. Larkin describes the fight as having lasted some twenty or thirty minutes, and says the Califor- nians disappeared in successive detachments. The Californians say that the Americans finally dis- mounted and took refuge among the trees, which is not unlikely; and that they retreated because they had no possible chance of success against the rifles, especially as they had no more powder. Captain Thompson withdrew his force to Gomez's rancho to bury his dead, care for the wounded, and make prep- arations for defence, since a renewal of the attack

^•E. C. K.' says: 'He fell headlong from his horse, his unloaded rifle in hand, shot down by a swarthy New Mexican, in the act of turning upon him.' 'K.' says the dashing 'hidalgo rode up abreast, and flourishing a flag in one hand, with the other sent his bullet through our leader's body.' Chris- tian Chauncey, an eye-witness, tells us that Burroughs was shot by 'Three- fingered Jack,' who wished to get his horse and saddle, though the horse es- caped. S. F. AUa, Aug. 8, 1853. Lancey identifies the 'swarthy New Mexi- can' with 'Three-fingered Jack, 'as Bernardino Garcia, the murderer of Cowie and Fowler at Sta Rosa in July. According to Sta Cruz Times, Torre waa the man who killed Burroughs ; Alvarado says it was Juan de Mata Boronda; and Swasey, who gives one of the best accounts of the battle, is positive that it was Manuel Castro himself. Clearly it is not known who fired the shot. Swasey notes that B. had in his pocket a packet of letters for men at Mon- terey, the corner of each being cut off and blood-marked by the ball.

^^ It is said that Burrouglis had at first ordered every alternate man to fire; but in the excitement little attention was paid to the order. Thompson, however, induced some of his men to reserve their fire, and was thus able at last to repulse the enemy. Wm M. Boggs, in Napa Beijister, May 4, 1872, following Gregson — see also Gregsoii's Statement, MS., 4-5 — says that the arrival of Weber with reenforcements put an end to the fight ; but this ia only a confused reference to Thompson's arrival at an earlier hour.

KILLED AND WOUNDED. 371

was feared. Tom Hill, with perhaps another Indian named Mcintosh, was sent to Monterey with a mes- sage for Fremont, and is said to have had a fight on the way, in which he was wounded. ^^

The Americans lost at Natividad four or five men killed, including Burroughs, Foster, Ames, and Thome ;^^ and five or six wounded, including Hayes, Hill, Marshall, William McGlone, and James Cash. At least, these are the losses reported ; but it is possi- ble that they were more numerous, though the Cali- fornians doubtless exaggerate in their narratives.^* Foster was buried at the foot of the tree where he fell ; the others were interred at Gomez's rancho, and a salute fired over their graves. The Californian loss was perhaps about the same as that of the Ameri- cans, though really little is known about it beyond the wounding of Chavez and Cantua at the grove. That so few were killed on the American side is accounted for by the short duration of the fight at close quarters; but that the rifles did so little execution, especially at

22 The Delaware's arrival is noted (incorrectly ^as on the morning of the 16th) in Coltoii's Three Yearn, 96-7; also his fight on the way, in wliich he met 3 Californians, killing one with his rifle, another with his tomahawk, while the third fled. Swasey implies that Hill's wound was received in the fight before he started for Monterey, from the fragments of a bullet. Lancey has it that he got a lance through the hand from the Indian he tomahawked on the way. 'E. C. K.' says Charles Mcintosh and an Indian were sent to Monterey. See also Californian, Nov. 21, 1846, for adventures of the Walla Walla messengers.

^^ ' Billy the Cooper ' is mentioned by several authorities as having been killed. His real name was not known; but he was possibly the man called Thome by ' E. C. K.' and others.

24 « Pioneer ' (John A. Swan), in reminiscences called out by * K.'s ' article, Savage, Doc, MS., iii. 20 et seq., was personally acquainted with the killed and wounded, and many others who took part in the fight, and he thinks the loss was heavier than reported. 4 killed and 5 wounded is ' E. C. K.'s 'state- ment. Larkin says 4 killed and 2 or 3 wounded, perhaps not including the grove fight; and again he says there were 10 or 12 killed and wounded on each side. Gomez states that 4 dead and 9 wounded were brought to the rancho, 6 more dead found and buried at the grove, and 3 bodies found later by the people of Natividad. Jos6 Ant. Alviso, Campanade Natividad, MS., son of the owner of the rancho, who claims to have first informed Castro of the presence of the Americans at S. Juan, says 4 Amer. were killed and 4 wounded. Rico says that in the main fight he saw 8 or 9 Amer. killed, and heard of more, besides those killed at the grove. In a report of the time, Castro claimed to have killed 21 of the enemy. Fernandez, Doc., MS., 53. Pico says the Amer. lost 2 officers and several soldiers killed. Flores in Dec. reported that 11 Amer. had been killed

372 NATIVIDAD AND SANTA CLARA.

the grove, where the enemy came near enough to rid- dle Poster's body with musket-balls, is remarkable;, and, indeed, it is not unlikely that the loss may have been greater than represented. From a dozen to twenty was the estimate of the Americans, who of course had no means of knowing the truth.^^ The dead were probably buried at Alisal rancho. Lieu- tenant Chavez was cared for secretly at some of the ranchos, and finally came to Monterey in January, where for a long time he eluded the vigilance of offi- cials, largely by the aid of prominent ladies.^^ The Californians after leaving Natividad dispersed for the most part as they advanced southward. Rico with a small party hastened with Larkin to the capital, where Castro also made his appearance later with 25 or 30 of his army. Though the Americans were the attacking party, and were content to remain on the defensive after the fight, yet the result was practically a victory for them, since the Californians were forced to abandon their projects of seizing the horses and harassing the battalion by a guerrilla warfare.^^

Frdmont and his men left Monterey November 1 7th as soon as the news arrived from Los Verjeles. He

2^ Alviso says the Cal. lost 4 wounded. Rico says he lost 4 killed and 4 wounded, besides several killed before at the grove. Loss about same as the Amer. according to Alvarado. Vallejo gives the loss as 3 killed and 4 wounded; including Vicente Soto and Bautista Garcia. 3 killed and 5 wounded according to Castro's report. Mrs Ord says 2 killed. Inocente Gar- cia, Hecho-^, MS., 97-8, says his son Bautista was wounded; also heard from a fugitive at S. Luis that a cholo and a cook from S. Luis and several from Monterey had been killed. Pico says several of his own men were killed and wounded. Nidever, Life, MS., 129-30, says an Italian cutthroat named An- tonio was killed on the Cal. side. Larkin says 3 Californians were killed, besides Jos6 Garcia from S. America; and 7 wounded. Gomez says the Walla Wallas scalped 4 Californians.

2'"' Many stories are told of Chavez's adventures in trying to avoid arrest. Once be was concealed in bed between two women, which prompts Bev. Wal- ter Colton, Three Years, 145, to wickedly quote a verse from Don Juan. See also Oi^d, Ocurrencias, MS., 152-4; Gomez, Lo Que Sabe, MS., 95-6. Lancey, Cruise, 151, tells us Chavez was taken on board the guard-ship at Monterey and had his wounds dressed.

^^ Besides the references already given on the Natividad affair, see Honolulu Friend, iv. 190; Martin's Narr., MS., 35; Osio, Hist. Cal, MS., 479-80; La- rios^ Vida, MS., 23-4; Amador, Mem., MS., 170-2; Upham's Life Fremont, 242-5; Taylor^a Eldoradoy i. 194; and many of the county histories.

MARCH OF THE BATTALION. 373

made some expeditions in different directions in search of such parties of the enemy as might still be lurking in the district; but found no Californians, and in four or five days united his forces at San Juan, where he remained till the end of November. Some parties of recruits joined the force there, and one from the Sac- ramento did not arrive until the army had started southward. At San Juan the organization of the bat- talion, as already described, was completed; and on the 29th the army started on its march to cooperate with Stockton against Flores. The march was for the most part uneventful, and requires no extended description. Bryant's diary is in print, and is supple- mented by many other narratives more or less com- pleted^ The rains of an extremely wet season had begun, and progress was consequently slow and diffi- cult along the muddy way. The old grass was spoiled by the rain, and the new was not sufficient to keep the horses in strength. Many of the animals had to be abandoned on the way, and still more could barely carry their saddles without the riders, so that a large part of the march was performed by the men on foot. Luggage was carried by pack-mules. Beef was almost the only article of food, cattle being driven along with the army and killed at each halt as required. Many of the men were ill, but only one death occurred. The route was up the San Benito, over the hills to the Salinas, up that valley and past San Miguel to San Luis, where they arrived the 14th of December.

There is no reason to doubt that Fremont and his officers exerted themselves to prevent disorders and outrages on the march, and with a high degree of

2® Bryant\'i What I Saw, 365-91 ; itinerary of dates and distances in Grigs- hy^s Paperfi, MS., 9-12; weather record in Frdmont^s Geog. Mem., 41-2. Other narratives will be mentioned in later notes on special points; but the follow- ing may be named as not requiring further mention, though some of them are accurate enough: *S'. F. Star, Jan. 9, 1847, copied in other papers; S. F. Alta, Dec. 18, 1852; Martin's Narr., MS., 3G-8; Lancey's Cruise, 15G-G5; Tuthill's Hist. Cal., 200-3; Upham's Life Frdmont, 24:2-9; Dice. Univ., yiii. IGO; Cutts* Conq., 160-2; Honolulu Friend, iv. 190; Yolo Co. Hist., 20; and several other local histories.

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success, considering the unfavorable circumstances. There was some complaint and insubordination among the men and subaltern officers, requiring a court-mar- tial for the trial of certain offenders on December 7th. ^^ The trail of Castro's retreating force was crossed; and on the 8th two Californians were arrest- ed, as were several later. An Indian servant of Jesus Pico was taken on the 12th, and next day shot as a spy after trial. The evidence against him has never been made public, but the act was doubtless an un- justifiable compliance with a bitter popular feeling in the army. On the same day the ranch o of Ojitos was plundered, its buildings being burned by a scouting party.^*^ At San Luis Obispo it was thought there might be an armed force, and the place was accordingly surrounded and taken by a sudden assault on the 1 4th in the rainy darkness of night; but only women, chil- dren, and non-combatants were found.^^

The house of Pico, the former commandant, was

^^Bryant, 371. Swasey, Cal. 1845-6, MS., 21, mentions James Savage as one of the worst malecontents, and says that several officers were reduced to the ranks, there being also several desertions. Swasey, p. 24—5, notes that on one occasion shots were heard in advance, and the men were found engaged in a battle with grizzly bears, of which 26 were killed. Boggs, in Napa Reg- ister, May 4, 1872, notes a mirage by which a madrono tree was made to ap- pear a large force of the enemy. Also in Id., June 1, 1872, is described a practical joke in which the bugler, Butler, was made to blow his morning blast and rouse the camp, mistaking the moon for the sun.

"^^ Pico, Acont., MS., 70, says the Indian, named Santa Maria, had been sent out by him to watch the Americans. It is generally stated that papers were found on his person, perhaps communications to the enemy. H. Jose Pio- neer, Jan. 27, 1877. Paso Robles is mentioned by several as the place where he was arrested. Swasey says the shooting of the Indian was opposed by many of the officers, but it was deemed unsafe to disregard the feelings of the undisciplined men. Janssens, Vida, MS., 197, says that Fremont farther south mentioned the different outrages as the acts of detached parties, whom he could not control. Serrano says Los Ojitos was burned because the owner had two sons in the Californian army; also that the bell-ringer of San Luis was threatened with death for having rung the vesper bells, and soon died of fright. Gonzalez, Mem., MS., 42-3, denounces these acts as cowardly, and notes that an American tried to mount a wild colt and was killed, probably an error.

^^ Swasey, Cal. ^4^-6, MS., 21-2, graphically describes the amusing scenes of this night assault, including Capt. Sears' valiant charge over adobe walls into a sheep corral. He also notes that many were made ill by eating rav- enously of the pumpkins and frijoles found at San Luis. There have been re- ports that the inhabitants were surprised at a ball, but this seems to have no foundation in fact. See Bryant, ^ll:, Jansaens, Vida, MS., 193; Pico,Acont,f MS., 71; Lancey's Cruise, 160.

pp 370-374

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The Quintana Family...Abiquiu, New Mexico and San Luis Obispo County, California (1540-1950)

Abiquiu in earlier times had been established as an outpost along with several other towns to protect the province. It was constantly under attack by warring nomadic tribes who apparently felt that the land should have been theirs. Gregorio had a son, Francisco Estevan Quintana, born 1801 in Abiquiu. Estevan married Maria Dolores de Luna of Abiquiu in 1823. They had a son Jose Maria in 1824. It is believed Maria Dolores died giving birth to Jose.

Estevan Quintana (1801-1880) In 1826 Estevan remarried to Maria de Guadalupe Lujan (1809—1884). They moved to Taos, New Mexico. They had five children while living there. They were Maria Prudencia, Pedro de Jesus, Maria Manuela, Manuel de Jesus and Gregorio Trinidad. In the 1840s nomadic Indians constantly raided the Albuquerque—Taos areas. ...(1) Estevan removed his family to Abiquiu until he was granted a land patent in the San Bernardino area east of San Gabriel, California. They moved to San Luis Obispo probably about 1844.

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• Geronimo Quintana, Circa 1810 - 1860

Geronimo Quintana was born circa 1810, at birth place ?, to Quintana and Quintana.

was born in NM Territory.

Geronimo had 2 brothers: Antonio Quintana and one other sibling.

Geronimo married Maria Tomasa Quintana (born Tenorio).

Maria was born circa 1824, in [New Mexico Area], Nueva España.

They had 5 children: Abundo Quintana, Maria J. Quintana and 3 other children.

Geronimo passed away in After 1860, at age 50 at death place, California.

Documents of Geronimo Quintana

Geronimo Quintana in 1850 United States Federal Census

Geronimo Quintana was born circa 1810, at birth place, New Mexico.

Geronimo married Maria Quintana.

They had 4 children: Abundo Quintana and 3 other children.

Geronimo lived in 1850, at address, California.

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The Biography of Francisco Estevan Quintana (1801--1880) and Maria de Guadalupe Lujan (1809--1884) by Donald Rivara, Copyright January 2, 2009 by Don Rivara

José María Quintana was the eldest child of Francisco Estevan Quintana and his wife María de Guadalupe Luján. He was born in December of 1824 somewhere in New Mexico according to the 1900 U.S. Census. Also known as Gerónime [pronounced hay-ROH-nee-may], José María was a young man of twenty-one, when he and Tomás Herrera, probably his godfather, petitioned the Mexican governor of California for a land grant, and, on July 11, 1846, they were given the San Juan Capistrano del Camote Rancho in eastern San Luis Obispo County. [A camote is Spanish for a variety of sweet potato, but some books state that it was the name of an Indian village] That December John C. Fremont’s army of 430 arrived in San Luis Obispo. José María Quintana and Tomás Herrera led the small army of thirty Californios in their surrender to Fremont. [Hubert Howe Bancroft’s Bancroft’s Works, Volume XXXIV, p.

In 1854 José María and Tomás deeded away six tenths of the rancho. In these transactions, recorded in Deed Book A, pages 87,100-101, the partners deeded six of their ten “ganado mayores” to a William Carey Jones of San Francisco, who immediately deeded half of his interest to Albert Packard “in consideration of his taking charge of the cause during my absence, and assisting in the cause as may be necessary.” Signing as a witness to the transactions were John C. Fremont and José de Jesus Pico, whom Fremont almost executed in 1846. This appears to be the case of an attorney [William Carey Jones] using an agent [Albert Packard] to win portions of ranchos for representing cash-poor Californios at the U.S. Land Commission hearings. Fremont’s role in this is suspicious. Perhaps he received kickbacks for persuading rancheros to agree to these arrangements. Suspecting this to be true, I plugged in the name “William Carey Jones” into the Internet. On the Internet is reference to a document written by Jones in 1851 entitled “Subject of Land Titles in California” written in 1851 with William M. Eddy. The full title of the work was “Report to the Secretary of the Interior, Communicating a copy of the report, Carey Jones, special agent to examine the subject of land titles in California.” A special agent of the government gaining title to ranchos through mediaries smacks of corruption. Yet later I discovered that Jones was also a son-in-law of U.S. Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri, which means that he was Fremont’s brother-in-law.

After the above transaction, José María was listed in the 1854 tax assessment as owning no land, only $500 of personal property. His tax was $7.50.

The 1860 Census shows José María living alone near his brother Pedro’s family. He was listed as age thirty-six and as a farmer. Again in the Great Register of Voters of 1871, he is listed as a farmer. In the 1874 Assessor’s List, José María was assessed on improvements on public land, value $75 [a homestead being processed ?]; 3 tame horses & 2 tame mares; total value $140; tax assigned: $3.55. Apparently the city assessed separately because he was shown to own Lot 3 in Block 45 in San Luis Obispo.

The following is probably an account of José María. From: Protected Valley—The Story of Santa Margarita, by Virginia Williams, 1966, page 25:

"...Mr. Quintana had a stable behind Mr. J. W. Smith’s “Blacksmith Shop and Watch Repair.” At these stables Mr. Quintana auctioned horses at various times. One day a fellow brought in twenty-four horses and mules with harnesses to be auctioned. As advertised, it promised to be a great day for bargains. It probably would have been but for the fact that one of the would-be buyers discovered it was his own stock he had come to bid on. Fortunately, for the seller, the days of being hanged for horse stealing had passed a few years previous. Mr. Quintana was out of pocket for feed and care, but possibly a little wiser."

About 1875 José Maria left his family in San Luis Obispo and returned to New Mexico, settling at Pojoaque, Santa Fe County, New Mexico, the general area where his mother had been born and where he had probably been born. He is stated as living there in 1880 when his father’s estate was filed for probate. He married a young widow named Benigna E. Garcia in 1884. Benigna, born in February of 1859, was thirty-five years younger than her husband. At the time of their marriage, he was fifty-nine and she, twenty four. Together they had a daughter Sarafina, born October 1888, when José María was sixty-three.

When his father died in 1880, José María did not receive any land in his father’s will. He was given a pension, $50 per month, to be paid by Pedro Quintana since Pedro was given the share of land that would have gone to José María.

In the census of 1900, enumerated on June 19, 1900, Jose María was living in Precinct #7 of Española, Rio Arriba County, New Mexico. He was listed as age seventy-six, married 16 years, and able to read and write but was not able to speak English. Benigna was listed as age forty-one, born Feb. 1859 in New Mexico, having given birth to seven children with two living. Since she had married José María when she was just twenty-four, some of the deceased children were likely his. Also living with the couple were their daughter Sarafina, age 11, born October 1888 in New Mexico; José María Sánchez, grandson, born August 1897, age 2; Ramona Gomez, age 8, servant, born April 1892 in New Mexico.

José María died at the age of eighty-four on 5 April 1909, at Ranchitos de San Juan, Rio Arriba County, New Mexico Territory. The following year in the 1910 Census taken on April 28, his wife Begnina was listed in the household of her son, Doloritos Garcia, in Precinct 1, Pojoaque Pueblo. Doloritos lived with his wife and seven children.

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• Francisco Estevan Quintana (1801 - August 4, 1880)

Francisco Estevan Quintana’s married María de Guadalupe Luján, 3 April 1823, in San Ildefonso, Santa Fe County, New Mexico. Their first child, José María Quintana, was born in December of 1824, but no record has been found of his baptism at either San Ildefonso or Abiquiú. The Quintanas may have lived somewhere else at the time of the child’s birth. Soon after their marriage, Estevan took his bride home to Abiquiú. They are shown as godparents there 16 November 1823 for Diego Martín Vigil.

The Quintana’s first child, José María Quintana, was born in December of 1824, but no record has been found of his baptism at either San Ildefonso or Abiquiú. The Quintanas may have lived somewhere else at the time of the child’s birth. In the mid-1820’s that the Quintanas moved from the Chama Valley to the Taos Valley, northeast of Abiquiú. This was probably due to the opening of the Santa Fe Trail connecting the merchants of Missouri with the markets of New Mexico. Because there is a five-year gap between children, it is possible that the Quintanas lived somewhere else other than Taos, Abiquiú, or San Ildefonso, during that time, but any children born during that gap died as children because they do not show up in later records. Not long after Pedro’s birth, however, the family appears to have returned to the Taos Valley.

Probably it was our Estevan who appears in the records of the Bexar Archives in San Antonio, Texas. One entry is a receipt for horses sold by Estevan Quintana to S. Lopez on 12 September 1825, at the Rancho de Agua Nueva. An entry from Lampazos, Texas, in the archives states that Andrés Cárdenas and Estevan Quintana on 22 November 1826, deserted a licensed trade caravan with property of the caravan [probably their share of the food]. At that time travelers had to carry a license to be on the road. Without this, they were presumed to be bandits and subject to immediate execution. What probably occurred was disharmony among the members of the caravan, and Cárdenas and Estevan decided to risk traveling alone. That late in the season, they probably had already sold their livestock in Texas and were anxious to return home quickly, unhampered by the slow-moving caretas of the merchants. It was likely his experience with these merchants that led him to a dual vocation of being a stockman and a trader.

It was in the mid-1820’s that the Quintanas moved from the Chama Valley to the Taos Valley, northeast of Abiquiú. This was probably due to the opening of the Santa Fe Trail connecting the merchants of Missouri with the markets of New Mexico. Estevan may have journeyed to Missouri to trade, but we have no evidence of this. The Quintanas’ eldest daughter, María Prudencia Quintana, was born 12 November 1827 and was baptized at the San Fernando de Taos Church. After Prudencia’s birth there is an eight year hiatus before another child of theirs was baptized there. On 2 February 1833, a son, Pedro de Jesús María, was baptized at the church in San Ildefonso, where Guadalupe’s family resided. Because there is a five-year gap between children, it is possible that the Quintanas lived somewhere else other than Taos, Abiquiú, or San Ildefonso, during that time, but any children born during that gap died as children because they do not show up in later records. Not long after Pedro’s birth, however, the family appears to have returned to the Taos Valley.

After Prudencia, three more children were baptized at the San Fernando de Taos Church: María Manuela Quintana, born 12 May 1835; Manuel de Jesús Quintana, born 27 September 1837; and Gregorio Trinidad Quintana, born 20 February 1840. At Gregorio’s baptism, his parents were said to be residents of San Francisco del Rancho. The godparents were José Martín and María Dolores Córdova.

In 1829 the “Old Spanish Trail” was opened between New Mexico and Los Angeles, California. Traders began annual caravans, traveling in groups for safety from Indian attacks. About the same time, the California missions were decommissioned and the vast mission lands were opened to private ownership. Antonio María Lugo obtained the large Rancho San Bernardino and its estancia buildings, formerly part of the Mission San Gabriel. Juan Bandini was granted the nearby Rancho Jurupa from the former San Gabriel lands. Bandini and Lugo were eager to attract settlers. Both needed men skilled in fighting Indians to protect their ranchos from marauding. Lugo offered 2,200 acres to would-be settlers, the land to be settled in common with ownership still residing with Lugo, a common practice on the Mexican frontier. In 1838 a man from Abiquiú, Santiago Martínez, became the first Abiqueño to settle there, between present-day San Bernardino and Colton. Over the next few years, other Abiqueño families began arriving.

Estevan continued to combine his stock raising with a career as a merchant. On September 24, 1839, Francisco Esteban Quintana was issued guia #185, a permit to conduct business and a basis of taxing merchants. His guía permitted him to take six bundles of domestic merchandise to California for sale. He traveled with the caravan of 1839, arriving in Los Angeles about the first of December. [Santa Fe National Historic Trail: Special History Study, Appendix 1, taken from Roll 21, #334]. His journey took him over the Old Spanish Trail through Central Utah, through what is now Las Vegas, Nevada, and thence to Los Angeles.

In California, Estevan sold his merchandise and then left to explore what lay north up the El Camino Real. In San Luis Obispo County he came across Petronilo Rios in the Salinas Valley. From Rios he purchased two leagues of land in early 1840. This land included the present-day site of Paso Robles. It was called the Ranch of the Hot Waters [Rancho de las Aguas Calientes]. This land had formerly belonged to the Mission San Miguel. [In Deed Book A, page 28, San Luis Obispo County, CA, it states that Estevan had purchased the land in 1840][In 1852 he would sell this land back to Rios].

Estevan returned to New Mexico in the spring of 1840 and reunited with his family. He would not have been home when Guadalupe gave birth to a son, Gregorio, on February 20, 1840 in the Taos Valley. He would meet his new son upon his arrival home.

Now making more money as a merchant than as a stock-raiser, Estevan moved his family back to Abiquiu, which lay on the trail to California from Santa Fe. The threat from the Republic of Texas, which was committed to annexing New Mexico, probably influenced Estevan’s decisions over the next couple of years. We first find Estevan and Guadalupe back in the Chama Valley, on 20 October, 1840, as godparents at the baptism in Abiquiú of five-day-old Antonio José Quintana, a Ute Indian slave/servant of theirs. A child newly-born was not a captive, but was probably born to one of their young female slave/servants. As usual in these births to slave girls, the father is listed as “unknown.” Usually one of the men of the family was the unmentioned father. The Quintanas were shown as residents of the village of El Rito, but the baptism took place at Santo Tomás Apostól Church in Abiquiú, the nearest church.

The Quintanas must have been prospering because Santo Tomás Apostól Church record shows that on 3 March 1841, they baptized yet another slave/servant that they no doubt had purchased from her captors or a trader. She was named María Antonia Quintana and was twelve years old. Estevan and Guadalupe served as her godparents.

That fall Estevan prepared to leave El Rito for California with Santiago Martinez and other Abiquiú families headed for the Rancho San Bernardino. Estevan seems to have been resolved to request a grant of land for himself and to set himself up as an hacendado with peones residing on his land in the Lugo fashion.

Estevan apparently had become enamoured of Calfornia during his 1839 trip. There were several good reasons for moving to California. One was the perennial raids by Indians in New Mexico, which threatened the Quintanas’ lives and their prosperity. In California Indian attacks would be fewer and less vicious. Also, the rich grasslands in California could greatly increase the Quintana’s livestock herds. Another factor making New Mexico life less tolerable was the tyrannical rule of Governor Manuel Armijo, the most corrupt governor in New Mexico’s history. Perhaps more pressing was Texas’ claim to New Mexico and the threat of an invasion.

At San Francisco del Rancho, the village south of Taos where the Quintanas had attended church, two Anglos, who would one day become prominent in Southern California, operated a trading post. They were William Workman [1799-1876] and John Rowland. Both were married to native women and were naturalized Mexican citizens. Workman and Roland seem to have prospered in Taos, but politics soon made life difficult. In 1840 the Republic of Texas named Workman and Rowland agents, perhaps without their prior knowledge, to represent Texas’ interests in annexing New Mexico. Although they did not apparently accept this role, Workman and Rowland’s identification with the Texans was tantamount to treason.

As tensions increased, Mirabeau Lamar, the President of Texas, without congressional approval, sent an expedition of volunteers, military, and merchants carrying 21 wagons of trade goods to Santa Fe to persuade the people of Santa Fe to abandon their Mexican citizenship and join the Republic of Texas. The expedition was poorly planned and suffered many hardships. When the soldiers finally arrived in Santa Fe, they were promptly taken prisoner, stripped naked, and marched down the Jornada de Muerto to Chihuahua. They were not released until 1842, after Lamar had left office.

Meanwhile Rowland and Workman formed a party of some forty whites that left New Mexico in September 1841. Arriving in Abiquiú, the group was joined by Santiago Martinez and his group, which included Francisco Estevan Quintana. The party traveled the Old Spanish Trail, arriving in Los Angeles on 5 November 1841. The Rowland and Workman expedition left its legacy as the first American emigrant party to enter Southern California from an eastern-based land route. The Bartleson-Bidwell party arrived in Northern California from Missouri at the same time.

The San Bernardino Valley apparently appealed to Estevan because he traveled to Monterey, the capital of Mexican California, in January of 1842, to request a land grant there on land that did not belong to Antonio María Lugo. He passed through San Luis Obispo, traveling the El Camino Real. In the book The Old Spanish Trail, by LeRoy and Anne Hafen, pp. 219-222 there is mention that twelve pages of applications to settle in the San Bernardino Valley were charred beyond reading in the San Francisco fire of 1906. The index book survived, however, as did the petition of Francisco Estevan Quintana presented to Governor Alvarado. The petition was prefaced with a statement that the Justice of the Peace of Los Angeles on February 12, 1842, had given permission to Quintana to “separate from the assembling company of New Mexican traders and return to his province in due time and to transact such business as is agreeable to him. The same permission is given to the others who wish to follow said Quintana.” The petition was expressed as follows:

"Most Excellent Señor [Governor Alvarado],

I, Francisco Estevan Quintana, Mexican by birth, appear before you in the form provided by law and say: that for myself and in the name of my companions and their families, being desirous soon of settling down, we would like to establish ourselves in this country, so fertile and advantageous. That we have not done so already is due to our uncertainty about obtaining lands; but finding vacant a tract of land bearing the name “San Bernardino,” somewhat east of San Gabriel, we have decided to bring hither our families; and in order to do so, we pray Your Excellency to grant us the land existing there to form a colony, subjecting ourselves to all of the laws of colonization, and it being understood that we solicit land in San Bernardino that is unoccupied. What we ask for is two leagues of grazing land.

Praying Your Excellency will decide in my favor, I am, Most Excellent Governor, Francisco Estevan Quintana.

Monterey, January 18, 1842"

Governor Juan Alvarado responded with

"Whenever the petitioner brings to San Bernardino a sufficient number of families to occupy it, I will grant this petition with the understanding that he will be required to take such lands as remain vacant after a portion of it has been granted to various individuals of the city of Los Angeles whose petitions are now pending…..Alvarado"

Probably accompanied by several associates, Estevan returned to Los Angeles, Records show that he left for New Mexico on February 12, 1842.

While their father was enroute home, on March 18, 1841, José María Quintana and his sister María Prudencia Quintana were godparents in Abiquiú at the baptism of José Melitón Ocaña, son of Ramón Ocaña and María Serafina Ortíz.

With permission to select a land grant in the San Bernardino Valley in California, Estevan and his family began making preparations for the difficult move. They probably had to sell land and some of their stock. They would have to wait until the spring of 1843 so there would be enough grass along the trail to feed their large herd of livestock.

Meanwhile, José María Quintana and his mother, Guadalupe Luján, were godparents on September 13, 1841, in Abiquiú for José Rafael Casados, age 7 days, son of José Julián Casados and María Ysabel Montoya. While the family was preparing to leave for California, they took time to baptize Pascual Quintana, an Indian with no age given, on February 6, 1843, in Abiquiú with Francisco Estevan Quintana as godfather and María Guadalupe Luján as godmother. Presumably this was another of their slaves. Still living in the Jacona-San Ildefonso area were Guadalupe’s father, Joaquín Luján, and her maternal grandmother, Francisca Atencio, then eighty- two. Her mother may have still been alive also at that time, but by the time of the 1850 Census, she had died. The father and grandmother, however, were still living in 1850.

In the spring of 1843 the Quintana family crossed the Old Spanish Trail to make their new life in California. They brought at least some of their Indian wards with them. The Quintanas and nine other Abiquiu families who accompanied the trade caravan left Abiquiu and headed toward the Four Corners area, following the San Juan River. From there they headed northwest deep into central Utah, crossing the Grand River and then Green River north of where they flow together. They then turned southwest through the heart of the Wasatch Mountains and crossed into Nevada below Sevier Lake. Las Vegas, Nevada, history shows that Estevan’s party stopped there on their way to California. The area was called “Las Vegas de Quintana” for many years, possibly named for Estevan’s party. From Las Vegas, the party crossed the Mojave Desert below Death Valley in what is now San Bernardino County, California. The end of the trail for the group was at Agua Mansa, the settlement near present-day Colton, California, that had been established a couple of years earlier by former Abiquiú, New Mexico residents.

Along the trail, Estevan’s grown children, Jose Maria, 19, and Prudencia, 15, herded the livestock. Pedro, who was ten, probably assumed some of the burden as well. It was probably in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, that tragedy struck. A landslide of rocks disgorged and tumbled down a mountain killing young Manuel Quintana, who was almost six years old. He was buried there along the trail, and with great grief the family was forced to leave behind his lonely grave in the middle of the wilderness.

Arriving in the San Bernardino Valley, the family probably stopped briefly at Agua Mansa. They would have attended church at the San Gabriel Mission. The Quintanas were unsatisfied with the situation in San Bernardino, probably due to reneging on the part of the Lugo family to favorable land arrangements they had made with the New Mexican immigrants. The Quintanas were there only a short time. Estevan continued northward with his family and livestock to his land in San Luis Obispo County.

On March 6, 1846, Estevan and Guadalupe Quintana were godparents for Juan Antonio, “nino de casa,” [a house boy] age three. Clearly the Quintanas were continuing the Mexican system of Indian child slavery. Whether this was a Chumash boy or the son of an Indian girl they had brought with them from New Mexico is unknown.

The Quintanas had lived on their rancho for two or three years when the Mexican War broke out and John C. Fremont arrived in the fall with his conquering host. Jose María Quintana and Tomás Herrera led the “army” of thirty Californios who marched out to meet him and surrender. Herrera, also a New Mexican, had a very close relationship with the Quintana family. He and Estevan’s son José María obtained together a land grant east of Paso Robles called San Juan Capistrano del Camote.

Fremont tried to reassure the group that their lives could continue without disruption. The California government before the Americans came had been chaotic, and the government of Mexico unresponsive to the needs of its remote province. The ties with Mexico would not be missed, but certainly there was an uneasiness about what life would be like under these aggressive new masters.

Just as life was beginning to settle down from the war in 1848, there was a massacre at the nearby former Mission San Miguel in which ten members of the Reed household were killed by a gang of thugs. It is likely that some of Rancho de la Agua Caliente men were in the posse to hunt down the murderers.

Right on top of this, the report of the gold discovery began an invasion from all the places near to California. A flood of Sonoreños from the Mexican province of Sonora came up the El Camino Real and by ship hundreds of Chilenos. The territory of Oregon was drained of its manpower. It appears that Estevan took advantage of the gold rush to sell his livestock and merchandise. The family does not appear in the 1850 Census. The likely reason being that they were at the mines.

The Quintanas maintained a town home in San Luis Obispo. It was one of the row of adobe homes about 25 square feet in size that lined what would become Chorro Street next to the mission. They had been the dwellings of soldiers who guarded the mission in the earlier days.

In 1849, after the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which ended the Mexican War, a constitutional convention was called in Monterey. A transitional form of government was created. An alcalde [mayor] of San Luis Obispo in 1845 in the last years of the Mexican period, Estevan was voted in again to the post on August 1, 1849, The total number of votes was twenty-nine---there were few people in San Luis to vote at the time. Estevan decided few issues of any import. Many of the records, written in Spanish, survive of this period. He was articulate, and his son-in-law, Miguel Serrano, was mentioned frequently. Miguel managed the rancho operations while Estevan tended to his business.

Wallace V. Ohles, in his The Lands of Mission San Miguel, Word Dancer Press, Fresno, CA, 1997, page 74, states:

Esteban Quintana was a prominent citizen of San Luis Obispo; he served as an alcalde in 1845 and 1849. The assessment roll of real estate and personal property for 1851 lists lots and improvements in San Luis Obispo at $275, and personal property at $2,836. During the 1850’s the San Luis Obispo post office was moved from a small adobe building on the corner of Monterey and Chorro streets to the Murray adobe opposite the mission. In 1860 it was moved into an adobe, owned by Quintana, on the northwest side of Monterey Street above Chorro...

On 20 August 1851, Estevan was the high bidder at the sale of Lot No. 6 in Block No. 14 of San Luis Obispo. This lot was twenty-one yards wide and twenty-six yards deep. [Deed Book A, page 8] Block 14 is the Block bordered by Monterey, Chorro, Palm, and Morro. Apparently this was his lot on the northeast corner of Chorro and Monterey, where he later built the Quintana Building. This early investing in town lots and later building on them was probably how Estevan was able to survive the terrible two-year drought of the 1860’s when nine tenths of the livestock on the Central Coast died.

On the 23 of November of the same year, 1851, Estevan purchased land bounded by the Arroyo de los Alisos, the Cerro de Islay, the lands of José María Villa, those of Henry A. Tefft [who would drown in the ocean soon afterwards] and those of Estevan himself. It was sold to him by Francisco Salgado and Miguel Trujillo. [Deed Book A, page 9] This greatly expanded the land Estevan owned. This was probably before the above purchase.

The 1852 California State Census was taken with the Quintanas still on the Paso Robles site. Their daughter Prudencia and her husband Miguel Serrano are shown living with them with no children:

Estevan Quintana, 57, farmer, born Mexico [Should be New Mexico][He was 51]

Guadalupe Quintana, 40, female, born Mexico [New Mexico]

Jose M. Quintana, 28, farmer, born Mexico [New Mexico]

Pedro Quintana, 18, farmer, born Mexico [New Mexico]

Maria Jesus Quintana, 5, female, born CA

Jesus Maria Quintana, 7/12, male, born CA

Miguel Serrano, 35, farmer, born Mexico [New Mexico]

Prudencia Serrano, 25, born Mexico [New Mexico]

[There was a language problem with the census taker and the Quintanas.]

On 3 October 1852, Estevan sold for $300 to Petronilo Ríos the “Rancho de La Agua Caliente,” [Ranch of the hot water] two leagues of land or two “sitios de ganado mayor” [about 8,656 acres]. This was the same land that Rios had sold him in 1840.

On 11 December of 1852, Baptiste García of San Luís Obispo sold to Estevan Quintana all the land and buildings designated as “The Vineyard” [La Viña]. This lay adjacent to Mission San Luis Obispo. The land probably had been the site of a mission vineyard; thus the name. This land today encompasses all of the eastern part of San Luis Obispo. It included an adobe home called “La Loma de la Nopalera,” [Hill of the Nopales Cactus Orchard]. Behind the adobe was acreage planted to the nopales cactus, which Hispanics ate and still eat as a vegetable. It is unknown how large this ranch was, but it had to have been large enough to graze the substantial herd of livestock Estevan had brought with him. [La Vista, V1 N4, Jan. 1970, by Alonzo Dana;][San Luis Obispo County Deed Book “A,” pages 77-79] Some of these nopales are still there in 2005, although the area behind the adobe is being subdivided. The La Loma Adobe is located at 1590 Lizzie Street. It is the oldest house still in existence in San Luis Obispo County, although it is in poor condition. According to the Dana article, the house was built in 1782 by Indian servants of a Spanish supervisor, and it once served as a trading post. If the date of the building is correct at 1782, it was built ten years after the Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa. The elevated location of La Loma provided an excellent view in the direction of the mission, the cluster of adobes that surrounded it, and the valley.

The agreement shows that there was a stone fence or corral on the property. This land was apparently adjacent to the land Estevan already owned. [Both transactions are on San Luis Obispo County Deed Book A, page 28][A sitio de ganado mayor was a square league that measured 5,000 varas on each side, which equaled 4,338.68 acres. A criadero de ganado mayor was one quarter of the sitio, or 1,109.67 acres. A sitio de ganado menor was two thirds of a sitio de ganado mayor, or 2,959.12 acres. A criadero de ganado menor was one third of a sitio de ganado mayor, or 1,479.56 acres. Sometimes called “a Spanish yard,” the vara was equal to thirty-three inches in California and New Mexico, but varied a bit elsewhere.]

There were two buildings on the La Loma adobe site, one being the adobe. In the other, Estevan may have operated a general merchandise store. In the file of county civil litigation now housed in the county museum, there is an undated lawsuit in the 1851-1853 file entitled Estefan Quintana vs. Urbano Cárdenas. Estevan alleged that in 1847 he had given Cárdenas considerable merchandise to sell for a commission, presumably at the more distant ranchos, and that Cardenas had sold the merchandise but refused an accounting or to pay Quintana. Written by Cárdenas is a list of the following merchandise he claimed to have received from Estevan, for which Estevan was suing him.

In 1853 at a hearing of the U. S. Land Grant Commission, Estevan’s claim that La Viña had been granted to him by the Mexican government was denied for lack of evidence that it had ever been granted. He had petitioned January 15, 1853, to ascertain his claim to La Viña. His petition stated that on January 4, 1842, Juan B. Alvarado, Constitutional Governor of the Californias, granted to him a tract of land containing one square league of land situated near the ex-mission of San Luis Obispo. He asserted that the grant was made in accordance with the Law of Colonization of August 18, 1824 and the Mexican Executive Regulations of 1828. G.B. Farwell stated the opinion of the commissioners that, in short, that the claim was rejected for lack of evidence that the land was granted. Other commissioners were R. August Thompson and Alphons Felch. George Fisher, Secretary of the Commission, transcribed the proceedings. [Grant 863 Viña 292 SD; BD.513 in the Bancroft Library, University of California at Berkeley. This archive item is a “Summary of the Transcript of Case No. 513 of the Land Grant Cases. Francisco Estevan Quintana, Claimant vs. The United States, Defendant”] There is no existing evidence that the Mexican governor allowed Estevan to switch the location of the land upon which he was to settle. Apparently the person from whom Estevan had purchased La Viña did not have a legal title and this petition was a ruse to keep the land he had paid for.

In 1854 Estevan was assessed for “a number of small lots in and about San Luis Obispo,” value $2,260; personal property $10,180. No mention is made of his ranch land. His tax bill was $186.60.

It was probably problems with the Land Commission that encouraged Estevan in 1854 to exchange a portion of La Viña rancho for 3,166 acres of the 3,506.33 acre Rancho Potrero de San Luís Obispo, which lay on Stenner Creek about five miles northeast of the old mission. The exchange was made with Doña María Concepción Boronda de Muñoz, one of the prominent Boronda family of Monterey County, CA. On 4 September 1837, she had married a French ship captain, Olivier Deleissigues, at the Mission San Juan Batista. In 1842, probably because he was not yet a Mexican citizen, the couple petitioned for a land grant in San Luis Obispo County in Chona’s name. They were granted the Rancho Potrero de San Luis Obispo. Olivier Deleissigues died in 1849. She then married a younger man, José María Muñoz, who had immigrated from Mexico. Muñoz, an attorney, later became a judge and was prominent in San Luis Obispo affairs until he was reportedly lost at sea in 1874 when the ship on which he was traveling sank. The son of José María and Concepción Muñoz, Benjamin Muñoz, was the policeman in San Luis Obispo for many years before moving to Oakland. He was married in 1883 to Antonia Serrano, a granddaughter of Francisco Estevan Quintana. Doña Chona’s grant of the Potrero was well documented. Estevan would have no trouble securing title to it. Muñoz, being an attorney, could better navigate through the Land Commission channels to secure title to La Viña. Estevan paid Dona Chona “Sien bacas descosidas en su ganado...y quinientos voragas” [a herd of one hundred cows and 500 varagas] The meaning of “varagas” isn’t clear. The land was to include the site of the La Loma de la Nopalera. In turn, the Quintanas received the Boronda-Muñoz home on Potrero. [San Luis Obispo County Deed Book A, pages 78-79, 87]

The San Luis Obispo Register of Brands shows that Estevan Quintana registered his brand in 1851. His wife, Guadalupe Luján, had her brand registered on April 23, 1857. Pedro Quintana’s was registered on May 22, 1854. José María Quintana registered his on May 7, 1855. Both María Jesús and Jesús María Quintana registered brands on November 10, 1857. In the year 2000, a man in San Luis Obispo owned many of the family branding irons. He collected branding irons of the area.

The California gold rush brought many unsavory characters to the state. In the 1850’s San Francisco resorted to a vigilance committee to rid itself of a troublesome criminal element. It cleaned out San Francisco, but the criminals took to the El Camino Real and waylaid travelers and committed various other crimes. By 1858 the situation was so bad in San Luis Obispo County that the citizens got together and formed a vigilance committee themselves. Among the members of the committee were Estevan’s friend Tomás Herrera, Dolores Herrera [son of Tomás Herrera and Estevan’s son-in-law]; Miguel Serrano [also Estevan’s son-in-law]; Manuel Serrano, [Miguel’s brother]; G. F. Sauer [whose brother would later wed Estevan’s granddaughter, Guadalupe Herrera], and Estevan Quintana himself. This committee was very active in bringing local criminals to justice. Stories can be read in the History of San Luis Obispo, by Myron Angel.

Although Estevan was respected by most American people, an element of racism can be detected in the newspapers and early histories. The Californios deeply resented their conquerors and were not quick to inform on or help capture outlaw Californios.

Besides their home on the Portrero, the Quintanas maintained a home in town. An 1855 deed on page 105 of Book A of the San Luis Obispo County deeds makes reference to Estevan owning a home on Chorro Street north of the Mission. The deed isssued to Nicolas Carbio was described as being on “the western side of Choro St.; fronting thereon 10 varas and running back 5 varas more or less to the graveyard of the Church and lying between the house of Augustin Garcia on the south, called the Lafaette house, and the house of Estevan Quintana on the north. The houses of García and Carbio separated his home from an adobe that Estevan later owned on the northwest corner of Monterey and Chorro streets, the site where the Plaza fountain and the statue of Father Serra sit today in front of the Mission.

Myron Angel says in his 1883 History of San Luis Obispo

“The pastoral era of Southern California was brought to a close by two disastrous seasons called “The Great Drought,” which affected the state in 1863 and 1864. During the preceding year there had been such unprecedented floods that the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys were turned into an inland sea 250-300 miles long and 20-60 miles wide. Thousands of cattle and other livestock perished and possibly a fourth of the state’s taxable wealth was destroyed.”

“On the southern ranges, the damage done by the rains was inconsequential compared to the appalling losses caused by the two succeeding years of drought, when the grasslands reverted to the desert, the earth became iron, and the sky turned to brass. Livestock died by the thousands on the sun-baked ranges; carcasses lay in heaps about the dry water holes and sand-choked springs; and the whole country from north to south was almost depopulated of cattle.”

Most of the great ranchos were destroyed by the drought, but Estevan survived the catastrophe still a rich man due to his business and real estate interests.

On 2 April 1873, Estevan acquired 68/100 acres from Miguel Borgues, Lot 3, Block 45 in San Luis. It was recorded on 19 November 1873 upon the request of José María Quintana. [Deed Book “E,” pages 302-303] On the same day Estevan deeded the lot to his son José María. This lot today is in the block of Palm Street adjacent to the Southern Pacific tracks bordered by Mill Street on the north, Palm Street on the south, Ida Street on the east and the tracks on the west. This lot is the second lot to the east of the tracks. Presumably this is where José María lived while in town. The railroad would not come for another twenty years.

In 1874 Estevan purchased most of the 4,379.43 acre Rancho San Bernardo from the Canet family of nearby Morro Bay. He paid $3,000 cash, 300 heifers, and 100 mares. This ranch was for his son Pedro. It was willed to Pedro, but Pedro’s family lived on it immediately after its purchase. Estevan is not known to have lived on the ranch at all.

Besides the new rancho, Estevan had been acquiring lots and building on them in the town of San Luis Obispo. The 1874 Assessor’s List shows that Estevan was assessed for a total of 6,997 acres of ranch land; 3 houses & lots in SLO, value $3,500; 1 house [actually the Quintana Building] under construction by Blás Castro, value $100; 1 lot in SLO, value $25; Rancho Potrero, 3,166 acres, value $1,266.40; part of Rancho San Bernardo, 2,438 acres, value; $1,219; improvements on the Rancho Potrero, value $800; improvements on San Bernardo, value $50; 500 Spanish cattle, 400 Spanish sheep, 10 tame horses, 15 manada [herd] animals [probably untamed horses]; 1 wagon and harness, value $100; furniture, value, $50; total assessed value [not market value], $8,620.40; tax assigned, $280.15, marked “paid.”

In 1874 Estevan constructed a new brick building on the northeast corner of Monterey and Chorro Streets. It was called the “Quintana Block,” but now it is generally referred to as the “Quintana Building.” There he operated a general merchandise store that Pedro ran for him and later inherited. In the 1890’s Pedro remodeled the building, removing the sections that jutted out into Chorro and Monterey streets. After Pedro’s death in 1921, his son Thomas Quintana inherited the building. He hired a cheap but inept contractor to remodel the building and to add a third story to the structure. He then opened it as the “Blackstone Hotel.” Thomas later acknowledged that his remodeling of the building was one of two worst blunders he committed in his life. It was due to be demolished in 2009.

In May of 1875 Estevan contracted with the California Bridge and Building Company to build a new two-story brick building on the site of the old adobe on the northwest corner Monterey and Chorro streets. The building had 52 ½ feet of frontage on Monterey Street and 117 ½ feet of frontage on Chorro Street. The new building would house a new residence for Estevan and Guadalupe on the second floor. They could then look out of their windows onto the front of the Mission. The construction was completed in November of that year. The builders, however, gave Estevan a bill for $501.50 more than the contracted price. He paid them the agreed-upon price only. In turn, the company refused to pay one of their subcontractors, Root, Nieson & Company. This company sued Estevan for the money and the case was found in their favor in the District Court of the First Judicial District of San Luis Obispo. The court decision was appealed to the California Supreme Court. Estevan’s grandson-in-law, Andrew Sauer, and businessman Morris Goldtree signed as sureties that Estevan would pay the $501.50 if the decision was decided in the plaintiff’s favor. Estevan’s lawyer was from the firm of Graves, Wilcoxon, and Graves. Case, #5502, was decided on appeal in favor of the subcontractors. A summary of the case, prepared for the Supreme Court, is housed in the Special Collections Department of the Kennedy Library at California State Polytechnic University. Estevan lost the case on appeal.

Now ensconced in his upstairs apartment in his new building, Estevan donated his old home on Chorro Street to Tadeo Amat, Bishop of Monterey, by deed in the middle 1870’s [Deed Book “F,” pages 353-354], presumably for the proposed eastern extension of the mission church.

On January 11, 1877, the Quintanas lost their granddaughter, Guadalupe Herrera de Sauer, age twenty-three. Her death was probably caused by childbirth, but, if so, the child did not survive. Guadalupe was buried in the increasingly populated Quintana Plot at the cemetery.

In March of 1878 Estevan’s foot had become ulcerated. He was told that amputation was necessary. At least half of amputations of younger, healthier persons resulted in death in that era, so Estevan made out his will carefully and then underwent the operation. These deeds, executed at the time of Estevan’s crisis were recorded with the county clerk:

Deed Book “J,” page 539, Estevan Quintana to Luis Gardello, 5 November 1878

Deed Book “J,” page 316, Pedro Quintana to Luis Gardello, 5 November 1878

Deed Book “L” or “J,” page 539, Guadalupe Quintana to Estevan Quintana,

22 March 1878

Deed Book “L,” page 54, Estevan Quintana to Guadalupe Quintana, 22 March

1878

Among these deeds was the sale of Estevan’s new brick building on the northwest corner of Monterey and Chorro streets, no doubt because he could not navigate the stairs to his upstairs residence. It is unknown where in San Luis Obispo Estevan lived during the last two years of his life. It is known that he was seen walking around town on his wooden leg conducting his business. That is stated in his obituary.

At age seventy-seven he surprised everyone and probably himself by surviving the operation. He proudly sat for a photograph prominently displaying the healed leg stump about a year after the surgery. But the bout had severely weakened him; he was an old man, and death came the following year. He died August 4, 1880, the day before his seventy-ninth birthday. His obituary appeared in the Saturday, August 7, 1880 issue on page 1, column 3 of the San Luis Obispo Tribune:

On Wednesday last Mr. Francisco E. Quintana died at his residence in this city at the advanced age of eighty years less one day[sic]. Mr. Quintana has resided in SLO nearly, if not quite half a century. He was a native of New Mexico. He came to this country poor, but by industry and frugality acquired a competency. For a number of his later years Mr. Quintana was afflicted with a diseased leg which incapacitated him from active business, and two years ago he had the limb amputated. His strong constitution and nerve enabled him to undergo the operation, and during the past year he has been able to get about. The funeral took place from the Catholic church, and the remains were followed to the grave by a large number of surviving relatives and sympathizing friends.

Don Estevan’s funeral Mass was held at the Old Mission Church in San Luis Obispo. From there his body was taken to the Old Mission Cemetery. After his burial, the Quintana family adorned the large family plot. Black and white marble tile walkways lead to Estevan’s white marble sarcophagus and the tall obelisks of family members. Although the site has been vandalized and is showing its age, it still is elegant after these many years.