Saying Good-Bye

I felt that I should come back one more time and thank all of you for following my blog these past ten weeks. It has been a great experience for me. I have appreciated accomplishing this assigment in blog style because it has pushed me to view history from different angles and aspects. For example, looking for images that spoke to my message was a challenge but it forced me to picture what the Californio women saw and experienced. When writing a paper , you tend to focus a lot of attention of grammar etc., but in a blog it's a bit more relaxed so your personality shines through which, I believe, enables the reader to bond with the writer.

I had the opportunity of turning my blog into a paper for my Modern Latin American History class which challenged me further by driving me to find a point to my blog. Most of all, I was able to prepare a presentation on my paper which I feel went well only because while I presented my paper I felt that I had a solid handle on my subject and argument. I know this is due to my blog research.

Anyway, Thanks Professor for guiding us through this real cool experience. You have helped me to ask questions that enabled me to look for a deeper meaning in my research. I know there is more I could have done and looked for and perhaps I'll have another opportunity to do so. For now, Adios and Good-bye.

Milly

Last Words and Thoughts

Well, this is my last post before signing off:( These past ten weeks have been quite an exercise. I started out with this idea of talking to you about immigration and how, in some way, we are all immigrants. I felt strongly that at some point in time all we or our ancestors have immigrated, migrated or moved to the Bay Area, that is why we should be able to sympathize with the newcomers. But as I began my research on that subject I came across a story and a name and became intrigued mainly because we shared the same surname. This is what caused me to switch subjects. As I began to research Maria Luisa Peralta, I found myself becoming more and more frustrated by the lack of information on her.

I got my break when I found the Peralta House in Oakland but quickly became disappointed when I was only able to obtain information on her brothers and father. I repeatedly asked myself, "Why is there nothing on her, her mother or any of the Peralta women?" That was strange to me. This started me on a long journey to piece together a composite character for Maria Luisa. I have used the lives of Californio women to infer what Maria's life could have been like.

I discovered that the social station of Maria and the Californio women was greatly influenced by hundreds of years of Catholic influence, political laws that supported the ideologies of the Church and by cultural customs that had been perpetuated, not only by the men, but, more importantly, by the women themselves. In the Centennial Yearbook of Alameda County, it speaks about the " strict code of laws" for "maintaining order" among the Californios. I believe that the Californio women believed in and were proud of their way of life, as strict as it might have been. For instance, this is evident by their view on birth control. In the nineteenth century, although primitive and unreliable in most cases, birth control was used by the middle-class white American women. Indigenous women had methods of birth control as well. The Hispanic women were taught that large families were a blessing from God. For the Californio woman it went a step further, for them, it was necessary to produce large families who would populate Alta California as well as help run a rancho. It was commonplace to see a mother walking to mass while herding her twenty-four children along. Many felt that, "sterility [had] become very common because the American women [were] too fond of visiting doctors and swallowing medicines. Este es un delito que Dios no perdona. (That is a crime that God does not forgive.)" (Rosaura Sanchez, Telling Identities. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1995), 191-192).

Women like Maria were the forerunners for the Mexican-American women of today's California. Many of their ideals and beliefs have lingered into the present day, some have taken different forms, others are done away but many, such as the mother being the matriarch of the family, still exist in today's Hispanic families and emphasis on the family is still a priority.

The Bear Flag Revolt and the takeover of California by the United States, left many Californios embittered and resentful towards the Americans. Felipa Osuna who lived with her husband at Mission San Luis Rey, was involved in the battles between the Californios and the Americans. Josefa Carrillo-Fitch struggled to come to terms with the changes the Americans introduced. She lost much of her land to squatters and suits. She learned to speak English but that was not the case with all the Californio women. Rosalia Vallejo had strong opinions and was angry with the Americans due to the way they mistreated her husband and brothers during the Bear Flag Revolt. She was so resentful that she refused to learn the English language, it was her way of spiting the Americans. On the other hand, Maria Antonia Rodriguez of Monterey told Cerruti, when he questioned her about the takeover, that it had happened before, "in every conquered nation." (Beebe and Senkewicz) I think it is very possible that their feelings towards the Americans were passed on to their descendents contributing to their present-day prejudice, as well as, acceptance of one another.

Would I be pushing it if I added that the Califronios were immigrants? Hah! I guess those who orginately came in the Anza and Rivera y Moncada expeditions from Mexico to populte Alta California were being that they left their homes and came to a foreign land, a land that was completely different from what they knew. They encountered strange peoples and customs eventually making this land their country. You decide.

What is My Story?

This video captures the changing world of the Spanish-Mexican women who settled Alta California. From the Anza expeditions through the mission era, the short period of the Mexican government and on to the takeover of the United States. Through all this, these women adapted to the changes in their sphere remaining faithful to their families and way of life. Their stories, while not written personally by them, have been captured by others who unknowingly preserved the history of these Californio women.

Marianismo, Part 3

I feel its necessary for you to understand what marianismo is so that you have a clear view of how infulential the Cathloic Church has been on the lives of Hispanic women more specifically, their family life and marriages.

Throughout the colonial period and through the twentieth century Hispanic women have been viewed as a symbol of virtue. They were the models for all that was clean, pure and holy in the family and marriage. Marriages were usually arranged, many times a business transaction. A dowry presented by the brides family was expected. A young women's virtue was seen as a valuable dowry. Her virtue was a symbol of honor for her family. An unmarried young woman who lost her virtue was a disgrace to her family. There were three reasons for a young woman to become a nun: she wanted to serve Christ; to get an education, such as Juana Ines de la Cruz; or because she lost her virtue.(Lecture notes by Professor Salomon, 7 April 2010).

Marianismo, is the modern term for an ideology of women in Latin America that suggested they had to be like the Virgin Mary, the Mother of Christ. "The phenomenon encompasses sacred duty to family, subordination to men, subservience, selflessness, self-renouncement and self-sacrifice, chastity before marriage, sexual passivity after marriage and erotic repression." Although women were viewed as more spiritual than men, that perspection came with a price. (http://couselingoutfitters.com/vistas/vista08/Jezzini.htm) According to this model, women who stayed true to it would go to heaven. The public sphere belonged to the men the private belonged to the women. Men were of the world, they were allowed to get dirty, commit sin, therefore they would go to pugartory. Their wives, mothers and sisters were to cry and pray for them to get to heaven. (Lectures Notes).

This is the standard by which the Californio were expected to live. Marianismo has its roots in the Catholic teaching of Mary, the long-suffering mother, expected by the men and yet, it was perpetuated by the women themselves.

Pulling Things Together, Part 2

The Law and Women

The Catholic Church and the Spanish Crown were tightly intertwined for hundreds of years. The views of the Church filtered through to the Crown. Recently, I spoke to you about the effect of the Real Pragmatica of 1779 had on women and marriage. Changes in the Real Pragmatica was the Crown's way of maintaining power over the Church and the people. It set the standards or rules by which Spain's subjects, in the old and new world, would live. In regards to women, marriage and New Spain, "marriage policies allowed parents to control their children, husbands to control their wives, and mission priests to control the Indians." (Bouvier, 114) With these policies in place, the Crown could maintain some control over who its subjects married and assure that the blood line would remain pure. Being far removed from the headquarters of New Spain, presented the citizens of Alta Califronia with difficulties enforcing the policies.

Mexico's independence from Spain brought very little change to those in Alta California, in fact, they had become self-sufficient from Mexico and were of low priority to the government. The real power was with the large Spanish families and the alcaldes of the towns. Who as we know was like a jack of all trades: a highly respected man, "mayor, justice of the peace, and godfather." He "heard all the compliants and passed judgement according to the traditional local social and religious mores." (Bastian,313) Those of pure blood were considered the elite. For this reason, intermarrying among the elite families was necessary, in addition, having large families ensured that the family blood line would continue. The Californios were proud of their large families. It's important to mention that although the Californio women had a dozen of more children, in most cases the children did not live to maurity, as in the case with the Peralta family.

Okay two love stories then I'll move on to marianismo. So hang in there!

Josefa Carrillo-Fitch: 1810 -1893

The story of Josefa Carrillo is fun. She is the maternal grand-daughter of the famous Maria Feliciana Arballo, who came on the 1775 Anza expedition with Father Font. Being a widow it was discouraged for her to travel alone, but she did it anyway and brought her two daughters with her. She was criticized by the Father Font for participating in a fandango one night around the campfire. The man she traveled with with upset when she stood up and sang a few verses which were "discordant" (that's what Father Font calls it) and he struck her. Father Font defended this man's actions but Captain Anza stood in her defense. Josefa inherited this fiesty character from her great-grandmother.

They met in 1826 when she was only 16 and he was 27. Henry Delano Fitch was a American merchant seaman who came into San Diego on the Maria Ester. They became attracted to each, so when he proposed marriage, she accepted. It was becoming an acceptable practice for the elite Californio women to marry Anglo-American businessmen. Her father gave his approval and as expected Fitch was baptized Catholic the day before the wedding. The following day the ceremony was interrupted by a messenger who said that Governor Echeandia had forbidden them to get married. The priest immediately stopped and, he and all guests quickly left the wedding. Carrillo says they quick departure was consistent with "people, who by character and upbringing, were used to blindly obeying all governmental orders." Needless to say, the ceremony did not take place. According to Carrillo, the governor stopped the wedding because he claimed that Fitch had not completed the requirments for becoming a Mexican citizen but she says it was because he was a "disappointed suitor for her hand."

Fitch turned to Pio Pico, a relative of Carrillo, who helped Fitch come up with a plan. Pico went to Carrillo's home and convinved to go with him to meet Fitch. He took her by horseback to meet Fitch and that night they sailed away on the Buitre to Valparaiso, Chile, where they were married. Fitch faithfully, Carrillo testifies, kept his promise to Pico that he as "long as he(Fitch) was alive, his wife would be happy." (Beebe and Senkewicz, 69-81).

Their romanitc story became popular and was known by many. Painted by Charles Nahl in 1875

Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton: 1831 - 1895

The life of Maria Amparo is full of many historical stories of her day. She was a binational who was caught in the middle of a changing world. Frustrated by a country, religion and culture that held men in higher regard than women, she exclaimed in her writings, "Ah, if I were a man! What a sorry thing a woman is!" (Sanchez and Pita, xi). She was a landowner and an accomplished writer. Through her writings, we can see the discrimination that women and Mexicans lived through after the takeover of California by the United States in the mid to late nineteenth century.

One story in particular that illustrates how the law and Church influenced the lives of the Calfornio women was in relation to her marriage to Captain Henry S. Burton of the US Army. Under the Mexican and Catholic laws marriage was a sacred covenant made between two baptized Catholics by a Catholic priest. As it happens, Governor Pico, received a chastisement by Bishop Garcia Diego for allowing inter-faith marriages. The new vicar, Franciscan Jose Gonzales Rubio, wrote to the military governor petitioning his support in not allowing inter- religion marriages. Colonel Mason agreed to respect the Mexican laws and policies until others were established.(Sanchez and Pita, 10).

On July 9, 1849, Maria Amparo Ruiz, a Catholic, married Captain Henry S. Burton, a Protestant in Monterey, California by a Protestant minister. This, of course, shocked the Church and the Californios, especially the women. The couple had sought the blessing of Friar Ramirez, nonethless she was banished from the "Catholic society." Maria was a strong, independent woman who would not shy away from, "countering social prescriptions for women." She sought counsel from the Church and was told that she would need a dispensation, a relaxation of the law by a superior who has the authority to enforce such, to be recognized as a married woman in the eyes of the Church. Rubio agrees to give her a dispensation with the agreement that she will continue attending he Catholic Church, teach her children the Catholic religion, and convert her husband to Catholicism. (Sanchez and Pita, 11).

Rubio asks the new governor of California, General Bennett Riley, to please respect Catholic marriage laws and adhere to the original understanding made by Colonel Mason. The acting Secretary of State, Henry W. Halleck, informs Rubio that Riley has no authority to keep that agreement because it was made as a "temporary wartime provision" and its enforcement would be in direct inviolation with the "spirit of the Constitution of the United States." (Sanchez and Pita, 11).

Maria's need for a dispensation from the Catholic church became a moot point when at the end of 1849, the California Constitution clearly stated in Article XI, Miscellaneous Provisions, Section 12: " No contract of marriage, if otherwise duly made, shall be invalidated for want of conformity to the requirement of any religious sect." (Sanchez and Pita, 14).

Pulling Things Together

As I have begun to pull all my material together I have asked myself, "what does these all mean?" Thinking about the role Maria Luisa Peralta has played in my research has lead me to ask, "why is her life silent?" and "what is the cause for this silence?" I have been searching for a significance in all that I have researched, read, and seen. Can it be that the opinions and views of the women in Alta California were of no consequence that they are omitted from history? My research has lead me to answer a resounding "NO!" In fact, I have unearthed mounds of information, it might not all be in their words but it tells about who they were and it reveals lives that greatly contributed to the building up of California. My research also leads me to claim that the social status of the Spanish-Mexican women of Alta California was greatly influenced by the Catholic Church and its views on the role of women in society. Further, the Spanish Crown and later the Mexican government promulgated these views by supporting the Church as the an absolute power. I will use the examples of women from Alta California to illustrate the views of the Catholic Church regarding women, the political views that affected these women and the cultural customs which preserved this social status. Also, I will show how all these three areas worked together to keep women in their assigned sphere. Lastly, I will address how my research has affected Bay Area History.

Religion and Women

It is impossible to speak of Alta California without mentioning the influence of the mission era on women. As we all know, the different orders of Cathloic priests split the land in Latin America and set out christianize the Native Americans. Between 1769 -1823, Father Junipero Serra and other Spanish friars established missions throughout California.


We are all familiar with the plan to build missions then lure the Indians into the missions using beads or food. Once in, the Indians would be baptized and expected to forsake their old ways. The priests were convinced that with long-term exposure to a Christian life the savage Indians could be converted. In the essay, "Sifting the Evidence: Perceptions of Life at the Ohlone (Costanoan) Missions of Alta California," by Russell K Skowronek, he claims that after "more than sixty years of missionary efforts," comprehensive studies reveal that the Ohlone, "maintained aspects of their precontact culture."

One reason for which Hispanic women were recruited to Alta California was for the express purpose of serving as role models for the neophyte women in the missions. Their role was to instill European habits of personal hygiene and etiquette and train the Indian women in the practical tasks of weaving and sewing. They served as "supervisors." More importantly, they were to prepare the neophytes for Christian marriage.

Eulalia Perez: Life of a Llavera

Eulalia Perez is significant to the story of the Californio woman because she was an eyewitness to the life of the neophytes living in the missions. She presents a female perspective on mission life. She lived in a house by Mission San Gabriel(in present day Los Angeles) and was keeper of the keys for tweleve to fourteen years. She described the "nuts and bolts" of mission life to Thomas Savage who interviewed Californios for the Bancroft Project in 1876. At the time of the interview, she couldn't remember how old but did remember when San Diego had "no other houses at the presidio except the comanders house and the soldier's barracks." (Beebe and Senkewicz, 100) Some say she was older than Spanish Alta California and others claim that she lived to be 140 years old.

She raised her family at the mission. Her daughters married and their husbands worked for the mission. Her son served as a guard. Eulalia's whole life was involved in the upkeep and success of the mission. In her testimonio, she speaks clearly and in detail about her responsiblities in organizing the processes for cooking and serving the meals for the laborers of the mission. She speaks in detail about the food that was cooked and how she kept track of all the comings and goings of the Indians assigned to her care. The internal operations of the mission, she felt, were "directed largely by her and her daughters." She witnessed the punishment the priests inflicted on the Indians for their disobedience. Most of all, "she celebrated the Spanish and Mexican women of Alta California. They educated the children, they cured diseases, and at Mission San Gabriel, they administered the largest population center in the Los Angeles area." I believe that it is safe to say that mission life was "her responsibility and her joy." Secularization "was painful to her as it had been for any of the clergy." (Beebe and Senkiwicz, 98)

Eulalia was living and working at Mission San Gabriel when Ferdinand painted this picture of the mission in 1832.

Perez's experiences in the mission are a positive testimony for those who are researching mission life. This was not the case with other Hispanic women serving in missions. Although the Hispanic women were greatly needed they were not trusted. Typically, one of the first buildings to be erected in the missions was the monjerio, the dormitories were where the single neophyte women slept. At the Santa Barbara Mission, no one was allowed to enter the monjerio without the keys of the "prelate, the alcalde, and the corporal of the mission guard. And no one was allowed in without the consent of the mission priest."(Bouvier,84)

Part of the preparation for expeditions, specifically in recruiting women for Alta California, Anza, Moncada and Rivera were instructed by the priests to take special care in selecting the women who would come to settle the new area. First of all, they had to be willing to relocate. They looked for Hispanic women who were of a pure blood line. Women who had a "good character" since they and their "daughters" would become the wives of soldiers. To set a proper example of a Christian woman for the neophyte converts, the expedition leaders were cautioned to look for virtuous women, this being the most important quality to the priests.

The Law and Women: See next post

• Example from the personal letters of Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton

Marianismo: See next post

• What is this? and How did this affect the lives of Spanish-Mexican women

Focus on Maria Luisa Peralta

Update of Research:

On my last post I mentioned discovering the Peralta adobe and the San Jose Historical Research Library. I wasn't able to meet with Jim yet but might not need to still I will call him again for an appointment. The other leads I had were two books that I felt might give me something more of Maria's life. So this took me to San Leandro Library. I was able to read and make copies there of some information I think was pretty useful. The two books are:

1. Fibel, Pearl Randolph. The Peraltas: Spanish Pioneers and the First Family of the East Bay. Oakland: Peralta Hospital. 1971.
2. Fox, Frances L. Luis Maria Peralta and His Adobe. San Jose. Smith-McKay, 1979.

After reading about Maria Luisa's family's beginnings (again), I've decided to spend some time on trying to fill in some of the holes in her early years. Because there is not much written on her I can only infer. Sorry, if some of this is repetitive:( Okay, so as of now this is what I know about Maria upbringing and childhood...

Maria Luisa Peralta was born on December 9, 1810 in San Jose, California. It is very likely that she was born at home in the family adobe. (Fox, 20)In those early days San Jose was a very small pueblo. The Spanish map below gives you an idea of what her town was like.

As far as the mission records, her mother Maria Loreto Alviso gave birth to seventeen children. There are 2 - 3 year spaces between some of the birth dates which leads one to guess that there were other children born that are not recorded otherwise all the other children were born approximately a year apart. Maria was the fourteenth child. She lived a pioneers life moving from place to place, setting up her home under crude circumstances. (Fibel, 3)

Her mother was the matriarch of her home and the godmother of many of her relatives children. She died on July, 1836 as is buried in Mission Santa Clara. Her grave site in unmarked. (Fox, 19)

Mission Santa Clara in 1848. Painted by A.P. Hill in 1180.

http://www.http//faculty.fairfield.edu./hodgson/courses/city/losangeles/early_images/laviews.html

Her father Luis Maria Peralta was an educated man who believed that only men should be educated and women should stay home "protected" and remain there until they were married or died (whichever came first). He believed that his daughters should spend their days praying, therefore, two of his unmarried daughter lived with him until his death. Neither one of them ever learned to write their names, they used a "cross to sign legal documents." (Fox, 22)

Peralta was thought of as a strict but kind man. Because they lived in a patriarchy society, the children never challenged their father on any issue. He ruled their home and family; his children were completely obedient to him. He taught his family importance of family and the value of owning land rather than hunting for gold. He instructed his sons to leave the gold to the "Americans" claiming that God had put it there for them. (Fibel, 16) He further "commanded" his children to remain united and to educate their children. (Fibel, 11)

Peralta was a military man thus moving his family from place to place. Depending on his assignment, the family would remain in one presidio or mission anywhere from one to five years. He relocated to San Jose in 1807 and stayed there until his death in 1851. (Fox, 23) It was during their life in San Jose that Peralta petitioned for a land grant and was given 44, 800 acres. Rancho San Antonio emcompassed all of present day San Leandro, Oakland, Emeryville, Piedmont, Berkeley and Albany.

Peralta petitoned to Governor don Pablo Vicente de sola, last spanish govenor of California (Fibel, 5)

Upon his death, his estate was valued at $1,383,500. (Fibel, 11) In his will, Rancho San Antonio was divided between his four living sons. Later, four Peralta daughters, Guadalupe and Josefa (the single daughters) Trinidad and Maria Luisa challenged their father's will in the California Supreme Court, claiming that their father had not left the land to their brothers. In 1861, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the four sons. (Fibel 19, 26)

It was under these circumstances that Maria Luisa was reared. From this we can infer that she was illiterate, faithful to her family and to God. It's very likely that she helped her mother to keep house and care for her three younger siblings, two of which died eleven days after birth.

The following tells us a little more about the different things Maria Luisa learned to do at home.

Maria would have learned to make candles out of tallow. Wax candles like this one would have been saved for special occasions

Maria would have known how to ride horses. She would have learned while practicing on a stationary saddle such as this one.

She would have made her own dolls and toys out of corn husk.

As a young girl, Maria would have wore shawls. These are plain ones that she would wear everyday but she would also have fancier ones for special occasions.

This gives you a better picture of what Maria Luisa's life as a child could have been like. A very strict and traditional father. A mother who is swamped with housework and babies at her feet. A girl who can't read or write and is well protected by her father and brothers, I'm sure. Growing up in a quickly changing world. what must have it been like to finally leave home and start her life away from that well-guarded nest she grew up in?

On my next post I will continue her story into her young adult and married life. Stay tuned....

Silent Women

Update on Research: This past week has been quite intense in ways but I've managed to get a few things done in my research on Maria Luisa Peralta: life of an Alta Californio woman.

• So as I've been researching Peralta and other Californio women, I've asked myself over and over again, "why is there so much written on the Peralta men, as well as Californio men, in general, and nothing to very little on the women?" One reason is that the journal writers are men. Most Spanish women were "functionally illiterate" (Bouvier, 66). Another would be because the Spanish lived by a patriarchy system where the men spoke for the women and children. Which leads to my next question, what are we missing in the story by not having the women's account of things, her take on the story? I believe I may be trying to answer my second question in this research.
• Found a book at our CSU EastBay Library entitled, Women and the Conquest of California, 1542-1840: Codes of Silence by Virginia M. Bouvier. It speaks heavily of the Indian women of California from its mythic beginnings, through exploration, evangelization and on to the end of the mission era.


• But chapter 4: Colonization pertained to my subject in that it illustrated the women's silent role in the settlement of Alta California. Originally, only men were sent to settle and Chrisitanize territories in the frontier but that created problems with the Indian women. Father Palou, acting president in Father Serra's absence, presented the plan to send families to settle Alta California instead of only men. He felt that if willing and enthusiastic families accepted to go to the frontier there would be greater likeihood of them staying and populating the areas . They recruited from Baja California and Mexico. To their disappoinment people were not that enthusiastic to go. The conflict with the Indians in the Arizona territory encouraged a few to volunteer.(55)


• The second expedition, which is the one where Maria Luisa's father came with, included 5 diarists, all men: Captain Anza and three priests, one kept two journals. All these records attest to the presence of women on the this trek. Included in these writings were the plans they had for the women participating in this venture. They also included details of pregnancies, births, miscarriages that occured while on the trail. (62-63) Bouvier points out that although the men were diligent in keeping these records they failed to include the names of the mothers. When they are mentioned it's in relation to the husband, "the wife of" or "she is faring badly." Occasionaly, a woman's name might appear on a separate report about the colonists.


• Women were also legally silenced. The Catholic Church was greatly influential, if not controlling, in the lives of the Spaniards. But in the mid-eigtheenth century the Spanish Crown found it own way to control the lives of its people. http://chnm.gmu.edu/wwh/p/233.html According to Bouvier, the Royal Pragmatica "embodied many of the Spanish attitudes of the time about race, class and gender." Spanish law and the Catholic Church determined the treatment of women. The Royal Pragmatica of 1776, was Spain's way of controlling the institution of marriage. Its whole purpose was to avoid unequal marriages. What it did was to side the law with the "husband when parents disagreed over their children's marriage choices" backing up the "husband's authority to overrule his wife's support of their children's marriages choices." (114)

Conclusions from my reading about the Californio Women who settled Alta California:

• Women were necessary to the plan of colonizing Alta California. As mothers and wives they made it possible to settle the Spanish frontier lands.
• By creating stability and a family life the Spanish men became more productive.


• The women would become residents and workers of presidios, missions and ranchos.


• Living in a time when women were silenced by the law and the Church, the Californio women's voices speak loudly of fortitude, devotion for family, and perserverance through their ability to endure many hardships on their overland trail. Walking or on horseback, they continued their 1000 mile journey while pregnant, having miscarriages and giving birth.

Now the for the update on Maria Luisa Peralta:
What do I know about Maria Luisa now? It occured to me that Maria was born in 1810 and married in 1829, so in asking myself, what did she do between 1810 and 1829? I remembered that her father, although he was the owner of Rancho San Antonio, he never lived there. In 1804, he went to live in the Pueblo de Guadalupe, which we know as the City of San Jose today, and lived in what is now called the Peralta Adobe. So what? Well, this must be where Maria Luisa was born and lived until she married in 1829.

The Peralta Adobe is the oldest building still standing in San Jose. It was built in 1787. It is located on West Saint John Street in San Jose.

What her front room might have looked like. Everything in their homes, besides the china were made on the ranchos.
The bedroom is furnished with furniture of the Spanish period. Maria might have shared a bed similar this with one.
This is un horno, the oven where Maria's family would have cooked their meals. All meals were cooked outside. Bread was cooked inside this horno. They would wait until the oven was real hot, they'd put in the bread, close the door then wrap wet towels at the door to prevent fires.



Manuel Gonzales, an Apache Indian, traveled with the 1775 Anza Expedition along with Luis Maria Peralta, age 16. Gonzales built and lived in the Adobe. Peralta acquired the Adobe in 1804.
Diseno del Pueblo de San Jose en el ano 1866. This is a drawing of the Pueblo of San Jose in 1866. Gives us an idea of the size of the city.

So, maybe I need to look in San Jose for information instead of Hayward or Oakland. I looked up resources on the internet and found the following:

1. History of San Jose Research Library http://www.historysanjose.org/researchlibrary/. I called to make an appoinment with Jim Reid(Reed?) the curator of archives and collections at the research library. I'll report back after our visit.
2. I was also able to order a book entitled Luis Maria Peralta and his Adobe by Frances L. Fox from the San Jose Library. Should get it sometime this week. I'm hoping to find one new fact about Maria Luisa.
3. Now a shout out to Mary Ann from our class. She gave me a link to the San Leandro Library and they have a book in special collections entitled The Peraltas: Spanish Pioneers and the First Family of the East Bay by Pearl Randolph Fibel. They don't check it out so I'll have to go there and see if it has anything new for me. By it's title I'm real hopeful.
   

Do I Have My Act Together Yet?

Quick Note: Having difficulty this week. Too much reading to keep up with and a feeling at a loss for my potential goal. Will check in soon and update you on my latest findings:) Haven't given up. Need to change my blog name, or do I?

Getting My Act Together

Heads Up: If you are having trouble viewing my photo album, this is what you have to do: after clicking on the link to the left from my homepage and picasa opens, click on the tab "gallery." You'll get a warning page but it gives you an option to "open this content in a new window." Click on that it will open up my web album. Thanks for your patience:)

Update on Research: Just to update you on what I have been doing this past week as far as finding out about the women of Alta California, I've been doing the following:

• Spent last Wednesday afternoon at the Hayward Historical Society reading newspaper articles, books, etc on the Peralta family. Lots of the same stuff on Guillermo Castro. Frustratingly though, not much on Maria Luisa Peralta. Made copies of possibly useful info. Look below for some cool facts:)
• I spent time reading the book Testimonios: Early California through the Eyes of Women, 1815-1848 which has given me an up-close and personal look at the lives of several Californio women. Because they're narratives, they tend to be short and about a specific historical event, such as the Bear Flag events so that limits me quite a bit. There is nothing on Maria Luisa but there is a narrative of Rosalia Vallejo who lived in Sonoma and Monterey so life couldn't have been too terribly different.

Courtesy of The Bancroft Libray, University of California, Berkeley as it apprears in Testimonios: Early California through the Eyes of Women, 1815-1848. Cerruti interviewing Rosanna Leese(daughter of Rosalia Vallejo) . Present are( from left to right): Cerruti, Jose Abrego, Mariano Vallejo, Rosanna Leese, and Vicente P. Gomez.p.xix.

• I've also had some time to read an ebook from our library. In Telling Identities: The Californio Testimonios, Rosaura Sanchez dedicates one chapter on gender issues of Californio women which is entitled Politics of Gender. It deals with the amount of children these women had, seriously though, 17 kids and in some cases 25. She refers to them as "breeders. "Did they have any choice? And how many of these children actually lived long enough to be a viable part of their family? She quotes a german marxist and feminist by the name of Frigga Haug who argues that by the mere fact that women desire marriage and motherhood they "become willing accomplices in their own oppression." (Sanchez, 190) Sanchez explains the need for women to bear many children attributing it to the need to populate the Alta California territory. Bodies were needed to upkeep the missions, presidios as well as ranchos. (Sanchez, 191) More on this next week...

Story of a Californio Woman: Hopefully, I haven't put you to sleep but if you are feeling a bit dozy here's a short account of one of the Californio women, so get cozy.
Maria Antonia Rodriguez comes from a family that had a unique part in the history of California. Her father, a carpenter, was recruited by Junipero Serra to come to California from Jalisco, Mexico. In San Diego, he likely helped rebuild the mission after it was attacked by Kumeyaay Indians in 1775. In Monterey, he married the daughter of a presidio soldier. Maria Valvanera Antuna gave birth to twelve children. They're sixth child was Maria Antonia. At the age of fifteen, Maria married Feliciano Soberanes, together they had fourteen children (yikes!).

The narrative begins with Cerruti paying a visit to the "widow of Feliciano Soberanes" by this time she was an old woman. Maria Antonia had experienced much in her life. When she was only eight years of age, she witnessed the burning and sacking of the Monterey presidio by a pirate named Bouchard and his lieutenant, Gomez. She was very Catholic attributing her safety of that frightful night to the Virgin Mary.

At the time of Cerruti's visit. Maria Antonia was living with her daughter,Anita Shaw. During the visit, she asked Anita to play the piano for their guest. Cerruti claims that she played "admirably." Maria Antonia relates to Cerruti of customs and traditions in courtship. She again asks her daughter to play, this time, she asks her to play the jarabe. "The jarabe is a dance that is quite similar to the jig that is all the rage with Americans," she explains then goes on to tell him about the customs surrounding dances and social gatherings. (Beebe and Senkewicz, 43-48)

Conclusions about Californio Women:

• Women married at a very young age
• Women had as many children as was physically possible
• The women came North with their husbands and families to Alta California to establish missions, presidios and start a new life.
• Through Rodriguez' narrative, we learn that women were not to accept large gifts from men without appearing interested in him.
• Californio women were culturaled and musically talented
• Women were part of the history of California
• Californio women were faithful Catholics
• Women were loyal to their way of life

Update on Peralta Women: From the sources at the Historical Society I learned that her father Sgt. Luis Maria Peralta was born in 1759. His baptismal records show that he was baptized in Mission Guevari therefore, it is supposed that he ws born in the Tubac garrison nearby. (Bowman. 1)Tubac was a Spanish colonial garrison in Southern Arizona that lay on the Camino Real from Mexico to Spanish settlements in California (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tubac). He came with his parents, Gabriel and Francisca Valenzuela Peralta, on the Anza expedition in 1775 to Monterey, California. He married Maria Loreta Alviso (age 13) in 1790 at Mission Santa Clara. They had seventeen children of which nine reached the age of maturity.

Maria Luisa was born in 1810 and died December 15, 1873 at the age of 63. Not bad. She was the fourteenth of the seventeen children (Bowman, 2). She married Guillermo Castro in 1829 at the age of 19 and, unlike her mother, Maria only had seven children, four boys and three girls. I made the connection that her life coincided with "California's transistion from a colony of Spain to a State of the Union." From this same book, I learned that her father Don Luis Maria Peralta died in 1851. (Sandoval)

In Search of Secondary Sources

Hi Everyone! I feel like all I've been doing this week is reading, online as well as books, articles, you name it. But this has resulted in a better grasp on the subject of my blog.

My interest in Maria Luisa Peralta has taken me in many directions. This quote written by Rosaura Sanchez and Beatrice Pita in their book, Conflict of Interest: the letters of Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton, really describes my journey so far, they write,"archival research is itself a painstaking task; it is slow detective-like work, where one finding opens up new avenues of investigation often ending in archival deadends. Following up on different leads can become a daunting task, and establishing parameters is only possible after a critical mass of material has been gathered. (xv)" That about sums it up! I've been searching for valuable secondary sources and surprisingly I have found many I think can be helpful in one way or another.

So allow me to share with you my adventures as of late then I'll tell you what my subject is developing into. Last week, I searched for Maria Luisa Peralta and found that Oakland has a historical site for the Peralta family. It's great! So my sweet husband suggested we go check it out. Isn't he wonderful?! On Saturday afternoon, we got in the car and drove to Oakland. I believe that I found alot of useful information there. It was interseting to me that they had so many pictures and information on Maria's brothers and her father but nothing on her mother, sisters or her. Only their names and birth dates, no picture. Not one. Holly Alonso, historian and director of the historical site, put together an altar on Maria's mother's behalf. She has found or hasn't that nothing is said about them in the history books, only that they existed. Now I should add though that some of her nieces are mentioned, there is even a beautiful portrait of them. I believe its because they grew up in that house. Alonso wrote a poem (that is mounted on the wall next to the altar) addressing the silence of history on the Peralta women. You can take a look for yourself at http://www.slideshare.net/peraltahacienda/peralta-family-tree-qa-book slide down to page nine. I've also posted my pictures of the house, the portrait and other things.

I believe I can use Alonso's poem as a secondary source. Now, as far as other sources, I went to the Pleasanton Library and checked out Testimonios: Early California through the Eyes of Women, 1815 - 1848 by Rose Marie Beebe and Robert M. Senkewicz. These oral histories were collected by Hubert Howe Bancroft sometime in 1874 with the intent to document a thorough history of California while some of the old Californios yet lived. He hired the help of Henry Cerruti, Thomas Savage, Vicente P. Gomez and others to travel from home to home asking particular questions of the men who were part of California's history. What he hadn't counted on or even took an interest in were the 13 women who spoke in place of their deceased husbands.

Beebe and Senkewicz, have translated the Spanish documents into English for us to read and understand history through the eyes of these 13 women. They had quite a challenge in doing so being that some of the histories were written in English. Why is that a problem? Well, the women spoke Spanish but Cerruti wrote their words in English because that was easier for him. But as we know much is lost in translation. Therefore, they translated everything back to Spanish then to English again producing a more clear translation. They have attempted to present a work that gives the reader the story the women intended to relate.

Other sources I'm looking at:
Telling identities: the Californios testimonios by Rosaura Sanchez
Conflicts of Interest: the letters if Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton by Rosaura Sanchez and Beatrice Pita
http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/projects/women/1Title.html

All of these sources deal in some form with Spanish-Mexican women of the early-to-mid nineteenth century. What I hope to find is a voice for the women of this time. What was life like for the Californio women? What were the societal expectations of women in those times? The history of the Peralta women might be silent but what I'm discovering is that there are many stories out there.

So, what's on the Internet?

Okay, I spent some time surfing the internet, as we say, looking for some info on immigration in the Bay Area. but I think Professor Ivey is right, I need to choose a group to focus on because there's too much out there and I need to be more specific. So I thought I'd start by taking a trip to see Diane at the Hayward Historical Society to see what she had on the subject.

Hayward Historical Society. On the corner of Main St and C St. http://haywardareahistory.org

She's great she showed me what she had and we talked about other options. I told her that I was also considering researching Guillermo Castro's wife, Maria Luisa Peralta. You see that's my mother's maiden name. Yeah, I'm also a Peralta! So, I figured it might be interesting to see what life was like for the Peralta's in alta California versus the Peralta's of Costa Rica. The only picture of Guillermo is the one we've all seen in the book.

Painting of Guillermo Castro from the Hayward Historical Area Museum Collection. 79.033.1527. http://www.haywardareahistory.org/

I haven't found a picture of Maria Luisa but was able to find of picture of her father. I also found her geneology. Diane and I talked about focsuing my blog on the life of a Spanish Californio(not misspelled, that's what the early Spanish families were called, The Californios) woman. What her life might have been like. So, I'll keep you posted on my ever changing blog. Now, how do I make my blog title work with this story? Hmmm...

Coming To America

• At the age of 2, I immigrated from Costa Rica, Central America to the United States with my mother and four siblings. My father had immigrated 6 months before us. Our family settled in San Jose, California. We came to the States with the idea of living here 3 years then returning to Costa Rica, I guess that plan didn't work out because it's been 46 years and I'm still here! Hah!
  
  Hi, I'm Milly Eastburn. I'm beginning this blog with the express purpose of examing immigration: past and present in the Bay Area, California. This is an ongoing research for a history class at CSU East Bay in Hayward, CA. The class is entitled History of The San Francisco Bay Area. My professor has challenged me to look at the city of Hayward and its surrounding areas rather than all of the Bay Area. Thus, I would like to exam the condition of the immigrant to this area. What do I mean by that? Well, I'm an immigrant and can relate to the hardships and challenges unique to this group of people. So, my thoughts at this point are to look at these areas and other characteristics common to all immigrants. I plan to review ports of entry, reasons for leaving home countries and the different groups of people that settled this area, such as the Spanish, Portuguese(who as it seems are quite a large group of people here), Japanese, Mexicans(were they immigrants since they were already here?), Blacks and other peoples. At some point, I may focus on a specific ethnic group, part of town or challenge to better present my research.
  
  It's my argument that we are all immigrants. If not personally then someone at some point in our family history immigrated to this great country. Therefore, we can or should be able to relate to one another on an equal plane.