Table of Contents
THE SANCHEZ FILE, Chapter Three
Encarnacion Ortega
Born in 1824, Encarnacion was the daughter of Quentin
Ortega and Vicenta Butron. She lived on Rancho San Ysidro, near present
day Gilroy. Quentin had inherited part of it. The other section was owned
by her aunt, Maria Clara Ortega, who was married to John Gilroy. Gilroy,
a Scot, had arrived in Monterey in 1814, the first foreign settler in California.
Bancroft, History of California, vol. III- p. 382
In order to marry Maria Clara and to own land he had become a naturalized
Mexican citizen and was known as Juan Gilroy.
Jose Maria Sanchez
Sanchez was twenty-one when he came to California from
Mexico in 1825 forming a partnership with Francisco Perez Pacheco. He and
Pacheco built a house and raised livestock. The first year they had 200
horses and 200 head of cattle. The next year they owned twenty-five hundred
head of cattle. They raised wheat, barley, corn and other vegetables. There
were forty or fifty servants and tenants living in eight other cabins.
Living in a time when most men would have been described
in the current
vernacular as "laid back", always ready for a fiesta,
Sanchez was all business. Whenever there was something to be done, such
as a rodeo or a trip to Monterey with cart loads of hides and tallow to
be shipped in Yankee Clippers, everybody was up early and Sanchez was always
there with a whip to be used alike on lagging man or beast.
Conversation of Dan Willson with his daughter, Malvina, and her husband
George Moore. Willson was a son-in-law of Sanchez, married to Vicenta.
The Marriage
In 1840 Sanchez asked his neighbor Quentin Ortega for
permission to marry his daughter, Encarnacion. Ortega saw it as an advantageous
marriage. Sanchez was wealthy, second only to Francisco Pacheco, and Encarnacion
would never do better; she was sixteen years old and it was time she got
married. Many girls were married by the time they were fourteen.
The marriage took place at Mission San Juan Bautista in
November. Jose Maria was twenty years older than his bride. Two of
the leading families in Monterey County had been united. Sanchez brought
his wealth and Encarnacion Ortega, a distinguished name. She was descended
from one of the first Spanish families in California. Her great-grandfather,
Sergeant Jose Francisco Ortega, had been the scout for the Portola expedition
of 1769 and was the first in the party to sight San Francisco Bay. For
his service to Spain he was granted Rancho Refugio near Santa Barbara.
The Sanchez Ranchos
Las Animas
The first rancho Sanchez bought was Las Animas from the
widow of Mariano Castro; 24,066 acres extending from the Pajaro River to
Mount Madonna in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The present city of Gilroy is
entirely within that grant.
Llano del Tequisquite
From the Mexican government he received the 16,016 acre
Rancho Llano del Tequisquite. San Felipe Lake, or Soap Lake, was on this
rancho and can be seen near state highway 152, a few miles west of its
junction with highway 156.
Lomerias Muertas
In 1844 Sanchez bought the 6,652 acres Rancho Lomerias
Muertas from Jose Castro. Lomerias Muertas means barren hills; it was swept
by summer winds from the ocean and had only a few trees in sheltered spots,
just the way it looks today.
With the acquisition of Lomerias Muertas, the Sanchez
domain extended over 44,000 acres with the Pajaro River dividing his lands.
Most of his cattle roamed the plains on the other side of the river at
Llano del Tequisquite and Las Animas, but Sanchez decided to build a new
home for Encarnacion at Lomerias Muertas on the south side of the river.
It had higher ground and was not likely to flood, but it meant that he
would have to cross the river to go home from Las Animas. This sealed his
fate.
The Sanchez Homestead
Sanchez built a two story house near the junction of the
Pajaro and San Benito Rivers in an open field with no trees or bushes around
it. He wanted a clear view in all directions with no vegetation to hide
marauding Indians.
Sanchez was alcalde, or mayor, of San Juan and that position
plus his business trips to Monterey meant he was often away from home.
He was concerned for the safety of his new bride.
Tulare Indians from the San Joaquin Valley were always
a threat and had attacked the Sanchez rancho the previous year, killing
cattle and stealing horses. In this raid Sanchez had been wounded and two
Indians from the mission who worked for him were killed. Earlier in the
year of his marriage there had been another attack. His old house was burned,
but this time Sanchez was able to pursue the Indians and wound two of them.
Fortunately there were no more raids.
Sanchez, the Alcalde
After the United States took possession of California,
the military government kept the alcaldes in office, as Congress had not
yet provided for territorial government. Sanchez remained alcalde of San
Juan, but finally resigned to devote more time to his thriving business.
He arranged an election for a new alcalde and notified Richard B. Mason,
the U.S. military governor at Monterey that Julian Anzar was the winner.
This drew a sharp response from the governor who reminded
Sanchez that California was still under military rule and elections
could not be held.
Head Qrs 10th Mil. Dept.
Monterey, Cal
Nov. 22, 1847
Jose Maria Sanchez
San Juan Bautista
Sir:
Your communication of the 21st of the present month has
been received informing me that Julian Anzar had been elected in your place.
This election was unauthorized. When you were last at this place and spoke
to me on this subject of a new alcalde I said to you that I would appoint
any person whom the people would sign a petition for.
No petition has come in. The election being unauthorized
is null and void. I enclose to you the appointment of alcalde for Julian
Anzar, which be pleased to deliver to him.
Signed, R.B. Mason Col. 1st Dragoons
Gove. of Cal.
Head Qrs 10th Mil. Dept.
Mason had no problem with Anzar becoming alcalde, but he
had to be appointed by him, not elected by the people. However Anzar did
not want the post. Mason wrote Sanchez another letter:
Head Qrs 10th Mil. Dept.
Monterey, Cal
Dec. 6th 1847
Jose Maria Sanchez
San Juan Bautista
Sir:
Julian Anzar does not wish to accept the appointment of
Alcalde. I will, as I informed you at the time I was in Monterey, appoint
anyone as Alcalde for whom the people will sign a petition, provided the
person will accept the office, which you should ascertain before sending
in the petition. I request that you
will attend to this affair.
I am Respectfully
your Obt Srvt
R.B. Mason, Gov of Cal.
The Children
Encarnacion and Sanchez had their first child in 1841,
with the birth of daughter Vicenta, named for Encarnacion's mother. In
the next five years there would be four more children, two of them twins.
One day a stranger rode up to the Sanchez Rancho and introduced
himself as a census taker for the United States. California, as a new state,
was going to have its residents counted for the first time for the census
of 1850.
This is what he recorded:
| Jose Maria Sanchez |
46
|
farmer |
| Encarnacion |
26
|
wife |
| Vicenta |
9
|
daughter |
| Refugia |
8
|
daughter |
| Candelaria |
6
|
daughter |
| Guadalupe |
4
|
daughter |
| Gregorio |
4
|
son |
Guadalupe and Gregorio were twins.
The census taker wanted to know if there were any adults
in the house who could not read or write. Sanchez told him his wife, Encarnacion,
could not.
The census taker penned an unusual note to the last page
he sent to Washington.
Grazing is the principal interest of the country.
Ranches of unknown extent, even to their owners, are covered with vast
herds of cattle and horses, whose number also is generally unknown to the
proprietors.
The extent of agriculture is the raising of a small patch
of beans, hence the chief articles of food are beef and beans.
No accurate account can be obtained of the value of their
ranches or stock. Labor is almost unknown, hence no productions of industry.
A vast majority of the population can neither read or write.
The climate is mild and healthy. No (illegible word) disease
and death by sickness is rare.
Finally, the only accurate returns required by law, that
can be made at this time is mainly the number of inhabitants, which I believe
I have given very accurately.
It was not required that a census taker write his interesting
observations, but we are grateful that our anonymous friend did.
Sanchez, the businessman
With thousands of cattle, Sanchez made money selling hides
and tallow, the only parts of the animal worth anything. There was no demand
for meat. The hides went to Monterey by ox cart and then were shipped to
San Diego for drying in the arid climate. The cattle were not like the
stocky Herefords seen around San Juan today. Bancroft described the Mexican
cattle as "light weight with long, thin legs, heads held high and wide-spread
horns. They roamed in untamed freedom." A few ranches in Monterey County
still have small herds of the longhorns.
Besides trading in hides, Sanchez began manufacturing
soap from the tallow. The primitive soap factory on Rancho Llano del Tequisquite
was a frame structure with a large kettle from a whaling vessel. It had
been enlarged by placing long slabs of wood upwards from the edges, until
it was about eight feet high. The wood was held together by iron hoops
and finally enclosed with adobe. The necessary ingredients were thrown
into the vessel in their natural state without any preparation. When solidified,
the
material was cut into bars, taken to Monterey and sold
to the ships. The sailors liked the Sanchez soap because it mixed well
with sea water.
In 1845 Sanchez signed a contract with Thomas Larkin,
merchant and American consul in Monterey, for the sale of the soap. Monterey
was the capital of Mexico's province, and the only port of entry. All ships
had to stop there for customs inspection before trading in other California
ports.
After gold was discovered in 1848, the workers at the
soap works deserted and the business was abandoned. Sanchez soon learned
that the Americans wanted beef. Now instead of his cattle being worth a
dollar a head for the hides and tallow, he could sell them for $70 or $80
each to San Francisco, Sacramento and the mines. The miners liked beef
that was cut into strips, dried in the sun and salted. The Spaniards called
it charqui; to the miners it was jerky.
The Sanchez horses, formerly worth three to ten dollars
a head, now sold readily, when broken to the saddle, for upwards of three
hundred dollars.
Sanchez also was a gambler.
Chapter Four