California Genealogy

San Luis, Rey de Francia, was founded June 13, 1798. This was the greatest, richest, and grandest of the old Missions, located in a most picturesque section, upon a beautiful site, not far from the ocean, at Oceanside, now a little gem of a modern city. In the day of its glory and wealth it was the pride of all the Missions. Father Peyri during his long service of more than thirty years made it his home. The Mission possessed more than two hundred thousand acres, and as much more became subject to its control as its energies expanded. It … Read more

San Juan Capistrano was founded November 1, 1776, by Serra, assisted by Amirrio. A commission of priests was sent from Monterey the year before to find a place for another Mission north of San Diego, in pursuance of a modified plan of establishing a line of Missions between the two points, of such distance apart as to make the journeys convenient and easy. The original plan was to found but one Mission. This was subsequently considered inadequate for the general purposes of colonization and the work of the Church, and several Missions had already been founded under the plans as … Read more

San Jose Mission was dedicated to St. Joseph, the spouse of the Holy Virgin, June 11, 1797, by direct order from the Apostolic College at San Fernando. Padre Lasuen founded it, and appointed Padres Isadore Barcenilla and Augustine Morino as priests in control of the Mission. It was the sister to Santa Clara, and situated three miles away, on the foothills of the Coast Range, where the beautiful city of San Jose is now located, and fifty miles south of San Francisco. The region is noted for its immense stretch of fertile and well-watered lands, upon which the flocks and … Read more

San Juan, Bautista, was founded in June 1797. Its church, now in ruins, was built in 180o. Its site is at San Benito, in a beautiful locality in that county, and on the road from Castroville to Gilroy. President Lasuen and Padre Martianena performed the usual ceremony of dedication. The original buildings were of wood, with pole roofs; but in the beginning of the next century erections of adobe, stone, and mortar, with massive walls and tile roofs, were substituted. The charming feature of this Mission was its numerous bells, with their sweetness and variety of tone, from treble of … Read more

San Jose De Guadalupe Mission was founded June 11 1797. It was situated about twenty miles northeast of what is now the city of San Jose, in the foothills. The first building was of wood, with a thatched roof; the adobe church was not completed and dedicated until 1 Bog. The number of converts promised success from the first, and steadily increased until, in 1824, the population settled about the Mission amounted to nearly two thousand souls. In 1805 a padre and a small escort of soldiers and Indians were attacked, one soldier being killed. This was the first overt, … Read more

This Mission was founded September 8, 1771. It is perhaps the most noted of all the Missions at this time, in that it comes often under the eye of both citizen and tourist. Located at the western entrance of a great and most lovely valley, and in the center of population and travel in Southern California, it commands the attention of every one who would look upon desirable scenes and store the mind with happy pictures for the future. The valley is surpassingly beautiful, the lavishness of nature vying with the deftness of art in creating a pleasing picture. All … Read more

San Francisco De Asis was founded by Padre Palou on the ninth of October 1776, on the Bay of San Francisco. The name was bestowed in honor of the founder of the Franciscan Order. For the first year the little band which formed the nucleus of the Mission experienced hard treatment at the hands of the Indians, still on the arrival of Serra in 1777 there were presented before him seventeen converts for baptism. The first church built was not precisely on the Mission’s present site, and the Lake Dolores of that day has disappeared as the city of San … Read more

San Fernando was founded September 8 1797. President Lasuen was in harmony with the plans of Serra to establish a series of Missions from the Mexican border to Monterey, and he dedicated this Mission to the King of Spain. The ruins of the adobe building now seen date back to 1806, when the erection thereof was completed. They stand in a valley as fertile and sunny as any in the State, a valley that is very great in extent and susceptible to cultivation throughout. Enclosed mainly by the San Fernando and Cuyhengo Ranges, it opens eastward through La Canada Pass … Read more

When land and ship expeditions arrived at San Diego a real experience in the great colonizing schemes was encountered. The men were in bad condition from poor food and water, thirty or more had died. The Indians had turned from friendliness to hostility and thieving. But zeal and energy were irresistible. On July r6 the cross was erected; in a temporary shelter of branches and reeds, in the presence of soldiers and sailors, mass was celebrated by Serra, and the bell was rung from the branch of a tree. All sung “Veni Creator”; the. standard of royalty was planted and … Read more

On June 3, 1770, the second Mission according to Serra’s plan, San Carlos Borremeo, was founded at Monterey. Serra himself was present and celebrated mass, at the conclusion of which Governor Portola proclaimed possession of the Bay of Monterey in the names of God and the King of Spain. The celebration of mass, the burning of incense, the ringing of bells (in this case hung from the branches of a tree), the chanting of “Veni Creator,” and the blessing of the adjacent waters and land, with the formal proclamation of proprietorship in the names of God and the King, constituted … Read more