Remembering My Childhood (Cecelia Coronado) - Part Two

(This is the second in a series of posts based on audio recordings made by my mother, Cecelia Coronado Phipps in 1983.)

Mama and Papa started out very poor, with a very small little place.  When they were first married, they lived at the Blue Rock Springs.  Mrs. Madrid was my father's sister.  Mr. Manual Madrid was my mother's cousin.  Angela and Manual Madrid lived at and owned the Blue Rock Springs, which was farther out toward the hills, which had natural mineral waters.  That's where Mama and Papa lived when they were first married.  I believe that Dolph was born there.  Marianita was also born there.  She later died at the age of 10[1]. ... Mama always said that she was just too perfect to live.  She was such a beautiful child and just perfect in every way.  She never gave her one minute’s problem or worry. ... They never got over the loss of this one little girl even though they lost two little boys. ...

They wanted to get away and live on their own, so they came ... and bought this 3-5 acres of property bordering the road that is now the Napa Highway.  At that time it was just a path from Vallejo to Napa.

They started out on a very small scale, with a little bar where he sold beer – 5 cent beer and Mama made big kettles of chili beans.  You got a 5 cent beer, you got a bowl of chili beans if you wanted. ... They eventually enlarged the house, very gradually, of course, and added other rooms downstairs and enlarged the bar.  They eventually made six bedrooms upstairs.

The Beanery with living quarters on the second floor

Mama was pregnant with Frankie in September[2].  In those days it never did rain in California in September.  But this year it did.  Papa was building the upstairs and the skies opened up and it stormed on poor Mama.  She recalls walking around in water, I don't know how deep, and trying to take care of all the children.  Here she was expecting Frank, expecting the baby.  The next day she gave birth to brother Frank.  The doctor came.  All her babies were born at home.  The doctor came and said that he can't possibly live.  "I'll come by in the morning but he can't possibly live."  Only God knows what Mama did. She prayed over him.  She got her little tiny lamp that I still have.  All her prayers were answered, because in the morning when the doctor arrived, he said, "I can't believe it. It's just like a miracle."  He was premature, a "preemie", and in those days what could they do for a "preemie"?  He was healthy enough, but he just didn't grow.  His little legs were shorter than they might have been otherwise, but he had the build of Papa.  He had good broad shoulders, a good build, but his legs were shorter – not stunted at all, but he was just short. ...

They did get these six bedrooms built upstairs. ... I remember so well, going upstairs where Dolph had his bedroom.  He would go to town the night before.  He went out a lot and had many friends.  He would bring back a whole big sack of bananas.  I knew that I could go up to his bedroom in the morning and knock on the door.  He would say "Come in" and he would have this big sack of bananas for me.  Well, I eventually got the nickname of "Nanas", because I loved them so.  But I was so tiny and I had to go down this great long staircase, about 25 or 30 steps down this long staircase.  My brothers, Doc, Frank and Paul, would be jumping around me and poking holes through the bag. They would have most of the bananas by the time I had gotten down to the main floor.  But I was happy to have whatever I could get.  This hap­pened very often and this is one of the very nice things he always did for me.

Dutch had one of the front bedrooms.  Dutch got his name because when he was little he had curly hair and his hair was brown, instead of black like all the rest of the kids.  So they said that he looks like a little Dutchman.  I don't know who said this, but that nickname stuck with him. ...

Louise had a bedroom.  Louise became a nurse.  Dutch got her a job at the hospital where he also met his future wife, Ione.  Louise met her future husband and left home very early.  So we never saw her very much.  She lived in town but we just did not see too much of her.  She didn't cling to the family like all the rest of us did and didn't come home as often. ...

Now comes Jimmy.  Jimmy was a terrific brother. He was quiet and gentle, but had a good sense of humor too.  He was the photographer in our family.  He was always taking pictures.  If he hadn't done that, we would not have the many pictures that we enjoy to this day – of the old cars, the family reunions, the family get-togethers on Sundays for dinners. ... He met and married the first girl he ever went with.  He worked for one of the bakeries in Vallejo and he ran a delivery truck. ...

Facing the front and all around the corner of our property, Papa had planted a Cyprus hedge, which made it very private, even though it faced the main road at that time.  There was a picket fence right by the garden gate and next to it was our front porch, which led into the parlor.  Inside this little picket fence gate was a huge grapefruit tree, that was very tall and went above the second story bedroom, which my sister Marian, affectionately known as "Tootsie", and I shared.  She had a habit of walking in her sleep.  Sometimes I would awaken and find her going out the window.  Well there was little place that we used to play dolls out there on a little lean-to, but the fact seeing her going out in her sleep was more than I could handle.  However, instead of catering to her, I would scold her and I'd say, "Tootsie! You get right back in here!"  And she would mind.  Normally she wouldn't under normal circumstances, but she would[3].  Those were kind of frightening experiences for me.  We shared this bedroom all through our school years.  We would enjoy getting out there in the daytime to play with our dolls and pick some grapefruit.  They were huge things – very good and juicy. We had lemons too in the yard.

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[1] Actually Marianita died at age 5.

[2] September 1900.

[3] Toots gave her version of this story in a conversation with John Coronado in 1994: “She said that there were times when she would fake the sleep walking.  She would put a sheet over her head and get up and start walking around.  When Cecelia would take her arm and lead her back to bed, she would pull the sheet off and scream at Cecelia to scare the dickens out of her.”

Remembering My Childhood (Cecelia Coronado) - Part One

(This is the first in a series of posts based on audio recordings made by my mother, Cecelia Coronado Phipps in 1983.  She was the youngest daughter of Marion and Louisa Coronado and she describes what is was like being the youngest of 10 children growing up on the Coronado property on the Napa-Vallejo Highway just north of Vallejo, CA.  Since Cecelia was born in 1906, this post covers the period 1906 to 1926.)

It is nice to think of reminiscing, especially since I am the youngest of the Coronado clan of 10.  We had a happy childhood.  I think I learned so many things from my nine brothers and sisters.  So I think it is special in my life that I can enjoy these memories.

Let me start by telling something about my childhood.  I was the youngest and my sister Hess, the oldest, was our second mother.  She told me in later years that "you could have been such a spoiled child, because you received so much attention from all of us.  But you weren't.  You grew up to be thoughtful of everybody."  This is good, I guess. ... It is very different being the youngest of so many.  I think this was a special blessing I received.

 

Teenager Cecelia Coronado in the Coronado garden

Our home was a ranch type home. The family was poor.  Mama and Papa started out on a very small scale.  In those days, they took care of their aunts and uncles, mothers and grandparents. ... There were grandparents in our home, although I never knew them when I came along.  It was a loving family.  And whatever they had they shared. …

I can recall this garden and the whole yard and the house.  When Mama had to do big baskets of mending, mending the boy’s long stockings and making shirts, underpants and under­skirts for the girls and boys, they were made out of Sperry flour sacks.  She would take these big baskets of mending and sit in the garden.  Her garden was lovely – an old fashioned garden, with “Hens and Chickens” all along the borders.  We had a rose garden and a beautiful hot house that Papa had made for her, all glass.  What I learned about gardening started very early, because I would trail her around.  She would tell me that this particular plant liked lots of sun, this one likes the shade, and so forth.  So I learned that way.  I didn't learn from books.  I learned from Mama, and she learned from nature.

There was a huge orchard.  Papa planted every tree that was on the place.  We had all kinds of quinces, apples, plums, peaches, pears.  That was on one side of the garden.  On the other side was an aviary that he had for himself.  He had peacocks, doves, quail and pigeons.  He also made Mama a portable bird cage, which was a huge thing, and could be moved to various parts of the yard when the sun or shade was needed.  She had all her canary birds in there.  She loved birds.

"Prince" - Papa's thoroughbred stallion

The back yard was a huge place.  In the back of the house was the summer kitchen.  On one side was the wash house where all the washing was done on the old fashioned wash boards.  On the other side was a watering trough.  There was also a four-door garage, a great big thing. On the north side of that was where Papa's horses were, a corral for his thoroughbred horses.  He bred thoroughbred horses.  Then there was a huge barn on the east side of the yard.  The barn was tremendous, a hay loft and everything.  Then there was a little area to one side of that, where there was a pig sty.  We had pigs.  So you see that we had all our meat.  Papa planted all our vegetables.  From the pig pens to the south was a long driveway and it was bordered with fig trees.  My memory was getting up in the fig trees after school.  It was just like a big lounging chair up there, the branches were so huge and heavy and strong.  I would have my favorite place to go up there and read books after school.  That led out to the railroad tracks.  The barn and the corral bordered the railroad tracks – the SP tracks.  Whenever we were home, all the conductors knew us.  We would run out there and they would wave to us or we would hang on the fence.  Further outside, just up the back road a ways, Papa had rented some property where he had cows and calves.  We also had that for meat.  There was also a fresh water creek running from Lake Chabot.  I would trail Papa too.  He was just ter­rific, just a terrific father.  I would go up there on weekends with him to pick watercress while he was milking the cows.  That was kind of fun, because it was like a picnic.  If he was repairing the fence, I was holding the nails for him.  I just loved being with him.  No matter what he was doing, I wanted to help.  He always called me his little girl, so I was always there.  It was fun.

In the center of this huge back yard was an immense big eucalyptus tree.  In the yard, the boys played baseball and all kinds of ball.  The older boys brought their motorcycles and their first cars in there.  There was always something going on in that yard.  As the older brothers and sister married, the grandchildren came and they played there.  Plenty of activity going on all the time. ...

Loretto's Land - Part Two

At the end of Part One, Loretto discovered an error in his 160-acre land grant application after living on the land for two years and was pleading his case to the land office to allow him to amend his application.

The land office was sympathetic with Loretto’s plight.  They cancelled the initial application on June 6, 1877, but allowed him to submit a new application for the land he wanted and credited to the new application the $16 fee he already paid.

Loretto submitted a new land grant application on August 2, 1877[1] citing the land that he wanted to live on, raise his family, and farm.  The 1902 USGS map below[2] shows the land he was applying for in relation to the Napa Valley and the towns of Yountville and St. Helena.

 The excerpt of the 1951 USGS map below[3] is the detailed area of his application showing the rugged terrain that he was living in and farming.  In his application, Loretto stated that the small house he owned was in the lower right quadrant of his land – maybe on the relatively flat portion at the extreme lower right.
 

Loretto's 160-acre Land Grant

In order to finalize his application and gain title to the land, Loretto had to live on the land for at least five years, he had to be a US citizen, he had to show that he made improvements to the land, and he needed two witnesses to give testimony that he had done all of this.

Loretto became a citizen of the United States by an order of a judge in the County Court of Napa County on June 25, 1878.  There were two witnesses present testifying in support of Loretto’s application to become a citizen – one of them being Mr. Edington – the neighbor, whose land Loretto had incorrectly claimed in his initial application.

 Loretto’s final affidavit for his homestead claim took place on March 7, 1883.  He swore that he had continuously resided on the land since the spring of 1875.  He continued his testimony:

My house is 16 x 20 ft – 10 acres enclosed with fence – 200 yards of stone fence & the balance mesh fence – I have 56 bearing fruit trees, a vineyard of 1000 grape vines – a corral – I have cleared & grubbed 10 acres of land.  My improvements are worth $500 at least.

When asked how much of the land is cultivated and how many seasons crops have been raised, Loretto replied: “From 7 to 12 acres every season – I raise grain & orchard & vineyard.”  Two witnesses, J. F. Mero and Alexander Mero, verified his account.

The land office gave him a final certificate for the 160-acre parcel on March 13, 1883.  Loretto happily recorded the deed transfer in the Napa County land records on September 1, 1883.[4]

What remains a puzzle is that after Loretto’s death in 1887, three years later his heirs sold 440 acres of land – 280 acres more than the 160-acre land grant.  Part Three of this story (after additional research) will need to uncover how and under what circumstances Loretto was able to acquire so much more land when he was not a wealthy man.

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[1] Homestead Application No. 2874, Final Certificate No. 2158, Land office at San Francisco, March 13, 1883.

[2] United States Geological Survey, Napa, California, 1902.

[3] United States Department of the Interior, Geological Survey, Yountville Quadrangle, Napa County, California, 7.5 minute series (topographic), 1951, photorevised 1968.

[4] Napa County Recorder, Napa County Records, Book C, Page 271.

Loretto's Land - Part One

Loretto Coronado applied for a 160-acre land grant on May 5, 1875,[1] under the provisions of the Homestead Act of 1862.[2]  The property he wanted was located in the steep foothills about 3 miles east of the town of Yountville in Napa Valley – not far from what is today known as Stags Leap.

In his application, Loretto testified in writing that he was the head of a family, over the age of 21 years and a citizen of the United States[3].  Further he said that the application was made for his own exclusive use and benefit and that the application was for the purposes of actual settlement and cultivation.  He was required to live on the land, build a home, make improvements and farm it for at least five years.

But he ran into trouble suddenly about two years later.  The land that he identified in his initial application was owned and occupied by someone else.  And this was after he had hired a surveyor to be sure that he was applying for the right piece of land.  It turns out that the shape of the land that he wanted was the same shape as what he applied for – but in the wrong location.  (Sounds like the surveyor’s error.)

On May 2, 1877 Loretto went to the land office to explain the problem and modify the application.[4]  He and his family had been living on a portion of the land that he wanted for two years and he had a house there, some fencing and a vineyard.  He explained the error of his initial application and that he didn’t know how it occurred.  He said that he was on good terms with his neighbor, Mr. Edington, and that he was a very poor man and did not want to go to litigation.

Loretto hired a new surveyor and identified a new more compact parcel of land that included the area where he and his family had been living.  He asked the land office to allow him to modify the application, abandon his claim to the land in error and to make a new homestead entry on the newly identified parcel.  Loretto said that if this application cannot be modified and he is refused, he will lose his homestead privilege and the property he has lived on and worked will be lost.

See Part Two for how the staff in the land office handled this plea from Loretto.

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[1] Homestead Application No. 1956, Land Office at San Francisco, California, May 5, 1875.

[2] The Homestead Act of 1862 sought to secure homesteads to those settlers who wanted to live and farm on land in the public domain.  See: http://www.nps.gov/home/historyculture/upload/MW,pdf,Homestead%20Act,txt.pdf

[3] Loretto may have filed an application for citizenship, but he was not granted citizenship until June 25, 1878.  Loretto may have been living in the area when California became a state of the US, but he would have been a citizen of Mexico.

[4] Homestead Application No. 1956, Land Office at San Francisco, California, modified application, May 2, 1877.