Life at the Napa Valley Ranch 1875 - 1887

When we last left Loretto and Guadalupe Coronado in the previous post they were living with their five children on a ranch from 1875 to 1887 in the foothills of the Napa Valley, 3 miles northeast of Yountville and about 10 miles from the center of Napa (where they lived prior to 1875).  This remote location, high on a rocky hillside, is in the general area that is now well known as the fabled Stag’s Leap Winery as well as the County reservoir.

It was a rugged existence for the family being a good distance from neighbors.  Loretto had picked his 160-acre homestead land in a hilly area where there must have been water available from the creeks that existed in the area.  He built a small house (16 ft. X 20 ft.) and enclosed 10 acres with a stone and mesh fence.  He had a 1,000-vine vineyard, 50 fruit bearing trees, a grain crop and a number of farm animals.[1]  Household income must have come from the sale of grapes, fruit from the trees and grain.

Marciano Coronado

Loretto and Guadalupe had five children, three boys and two girls.  Mariano (my grandfather), Marciano and Ignacio (sometimes called Enos) were the middle children.  The two girls were the eldest (Angelita) and the youngest (Pauline) of the five children.

Newspaper accounts provide an insight into what life was like for the young settlers and their family.  But the newspaper stories can be also rather grisly.

In a previous post I described from a newspaper account how my great-grandfather, Loretto, was in a terrible accident in March 1886 when his horse drawn carriage went off the side of a cliff and on the way down to the gulch the cart rolled over Loretto a number of times before hitting bottom.  He survived with unspecified internal injuries and bruised shoulders and face and was in considerable pain.  This happened as he was ascending the grade near his home.

Another newspaper account did not deal directly with the family, but the event happened on the family property in February 1884.  A fatal accident occurred on the ranch of Loretto Coronado when a man named John Gray was chopping down a tree:

He had chopped off a large limb of a tree just above his head, the top falling to the ground, the butt resting against the trunk of the tree.  He then proceeded to chop the tree down, which fell in a direction nearly opposite to that which the limb fell.  The deceased apparently had forgotten about the severed limb, which dropped down when the tree fell, catching his head and shoulders between it and the stump, crushing his face almost to a jelly.[2]

Pauline Coronado & Her Mother

The newspaper report does not say why John Gray was on the Coronado property or whether he had been hired by Loretto.

A much happier account appeared in a history of Atlas Peak and Foss Valley (the general area where the Coronado property was located).  Guadalupe Coronado and three of her children (Marciano, Ignacio and Pauline) attended a masquerade party at a neighbor’s residence on 1 January 1885.  There were glowing accounts in the local newspaper of the excellence of the costumes, including a clown, Negro minstrel and Irish peasant.  A 12 o’clock supper was served and there was music played by local musicians.[3]  There was no reason provided that Loretto was not in attendance, but maybe the party was for the younger people and mama was the chaperone.

So, in summary, life on the ranch could be tough, but there were avenues for social interaction and enjoyment.

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

[2] Napa County Reporter, Napa, California, 15 February 1884, 1:7, accessed by microfilm at the Napa County Library, Napa, California.

[3] Setty, Cecelia Elkington, Atlas Peak, A History of a Napa County Settler, 1870-1902, Napa County Historical Society Property No. 05.04.1, pages 213-214.

Meanwhile Back in Napa: Loretto and Rafael Coronado

With Guadalupe and Dolores, the two youngest Coronado brothers, shot and buried in distant Snelling, California in April 1868, the two older brothers, Rafael and Loretto, now lead a somewhat quieter life in Napa.

Rafael Coronado, 49, is listed as a "saloon-keeper" in the City of Napa when the census is taken on 5 July 1870[1].  This may have been a polite euphemism for a return to his earlier career of keeping a disorderly house, as the census records note unblushingly that a 24-year old prostitute was also living in the household at the time.  His personal property is valued at $1,000, presumably fixtures and stock for the saloon.  Living with him are Victoria A. Coronado, 48, presumably his new wife, and Francisco Coronado, 21, who "tends bar".  Both were born in Mexico.

Since neither Victoria nor Francisco were living in the household with Rafael ten years earlier in 1860[2], it is presumed that his first wife (Susie?) and 2-year old daughter died or left him and he remarried.  Since Francisco was not living in the same household with Rafael in 1860, it is not clear what relationship he has with the family.  Remember from a previous post that Dolores Coronado, one of the brothers shot in 1868, was living in the household with Rafael in 1860.

Loretto Coronado

The census of 1870[3] records that Loretto and Guadalupe Coronado, 35 years old, and their five children lived next door to Rafael and his family in Napa.  However, in 1875[4], Loretto, the founder of our family branch, had left the dangers and temptations of urban life behind and moved his wife and five children to the simpler rural lifestyle of the hills outside of Yountville.  More about Loretto’s life, his family, his farming, his land and death in 1887 is available in earlier posts.

Meanwhile the fortunes of Rafael continue to change.  The 1880 census[5] documents that Rafael is living alone on Pearl Street in Napa.  He is now 62 years old and no longer a saloon keeper but a "laborer".

Rafael makes the newspaper one final time in March 1882[6], when he testifies in an arson case where a neighbor, Marine Saldez, was allegedly hired as an arsonist.  Rafael testified through an interpreter about his residence being only about 20 or 25 yards from Mr. Saldez residence in Spanishtown.  Rafael said that he had seen Mr. Wallingford, the person accused of hiring Mr. Saldez, visit Saldez many times before and after the fire.  Although there were no gas lights in Spanishtown, Rafael testified, that on the night of the fire he saw Wallingford bring Saldez home drunk.

This is the last time we hear of Rafael.  I don’t know when he died and under what circumstances and I have no pictures of him.

Now we will leave the possible side branches of the Coronado family and concentrate in future posts on my great-grandparents Loretto and Guadalupe Coronado, their children and descendants.

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[1] 1870 U.S. Census, Napa, Napa, California, page 53, family 440, digital image, Ancestry.com from National Archives microfilm M593, roll 75.

[2] 1860 U.S. Census, Napa, Napa, California, page 111, family 884, digital image, Ancestry.com from National Archives microfilm M653, roll 61.

[3] 1870 U.S. Census, Napa, Napa, California, page 54, family 441, digital image, Ancestry.com from National Archives microfilm M593, roll 75.

[4] Loretto testifies in his Homestead Application that he continuously resided on the land near Yountville since the spring of 1875.  See: Homestead Application No. 3874, Final Certificate No. 2158, Land Office at San Francisco, March 13, 1883.

[5] 1880 U.S. Census, Napa, Napa, California, page 43, family 263, digital image, Ancestry.com from National Archives microfilm roll 69.

[6] Napa County Reporter, Napa, California, 25 March 1882, 3:5, accessed by microfilm at the Napa County Library, Napa, California.

What Happened to Dolores & Guadalupe Coronado?

In my last posting, brothers Dolores and Guadalupe Coronado had been involved in a shooting during a saloon brawl in Napa’s Spanish town on March 14, 1868.  Later the jury found the shooting by Dolores was justified and he was released; Guadalupe was charged with assault and battery, but was also released.

Whether they wanted to get out of town or were chased out of town after the shooting and trial, the Coronado brothers made a 140 mile trip south, probably by horseback, to the small town of Snelling on the Merced River in Merced County, California, just west of Yosemite.  By horse it took them a minimum of 7 days to make the trip.  What was the reason they traveled to an area far away from their extended family – and why Snelling?

The 140-mile trip from Napa to Snelling

But regardless of the reason, they ended up on the 172-acre farm of a Dr. Joshua Griffith in April 1868.  The April 25, 1868 Napa County Recorder[1] printed the following story:

The Mariposa Gazette gives the following particulars of the killing of the Mexicans, Dolores and Guadalupe Coronado, who, it will be remembered were implicated in the late shooting affray in Spanishtown:  “Two Mexicans were killed at Doctor Griffith's ranch on the Merced River, just below Snelling, one day last week.  The circumstances, so far as we can ascertain, are as follows:  The two men drank wine in Griffith's house until pretty boozy, and then commenced to abuse the Doctor; high words passed; one of the Mexicans threatened to shoot the Doctor, and he replied: ‘You had not better draw your six-shooter on me, for I have one that shoots pretty hard.’  The Mexican drew and the Doctor fired upon him, shooting him through the heart.  The other Mexican said: ‘Now, you've killed my brother. I'm going to kill you.’  The Doctor, being a dead shot, brought him down.  He lived for a short time.  Doctor Griffith had a hearing at Snelling and was acquitted.”

Frontier justice?  Dr. Griffith, 63, was a prominent early pioneer in Merced County – he was a medical doctor and farmer and the shooting took place in his farm home.  He was the only witness to the shooting and it may have occurred exactly as described.  After all, the Coronado brothers had just the previous month been involved in a shooting in Napa.  We can guess that the first Coronado brother to threaten Dr. Griffith was Dolores.

Joshua Griffith would live to be 94 years old.  He was born in Pennsylvania in 1800, lived in Ohio, studied medicine in West Virginia, took a wagon train to Santa Fe, NM, then lived in El Paso, TX.  He settled in Sonora, Mexico, met Francisca Arias, a native of Mexico, and married her in 1844.  In 1848 he moved his family to the Merced area where he was engaged in ranching and mining and started his medical practice.[2]

Joshua & Francesca Griffith

Dolores Coronado

Back to the question as to why the Coronado brothers were shot in the home of someone who lived on a farm in an out-of-the-way place 140 miles from Napa.  All indications from Coronado family records and oral history are that the Coronado family came from Sonora, Mexico.  Could Griffith and/or his wife, Francesca, have known the extended Coronado family in Sonora?  If they did, it would have made sense for Dolores and Guadalupe to make the long trip to see someone they knew or their family knew.  Maybe this is why they were there.  But what a tragic ending to the visit.

Meanwhile, what was happening to my great-grandfather, Loretto and his family, and his brother, Rafael, back in Napa?  See my next posting.

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[1] Napa County Recorder, Napa, California, 25 April 1868, 3:1, accessed by microfilm at the Napa County Library, Napa, Califonria.

[2] Obituary, Death of Dr. Griffith, in the Merced Express, Merced, California, Friday, 22 February 1895, page 3, accessed at http://boards.ancestry.com/localities.northam.usa.states.california.counties.merced/844/mb.ashx

Frontier Days in Napa: The Coronado Family 1850s and 1860s

Spanish Town in Frontier Napa: Home of My Great-Grandfather Loretto Coronado

The Napa of today bears little resemblance to the Napa of the 1850s.  It was a young town, with parts of it – especially “Spanish town” still wild and wooly.  Approximately six blocks square, Spanish town was located between the frequently flooding Napa River and Main Street, an area, as we shall see, that had to contend not only with ravages of nature but with “dance houses,” bars and houses of ill-repute.

It was here that Loretto and Guadalupe Coronado, my great-grandparents, struggled to bring up their young family in the growing City of Napa, which by the 1860 census had 2,378 residents within its city limits.[1]  Also by that time, Spanish town had its own St. John the Baptist Catholic Church which was to become a civilizing influence on the community – but not yet.

The Spanish town area of Napa between the Napa River to the south and Main Street on the north.  This is an 1866 subdivision map of the area.  The yellow marked blocks would later be owned by Mariano Coronado and Manuel Madrid in the 1890s. 

It was into this neighborhood that the five children of Loretto and Guadalupe were born: Angelita (1858), Mariano, my grandfather (1859), Marciano (1860), Ignacio (1863) and Pauline (1865).  They were surrounded by three others who shared their Coronado family name and who were closely related to Loretto – most likely his brothers.  This assumption is based on the fact that the families not only lived almost next to each other, but were also godparents to one another’s children – a position of great importance in the families at that time.  The 1860 Census documents that Loretto, his wife, and two first-born children lived a short distance away from his three brothers in Napa.  His occupation was listed as a saloon keeper.  Four unrelated day laborers also lived in his household.[2]

Spanish Town: Fortunes & Misfortunes of the Coronado Brothers: Rafael, Guadalupe & Dolores.

The rest of this blog focuses on the fortunes and misfortunes of my great-grandfather’s brothers: Rafael, Guadalupe and Dolores.

Rafael Coronado would have been the oldest brother, born between 1820 and 1825.  Loretto – my great-grandfather - would have been the second oldest, born about 1827.  The two younger brothers, Guadalupe and Dolores, were born about 1832 and 1842 respectively.

Rafael became godfather to young Mariano Coronado, Loretto's son and my grandfather, at a baptismal ceremony at St. John’s Catholic Church in Napa on 30 April 1859.[3]  A year and a half later, Dolores became godfather to Marciano Coronado, Loretto's next-born son, on Christmas day 1860.[4]

When the 1860 U.S. Census was taken on 31 July 1860, it documented that Rafael was the head of the household which included Souse (Susie?) Coronado, 20, his wife, and son, Rommineta Coronado, 2. That same census, the 1860 census, documented that the second youngest brother, Guadalupe Coronado lived a few doors down from Rafael.  His household included his wife, Joachina, 26, and two children: a daughter, Guadalupa, 5, and a son, Manuel, 3.[5]  Guadalupe had married Joachina Valenzuela in Benicia on 26 June 1854.[6]

At that time, Rafael was 35 years old and his occupation was listed as day laborer.  The youngest brother, Dolores, who was 18 at the time, lived in Rafael’s house and was also a day laborer.[7]

However, three years later, it seems that Rafael’s occupation was a much livelier one.  One hint we have that the Coronado family fortunes had an interesting foundation is found in an 1863 newspaper account that notes that Rafael was indicted "for keeping a Disorderly House"[8]. Taken to trial, the jury was unable to agree on his guilt.[9]  But that was not the end of Rafael’s newsworthiness.  The very next month, a Jose Beniordas was indicted by a grand jury for stealing a horse belonging to Rafael.[10]  But, these two run-ins with the law and the press were only the beginning.  The youngest brothers, Guadalupe and Dolores were soon to make their own mark that same year.

It was the youngest brother, Dolores, who had the quick trigger finger.  In February 1863, Dolores, who was 21 at the time, was accused by a jury of shooting and killing Bias Amarenas.  According to the newspaper, one Sunday evening, Mr. Amarenas was shot at a ranchera near the residence of Don Cajetano Juarez, about a mile from the City of Napa.  A warrant was issued for the arrest of Dolores, but he was not found.[11]

 

Tintype of Dolores Coronado, with Luisa Byers,
godmother of Louisa Coronado, my grandmother

From newspaper reports, it is clear that Dolores not only later returned to Spanish town but ran a flourishing saloon.  For he was back in the news five years later when, on Saturday evening, March 14, 1868, Daniel English was killed and his brother Charles was seriously wounded during “an affray ... at a low dance house kept by Dolores Coronado, in that portion of the suburbs of Napa known as Spanishtown ...".[12]

According to the contemporary newspaper account, Bulgar Raines, a notorious troublemaker, may have gone to the saloon operated by Dolores with the express purpose of starting a fight. In any event, Mr. Raines was fighting with another man about 9:00 PM that Saturday night, when Dolores and Guadalupe Coronado and some of their friends tried to break up the fight.  Two other men known as the English brothers tried to prevent the Coronado brothers from interfering.

The next sequence of events is murky – as saloon brawls tend to be, but it seems that Daniel English had a knife in his hand and was shot by Dolores from a distance of about eight feet.  Others reported that Daniel English also had a gun, and someone took it away from him and shot him as well.

An example of frontier justice, the jury found that the shooting by Dolores Coronado was justified and he was released.  Guadalupe Coronado, charged with assault and battery, was also released.  Bulgar Raines never appeared at the trial to give testimony and there was some question as to whether he was the one who took the gun away from Daniel English and shot him.[13]

Just one month later in April 1868 the luck of the two youngest Coronado brothers, Dolores and Guadalupe, was about to run out.  My next blog post will give the details.

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[1] http://www.bayareacensus.ca.gov/cities/Napa50.htm#1940

[2] 1860 U.S. Census, Napa, Napa, California, page 113, family 896, digital image, Ancestry.com form National Archives microfilm M653, roll 75.

[3] Record of baptism of Mariano Coronado, St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, 30 April 1859.  Copy in the possession of Hal Phipps.

[4] Record of baptism of Marciano Coronado, St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, 25 December 1860.  Copy in the possession of Hal Phipps.

[5] 1860 U.S. Census, Napa, Napa, California, page 111, family 887, digital image, Ancestry.com form National Archives microfilm M653, roll 75.

[6] Solano County Marriage Record, Book 1, Page 21 (Solano County Vital Records, Book 1, page 44), records at the Solano County Genealogical Society, Vacaville, CA.

[7] 1860 U.S. Census, Napa, Napa, California, page 111, family 884, digital image, Ancestry.com form National Archives microfilm M653, roll 75.

[8] A charge of keeping a disorderly house is the typical charge against one who maintains a brothel or other public nuisance, such as a saloon or bar.

[9] Napa County Reporter, Napa, California, 19 December 1863, 3:1, accessed by microfilm at the Napa County Library, Napa, California.

[10] Napa County Reporter, Napa, California, 23 January 1864, 3:1, accessed by microfilm at the Napa County Library, Napa, California.

[11] Napa County Reporter, Napa, California, 7 February 1863, 2:1, accessed by microfilm at the Napa County Library, Napa, California.

[12] Napa County Reporter, Napa, California, 21 March 1868, 1:1, accessed by microfilm at the Napa County Library, Napa, California.

[13] Ibid; Secrest, William B., Perilous Trails, Dangerous Men: Early California Stagecoach Robbers and their Desperate Careers, 1856 – 1900, Clovis, CA, Word Dancer Press, 2002, pages 68-69; Dillon, Richard, Building Eden, Chapter 12, Desperados (unpublished manuscript), page 1465, copy in possession of Napa County Historical Society, Napa, CA.