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]
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| 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.
[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.
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