Early Coronado Family Life in Vallejo

Mariano Coronado and his future wife, Louisa Madrid, grew up in the Napa area.  Mariano lived with his family in the foothills of Yountville and for a while in the Salvador area just north of Napa City.  Louisa lived in Napa City and then in the Yountville area.

Although Mariano and Louisa were married in Napa in 1884 and their first child, Marianita was born in Napa in 1885, they were to raise their large family in Vallejo, just south of the Napa County line.  An intriguing question is: why did they move?

Mariano’s good friend, and witness at his wedding, Manual Madrid[1], had moved to Vallejo in 1880 where he worked on the 1,000-acre Tobin[2] ranch.  In his third year there, he was promoted to manager of the ranch and remained in charge for twelve more years.

I suspect that shortly after his marriage and birth of his first child, Mariano worked on the Tobin ranch with Manual.  Mariano and his family may also have lived in a home on or near the ranch.  Mariano and Louisa’s next three children were born in Vallejo[3]: Dolph in 1887, Hess in 1888 and Guadalupe in 1890.

In early 1891, first-born 5-year-old Marianita took ill with tuberculosis and died on 26 January 1891.  Her death certificate[4] said that she died at the Tobin Ranch, supporting my premise that the Coronado family lived on the ranch.  Misery in the family continued when Guadalupe, who had just been born in 1890, suddenly died on 11 April 1891.

I can only surmise that Mariano finally decided through the grief of their lost children that his new family needed a home of their own.  He didn’t look very far and found a good piece of land not far from the Tobin ranch – about 1 ½ miles away.  The land was between the main road that led from Vallejo towards Napa - and the Southern Pacific railway.  It was a long stretch of land, trapezoid in shape – about 3 ½ acres.

On 22 August 1891, M. P. Coronado[5] paid Simon Corcoran[6] $300 in gold coin for the land, likely savings from wages earned working on the Tobin ranch.

The map to the left is the area north of Vallejo and just south of the Napa County border.[7]  The blue arrow shows the strip of land that M.P. Coronado purchased – between the Napa-Vallejo Road and the Southern Pacific railroad line.  The first red arrow points toward one of the Tobin ranches (1,000 acres in size) that was likely the farm where Manual Madrid and Mariano Coronado and families lived and worked.  It is located about 1 ½ miles from the newly purchased Coronado property.  Just southwest of the Tobin Ranch is another red arrow showing the Vallejo Sulphur Springs location.  After 1895, Manual Madrid would manage and then own this Sulphur Springs – renaming it Blue Rock Springs, which became a well-known resort.

This is a detail showing the 3 ½ acres that Mariano purchased[8].  The Napa-Vallejo road and the railroad are the vertical lines that surround the property.  Note that there is a road that intersects the Napa-Vallejo road just south of the family property.  It was called the Sulphur Spring Road – and was the main road that led to the Sulphur Spring resort and passed by the Tobin Ranch.  Mariano would later open a restaurant and bar at this important intersection.[9]

I don’t know if there was a house on the property that Mariano bought in 1891, but my guess is that there was not.  That meant that Mariano may have organized friends and neighbors to help him build his new home.  He would eventually plant the area with trees (eucalyptus along the road, fig, quince, apple, peach, pear and grapefruit), vegetables, and raised cattle, pigs and horses on the property.

To the right is a photo of the first Coronado home, a modest one story, which Mariano built on his acquired land.[10]

Below is a close up photo of the family on the porch.  Based on the ages of the children these photos were taken in 1899.

Mother, Louisa Coronado, holding baby John (Doc) (3 months old).  Hess in
the middle row (11).  Dolph (12), Jimmy (2), Dutch (7) & Louise (6) in the
bottom row.

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[1] According to my mother, Cecelia Coronado Phipps, Manuel Madrid and Louisa Madrid were cousins.  I haven’t been able to confirm this, but I know that they lived next door to one another in the 1870 Census.  As further evidence of the close family relationship between Manuel and Mariano, Manual Madrid courted Mariano’s sister, Angelita Coronado, and married her in Napa on 18 July 1886.

[2] James F. Tobin was an Irishman born in 1830.  When nineteen years old he moved to America, and settled initially in New York.  In 1855 he moved to California, first San Francisco and then Vallejo.  His first occupation was as a butcher, but he then moved into farming and stock-raising activities.  By 1880 he owned 3,000 acres in the Vallejo area.  History of Solano County, …, A Full and Particular Biography of Its Early Settlers and Principal Inhabitants, Wood Alley & Co, San Francisco, 1879, page 394.

[3] Church baptism records show the children were born in Vallejo; the records are not specific about the actual location.

[4] Certificate of Death, City of Vallejo Death Records, 1891, page 350, accessed from Solano County Genealogical Society Library.

[5]  Mariano began to use his initials “M.P.” instead of his Spanish first name.

[6]  Simon Corcoran bought land from John Williamson the previous year.  The property he sold to M.P. was part of his larger purchase.  The property purchased by M.P. on 22 August 1891 is recorded in the Solano County, California, land records, Book 112, Page 154.

[7] This map is a portion of the Historical Atlas Map of Solano County, Compiled, Drawn and Published from Personal Examinations and Surveys, By Thompson and West, San Francisco, Cal., 1878, page 46-47, map no. 7.  Current GPS coordinates for the locations on the map: blue arrow (family property): https://tinyurl.com/y2u4gqcu ; north red arrow (Tobin Ranches): https://tinyurl.com/y6qhotlt ; south red arrow (Vallejo Sulphur Springs): https://tinyurl.com/y6hzz6vo  (My son, David, identified these current GPS locations and recommended that I include them.)

[8] Ibid

[9] The Sulphur Spring Road is generally where Lewis Brown Drive exists today along with Highway 37.  What used to be the Napa-Vallejo Highway now follows the alignment of Lincoln Highway or Broadway.  The main highway from Vallejo to Napa is now Sonoma Blvd or Highway 29.

[10] These two photos of the first Coronado home and the family are colorized versions of the original black & white photos in my files.  I used the online My Heritage genealogy website which uses a computer generated method of colorizing photos.  They turn out to be clearer than the original black & white photos.

Frank Coronado Mishap

The following is an article written by cousin John J. Coronado, Jr. for a 1994 edition of The Coronado Newsletter.  John was the son of John (Doc) Coronado.

He describes a harrowing experience for the young Coronado family on the ranch in 1910.

__________

This is a short story about my uncle, Frank Coronado, told to me many years ago by my father, Doc Coronado.

The Coronado boys were all raised on the Coronado ranch and were all expert horsemen, because they had all learned how to ride at a young age.  They were on their own if they wanted to saddle up a horse and head for the hills for a ride.  In 1910, when this story takes place, Jim was 13, John (Doc) was 11, Frank was 10, and Paul was 9.

One day Uncle Frank saddled up a horse and went out riding.  Some of the other kids saw him leave the ranch. It was mid-afternoon when he left and it was assumed that he would return for dinner, since none of the kids ever missed dinner.

But Frank did not show up at the dinner table and his father, Mariano Coronado, grew worried.  He ordered his other sons and some farm hands to saddle up and head out to look for him.  They spread out and formed a line and rode up to the first hill.  There was a grove of oak trees at the top and they spotted Frank immediately.  He was hanging in one of the trees.  He had ridden under the tree and a sharp branch had entered the back of his neck and was lodged at least a foot along his back.  Frank was out cold and wasn't moving.  Nobody seemed to know what to do, so two riders headed back to tell his father and to get medical help.

Mariano ordered the two to ride as fast as they could to get the doctor and get him back here as fast as possible. Mariano ran for the barn and got a saw and some rope.  He quickly saddled his horse and headed for the scene.

Frank Coronado, as a young man,
 with his mother, Louisa

When Mariano arrived, he could see that the ranch hands had tied rope around Frank in several places, like a harness.  He lassoed a big limb high above Frank and tied it to the harness.  Several of the group pulled on the rope and took the weight of Frank off the limb.  A ranch hand was already in the tree and had the saw ready to cut the limb.  When it was cut, Frank was lowered down to a saddle horse and secured in the saddle with more rope.

The group and Frank arrived at the ranch house about the same time that the doctor arrived.  The rope was cut off Frank and his father carried him into the house so the doctor could look at him.  As it turned out the wound was not as bad as it could have been, nothing deep, just surface cuts.  Frank was given a shot, the branch was removed, and he slept until the next day.  When he woke up, he asked about his horse.  His brothers went out to search and they found the horse grazing in the hills by Blue Rock Springs.  Frank was happy to know his horse was back.  He was a strong kid and recovered fully in a short time.

Marian Coronado Remembers - Part One

Cousin Gary Coronado[1] visited and interviewed our aunt, Marian Coronado, on April 16, 1984 at her home in Calistoga, California.  She was always known as “Toots” or “Aunt Toots” all our lives.  I don’t remember where the name came from.  She was the next to last child born to Mariano and Louisa Coronado – the 12^th of 13 children (the 9^th of the children to live to adulthood).  Toots was born 28 August 1905 in Vallejo, California, and passed away 20 July 1998 in Calistoga.

 

Young Marian Coronado as a glamorous
Senorita

Gary wrote up the interview in question and answer form and I published it in the May 1994 issue of the Coronado Newsletter[2].  This is a portion of that interview.

Q. How much do you know about our family history before you were born?

A. Not a whole lot.  I recall Mama telling the story of how she met Papa.  She was working for a wealthy family, cleaning house.  Mama met Papa in Yountville.  She used to point out the location when we drove by.  The story goes that she took a walk and met Papa near the Napa River Creek.  As you know Papa lived near Yountville.  That was the start of a long, happy, productive relationship.  They were a good team together.

Q. Where were you born?  Describe your home as you remember.

A. All of us kids were born at home.  We were all born in the old antique bed.  I believe it is still in Celia’s home.  I am number nine!

We lived in a two story home.  Our living quarters were above the Inn.  The ground floor was Papa’s place of business.  There was a bar, a dinner room and a dance hall.  We also rented a few rooms.  The boys slept in a bunk house away from the Inn.

Q. What's your earliest memory?

A. My earliest memory is of Grandma Coronado cooking and preparing dinner for our family.  I remember her flapping tortillas over a wooden stove.  There was plenty of eucalyptus wood to burn.  Alongside of the tortillas she would always have a big cast iron pot of simmering chili beans.  She would stack the hot tortillas between flour sacks to keep them warm.  The tortillas never lasted very long because they were our favorite after school snack!  There was always rich butter.  Grandpa Coronado had one milking cow.

In a large round wooden barrel with a crank, Mama would separate the cream from the milk.  The cream was made into butter, the milk into cottage cheese.  She rolled the cottage cheese into little balls, and then poured cream over them.  They were eaten with beans and tortillas.  So good!

My mother loved cooking outdoors and seldom used the kitchen in the house.  She would set aside one day a week to bake desserts.  Our favorites were large sheets of marble cake and ginger bread.  She would have to lock the desserts in cupboards so the children wouldn’t eat it all before dinner.

Q. What was Grandpa like when he was young?  Describe your relationship with him?

A. Papa had a stern, serious manner.  He was a good provider and father.  He was also an Innkeeper, rancher and a vaquero.

He left Mama in charge of the girls.  Mostly, he was in charge of the boys.  He would wake us every morning.  He would only call us once: “Get up, Toots.  Get up, Celia.”  We would respond by pounding on the wood floor with our shoe.  Sometimes, we would roll over and go back to sleep.  He didn’t care if we were late.  And he would just call once.

His pride and joy was his breeding horse, Prince.  People would bring horses to Papa in order to breed them with his prize stallion.  This was also a source of income for us.

He was political.  He liked to discuss politics with his customers.  He was a Democrat.  He wasn’t shy offering an opinion about a political issue.

Papa Coronado, relaxing outside and
getting ready for his siesta

On Sunday he would insist that we all go to Mass.  He would always attend with us.  We had our family pew near the front of the church.  It was in front of the Blessed Virgin statue.  Your father (Doc) would drive the family to church.  Imagine, a twelve year old as a chauffeur.  He wore goggles and a long coat.  We would head off in the morning, arriving about an hour before mass.  Papa was always early, never late.  Any type of gathering required an early arrival.  This was a habit for him in his business, and in his life.

Eating was his number one pastime.  He loved to eat and then, siesta in the afternoon.  Papa always slept upright in his chair outdoors.

Q. What was Grandma like when she was young?  Describe your relationship with her.

A. Mama was the sweetest, kindest lady.  She never raised her voice.  She left that up to Papa.  Mama was in charge of the girls.  She was so kindly, we never wanted to do anything to disappoint her.  Our relationship with her was one of love.

She would collect rainwater in crock-like vessels.  She used the water to wash her face.  She had a beautiful complexion.  Mama also used the water to wash her hair.

Mama’s hands were always busy crocheting and embroidering things for our church and friends.  Most of the applique and embroidery work were done on flour sacks.  She had an old Singer sewing machine, but she rarely used it.  We also had an Apex washing machine.  It was rarely used.  She washed all of her clothes by hand on a washboard in a tub.  Then, instead of hanging them on our round clothesline, she would spread them on top of bushes, alfalfa and fences to dry.

Q. Tell me a story about Grandma that will give us some insight into her personality.

 

Mama Coronado with Polly

A. Well, there are many examples.  I like to think about Mama with her parrot.  She had an old, green parrot named Polly.  He perched on a eucalyptus tree near the summer kitchen.  His cage was in the tree so he could go in and out as he pleased.  She would make toast, dip it into coffee and give it to her bird.  He would like it and would say, “Polly want a cracker” for more.  Polly liked Mama, but didn’t like us kids.  His wings were clipped so he couldn’t fly.  Polly was a mimic.  When Mama called us, he would repeat what she said and then laugh.  One day he crawled down the tree and walked around the yard.  He wandered across the fence to the railroad tracks behind our house.  A freight train came by and Polly wasn’t able to get out of the way.  He was killed.  When night came Mama missed him.  She went out to look for him and found some feathers scattered around.  Then, she found him crushed by the track.  Mama felt very bad about losing her faithful companion.  She mourned her friend for many weeks.

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[1] Gary is the son of John (Doc) Coronado, the 9^th of 13 children (the 6^th of the children who lived to adulthood).

[2] I edited and published the 8-page quarterly Coronado Newsletter from 1993 to 1997.  It contained family articles, news items, and family photos and I sent it to family members.

Remembering My Childhood (Cecelia Coronado) - Part Four

(This is the fourth in a series of posts based on audio recordings made by my mother, Cecelia Coronado Phipps in 1983.  Here she begins to talk about her brothers.)

Doc Coronado practicing the violin

Doc and Paul

Now there was brother Doc.  How he got that name, I don't know.  Someone said they called him "Old Doc Yak". I think that was in the comics at that time.  But that name stuck with him, even after he became a sergeant on the police force. ... Doc was the one in the family who was musically inclined. He played the violin.  Then there was Paul.  He was the one brother who was more quiet and serious – the youngest of the six boys.

Frank

Now Frank was always "tee-heeing" and laughing and smiling.  There was no one to compare with Frank.  He had a constant smile on his face always, where Paul was more serious.

They tell this story about my brother Frank.  Mama and Papa were in the summer kitchen which was adjoining the regular kitchen and they saw a splash in the watering trough.  They ran out there and found Frank had fallen in.  So they pulled him out and dried him off.  He was always doing things.  More things happened to this little guy.  He was a lovable brother.

Since I spoke of my brother Frank, let me tell a few more incidents in his life.  My older brother, Dolph, told me that one time when Frank was real little, maybe two years old, he was sitting on the fence.  Across the road there was a big ball game going on.  Dolph had perched him up on the corner of this fence, because he wanted to watch the game.  Somebody hit a home run and knocked Frank completely off the fence and he was unconscious!  Dolph ran to him and picked him up and brought him home to Mama.  Mama was the all-around nurse and doctor.  What she did only God knows.  She brought him to and he insisted on going back because he wanted to see the rest of the game.  So they let him go back.  That was one of his injuries.

Frank Coronado with his mother, Louisa

In later years, Papa was taking my sister Toots and me to school in Vallejo. One day he was picking us up after school, driving us home, when we went by the high school that Frank attended.  We said, "Oh, something is happening there.  Look, the ambulance has come and somebody got hurt." Well, when we got home, we were notified that it was my brother Frank. He got hit by a ball and was taken to the hospital for a while and then they brought him home.  Poor Frankie – he has had so many injuries.

As he got older, he was going up Main Street hill on a motorcycle, and the darned motorcycle just flipped right over with him and he hit his head on the sidewalk.  That put him out for awhile.

Another injury was when he was in Nevada.  He was driving on one of the streets.  Some kids were playing ball.  Wouldn't you know that the ball came right through the window that he had down and hit him again on the head.  He had a lot of injuries to his head but we loved him dearly.  He was a terrific brother.  We had a lot in common.

This ballpark where Frankie was hit by the ball – I understand that big league games were played there.  So it was quite an important spot around that area.  Also, the first airplanes landed there.  We have pictures to show it – one-seaters with open cockpit. ... I was born in 1906 so that goes a long way back.

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.”

Introduction to the Family

The purpose of this website is to document and explore the family history of the Coronado Family who lived in and prospered in Napa and Solano Counties in northern California starting in the 1850s.  I hope that this website will become a forum for exchange of information, pictures and stories and that all Coronado relatives and friends will join in the discussion.

My maternal grandfather, Mariano (Marion) Coronado (1859-1934), and grandmother, Louisa Madrid (1862-1950) were married 24 November 1884 at St John the Baptist Catholic Church in Napa.  Both Mariano and Louisa were born in and grew up in Napa.

Family history says that the dashing Mariano was smitten by Louisa’s charms the first time he saw the pretty young lady in the front yard of her home in the “Spanish town” area of Napa.  He vowed to himself at the time that he would marry her.

 

Louisa

Mariano

After their marriage they lived for a time in Napa and then moved to Vallejo by 1887 where Mariano worked on the Tobin Ranch.  Mariano purchased 3 ½ acres of land in August 1891 on the Vallejo Napa Road – the main road between Napa and Vallejo – about three miles north of Vallejo proper.  He and Louisa raised their family there from the late 19^th Century into the early 20^th Century.  They owned the Coronado Inn (sometimes called the Three-Mile House) – Mariano ran the bar and Louisa prepared the food to go with the drink.

They raised a large family - in all they had 13 children, 10 of whom lived past childhood.  The children were fiercely independent and lived highly successful and interesting lives in and around Vallejo and Napa as well as elsewhere in California.  The family contributed to the growth and history of pioneer days in the State

How Mariano and Louisa were able to get all ten children together at one time for a picture will remain a mystery.

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Who were these Coronado children and what did they do?  Where did Mariano’s father and mother come from and why did they settle in Napa?  In subsequent posts to this website, we will explore more details of our Coronado family and its history.