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.

Loretto Coronado Dies in Yountville

In earlier posts (Loretto’sLand - Part One and Loretto’s Land - Part Two) I discussed how my great-grandfather, Loretto Coronado, and his wife, Guadalupe Villa Coronado, raised a family in the Napa Valley beginning in the 1850s.  I wrote about how he applied for and eventually received 160 acres of homestead land and planted one of the early vineyards in the Napa foothills.

Guadalupe Villa Coronado and her husband Loretto Coronado.  This is the only known photo of Loretto and was probably taken about 1885, shortly before his death.  Guadalupe lived until 1902, when she died in Napa at 80 years of age.

But then in March 1886 Loretto was involved in a terrible accident when his horse went off the steep road on the way to his farm and pulled the buggy with Loretto over the side of the road – apparently the horse and buggy rolling over Loretto several times.  He suffered dangerous internal injuries as well as bruises to his face and shoulders.

About a year and a half later in October 1887, the following items about my great-grandfather appeared in the local newspapers:

Died from Drink

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     Loretto Coronado, a Mexican, who is well known in Napa, was found dead in Yountville Wednesday morning, with an empty whisky bottle lying beside him.  Coroner Lawrence went up and held an inquest.  The verdict of the jury was that Coronado came to his death from exposure and drink.

     The funeral of Loretto Coronado took place yesterday.  The interment was in the Napa cemetery.[1]

Found Dead

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     Thomas Hopper came down from Lake County yesterday, stopping at Yountville Tuesday en route.  He says at an early hour Wednesday, Loretto Coronado, a well known Spaniard, was found dead in the street of Yountville, opposite Mrs. Gill’s.  Beside him lay an empty whisky bottle and it is supposed that overdoses of the tangle-leg[2] caused his death.  He had been on a long spree and had of late been indulging freely.  The Coroner was sent for.  Coronado leaves a large family.

LATER

     Coroner Lawrence and James Giles returned from Yountville at 1:30 o’clock this afternoon.  At the inquest the jury found that deceased was a native of Mexico, aged 60 years and that he came to his death through drinking and exposure.[3]

I was originally bothered by the manner of Loretto’s death when I first learned about it.  But on reflection I’ve tempered my thoughts.  He was 60 years old living in the 19^th Century when life expectancy was less than it is today and access to medical care was limited.  Loretto led a long and tough life – farming in the rough foothills of the Napa Valley and raising a family of five children.  To add to this was his horse and buggy accident in the previous year which may have and probably did leave him in constant pain.  On the other hand, coroners in the 19^th Century were not necessarily medical doctors and there was no autopsy performed.  He could have died of an unnoticed ailment with whisky and exposure to the elements a contributing cause.

Loretto left his estate, valued at $500 for the 160 acres of land and $100 for farm animals and equipment, to his wife Guadalupe.  Apparently unable to sign her name, Guadalupe marked the probate court documents with an “X” and appointed her son Marciano as administrator of the estate.[4]

The probate court documents[5] tell us a few things about the family Loretto left behind in 1887.  Living in Napa were his wife, Guadalupe (63 years old)[6], son Marciano (26 years old) and Ignacio (22 years old) and daughter Paula (19 years old).  Mariano, my grandfather, was 28 and living in Vallejo with his new wife Louisa and their two children.  Angelita Coronado, the eldest (age 29) had married Manuel Madrid the previous year and was living in Vallejo.

In a future post, I will discuss the circumstances and location of Loretto’s burial in Napa’s Tulocay Cemetery.

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[1] Napa County Reporter, Napa, California, 28 Oct 1887, 3:3, accessed by microfilm at the Napa County Library, Napa, California

[2] “Tangle-leg” or “tangle-foot” was a colloquialism for any intoxicating liquor.  A Dictionary of Slang and Colloquial English by John Stephen Farmer and William Ernest Henley, G. Routledge & Son, 1905, page 465.

[3] Napa Register, Napa, California, 28 Oct 1887, 3:4, accessed by microfilm at the Napa County Library, Napa, California.

[4] Probate of Estate, Letters of Administration for Loretto Coronado.  Napa County, California, Superior Court records, 1887, case number 278, Loretto Coronado.

[5] Ibid.

[6] If the estimate of her age is correct, Guadalupe was relatively old when she began to have children (34) and when she had her last child (44).