Santa Margarita de Cortona Asistencia

Infobox Missions


caption="Misión de Santa Margarita" by Henry Chapman Ford, 1881
name=Santa Margarita de Cortona Asistencia
location=Santa Margarita, California
originalname="Asistencia de la Misión de San Luis, Obispo de Tolosa" Ruscin, p. 59]
translation=Sub-Mission to the Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa
namesake=Saint Margaret of Lavinio and Cortona, Italy Santa Margarita Historical Society]
nickname="San Luis Obispo County's Third Mission"
founded=1787 Ruscin, p. 59]
foundedby=
foundingorder=
militarydistrict=Third
nativetribe=Chumash
"Obispeño"
placename="Trolole" [Ruscin, p. 195]
owner=Private entity
currentuse=Unknown
coor dms=coord|35|24|2|N|120|36|44|W|
NHL=
CHL=#364

The Santa Margarita de Cortona Asistencia Ruscin, p. 59] was established in 1787 as an "asistencia" ("sub-mission") to Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa to minister to the large number of Salinan (Obispeño) Indians who inhabited the area. Named for an Italian saint, the settlement was located on the other side of Cuesta Grade (north of San Luis Obispo) on a site selected by Father Presidente Junípero Serra in 1772. The facility also served as an outpost, chapel, and storehouse. Additionally, the Mission padres and Indians conducted extensive grain cultivation. The chapel building measured some 120 by 20 feet and eight auxiliary rooms for the use of the majordomo and his servants, and as quarters for visiting priests. One chamber functioned as a granary for storing mission crops.

Precontact

The current prevailing theory postulates that Paleo-Indians entered the Americas from Asia via a land bridge called "Beringia" that connected eastern Siberia with present-day Alaska (when sea levels were significantly lower, due to widespread glaciation) between about 15,000 to 35,000 years ago. The remains of Arlington Springs Man on Santa Rosa Island are among the traces of a very early habitation in California, dated to the last ice age (Wisconsin glaciation) about 13,000 years ago. The first humans are therefore thought to have made their homes among the southern valleys of California's coastal mountain ranges some 10,000 to 12,000 years ago; the earliest of these people are known only from archaeological evidence. [Paddison, p. 333: The first undisputable archaeological evidence of human presence in California dates back to "circa" 8,000 BCE.] The cultural impacts resulting from climactic changes and other natural events during this broad expanse of time were negligible; conversely, European contact was a momentous event, which profoundly affected California's native peoples. [Jones and Klar 2005, p. 53: "Understanding how and when humans first settled California is intimately linked to the initial colonization of the Americas"."]

History

On November 20, 1818 French privateer Hipólito Bouchard raided the Presidio of Monterey in Monterey, California and threatened the nearby Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo; many residents sought refuge at this site. The Santa Margarita Asistencia was secularized along with Mission San Luis Obispo in 1835, and suffered the same neglect that many mission properties did after that time. In 1841 the lands, encompassing over 17,000 acres (69 km²), were granted to Joaquin Estrada. After the American takeover at Monterey in 1841, General Pío Pico and General José Castro met at the rancho to discuss strategy. During the 1846 Bear Flag Revolt, the forces of Captain John C. Frémont captured an Indian bearing a message from Jose Jesus Pico (the San Luis Obispo Justice of the Peace) at the rancho and ordered his execution. In December of that year Frémont also arrested Estrada and others at the rancho, releasing them only after securing their pledges of service to Frémont.

The Public Land Commission issued a patent for the rancho in April, 1861 to Martin and Mary Murphy of San Jose. That property (and others) ultimately passed along to their son Patrick Murphy, who served in the California Assembly and the California State Senate for three terms. Eventually Patrick Murphy amassed holdings of over 70,000 acres (283 km²) statewide.General P. W. Murphy acquired the property in the 1860s and erected a barn over the Asistencia to shield it from the elements. In February, 1889 the town of Santa Margarita was incorporated. The former rancho lands today are under the ownership of four families. Several of the original stone walls remain standing, having been incorporated into a ranch barn. The fact that the Asistencia is situated on private land makes public viewing, photography, and study problematic at best.

Notes

References

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ee also

* Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa

External links

* [http://missiontour.org/sanluisobispo/santamargarita.htm Santa Margarita de Cortona]
* [http://www.santamargaritahistoricalsociety.org/pages/mission.html Santa Margarita Historical Society]