The record-union., 1891-07-04
HOFFMAN TN VENTURA.
The Founders of the Mission Of
San BuenaYentura.

Description of the Old Mission Church
From 17S2 to 1891 The First
Marriage Ceremony and the First
BaptIsm-Our Correspondent in a
Barley Field.
Especial correspondence of REcoRD-UNIoN.l
San Buenaventura is one of the very
old towns OF California which have not
progressed to any very great extent, even
while other towns, not far away from
them, have been busy selling bogus lots,
and in other ways making themselves
exceedingly famous. But San Buena-
ventura, the county seat of Ventura
I County, is not TO blame.
# Father Junipero, the President Of all
the Missions of California, who founded
the place March 81, 1852. had chosen q
spot where the climate was not so healthy
! that it created a state of chronic sleepi-
ness from the beginning, the old town
might now be noted for something bet
/ ter.
1t is really the sleepiest town I ever
saw. The people are not lazy out of pure
| Incidence. There is something in the air
which makes one feel averse to exertion
of any sort. No sooner do l get out of
I bed than | am anxious to get back into
! 1t again, not because l have had Il bad
night OF it for every body sleeps soundly
/ hcre-but because drOwSinesS is the nat
ural condition OF all things animate in
and about the old mission. 1t is the eli
mate which is to blame, However, am
/ not sure but that San BucnaVCntura is
better off for being in continual and
/ perpetual state OF somnolence. The peo-
! pie are happy ana prosperous. 1t IS not
/ necessary Tor them to get up bO0ms and
4 sell bogus lots tor living. The land is
rich, and olives, Walnuts, oranges and
( beans, to say nothing OF such Old re-
/ sources as wheat and grapes, grow so
abundantly and bring such good prices,
that all the people have to do is give them
"a ghost OF a show and the result is q
fortune for each ''spcculator."
iiut all The residents ofthe town are not
rich. \ town made up OF millionaires
would die OF its own thrift. There must
pc Il certain percentage Of theWs and SIN
ews. Even 4 Ming cannot keep house
properly without his scullion, and San
BueuaVentura has Il large percentage OF
the laboring element which does not
grow oranges, lemons, olives, grapes or
. DcdIS, Dtlt keeps the cOSN il6elS gong.
! There is never any push and hurry and
jumble, though. The rich folks take
things easy, and like master like man."
! L know 40 place on the face OF the earth
TO which a man, with shattered nervous
! system might go and receive more ben
eIit i'll a short time, than San Buena-
/ ventura.
. The old adobe buildings, which were so
conspicuous Il few years ago, have been
nearly all removed, and the vacancies
filled with neat cottages. During the
! Los Angeles boom the town grew rap
idly in the western suburbs, and a few
/ lots were sold ut fabulous prices. but it
was only short infiction OF the fever,
and 1t soon collapsed.
The Santa Clara Valley, from which
/ the county seat Of Ventura County de-
! rived It's support, was rapidly and thor
/ Oughly developed, and is now a great and
/ prolific garden, but as it advanced half
! dozen little towns sprang into promi-
/ neuce, and Santa Paula, Saticoy, New
| Jerusalem, MontalyO, Fillmore, Sespe
and other places received the benefits OF
! the development. san BuCnaVentura
! was forced TO take a back seat and watch
the other towns grow up with the coun-
try. But in spite Of all the drawbacks
the population, which, in 1878, numbered
about 800 souls, has increased to about
1000. and the town is gradually reaching
Il higher state Of prosperity. one notice
able feature is the thorough cultivation Of
/ the land in and about the town. The
/ sagebrush has been removed from the
tops Of the mountains above the mission.
and good crops of barley are raised where
| once only the cactus and the Spanish
/ bayOnet tiOurished. Every little flat is
now a garden, and the old town is shad-
owed by towering and aromatic blue
gums, spicy pepper trees, walnuts and
! fragrant orange groves.
. n al in, I,
Junipero Sierra, President of all the Mis-
sions OF California, has changed very lit
/ tie within the last century. | was not
present when the first bricks were laid,
nor at the dedication, September 9, 1903,
! business having detained me somewhere
( on the road, but several very prominent
real estate men of Ventura have told me
/ that the church looks only little dingier
/ than it did 100 years ago.
The walls of this old building are of
/ brick, topped out with adobe, and are six
( feet i'll thickness. The tile roof was dam
aged by the earthquake Of 1857, and was
replaced by one of shingle.
! The tower on the southeast corner of
/ the building, which has served as q home
! for countless generations of swallows,
! has two arches. In the lower arch hang
! four iron bells, the largest dated 1925, and
! the smaller ones 1912, l7SI, I7Sl. The up
per arch contains four wooden bells
/ These bells We're dashed to their beams
with green rawhide thongs, and these
! thongs have never broken, although
/ more than a century has passed since
] they were cut. Until recent date the
! iron bells pealed forth a weird and mys-
/ terious chime at morning, noon and
night but now the old beil-ringer. who
climed up the tower stairs daily for many
/ years, is dead, his hands are stilled and
/ the bells are silent. Only on Saints
days, and on great occasions, is the chime
produced. The wooden bells, / think.
were used in early times, when the padres
wished TO call the people to arms with
out letting the besieging Indians know
/ that their plans were known. The faith
ful followers heard the dumb show but
! the unholy Diggcrs, who were waiting
for chance TO iab their spears into the
stomachs OF the faithful, didn't hear it.
-Four priests are buried in this old
/ church. Father Nincente de Santa Ma
ria, who died July is, 1896, and whose
remains were removed to the church on
/ the day of its dedication; Father Jose
/ Senan, who died August q, 1923; Father
/ Francisco Suner, who died January H.
/ 1881, and priest whose name Is un-
known.
West of the building is little lot about
/ 100 feet square, in which the remains of
! the faithful were for many years inferred,
without coflins, until it contained the
bones of $50 people.
The records of the church, which are
/ still preserved, show that the first mar
riage ceremony was performed within its
walls August s, l762, by Father Francisco
! Dumet. The contracting parties were
! Alexander Sotomayor of Fuerto, Mex
! leo, and Maria Conception Martiel of AL
H., n.