hispanics in san joaquin county, 1850-1930

The San Joaquin Historian

HISPANICS in SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY 1850-1930

A Publication of the San Joaquin County Historical Society and Museum

Spring 2001 Vol XV - Number 1

The San Joaquin Historian A Publication ofthe San Joaquin County Historical Society amp Museum

Vol XV - Number 1 Spring 2001

Editor Donald Walker PhD

Published by The San Joaquin County Historical Society Inc

Micke Grove Regional Park p 0 Box 30 Lodi CA 95241-0030 (209)331-2055 or (209)953-3460

President Christopher Engh

Immediate Past President Helen Trethewey

Finance Mel Wingett

Publications Lisa Dannen

Society Division Frank D Fargo

Secretary Elise Austin Forbes

Treasurer Robert FMcMaster

Director San Joaquin County Historical Society Michael W Bennett


This issue is the first San Joaquin Historian ever devoted exclusively to the history of county Hispanics It is a tentative beginning of what must become a continuing process the chronicling of San Joaquin countys large and important Hispanic population The County Historical Museum collections are not nearly comprehensive enough either in terms of diaries business records oral histories or photographs to tell the story of this segment of our conununity for generations yet to come Hispanics please bring us your treasures--shyhelp us tell your story

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Don Walker has been ArchiistLibrarian at the San Joaquin County Museum since 1989 Walker proshycessed organized and created finding aids for all manuscript collections at the Museum He has published historical essays on county Italians and Koreans In addition to his work with the San Joaquin County Museum Don Walker is an Archiist at the University of the Pacific in Stockton

Cover photo Home of Lorenzo Chilean cook for Capt Charles Weber Stockton (caI857)

HISPANICS IN SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY 1850-1930

As Richard Griswold del Castillo notes in The Los Angeles Barrio 1850-1890 tracing Hispanics who lived in California during the 19th century is difficult at best Castilian Catalan and Basque surnames in census records directories and newspaper accounts of the period are so badly garbled that unless it is specified in the text nationality is virtually impossible for the researcher to determine Given names are every bit as troublesome as surnames in this regard since many Latin countries use similar if not identical surnames (Silva which occurs in Spanish Italian and Portuguese for instance) while ignorant 19th century Anglo clerks are as likely to transcribe a Mexican Anthony Silvas first name as Antone [Portuguese] or Antoine [French] or even Antonia as they are to correctly record Antonio In San Joaquin county these difficulties become just that much more acute due to the presence of large populations of Basques Italians and Portuguese

Quite apart from problems raised by the illiteracy of both Hispanics and Anglo record keepers of the 19th century the ugly fact of racial antagonism often tended to limit published accounts of Hispanics and to negatively color the content of those few accounts available Relations between Hispanics and Anglos during this period were generally hostile The Americans had defeated Mexico in a war and had annexed California as one of the prizes of their victory Many of the victors demanded subservience from and assumed superiority to the people they

had conquered Local historian George H Tinkhams contemptuous attitude as expressed in his History of San Joaquin County (1923) is probably typical of the period

The Mexican people of Stockton were almost unanimously of the ignorant peon class The American hatred of these people was the after effects of the Mexishycan War their efforts to dig the gold and take it from the country and their admirashytion of a good horse regardless of the owner

They were very poor and lived in shacks or hovels with scarcely any furniture no carpets upon the floor and in many cases not even a wooden floor The men when not employed would lie around smoking cigarettes and gamshybling The women would do all the housework such as it waS1

During the first decade of county history (1850-1860) Hispanics represented at least 20 of the local population Californias first census records the names of 3644 persons in San Joaquin county Of this number 647 (18) were born in Mexico another fifty-one were natives of Chile twenty-one were born in Argentina and seventeen were Peruvians There were also smaller numbers of Spaniards identifiable Californios and natives of other Latin American countries Many of these individuals probably left California soon after the Foreign Miners Tax was introduced (1851) and many others certainly left the area as the general enthUSiasm for mining waned toward the end of the decade

A certain number of the nearly 800 Spanish-speaking residents of San Joaquin during the early 1850s doubtshyless were horse-thieves or prostitutes These individuals including the fashy

2

mous Joaquin Murrieta have already five other names that might be Hispanic received more than their fair share of Of this number (about 3 of the total column space from journalists and names listed) three were grocers one historians alike We will focus here on was a mule and wagon agent one the law-abiding hard-working indivishy was a teacher of Spanish and the duals in the Hispanic population who remainder were merchants Of this sought in the face of language barriers latter group five were associated with poverty and prejudice to lead normal Ainsa amp Company unquestionably the lives and to better their lot Those most important Hispanic enterprise in Hispanics who had money or education Stockton during the first ten years of its or who could provide a service Anglos history deemed valuable were apparently able to weather the scorn of their conquering Owner Manuel Ainsa was well-connecshyneighbors more efficiently than the ted with the Anglo community through others the marriage of his daughters Filomeshy

na wife of San Joaquin countys first One measure of this success was the State Senator Henry Crabb and Amshyinclusion of their names in Stockton paro wife of prominent newspaperman directories of the period Two such Rasey Biven Ainsa was also an influenshy

ooy- Untter the appropritlte head will be found the nuptials of ltascy 13iyen Esq and Senorita lHaria ATllparo Ain$l It is with sincere pleasure we offer our cordial conglatulntions to our frientLand fellow-citizert Mr Biven has been a rcsidcnt sitlce the first settlement of Stockshyton As one ofthemost promIrtentmershychants of the city he has at all times commanded the respect of all and snr~ nr~ we ibat the step he Ims taken WIll be wQlcomed by his numerous fHends The lndy identified with the hnppy event is the daughter oLDon Manud Ainsa a man ofsulJlance and great re=peutabiEty

directories were published during the decade of the fifties The first of these (1852) furnishes thirteen unquestionshyably HispaniC names and as many as

tial figure because of the wealth and prestige he had acquired through his marriage to the granddaughter of Juan Bautista de Anza leader of the first

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overland expedition to California (1769) Born the son of a Spanish government official in the Philippines (1790) Manuel Ainsa relocated to Jalisco Mexico at age eighteen and following a successshyful mercantile career in Sonora brought his family to California in 1849 Ainsa lived in Stockton for about three years (1850-1853) returning briefly to Sonora to lead an unsuccessful insurrection against that states corrupt governor then settling in San Francisco where he died in 18742

Ainsas Stockton general merchandise store was located on the south side of Main Street between Centre and EI Dorado He was a participant in the successful merchants revolt against the City Council (1851) after that body had sought to impose a tax of $2 per ton on all goods off-loaded on Stockton wharf Ainsa owned considerable real estate in downtown Stockton some of which must have been acquired as early as 1849 since he is recorded as selling parcels (chiefly to other Hispanics) for amounts ranging from $450 to $1500 as early as May 1850 That Ainsa also lent money to and otherwise assisted memshybers of the Hispanic community is evishydenced by an October 1850 record of his purchase of mortgages on thirteen mules belonging to Manuel Davita and a December 1850 record of his assumpshytion of the Power of Attorney for J Antoshynio Encinas3

Other important Hispanic businessmen of the early 1850s were J M Ahumada mule and wagon merchant and brothers Abel and Ysidro Quiroga who

operated a general merchandise store on Hunter Street near Channel Ahumada a native of Spain was in Stockton by spring 1850 He is the only Hispanic to have advertised his business in the earliest Stockton newspapers

~ PfCI Jl1(TLES dtl FIVE lUNDREDMULES conshystantly inteadiness fOlthemiddotcnnvclIishy

enceoffreightto any partof ~he ~ines atthe lowest rates EnquirJofthe subscriber at M Ainsas bricl~ building any qrderf scnt to the silbscnbcr wIll be promptly altended to api-tf J M AHUMADA

Both Ahumada and the Quirogas bought and sold Stockton real estate for prices as high as $1000 per lot as late as 1853 By 1856 all three had apparently left San Joaquin countYA

The Stockton City Directory for the Year 1856 contains the names of twenty-five Hispanics Given that this directory records more than 900 names one would have to suppose that the percenshytage of well-established Hispanics in the community had fallen off slightly since 1852 Of the twenty-five Hispashynics listed in the 1856 Directory one finds two bootmakers two saloon proshyprietors a grocer a restaurateur and a tinsmith The greatest number of Hisshypanic listees however were employed in fields associated with transportation Stocktons principal industry during its

4

first decade of existence The Directory lists three Hispanic pack saddle manushyfacturers one muleteer one stable owner and a mule and wagon agent Nine women (36 of the total) are also named of whom only two are shown to have employment

A substantial turnover in the Hispanic population---a trend characteristic of the Anglo community as well---is evidenced by the fact that only one name out of the thirteen recorded in the 1852 Directory is still to be found in 1856 That indishyvidual was Chilean Jose A Alvarez a mule and wagon agent Alvarez obituary states that he spent most of his adult life in Stockton dying there at age 47 (1875) He is buried in Stockton Rural Cemetery Alvarez obituary relates sufficient details of his later years to inform us of the difficulties facing those working in the transport industry after 1865 Depressive and an epileptic Alvarez had been unemployed for over five years at the time of his death and had been supported by gifts of food and cash from Basilio Laogier a pioneer Italian grocer whose wife Dionisia Ponce daughter of Nemesio Ponce de Leon an important merchant in Chihuahua was a direct descendant of the famous 16th century Spanish explorer5

Given the Anglo prejudice against Hispanics mentioned at the beginning of this article it is surprising how many prominent non-Hispanic local men married Hispanic women in the early years To those already mentioned

may be added the names of Marcelina (d 1887) and Refugio Aguirre (d 1894) wives of Atlanta farmers Pierre de Pollet and Peter Vinet and Manuelita Goyeneche wife of Stocktons first important banker T Robinson Bours The Aguirre family wealthy traders based in Guaymas owned a fleet of ships that had operated along the California coast since the days of Spanish rule The Goyeneches were also important merchants on Mexicos west coast While it should be noted that the women just mentioned were probably of purely European ancestry it is fair to assume that such cross-cultural connections did serve to foster greater community harmony between Hispanics and others and to provide more econoshymic opportunities for mestizos in the Anglo community than might otherwise have existed after 18566

During the 1860s as mines closed and the demand for beef occasioned by the Civil War diminished San Joaquin countys economy began gradually to focus more upon farming and less on cattle ranching and overland transport Hispanic employment as recorded in the 1860 Federal Census gives early evidence of this trend in that although the more important occupations continue to be packer (11) and vaquero (6) six others of the 195 individuals of Mexican birth listed are called gardener

It is evident from 1860 Census figures that the relative percentage of Hispanics in the general population fell

5

significantly during the 1850s (from 20 to approximately 2) It would seem that the number of affluent and prestishygious Hispanics in the community had also diminished for of the 195 persons of Mexican birth mentioned forty-five (23) listed no employment twenty-four (12) called themselves laborer six were servants three were prostitutes and eight were inmates of the State Inshysane Asylum while only one individual Juan Morales is identified as a mershychant and only three are listed as carshypenter

Since Stockton published no city direcshytories between 1856 and 1871 it is difshyficult to gain balanced and detailed inshyformation about Hispanic involvement in community affairs during the decade of the Civil War

Local newspaper coverage of Hispanics during the 1860s seems largely weighted toward reportage of their inshyvolvement in criminal activity Of eightyshytwo stories published between 1861 and 1866 thirty-six (44) were crimeshyrelated Of the remaining stories involshyving local Hispanics four reported legal actions two announced prizes won by young ladies at the State Agricultural Fair for painting and embroidery one mentioned patients at the County Hosshypital one described the destruction of a womans house by fire and another mentioned but unfortunately did not describe a patent applied for by one Antonio Montoya 7

The 1870 Federal Census reveals not

merely the disappearance of freightshyrelated occupations but also a striking change in the county-wide distribution of Hispanics since 1860 In that year all but eighteen of those listed dwelt in Stockton but in 1870 trlirty-four of the 500 named lived in Dent Township (southeast county) and forty-five in Douglass Township (the Linden area) The total number of county Hispanics living in rural areas at this time was 220 or nearly half of all county residents Of those dwelling in Dent Township most listed their occupation as farmer or rancher and many owned land valued at between $300 and $500 The Dent Township ranchers (as spelled by the census-taker) were Antonio Garcia Jesus Mangita Eduardo Savornuro and Manuel Pacheco Dent farmers inclushyded Jose Lavor Persilian Manso and Felix Lorrion Research has failed to discover biographical information about any of these individuals None of them are to be found on the earliest surviving tax assessors plat maps at the County Museum (1876)

The new Hispanic farming generation is represented by at least one family bioshygraphied in Tinkhams History of San Joaquin County (1923) The Gomes family originated in Chihuahua Joseph Gomes came to California during the 1850s with his wife Lilian and settled in San Jose Their son Andrew (b 1862) left home at thirteen and came to Lodi (1875) where he worked as a ranch hand for many years Only after marrying a local girl Charlotte Leetzow (1897) and working for the Wagner

6

Meat Co of Stockton for many years did Gomes finally buy his own spread southwest of Lodi There he raised alfalfa and stock as late as the 1930s8

One prominent farming clan settled in the Banta area east of Tracy Anselmo Gallego (1821-1908) scion of this fashymily came to California from Mexico in 1849 Once arrived he married Juanita Carrasco (1821-1906) first settling in Pleasanton then during the 1880s moving with their son Frank (b 1862) to San Joaquin county Initially the Gallegos were grain and stock raisers but after Anselmos retirement (1887) Frank Gallego operated a sheep shearing and dipping camp for Miller amp Lux The younger Gallego once held the record for shearing 143 sheep in a single day then dancing all night and shearing as many sheep then next day according to George Tinkham With money that accrued from his sheep camp Frank Gallego bought a saloon restaurant and boarding house in nearby Banta (1897) His Cool Corner stood from that date until replaced by the Banta Inn in 1937 His daughter Jenny was still operating the bar as late as 1978 During the 1920s Gallego also purchased 120 acres south of Banta installed an irrigation system and farmed alfalfa for several years9

Yet another important and more traditionally-employed rural county Hispanic resident during the last quarter of the 19th century was Jose Miramontes (1835-1908) a native Californian who moved to San Joaquin

county from his familys rancho in San Mateo county after that historic property was sold to Leland Stanford during the 1880s Employed on Roberts Island as ranch manager by Undine amp Williams and later by Williams amp Bixler Mirashymontes was famous for his skill at breaking wild horses and for his flamshyboyant exhibition riding Jose Mirashymontes son Pablo (b 1875) took over his fathers position on the latters retireshyment and became famous in his own right as a bronco buster Tinkham credits the younger Miramontes with the remarkable feat of breaking five wild horses in an hour and a half1o

San Joaquin countys most important Hispanic businessman of the final quarter of the 19th c was probably Joseph Vasquez (1831-1913) Vasquez name begins to appear in local records with the 1870 Federal Census where he is described as a thirty-eight year old Stockton saloon keeper with a wife two sons and a $1000 estate Vasquez has the distinction of being one of just four Hispanic immigrants biographied in any of the San Joaquin county histories Born in Malorca Spain he came to Stockton in 1867 and operated a small grocery store for about five years until becoming the proprietor of a saloon at the corner of California and South streets which then flourished for nearly twenty years In his capacity as saloon keeper Vasquez helped launch the career of another important Hispanic bUSinessman his stepson Joseph Ruiz about whom we shall have more to say later Joseph Vasquez invested

Bygones

8

profits from his popular saloon in farm land first as a renter (1883) and evenshytually as owner of over 400 acres He was never actively involved in the culshytivation of his own lands preferring instead to rent to others Vasquez died in Stockton and is buried in Stockton Rural Cemetery11

Other city dwellers of passing note included Theodore Cruz and Nicolas Leon (1830-1885) Cruz first operated the Mexican Restaurant on the northshywest corner of Hunter and Market streets (c1878-1882) then became a printer for the Stockton Daily Indepenshydent (1883) before disappearing from

suddenly at age fifty-five but had not apparently been in good health for some time since his brief death notice remarks that his passing was not unshyexpected12

Although the 1880 Census indicates that the population of Stockton stood at more than 12000 persons fewer Hisshypanic names (117) are to be found in that Census than in the Census of 1870 Middle class occupations listed include doctor (1) and restaurateur (1) The lower middle class ranks include farmer (5) carpenter (3) seamshystress (3) baker (2) blacksmith (2) carriage painter (1) midwife (1) and

N IV (orul 1lIfJll(~I(nul J(tImiddotketStrc(f~

THEODORr CRUZmiddotmiddotmiddot PROPRIETOR

SPANISH STYLE

MEALS (with Wine) lrulll J eb to O et~

OYSTERS IN EVERY STYLE

the local scene Leons name appears in county directories from 1871 through 1884 His occupation is usually given as musician and he seems to have worked at least part of the time in Joshyseph Vasquez bar Nicholas Leon died

cook (1) The dearth of Hispanics in all rural locations by comparison with the 1870 Census leads the researcher to question the accuracy of the count Of those listed the doctor one Dr Valencia (no first name provided) is not

9

listed in any city directory published during the 1870s or 80s the restaurashyteur is Theodore Cruz and the musishycian is Nick Leon both of whom are mentioned above

The 1880s marked the beginning of a period of mass immigration of ordinary laboring men and women from southern Europe to California Although San Joaquin countys Basque Italian and Portuguese populations grew enormously in the twenty years preceding the onset of the 20th c the Hispanic population apparently remained at levels comparable to those measured by the 1870 Federal Census

One Hispanic laborer who came to Stockton during these years William Olvera (1850-1909) noticed something about the burgeoning local Italian comshymunity which he thought especially valuable and worth emUlating the conshycept of an ethnic benevolent society The Italians had created their Italian Gardeners Society to provide members most of whom were laboring men with the medical coverage loans and penshysions not otherwise available to them Olvera who worked as a laborer a bootblack a barber and a porter during the last two decades of the 19th c decided that Hispanics too should have a benevolent society and toshygether with a few friends he created the Tenochtitlan Society 1 (named for the Aztec capital city) 13

This organization incorporated in Noshyvember 1904 was established to proshy

vide mutual aid and benevolence moral and material intellectual and social education to its members The society had seven founding directors Olvera Jesus Bordon John Chavez (clerk) Francisco Figueroa Marcelo Negrete (harness maker) Andres Silvas and Francisco Walsh (barkeeper) All of these men save one Marcelo Neshygrete had vanished from Stockton by 1910 and research has so far failed to reveal how long after the death of its founder and first president William Olshyvera (d 1909) the Society survived14

Harness maker Marcelo Negrete (1865shy1941) who came to Stockton from Mexshyico just before the turn of the century (1895) was still plying his trade making automobile tops in addition to harness as late as 1941 Negretes tooled leashyther work received both regional and national acclaim during his lifetime acshycording to George Tinkham Marcelo Negrete married Adela Lizarraga of Sinaloa (d 1919) and they had seven children at least one of whom Vincent was still living in Stockton and working with his father as late as 193015

Pioneer Delta farmer Sebastian Hara came to California from Chile during the Gold Rush settled at Half Moon Bay married native Californian Josephine Garcia (d 1917) had six children and finally came to San Joaquin county in 1891 He leased farm land on Union Island for nearly fifteen years making good money save in the three years when he was wiped out by floods One of Haras sons Joseph relocated to

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Stockton (1907) Vllhere he took employshyment with the Department of Public Works and became Overseer of Consshytitution Park (1914-1930)16

A major player in Stocktons Hispanic community between 1890 and 1910 was Joseph Vasquez stepson Joseph B Ruiz Like his stepfather Ruiz made his mark as a saloonkeeper and was best known for his association with the noshytorious Tivoli Concert Hall (1900-1910) a saloon that advertised first class vaudeville acts but Vllhich Glenn Kenshynedy described in It Happened in Stockton 1900-1925 as a tenderloin show house Vllhere the entertainment was Vllhat would be classed as elaboshyrate for adults only and as for women attending they were already there The Tivoli had several run-ins with the police for serving alcohol to minors and it was finally shut down Vllhen the law

TIVOLI CONCERT HALL FIRST~CLASS vaJdeville entertainment

eVEry evening at 26 and 28 South El DoshyradQ street lustQ amp Ruz nroDrietGts

se-a

discovered that Ruiz was operating a lottery on the premises Undaunted Joe Ruiz continued to operate a seshyquence of other saloons at various Stockton locations until Prohibition forced him to became a laborer ---at least that is the story as we read it in directories of the 1920s17

Mexico was beset with severe inflation throughout the first two decades of the 20th century Although wages reshymained constant the cost of living there doubled between 1890 and 1910 During those years according to Mark Reisler author of By the Sweat of Their Brow Mexican Immigrant Labor in the United States 1900-1940 the average Mexican laborer was obliged to work fifteen times as many hours as his American counterpart to buy a sack of Vllheat flourThe Mexican Revolution (ca191 0-1920) compounded this probshylem for during that period the price of most food items doubled again At the same time crops were confiscated men were conscripted and the infrastructure that enabled farmers to get their goods to market deteriorated18

Albert Camarillo author of Chicanos in California estimates that between 1910 and 1930 over one million Mexicans-shyvirtually ten percent of the population of Mexico---immigrated to the United States in search of work 19

The Southern Pacific Railroad brought the first large wave of 20th c Mexican immigrant workers into San Joaquin county A few of these men lived near rail yards in south Stockton and in Tracy The 1908 County Directory specifically identifies three Spanish surname laborers as railroad workers and some listed as generic laborers may also have worked for the railroad The Southern Pacific Railroad at that time paid Japanese $145 per day and Mexicans $125 In Mexico a farm worshy

11

ker earned about twelve cents per day for twelve hours work so it is not surshyprising that Mexican Indian and mestizo immigrants were willing to work for loshywer wages than other non-Whites In San Joaquin county even a Mexican farm worker could earn a dollar per hour in the first decade of the 20th century but acceptance of such workers was always grudging and qualified20

County press coverage of Mexicans changed subtly between 1910 and 1920 The papers were full of news of the events of the Revolution of course Coverage tended to stress the pervashysive corruption of Mexican society and reporters alternately emphasized comic and violent manifestations of this corshyruption From about 1910 local newsshypapers always identified Spanish surname individuals as Mexicans and non-Hispanics of European origin with whom they interacted as Whites whereas before that date all parties were usually simply identified by name Frequent articles about local Mexican lawbreakers linked the corruption reshyported in articles about revolutionary Mexico with what the newspapers termed the characteristic behavior of local Hispanics When in December 1915 a demented Mexican Jose SalCido caused derailment of a Southern Pacific train in which several people were injured the newspapers expressed outrage at this supposed result of unchecked immigration 21

At the same time hard-working Hispanic farmers tried their luck at shareshy

cropping newly reclaimed Delta peat lands FC Cayetano share-cropped an entire 640 acre section of wheat on Roberts Island in 1915 He paid the landlord 25 of his crop and $7000 in cash for this privilege Assuming the average yield of twenty-five sacks per acre Cayetano probably produced some 16000 sacks of which he kept the profit on 12000 From these he probably earned about $1640---enough to live on but not enough to rent the same land again22

Hispanic farmers were never able to muster the large amounts of cash that Chinese renters regularly paid out for choice Delta lands The Chinese pooled their resources in companies that enjoyed the backing of wealthy Chinese merchants in Stockton or San Francisco Mexicans seem not to have been accustomed to cooperative farming nor to have enjoyed the invesshytor patronage of capitalists like Joseph B Ruiz

The United States entry into World War I produced a sudden farm labor shortshyage in San Joaquin county as it did elsewhere in California At the same time the newly-created US Governshyment Food Board sought to stimulate production of certain basic foodstuffs for sale to Americas allies The Board stressed barley bean and sugar beet production Naturally county acreage of these crops expanded greatly beshytween 1916 and 1919 In 1907 for inshystance county farmers grew 6210 acres of beans while in 1917 they farmed 50000 acres of the legume23

To meet the labor shortage the sugar industry first brought pressure on the US government to bring large numbers of contract workers from Mexico into California This industry had been using Mexican labor for several years elseshywhere in the Southwest and preferred Mexican contract workers because they worked for little and in theory could be easily sent back to nearby Mexico when no longer needed By early 1918 conshytract workers began to arrive in this county in large numbers At Wars end however a severe economic depresshysion occasioned in part by government withdrawal of price sup-ports for certain agricultural commodities rendered Mexican labor less wel-come than it had been during the War Although some attempts were made to get Mexican laborers to return at once to Mexico many remained in San Joaquin county as seasonal wage laborers24

Although this new larger Mexican immigrant population was not wel~ corned it was employed--often within a special framework of unwritten rules State employment agent Frank Watershyman for example told University of California Economics researcher James Earl Wood that when he bossed Mexican gangs he handled reluctant laborers by paying the one field hand who did the best work more than the others One local labor contractor summed up prevailing attitudes when he said

The Mexican cant compete They quarrel among themselves they are not interested in the work and they

12

are unstable They work a few days get some money and then layoff until they need more money25

Another complaint about Mexicans was that their families---who often came with them from Mexico---quickly became dependent upon public charity Since these individuals generally had no savings spoke little English and had no usable work skills they were without resources if the head of the household was thown out of work or into jail A Stockton interviewee told James Earl Wood that nearly twelve percent of all charity cases in San Joaquin county between 1923 and 1928 were MexishycanS26

During the early 1920s county landshyowners gained a new supply of agriculshyturallaborers through Americas special relationship with the Philippine Islands Since Filipinos were not aliens before the law they could enter the United States and seek employment without concern for deportation It is not surshyprising that Mexican laborers were not particularly well-disposed toward FIlishypinos Mr E E Garcia of the Standard Employment Agency in Stockton told James Earl Wood

Theyve hurt us You bet theyve hurt us and theyre doing it all the time Theyve got to make a living of course but we were here first There are families and families that are depending on picking fruit each season [but] theyll work for less27

Garcias remarks notwithstanding Wood states that while some employers

13

paid Mexican and Filipino workers equal amounts others like EM Schwartz of Zuckerman amp Co actually paid Filipinos $250 per day and Mexicans only $225 Relations between the two competing groups remained tense throughout the 1920s28

It could fairly be said of Hispanics that by 1925 they were a significant preshysence in county horticulture Up to that time however their local role in all walks of life had generally been limited since Gold Rush days both through prejudice and a lack of funds to that of poorly-paid unappreciated wage laborers

ENDNOTES

1-George H Tinkham History of San Joaquin County Califomia (1923) 154-155

2-0p Cit 178147 Alta California (7-7-74)

3-untitled ledger containing Stockton lot sales amp other court transaction records (1850)

4-San Joaquin County Recorder Deeds Bk A vols 3-4 (1850-1852)

5-Stockton Daily Independent (5-29-75) Tinkham History 200

6-lIlustrated History of San Joaquin County (1890) 646 San Joaquin County Recorder Marriages vol 2 73

7-San Joaquin Genealogical SOCiety Gold Rush Days Vol 6 Miscellany copied from early newspapers of Stockton 1861shy1866 (1989) 1954891535)5007517

8-Tinkham History 1535

9-Tinkham History 1410 Ray Hillman and Leonard Covello Cities amp Towns of San Joaquin County Since 1847 (1985) 113


11-JM Guinn History of the State of California and Biographical Record of San Joaquin County Vol 2 (1pounda) 277-278

12-Stockton Evening Herald (Feb 91885)

13-Central California Record (Mar 27 1pounda)

14-0p Cit 13 (Nov 19 1904)


16-0p Cit 151535

17-~ntraICalifomia Record (Apr 16 1pounda) San Joaquin County directories 1891 1893 1896 1901 1910 191119131915

18-Mark Reisler By the Sweat of Their Brows (1974) 14

19-Albert Camarillo Chicanos in CaHfomia (1978) 33

2O-Reisler SWeat 4 14

21-Stockton Record (Dec 15 1915)

22-San Joaquin County Recorder Crop Mortgages amp Chattels Bk I vol 40 (1915)227

23-Gateway NO3 (Oct 1908)21 San Joaquin County Farm Bureau Scrapbook 1917-192332

24-0p Cit 25 55

25-Bancroft Library University of Califomia James Earl Wood Papers env 3 Field Notes 32

26-0p cit 28 21

27-Bancroft Library University of California James Earl Wood Papers erw 3 Field Notes 22

28-0p cit 3166

On July 28 1966 the County of San Joaquin and the San Joaquin County Historical Society entered into an agreement that established the San Joaquin County Historical Museum In the ensuing 35 years the Museum has grown through the support and efforts of County government and all the members friends volunteers and staff doing everything possible to acquire and care for great collections develop and maintain award-winning educational programs and provide the highest possible levels of service to visitors researchers and cooperating institutions and organizations We have been trying to save and move Julia Vebers Home for nearly half of that time Maybe the best way to celebrate our 35th anniversary is to finally place Julias Home on the museum grounds where we can care for it and share the house and Julias place in history with our visitors Happy Anniversary everyone We have built this Museum together and judging by progress on the Julia Weber house nobody is quitting yet

Address correction requested

San Joaquin County Historical Society and Museum PO Box 30 Lodi CA 95241-0030

Non-Profit Organization

POSTAGE PAID

Pennit No 48 Lodi CA 95241

The San Joaquin Historian A Publication ofthe San Joaquin County Historical Society amp Museum

Vol XV - Number 1 Spring 2001

Editor Donald Walker PhD

Published by The San Joaquin County Historical Society Inc

Micke Grove Regional Park p 0 Box 30 Lodi CA 95241-0030 (209)331-2055 or (209)953-3460

President Christopher Engh

Immediate Past President Helen Trethewey

Finance Mel Wingett

Publications Lisa Dannen

Society Division Frank D Fargo

Secretary Elise Austin Forbes

Treasurer Robert FMcMaster

Director San Joaquin County Historical Society Michael W Bennett


This issue is the first San Joaquin Historian ever devoted exclusively to the history of county Hispanics It is a tentative beginning of what must become a continuing process the chronicling of San Joaquin countys large and important Hispanic population The County Historical Museum collections are not nearly comprehensive enough either in terms of diaries business records oral histories or photographs to tell the story of this segment of our conununity for generations yet to come Hispanics please bring us your treasures--shyhelp us tell your story

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Don Walker has been ArchiistLibrarian at the San Joaquin County Museum since 1989 Walker proshycessed organized and created finding aids for all manuscript collections at the Museum He has published historical essays on county Italians and Koreans In addition to his work with the San Joaquin County Museum Don Walker is an Archiist at the University of the Pacific in Stockton

Cover photo Home of Lorenzo Chilean cook for Capt Charles Weber Stockton (caI857)









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hispanics in san joaquin county, 1850-1930

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