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Jose Panto, Captian of the Indian Pueblo of San Pascual (15 pages)
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Page: of 15
JOSE PANTO 151
been derived from this (J. Quisquis, personal
communication 1985).
The San Pascual Indian pueblo came into
existence subsequent to the secularization of
Mission San Diego de Alcala; the Indians were
awarded virtually the whole valley of San
Pasqual bordering Rancho San Bernardo on the
west. A letter accompanying a census (padron)
of the ‘‘neofitos desafiliados’’ was addressed to
the administration of San Diego from José J.
Ortega and dated November 16, 1835 (Hayes
n.d.:No. 39). In his notes, Hayes (1874:497)
stated that there were 81 neophytes from the
mission of San Diego listed in this census. In a
note on the pueblo of San Pascual, Hayes
(1873:230) gave the following description of
what was contained in the padron:
There were thirty-four male adults, all of them
married (and living there with their wives),
except one ‘‘soltero’’ [single man] and nine
viudos (widowers).
There was one widow (Manuela) and her daughter (Lorenza).
Male—those marked married (24 in number) had
living with them there eight male children and
ten female children. Three widowers had two
boys and one girl: in all 21 children in the
pueblo. The ages of none of the parties are
given. Their trades or pursuits were as follows:
alcalde (Juan Cuerpo, vaquero), 6 vaqueros, 10
arrieros {muleteers], 2 carpinteros, 1 herrero
{blacksmith], 2 tejedores [weavers], 1 carbonero
{charcoal-maker], 2 molenderos [millers], 1
cardador [carder of wool], 5 labradores [farmers/plowmen], 2 gamuseros {leather workers},
and . quesero [cheesemaker], for a total of 34.
This diversity of skills supports Bancroft’s
(1885b:628) statement that the pueblo at San
Pasqual was ‘‘composed of Indians selected
from the . . . missions for their intelligence,
good behavior, industry, and fitness in all
respects for earning their own living and
managing their own affairs.”’
Although the village was initially organized
as a civil pueblo with an Indian alcalde named
Juan Cuerpo, at some point prior to September
1837, the man who came to be known as the
capitan of San Pascual Pueblo, and who retained the title until his death in 1874, arrived
on the scene. His name was Panto.” The word
panto means fantasma in Spanish, and is associated with someone whose spirit can escape his
own body (extasiado) (Alonso 1958:3127).
This name may well have been applied to Panto
as a characterization of his status as a shaman.
Ipai shamans were well known for their ability
to escape their bodies in the form of their
guardian animal (Luomala 1978:604). A possibly related term that is still used by Indian
people in the vicinity of San Pasqual is spanto,
meaning ‘‘spook’’ (J. and O. Quisquis, personal
communications 1985). This is clearly derived
from the Spanish word espanto, meaning
‘“‘something frightening.”’
Panto’s age was listed as 42 on the 1852
California Census. If accurate, he would have
been born ca. 1810. In an 1856 letter, his full
name, José Panto, first appears. The name
Panto is unusual, although for a period of time
a Fr. José Pedro Panto resided at Mission San
Diego. Fr. Panto arrived at San Diego on July
28, 1810,> and served at the mission from
September 1810 until his death on June 30,
1812 (Bancroft 1885a:345).
However, there is evidence that Panto (the
Indian) did not come from one of the missions.
In 1845, an investigator sent to the pueblo of
San Pascual by Governor Pio Pico suggested
that Panto was not Christian, but was rather the
captain of the unconverted (gentile) Indians of
San Pascual (Spanish Archives n.d.:8:50 ff.).
San Diego baptismal records for the years 1808
to 1815 were searched in a vain effort to determine if Panto was known to have been baptized
(R. Quinn, personal communication 1984). According to his daughter, Felicita, and an old
woman (Manuella), Panto was a shaman (spirittaught man) (Roberts 1917:105) and Felicita
was not baptized until she was about 12 years
old (Roberts 1917:220-221).
It is interesting to consider the possibility of