Collection: Directories and Documents > Tanis Thorne Native Californian & Nisenan Collection

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Title: Memoirs of Theodor Cordua - Pioneer of New Mecklenburg in the Sacramento Valley (December 1933) Collection Type: Directories and Documents Collection Name: Tanis Thorne Native Californian & Nisenan Collection Author: Erwin G. Gudde Publisher: California Historical Society Published: December 1933 # of Pages: 25 Download PDF: User Login Required Download OCR Text: User Login Required

Date Scanned: 2017-08-24 17:19:37 OCR Software Version #: tesseract 5.4.1 Item Sourced From: PDF First Created: 2025-03-17 03:22:47 Last Updated: 2025-03-17 03:22:47

Original Held At: Searls Historical Library Location: 161 Nevada City Hwy, Nevada City, CA 95959

Page: of 25  

The Pioneer of New Mecklenburg 6 beautiful ranchos. There is in general little timber. In the summer the usual temperature ranges from seventy to one hundred degrees, and in the winter from fifty to sixty degrees Fahrenheit. In general the climate is mild and very healthful. One hundred years have not yet passed since the first settlers from Mexico made their homes in this part of Upper California. They were Jesuit monks’ who had emigrated from Mexico by ship or come from the eastern part of Lower California and Sonora over the land route. The first settkements (see Forbe’s work about California)® or missions were established at San Diego, San Gabriel, San Luis Obispo, and San Fernando. The Indians who lived near or far were compelled to accept the Catholic religion and forced to work at the missions. Not acquainted with the Spanish language, they understood little of the Christian religion and could be governed at first only with force. At the first missions, cattle raising and agriculture were undertaken in large measure. Of land there was no scarcity. The real estate of every mission was the size of a principality. In its most flourishing period, the Mission San Gabriel owned over 5,000 Indians, 120,000 heads of cattle, 100,000 horses, and 25,000 sheep. Under the cloak of religion, the priests and monks ruled like magnates and were the kings of California, while the poor Indians had to do all the work. I THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW MECKLENBURG The beginning of November we returned to the Bay of San Francisco and anchored at the small town of Yerba Buena which at that time could be called neither village nor city. Here I met my German compatriot, Mr. Flugge’ from Hanover, who was in the service of Sutter, and who induced me to return to Nova Helvetia with him. The idea of settling in Sutter’s neighborhood in the Sacramento Valley I had almost given up in the meantime. I had heard many complaints about Sutter, especially that he had contracted many debts and did not think of repaying them; for this reason I naturally somewhat lost my confidence in him. Mr. Carl Flugge, whose uncle I had known since 1815, in Grossen Helle, Mecklenburg, as a very worthy and respectable man, had been in California for some time and was better acquainted with the conditions than I was. Therefore I followed his advice although he was a friend of Sutter and had been his pal* from the time they had met in St. Louis. He advised me not to give up my plan and I returned to Sutter’s Fort with him. Sutter, who owned a grant of thirty leagues’ (about thirty German square miles or one hundred and fifty thousand acres) in the Sacramento Valley, wished to have settlers in his neighborhood. He also wanted to buy the goods which I had brought from the Sandwich Islands and which he needed very badly just then. His many promises finally led to a deal.'° To Mr. Sutter I sold goods valued at about $8,000, for which I was to receive in exchange heifers at $4 a head, wild cows at $6, domesticated cows and oxen at $15, wild mares at $3, domesticated mares at $15, and well-broken horses at $20. Mr. Flugge guaranteed everything and became my partner for a few months. Sutter, in accordance with his promises, also gave me all the land north of the Yuba to which he held claim. This permission to live on a part of his holdings and to use it at my pleasure for nine years was given to me by contract. If I would move away at the end of nine years, Sutter would pay me for the newly constructed buildings, but if I were to use the land another nine years, the buildings, too, would become Sutter’s property. In addition to the five leagues I received from Sutter, A mistake of the writer. There were only Franciscan missions in Upper California. Forhes, Alexander, California: A History of Upper and Lower California .. London, 1839. Carl Fliigge, who had come to California in 1841, was for some time the legal adviser and “diplomatic representative” of Sutter. He negotiated the latter’s treaty with Micheltorena. oon nn The word “Duzbruder,’’ used by the author, means that they used the familiar “do” in addressing each other. Sutter’s grant consisted of only eleven leagues at that time. [Cordua’s note:] As is well known, the Spanish or Mexican Government gave grants here and elsewhere to settlers who applied for them. These deeds were supposed to be absolutely free, but they could be obtained only by bribing the governmental secretary. If one was in the possession of such a deed, which had received the signature of the governor and had been confirmed by the annual assembly of the Junta (consisting of twelve elected citizens of California), no one could contest this title. The grants were of various sites, the largest of thirty . and the lest of two . In Mi ‘i one still speaks of the old Spanish grants. Such a grant was given only to the family and could not be transferred to other persons without the consent of the government. In this respect the grants resembled our feudal fiefs. The limitations on the right to sell the property were discontinued after California had become a part of the United States.