The Evening News. November 4, 1916

30. The Pathfinder's Victim. Part II

Don Jose Berryessa's life until its very close did not differ greatly from that of other wealthy ranchers. He reared a large family of children of which Mrs. Engracia Fernandez of Vine street, this city, is the youngest and only one surviving. However in 1846 everything changed in the Berryessa family as well as in California. Mrs. Fernandez was a very little girl in 1846, but she recalls well the last days of her father's life.

The fear of the lean, lank Gringo grew rapidly in the early 40's among the Spanish Californians. As yet the Gringoes had appeared in small numbers. Perhaps there were not, more than five hundred in the state, but they showed in their relations with the Spaniards such disregard of established rights that always they were the black cloud in sunny California. When Captain Fremont came to explore, and when the Bears raised the flags at Sonoma the Spanish Californians knew that the storm had broken.

Don Jose's four sons Francisco, Santiago, Jose and Ygnacio were in the thick of the struggle between the Bears and the Spanish. All had ranches near Sonoma. One was the Alcalde. Don Jose was anxious about his sons when a messenger brought news from the north that all four boys had been placed in jail in San Rafael by the Bears after they declared California independent. When Don Jose heard this he started to rescue his sons.

"We were terribly frightened" said Mrs. Fernandez. "Everyone believed that the Gringoes had come to kill us all. That was seventy-two years ago, but I remember how my father looked when he said 'I am going to help your brothers.' He took my mother and the children in a carretta to the Santa Clara Mission where he left us. All the other Spanish people were frightened, and the women and the children huddled in the Mission. My father said good-bye. The next thing we heard of his was that he was shot at San Rafael. They told us how my father had begged the Gringoes for his life. I never did anything to hurt you. Why should you kill me?"

"But they killed him. When my mother heard the news of my father's death she fainted. Afterwards when they mentioned my father to my mother, she fainted. The Gringoes were a bloodless people. They lived on tea and potatoes. Years afterward a Gringo wanted to marry my sister, but my mother refused. The Gringoes killed your father."

Transcribed by Kitty LaFavor, for the Santa Clara Co. CAGenWeb Project. 2008