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The beautiful Flores adobe stands in a pristine residential area on the southern slope of Raymond Hill, in South Pasadena. The adobe built about 1839 still serves as a private home. The name associated with this old casa comes from General Jose Maria Flores, who led the Mexican Army of California during Mexican War. Flores never lived at the house nor did he ever spend a single night beneath its roof. But, it was at this site that the defeated general retreated after the last battle with the American troops who were advancing upon Los Angeles in 1847. Flores, fearing he would be shot by the conquering Yankees, fled from this place to Mexico never to return.
It is the author's humble opinion that the Flores adobe should more aptly be recognized as La Casa de Rancho San Pascual, named for the 14,402 acre Mexican land grant whereupon the house originally stood. From this adobe, the affairs of the rancho were managed. Another appropriate title for this distinguished structure could be "The Juan Perez Adobe", named for the ranchero responsible for building its adobe walls which have lasted for over 150 years. Since the Flores Adobe is more significantly related with Rancho San Pascual rather than General Flores, this chapter will cover focus on the evolution and development of the historic rancho.
Rancho San Pascual was named for the sixteenth century, Spanish born, Saint Pascal. He was a member of the Franciscan Order and was known for his contributions to the underprivileged. San Pascual was the name given to the area, which is now the cities of Altadena, Pasadena, South Pasadena, and portions of San Marino. The Indians, who preceded the Spanish and the Mexicans, undoubtedly had a different name this valley region, but unfortunately, this name was forgotten long ago. The Gabrielino Indians found suitable living conditions along both sides of the Arroyo Seco, and near streams from the mountains or from underground springs. One of these streams flowed east of Raymond Hill where a village once existed near its banks. Evidence of rancherias (Indian villages) were found in Los Robles Canyon and at the mouth of Millard Canyon. Indian relics were found near Orange Grove Boulevard and Walnut Street in Pasadena. Also, near La Cresta Drive and North Arroyo Boulevard, there were artifacts found belonging to a prehistoric race of people which occupied this area long before the Gabrielinos.
With the founding of the San Gabriel Mission in 1771, the Indians were brought into the fold by the Franciscan padres. During the Spanish mission period, the piece of land described as being situated north of the mission between the Arroyo Seco and the mountains was designated Rancho El Rincon de San Pascual (The Corner Ranch of Saint Pascal). The mission used the rancho to raise cattle and sheep. When Mexico won her independence from Spain, the Mexican government ordered the mission system to be secularized and be made procurable for private ownership. Secularization became official in 1834 and Rancho San Pascual was available to Mexican citizens.
Juan Marine, a retired army lieutenant, filed a petition on July 15, 1833, asking Governor Jose Figueroa for permission to use the land known as Rincon de San Pascual. Marine was born in 1768 in the Catalonia Province of Spain. Joining the Royal Spanish Army he served in the artillery and came to California in 1795. He acquired the rank of first lieutenant by the time he retired in 1821. About 1827, Marine was living near the San Gabriel Mission. He kept an orchard near the pueblo of Los Angeles, but lost it in a flood in 1831. At San Gabriel, he met Dona Eulalia Perez de Guillen, the "llavera" or housekeeper of the mission. They married in 1832 when both were in their sixties. It was likely a marriage of convenience, advised by the mission padres in order for the couple to be in a better position to receive the land grant. Marine was previously married to Maria Antonio Sepulveda, with whom he had six children.
Dona Eulalia, was born in Loreto, Mexico. Her parents were Diego and Rosalia Perez. She married her first husband, Antonio Guillen at age fifteen and came to California with him about 1800. Guillen was a soldier of the company at the San Diego Presidio, but was assigned to the garrison at Mission San Gabriel. When they arrived, the present mission church was still under construction with the stone walls standing only four feet high. They had two daughters; Petra and Rosaria, and one son, Isidoro. One son died prior to 1812.
The padres found Dona Eulalia to be a woman of many talents. She took on many responsibilities at the mission, including nurse, midwife, matron of the young female neophytes and supervisor of spinning and tailoring. Also, the versatile woman had a good business sense as she was in charge of the mission treasury and was the chief accountant. Essentially, she ran the mission, but Dona Eulalia became more famous for her longevity. It was believed she lived a remarkable 140 years, but more likely she lived to the approximate age of 104 when she died in San Gabriel in 1878.
Since the padres were faced with losing the majority of the mission's land holdings through secularization, they wanted to see that some of the land went to people who dedicated their services to the mission. They used their influence to see that Dona Eulalia and Juan Marine got their fair share of ex-mission pasturage. On May 6, 1834, Governor Jose Figueroa responded to Marine's petition by granting him ownership of Rancho San Pascual.
It was a provisional grant, which included several conditions. The grantee was not to subdivide or rent out the land. The grantee was not allowed to close the public roads crossing through the property and build a residential house within a year of the grant. The boundaries had to be officially surveyed and marked, and that land be used and cultivated. If these conditions were not met, the grantee will have to forfeit the right of the property and the land would be subjected to denouncement by another party. With this denouncement, another party could claim the land. Denouncement of a California land grant was extremely rare, but it happened twice in the case of Rancho San Pascual.
When Marine died in 1838, he failed to cultivate the land, therefore not meeting the requirements of his concession. The widowed Dona Eulalia, chose to live at her adobe casa near the mission and occupied with her duties there, she was unable to care for the rancho. Marine's son, Fruto Marine, was an active soldier and could not take charge of San Pascual either. He sold the rancho on April 6, 1839, to Juan Perez and Enrique Sepulveda. Juan Perez, a cousin of Dona Eulalia, paid six horses and ten head of cattle for the rancho. Perez and Sepulveda denounced the first grant of San Pascual and submitted a claim for themselves. On September 24, 1840, Governor Juan B. Alvarado re-granted San Pascual to the two men. The grant was provisional with similar conditions given to Marine.
Perez and Sepulveda moved their cattle on to the rancho and took full possession. Both built small adobe houses near the Arroyo Seco. One of the houses was built at the base of Raymond Hill near a stream and an oak grove by Juan Perez in 1839. It was a fine house, but lacked an adequate roof. Perez died after receiving the title to San Pascual in 1841. His cattle were taken to rancho San Antonio, owned by the Lugo family. Enrique Sepulveda died a few years later, about 1843. His livestock was either stolen or killed. Rancho San Pascual was once again abandoned and once again denounced.
Manuel Garfias, a young lieutenant in the Mexican Army, denounced the former grant and claimed the land for himself. He paid $70 for the Sepulveda adobe and paid the widow of Juan Perez $100 for the adobe near Raymond Hill. On November 28, 1843, he received title of Rancho San Pascual from his superior, Governor Manuel Micheltorena. Garfias served in Micheltorena's "Batalon Fijo de Californias" or the Fixed Battalion of California as an officer from 1842 to 1845. He came with the governor to Alta California from Mexico in 1842. The lieutenant was also a relative of Micheltorena, so nepotism may have been a factor in his receiving this generous grant. Garfias married Dona Luisa Avila, the daughter of Francisco and Encarnacion Avila, the owners of Rancho Las Cienegas and the Avila Adobe on Olvera Street. Garfias took possession of San Pascual, but kept a casa in the pueblo of Los Angeles at 1st and Main Streets. Although not building a home on the rancho until years later, he may have used the Perez adobe as a ranch house.
When Mexico and the United States went to war in 1846, Lieutenant Garfias took part in the defense of California serving under General Jose Maria Flores. In 1842, General Flores came to California with Micheltorena as his secretary. As a captain, Flores was Garfias' immediate supervisor in the "Batalon Fijo". During the war, Flores became supreme military commander of the Mexican forces in California. Troops under Flores managed to resist the American invaders for six months. In the first days of October 1846, Lieutenant Garfias with a small force took back the pueblo of Santa Barbara, which was occupied by American forces.
On January 9, 1847, Flores was defeated by General Stephen W. Kearny and Commodore Robert F. Stockton in the Battle of La Mesa, which took place four miles southeast of Los Angeles. This was the last battle of the Mexican War fought in California. After this defeat, Flores camped at Rancho San Pascual near the adobe built by Juan Perez seven years earlier. The adobe itself supposedly served as the Californio's (Spanish Californians) temporary headquarters. Flores feared that he would be shot by Stockton if he was captured, and on the night of January 11, 1847, General Flores escaped for Mexico. Lieutenant Manuel Garfias, with thirty privates and six officers accompanied Flores on a tedious desert journey into Mexico. While there, Flores continued to serve in Mexican Army throughout the war and thereafter. In 1855, Jose Maria Flores was living in Mazatlan and may have died there in 1866.
Garfias returned to his family in Los Angeles after the war. He quickly assimilated into the American way of life and even went into government service. From 1851 to 1852, he was the treasurer of Los Angeles County. In 1852, he was a member of a vigilance committee in Los Angeles during a time when crime was rampant. Years later, he was appointed the United States Consul at Mazatlan, Mexico, where he spent the remainder of his life.
Garfias filed claim to Rancho San Pascual with the United States Land Commission on September 16, 1852. It was approved by the board on April 25, 1854, and confirmed by the Southern District of the Federal Court on March 6, 1856. On April 3, 1863, Garfias received a United States Patent for the rancho that was signed by President Abraham Lincoln. Unfortunately, by the time he received the patent, he had lost the rancho.
Garfias was more interested in politics rather than ranching. He was a poor manager of his rancho. In the early 1850s, his mother-in-law, Dona Encarnacion Avila, was in charge of ranch operations. Little by little, he sold portions of San Pascual for $3 an acre in order to finance the building of a new hacienda. Additionally, he borrowed $3,000 at an interest rate of 4 percent due monthly to complete his house. In 1853, this elaborate adobe manor was constructed along the east bank of the Arroyo Seco at the colossal cost of $5,000. The entire acreage of San Pascual was not worth as much as the Garfias Adobe. This expensive adobe was the new headquarters of Rancho San Pascual, but it caused Garfias to lose his land. It was torn down in the 1880s to make way for progress. The site of the Garfias Adobe is at 424 Arroyo Drive in South Pasadena. Not far from here was Garfias Springs, named after Manuel Garfias.
The amount of Garfias' debt tripled and he defaulted on his loan. He was forced to give up his rancho in January 1859. Benjamin Davis Wilson paid Garfias $1,800 for Rancho San Pascual. Wilson owned a smaller neighboring ranch, which he called Lake Vineyard. He acquired this property in 1852 and built a house there. General George S. Patton, Wilson's grandson, was born in this house in 1885. Today, Lacy Park in San Marino is the site of Wilson's Lake Vineyard home.
Wilson, originally from Tennessee, came to California in 1841 with the Rowland-Workman Party via the Santa Fe Trail. He was baptized into the Catholic faith and naturalized as a Mexican citizen in order to marry Ramona Yorba, a native daughter of California. In 1844, he acquired Rancho La Jurupa, which is now the city of Riverside. During the Mexican War, Wilson tried to remain neutral but was dragged into the fray and often placed in the middle of matters acting as a mediator between the Mexicans and the Americans. After the American conquest, he served a term as mayor of Los Angeles and three terms as a State Senator. In 1878, Benjamin Wilson died at his Lake Vineyard home at the age of sixty-seven. Many landmarks in the Pasadena area are named for Wilson, including Mount Wilson in the San Gabriel Range.
In 1860, Doctor John S. Griffin purchased half of Wilson's interest in San Pascual for $4,000. Griffin, a business associate of Wilson, came to California in 1846 with the United States Army during the Mexican War. He was the head surgeon under the command of General Stephen W. Kearny. After the battle of San Pasqual (not the same as Rancho San Pascual), fought on December 6, 1846, he had his work cut out for him as he attended to heavy American casualties resulting from the bloody confrontation with the Californio forces. Following the war, he remained in California and from 1854 he practiced medicine in Los Angeles. It was at this time that Griffin met Wilson and went into business together.
Over the years Wilson held on to most of his half of San Pascual, while Griffin sold off portions of his share to friends and relatives. Griffin's sister, the widow of Confederate General Albert Sydney Johnston, purchased a part of the rancho which she called "Fair Oaks", named for her former home in Virginia. General Johnston was killed at the Battle of Shiloh. In 1865, the widow in turn sold her Fair Oaks property to Judge Benjamin S. Eaton , who was Griffin's brother-in-law and business manager.
In 1873, Judge Eaton brought Daniel M. Berry to Rancho San Pascual. Berry was a purchasing agent for an organization known as the Indiana Colony of California, which he formed along with Doctor Thomas B. Elliott. This was a group of Indiana residents who desired to make a new home in California based upon the descriptions in Charles Nordhoff's book, "California, Land of Health, Pleasure and Residence". Daniel Berry found San Pascual to be an ideal site for the settlement of Hoosiers. However, financial difficulties caused the Indiana Colony to nearly go into bankruptcy. The group reorganized in Los Angeles under the name, San Gabriel Orange Grove Association.
On December 26, 1873, Doctor Griffin sold 4,000 acres of his San Pascual holdings to the San Gabriel Orange Grove Association for $25,000. The land purchased from Griffin was situated between Arroyo Seco Boulevard and Fair Oaks Boulevard. Subdivision of the land among the colonists began one month later. Originally known as the Indiana Colony, the settlement was given a new name on April 22, 1875. Doctor Elliott selected the name "Pasadena", which was a Chippewa Indian term meaning "the valley". Pasadena incorporated as a city in 1888.
Photo: LAOkay.com
The Flores Adobe was restored and upgraded in 1919 by Carleton M. Winslow, Sr. A bronze tablet was placed here on September 14, 1919. In the 1920s the adobe was converted to a ritzy teahouse. At one time it served as a golf house and a real estate office. It was later transformed back to a residence. The Flores Adobe is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Today, this old adobe structure looks like just another well-manicured California stucco house in a posh residential neighborhood. This single story "L" shaped house is fairly large but is partially concealed by trees. The red tile roof covers bright white walls of adobe. Green shutters adorn the long narrow windows. An elevated semi-circular driveway leads up to the house. Raised planters, bordered by low stone retaining walls, frame the driveway and the foundation of the adobe residence. Fruit trees, palm trees and yuccas make up part of the front landscape. There is also a lovely cactus garden along the driveway. The Flores adobe is a private home and not open to the public. It is located at 1804 Foothill Street in South Pasadena.
Flores Adobe
1804 Foothill St., South Pasadena, CA 91030
Map
Private Residence
Historic Adobes of Los Angeles County © 1997 John R. Kielbasa
Unless otherwise noted, photos © 2001-2004 LAokay.com