James Meadows (pioneer)

James Meadows was born on March 2, 1817, in the seaport town of Great Yarmouth, in Norfolk, England. He left home at an early age and went to sea as an apprentice on board a collier ship. He then left London, England in March 1835, at age 18, on the whaling ship Indian. After 2 1/2 years he and a friend, William Anderson, father of former Assessor Anderson of Castroville,[5] deserted his ship at the Monterey Harbor in 1837 because of cruel treatment they had received.[6] At this time Monterey was the capital of Alta California. They took refuge with Domingo Peralta and his family until his ship left the Monterey Bay. Domingo was from the Esselen, a Native American tribe that lived in the area, and was married to Maria Loreta Onésimo (1819–1892). Loreta was the daughter of Mission Indians Juan Onésimo (1796–1860) and Maria Ignacia (1880–). Juan helped to build the Carmel Mission San Carlos.[7]^: p106 Loreta was born at the Carmel Mission[1] and was Rumsen-Esselen.[8] Loreta's grandmother Lupecina Francesa Unegte had been baptized at the Mission in 1792 when about 800 Native Americans lived there.[9]

In 1836, when the mission pasture lands were divided into large land grants called ranchos, Loreta and Domingo were given a large tract by the mission padres for her marriage to Domingo,[7]^: p106 which they cultivated and planted with corn, tomatoes, and onions. José Antonio Romero, Carmel Mission civil administrator, threatened the Peraltas with eviction because they had no written deed to the property and since they were Indians, their claim to the land grant was easily challenged. Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado awarded the grant to A. Romero on January 27, 1840.[2][10][8][7][11][12]

Meadows took his first job as vaquero for Captain Juan Bautista Roger Cooper on Rancho El Sur in Monterey County in Big Sur for 2 1/2 years during the Mexican rule in California. During his time there he became associated with the saloon of Isaac Graham, a hideout for deserters from foreign ships. Graham led a group of American and European immigrants who supported Juan Bautista Alvarado and José Castro in the coup against Mexican Governor of Northern California Nicolás Gutiérrez. In April 1840, the Mexican government raided the tavern and arrested Meadows and 46 white Americans and others for not having a passport. He was sent by ship to Tepic, Mexico where he spent 14 months in prison, which resulted in a diplomatic crisis called the Graham Affair.[7]^: p106[11]^: p36[12][2]

I came to Monterey from London in a London whaling ship in September 1837. I left the ship in Monterey and lived here all that winter. In the spring of 1838, the country was in a state of revolution ... A company of foreigners went as Alvarado's bodyguard (he could not trust his own people) to the place called Las Flores. I was one of the privates. The company was commanded by Lieutenant John Coppinger ... I don't know now, nor did I ever know, whether there was any foundation for the charge that was proffered by the Government here against Graham and other foreigners. I had nothing to do with any plotting against the Government, and knew no one that had.

— James Meadows, May 1877[8][1]

In July 1941, Meadows obtained clemency and was returned from Mexico, with a group of 20.[10]^: p195 He became associated with General Bidwell on the Feather River in Sacramento County, California. He said that Bidwell, Pitts, and he and his companions "discovered gold there before James Marshall, but kept it a secret."[1]

Isabel Meadows

Main article: Isabel Meadows

Isabel Meadows (1846–1939)

Meadows returned to Monterey and went back to visit the Peralta family when he found out that his friend Domingo Peralta had mysteriously been found dead. In 1842, Meadows married Maria Loreta Onésimo in Monterey, California, the widow of Domingo Peralta, and took responsibility for the land she was given by the mission padres.[1][8] Meadows and Loreta had five children together in 15 years, Francisco (Frank) Yates (1844–1916); Isabel Meadows (1846–1935); Edwardo (Edward) Lion (1851–1898); James A. Jr. (1856–); and Thomas Porter (1860–1940).[12][5][7]^: p106[11]^: p36

Their daughter, Isabel Meadows, "Aunt Belle,"[3] was born on July 7, 1846, the day of the Battle of Monterey that occurred during the Mexican–American War. The United States captured the town and Commodore John Drake Sloat raised the flag of the United States over the Monterey Custom House. She grew up in her parents' home in Carmel Valley where she learned the Rumsen tribal culture. She also learned to speak the native Rumsen language from her mother, Loreta Onésimo, spoken by the Ohlone people.[7]^: p107[2]

In 1933, at age 87, Isabel was invited to Washington D.C., to assist Professor John Peabody Harrington an ethnologist of the Smithsonian Institution's Bureau of American Ethnology with his research on the Rumsen life, language, and culture in the Carmel Valley and Big Sur regions. Isabel was last known speaker of their language.[4] They worked together until she died on May 20, 1939, at age 94, in Washington D.C.[3][1][10]^: p196 The novel Cathedral in the Sun, by Anne Benson Fisher has a chapter titled, To the memory of Isabella Meadows.[13][2] In 1949, the Meadows Cave, in which an Esselen child was found buried, was discovered by a survey party under the direction of A.R. Piling, then assistant Archaeologist of the U.C. Archaeological Survey. The cave was renamed after Isabella Meadows, as the last known informant on the Esselen Native Americans.[14][15]

James Meadows Tract

Main article: James Meadows Tract

Map indicating James Meadows land grant, 1898.

Hand-drawn diseño (map) of James Meadows Ranch Layout supporting land claim, No. 159 S.D.

In 1846, José Antonio Romero sold the 4,592 acres (1,858 ha) Palo Escrito Mexican land grant to William Garner in January 1847. Monterey businessman Thomas O. Larkin, who had acquired several land grants in California after the Mexican Cession of California to the United States following the Mexican-American War, bought the deed from Garner and sold it to Meadows in 1848. The name Palo Escrito, in Spanish means "written stick." The name was used for this land as early as 1828 by Father Vincent de Sarria and Father Ramon Abella of the Carmel Mission.[8][2]

On December 28, 1958, Meadows became an American citizen. Before his wife's father, Juan Onésimo died in 1860, Meadows filed a claim for the Palo Escrito land grant on November 5, 1869, with the Public Land Commission.[7]^: p106 He received the legal land serial patent on August 9, 1866, that became known as the Meadows Tract for 4,591.71 acres (1,858.20 ha).[16] Its boundaries were between the Rancho Cañada de la Segunda to the west, Rancho Los Laureles to the northeast, and Garland Ranch Regional Park to the south.[10]^: p195[1][8]

The Palo Escrito area was the home of Rumsen people, like Eulalia Cushar.[8] On the property Meadows had a dairy where he hired jobless Chinese workers. He built an adobe house near the Carmel River.[2]

Carmelo School

Carmelo School. This June 10, 1920 photograph shows the graduating class: Emily Martin Williams, fourth from let, was the granddaughter of William Hatton and John Martin.

Carmelo School June 2, 1916.

Meadows was known for his generosity. He donated land and helped establish, what was first called the Meadows School, and later renamed the Carmelo School.[2] It was the earliest school in Carmel Valley.[10]^: p195[1] It still stands just west of Mid-Valley Fire Station and across Carmel Valley Road from the present Carmelo School. He was a trustee of the Carmelo School District until his death[7]^: p106

William Brainard Post worked on the Meadows Ranch and met Loreta's sister Anselma Mary Onesimo (1827–1902). Post and Anselma were married in 1850. Post became a rancher in the Big Sur area where Posts, California is named for his descendants.[17][10]^: p195

On July 7, 1846, Isaac Hitchcock came to Monterey as standard-bearer for Commodore Sloat. After his military discharge, he acquired a piece of land in Carmel Valley and became acquainted with the Meadows family. Loreta's half-sister, Magdelena Peralta (1836–1892) and Hitchcock became friends and they were married. Their son, Joseph John Hitchcock (1856–1937) became well known in Carmel Valley worked on the Rancho Los Laureles.[10]^: p196

James Meadows is next to his wife on far left. The Day of San Carlos by Jospeh D. Strong (1879).

On San Carlos Day, November 4, 1879, Scottish novelist Robert Louis Stevenson visited the Carmel Mission to hear the a mass at the church that had fallen into disrepair. A drawing by Joseph D. Strong shows Jules Simeenau, Meadows and his wife, and Father Angel Delfino Casanova standing in front of the church.[18]

Meadows died on July 13, 1902, at his home in Carmel Valley, California, having lived a long life of 85 years. His funeral took place at the San Carlos church and he was buried in the cemetery in Monterey, California. He left an estate of 4,500 acres (1,800 ha) acres with assets worth over $150,000 (equivalent to $4,697,885 in 2021). His oldest son, Frank contested the Will because his father left him only $2,000 (equivalent to $62,638 in 2021).[19][12][5][6]

The Meadows ranch was passed to Edward L. Meadows who in turn passed it on to his son Roy E. (1886–1971).[10]^: p201 Roy and his wife Rena O. Beaverton (1887–1974) raised their children on the family property. The Meadows house was torn down in 1925 and replaced with a eight-room stucco home.[7]^: p107 In 1960, Roy and his sister Lora (Meadows) Humble sold 670 acres (270 ha) for $68,500 to Glayton Neil to be subdivided.[20]

The Meadows legacy remains strong today in the Meadows Tract, the Carmelo School, and in the family's contributions to the Carmel Valley history.[2]

• Timeline of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California
• Ranchos of California
• List of Ranchos of California

Wikimedia Commons has media related to James Meadows.

• Meadows, the English Sailor
• Isabel Meadows Papers at the California Language Archive Archived June 18, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
• James Meadows (1817–1902)