Visions of California

  Father Mugártegui ’s signature from one of the registers of Mission San Juan Capistrano. Mugártegui lived an extraordinary life. He was Basque and born in Markina-Xemein, Spain, on October 31, 1736, became a Franciscan, a professor of philosophy, and finally a missionary in the Americas. He was a founding missionary of Mission San Juan Capistrano in 1776, serving there until returning to Mexico in 1789.  Father Mugártegui - Philosophy from a Founder of Mission San Juan Capistrano Mission San Juan Capistrano was founded in the final months of 1776 by missionaries Junípero Serra, Gregorio Amurrió, and, arriving just after the official founding, Pablo Mugártegui. Serra and Mugártegui originally met aboard the ship Santiago while sailing to California from Mexico in 1774. Both were former professors of philosophy in Spain who had become missionaries. Their shared backgrounds were a source of mutual respect that each expressed towards one-another in letters. Markina-Xemein, Mugártegui

On April 20, 2024, the Orange County Historical Society organized a hike to the top of Flores Peak in the Santa Ana Mountains. The hike told the exciting history of the pursuit of the Flores bandit gang in 1857. The hike was organized by Rob Brown, Mishi Rjava, Chris Jepsen, and Stephanie George. I got to be the lucky historian with a captive audience. Please see the wonderful video above made by Rob Brown and the Orange County Historical Society above. Attendees  received a printout with an overview of the history below.   Juan Flores and “Las Manillas ”   OCHS History Hike 4/20/2024  Juan Flores was born in Mission Santa Clara near the pueblo of San Jose on January 3, 1834. He was the fourth child of José María Flores, an artilleryman in the Spanish military born at Mission San Gabriel in 1796, and María Josefa Sepúlveda, who was born in San Francisco in 1804. He spent his childhood growing up in a typical Californio family in and around the pueblo of San Jose and received a decent e

  High in the Santa Ana Mountains are relatively flat areas with meadows with the Spanish name “potreros.” Pictured here is the Potrero los Pinos. It's quite something to consider this is a natural part of Orange County, a place far better known for its beaches and urban sprawl. From Acjachema to Pājaktse Trails Over the Santa Ana Mountains from San Juan Capistrano to Lake Elsinore, c. 1769-1845 The Santa Ana Mountains form an ever present background in the lives of the people of Orange County. This is somewhat ironic given the stark contrast between the cities and housing tracts below and the mountains’ untouched appearance above, broken only by power lines, truck roads, and radio antennas. Their natural quality serves to remind us that the rest of the county was once a more natural place. The mountains preserve the character of history before the urban sprawl. Perhaps the mountains’ ruggedness, or something in the name “Old Saddleback,” evokes the distant past. The mountains fe