Do you know the way to San José?
I mean, Fremont!
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By Miguel Pérez
Frequently, when you arrive at a California Franciscan mission, you also arrive at a town by the same name. That's because the towns often got their names from the missions. San Diego, Santa Barbara, San Francisco and many others follow that pattern. But sometimes there are exceptions to that rule, and the clearest exception is Mission San José, which is not even in the City of San Jose. The mission is close to the city that shares its name, but Mission San José is in Fremont, some 20 miles to the north. Why? Because, although they share the same patron saint, the mission and the city were not named after each other. In fact, they have slightly different names! |
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"El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe" was established on November 29, 1777 by José Joaquín Moraga, a soldier who had been second in command of the Juan Bautista de Anza expedition one year earlier. He named the town after Saint Joseph, patron saint of pioneers and travelers, and the nearby Guadalupe River. It became the first settlement in the Spanish colony of Nueva California – the first pueblo not associated with a mission – and now the oldest town in California!
"La Misión del Gloriosísimo Patriarca Señor San José" was established almost 20 years later, on June 11, 1797 by Padre Fermín Francisco de Lasuén, who had taken over as president of the California Franciscan missions after the death of Father Junípero Serra in 1784. It became the 14th of the 21 Alta California missions. |
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Both the mission and the pueblo were named after Saint Joseph, but that's all they have in common. The mission site was strategically chosen not because of its relation or proximity to the pueblo, but because of "its valuable resources, including fertile soil, pastures, and a plentiful water supply, making it suitable for agricultural activities."
Instead of starting as a mission, the City of San José also began as a farming community created to feed the Spanish presidios in Monterey and San Francisco. |
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After Anza's epic expedition from present-day southern Arizona to San Francisco, Moraga was left in charge of building housing for colonists and the military in the Presidio of San Francisco. But in 1777, he also led some of the colonists from the Anza expedition to establish "El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe." According to mission documents, "In 1778, the pueblo had a population of 68."
Although the city and the mission were not associated, their similar names can create a little confusion if you are going there for the first time. |
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So, if you hear Dionne Warwick asking if you "know they way to San Jose," (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZLa-1q-lkw) you should ask her: The city or the mission? LOL
I kept hearing that song in my head as I drove to Fremont! In Fremont, on the southeast side of San Francisco Bay, I found a mission that, like all the others, is very different than all the others. Each of them has a unique, fascinating history! But let’s be clear: The mission was built in what is now Fremont 159 before Fremont was incorporated as a city and named after former U.S. Senator John C. Fremont, in 1956. |
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Built by Ohlone natives with adobe tiles in a place they called Oroysom, Mission San José began with a population of 33 Indians in 1797 and was active for 37 years, becoming the second-largest mission in California. The first mission buildings included a guard house, convento, fence, chapel and barracks.
“Adobe buildings were constructed for housing, workshops, walls and worship, a mission exhibit explains. "Making adobe bricks and roof tiles was an ongoing process, done by the women, men and children. Obviously, as more Indians came to the mission, more buildings were needed.” Another mission document notes that once the mission workshops were built, "all kinds of items were produced. A tannery processed the thousands of cattle hides essential to trade. Candles and soap were made. Wool was cleaned, made into yarn and woven into fabric. Sometimes artisans from Mexico instructed the Indians on trades such as stonemasonry and blacksmithing.” |
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According to a map and guide booklet visitors receive here, "in 1931, 1,900 Native Americans lived and worked with Spanish fathers and soldiers." A museum exhibit also notes that in that same year, they “counted 12,000 head of cattle, 13,000 sheep and 13,000 horses.”
“Supervised by the Franciscan padres, the Indians became the cowboys, weavers, cooks, craftsmen, farmers and builders of the mission community,” an exhibit says. “In later years Indian alcaldes directed the work.” |
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Another exhibit explains that “Once it was established, Mission San Jose produced prodigious amounts of cattle hides and tallow, vegetables, grain, fruit, figs, tobacco and wine. Many of the missionaries became shrewd merchants and successfully bargained for such items as coffee, sugar, spices, cocoa, raisins, molasses, hardware, crockery-ware, tinware, cutlery, fireworks, furniture and clothing of all kinds.”
But that prosperity took a dramatic turn in the mid-1830s, as the missions were secularized and missionaries were directed to focus on spiritual matters only. Despite their immense experience managing the missions, they were replaced by government bureaucrats, appointed by the governor, who were unwilling or unable to keep promises that had been made to the mission Indians. |
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An Indian population already devastated by European deseases was once again devastated by the disentegration of the mission system. "No Indians were able to keep the land which had been kept in trust for them by the Franciscan Missions," according to an exhibit here. The exhibit quotes the first mission administrator José de Jesus Vallejo explaining that, "there were many men of little scruples, who ... defrauded them (the Indians) of what was justly theirs as parceled out by the authorities."
So, when mission lands covering California’s prime coastal area were secularized, they were claimed by Californios. |
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Documents on display here explain that “12 rancho grants were carved from the productive lands of Mission San Jose.” They tell you who received a land grant from the Mexican government and how many acres they were allotted – from 6,686 to 48,423 acres. They tell you that, although few of these ranches were surveyed, their ownership and boundaries were ultimately verified by American courts.
When Mission San Jose was secularized in 1836, “The Indians scattered to the Ranchos, to the Pueblo of San Jose and to Indian villages to the east,” an exhibit explains. “None were able to hold any of the land which had been held in trust for them.” |
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But the “Rancho Era” which followed the mission system only lasted about a decade, until the 1848 Gold Rush, when some former mission properties were overrun by squatters on their way to the gold fields.
“The Americans ended all this after 1848, as they immigrated in overwhelming numbers to the Gold Rush,” an exhibit explains. “They didn't understand the Californios' language, laws or customs and characterized them as lazy and ignorant. Rancho life came to an abrupt end, with most Californios losing their wealth and land to the energetic new settlers.” |
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Another exhibit explains that, “By the 1850s the situation of the 21 California Missions was bleak. The adobe churches and their connecting buildings disintegrated. Adobe bricks need constant maintenance, and they went unsupervised. At Mission San Jose, various American squatters used the buildings for housing and businesses.”
But in 1858, the Catholic Church was able to claim and retain 28.33 acres, including the church land, some orchards and a cemetery. |
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And although the church interior "appears now as it did it the years 1833-1840," according to the guide/booklet, "the Mission church was completely destroyed in the earthquake of 1868 ... and "reconstructed in its entirety in the 1980s."
"Wow," you might say. "But it looks so old." Yet the booklet says that "only a few original items survived the earthquake." Yet while this museum may be a little short of original artifacts on exhibit, it compensates with very educational, and perhaps a little controversial literature. It says that: |
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• “The myths surrounding the Mission System cannot disguise the fact that relationship between the Indians and the Spanish was often a rocky one. The Indians were confronted with soldiers who abused them, exotic diseases which killed them and animals which ruined their seed meadows. To the priests the blessings of Spanish culture outweighed all other considerations.”
• “For most of the Indians, village life had disintegrated by the time they entered the mission community, and they were willing to accept the restructuring of their lives … Within the mission compound, bells regulated the day. The Indians were ordered around, expected to obey and punished for not following directions … Ultimately they no longer had the option to return to the old village ways and, if they did not return after an approved visit, soldiers were sent to get them.” |
Mission Cemetery
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• “When typhus, measles, smallpox and syphilis took their toll and the native shamans could not provide cures, thousands died and those remaining were bereft. Father Narciso Duran wrote one distraught report in which he said the "Indians were as fragile as glass.”
• “For years people thought that the Indians and Indian culture was gone, but today this opinion has changed ... There are state-wide efforts to perpetuate the Indian traditions of many tribes. Hundreds of people currently living in the Bay Area today can trace their heritage to East Bay Ohlone and Miwok ancestors.” |
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• “Two Franciscan missionaries at a time ran the vast lands and works of Mission San Jose in the early years. It was a rough, lonely life, as they worked to convert the Indians, begin the adobe buildings and establish farms, workshops and ranches. The Franciscans were usually highly educated and felt called to do this work. Although they were committed to terms of 10 years, many stayed much longer. Some concentrated on the temporal parts of the establishment: erecting buildings, raising crops, tending livestock, weaving and cooking. Others looked to the spiritual needs of the Indians, including the church services and Catholic instruction.”
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• “The paternalistic Franciscan missionaries did not believe their Indian wards were ready to be independent. As Father President of the California padres, Duran led the unsuccessful fight against secularization. Presiding over the demise of the mission system at Mission San Jose was Father Jose Gonzalez Rubio, pastor from 1833-1842. He was distraught about the fate of the mission Indian (neophytes). He wrote to Father Rafael Soria in 1840: "What can I say to Your Reverence that will not sadden your heart and break it as mine? Everything is destruction, everything misery, humiliation and abandonment...The evil today is certainly irreparable.”
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• “California Indians traditionally danced, sang and chanted, accompanied by timbrels (small hand drums), whistles, flutes and rattles. Since music was a part of both Indian and Spanish cultures, some missionaries used music to draw Indians to the missions. This was especially true at Mission San José, where Father Duran, a talented musician, devised ways to teach music to the Indians. Since Franciscans sang and played instruments as a regular part of their religious life, Duran’s methods were copied throughout the mission system. This has been called “the Musical Conquest.”
At Mission San Jose, Father Duran organized a Native American orchestra! “Boys showing promise began musical training as nine-year olds and learned to sing and play such instruments as violins, bass viols, guitars, flutes, drums and triangles,” the exhibit says. “They were taught to read and write and assigned the easier tasks at the Mission. Colorful uniforms were provided for the orchestra. One Mission San Jose Indian, called Silvestre, was renowned for his voice and talent playing violin and guitar.” So, aside from its many other attributes, before its secularization in 1838, Mission San José was the proud home of Native American musicians. And all of these amazing historical events were happening in what is now Fremont, 20 miles north of San José. Yet San José is actually flacked by two missions: Mission San José in Fremont and Mission Santa Clara de Asís, which is less than five miles west of San José. It was established 10 months before San José by Father Serra on January 12, 1777 in what is now the City of Santa Clara. That will be my next stop. Will you join me? |
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Follow my: California Road Trip 2025
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