Eastward Ho!
David Patrick Mallagh, henceforth D.P., my great-great-great-grandfather (descent: William Mallagh > Mary Elaine Mallagh > Thelma Shirley Jackson > Kendra Elaine Wise > me) was born September 26, 1825 in Ireland. Little is known about D.P.'s early life, but by the late 1840s he had found his way to Southeast Asia, where he worked as a young ship captain, running trade routes between Bombay (Mumbai, India) and Hong Kong (Gidney et al. 1917). This was during the years immediately following the First Opium War between the United Kingdom and China, which resulted in the ceding of Hong Kong to the U.K. At this time he had frequent contact with the English doctor James Barron Shaw (1813-1902), who was stationed in Hong Kong. The two men came east across the Pacific aboard the schooner Honolulu, arriving in San Francisco on July 26, 1849. D.P. had already filed prospective immigration papers (a Declaration of Intent) by October 13, 1849.
It is unclear if D.P. was captain of the Honolulu at the time of its first arrival in San Francisco, but he eventually became captain of it, being first attested in that capacity on October 10, 1849. The Honolulu had originally been built in Baltimore in 1847, and was issued in Boston on September 29 of that year. The schooner appears to have run frequent trips between San Francisco and San Pedro, a port in Los Angeles Co., with arrivals in San Francisco on December 15, 1849 and January 30, 1850 (Placer Times), under the command of D.P. Mallagh does not appear to have remained captain of the Honolulu even through 1850, during which he met Juana de Jesús Carrillo (1829-1901), daughter of María Ignacia de la Candelería López (1793-1849), the first woman to receive a land grant from the Mexican government in 1841. (The land came to be known as Rancho Cabeza de Santa Rosa, and the family built an adobe structure on the property that still stands to this day in Santa Rosa, CA.)
Following the couple's marriage on January 19, 1851 in San Luis Obispo Co., where Juana's sister Ramona lived with her husband John Wilson (1798-1861), a Scottish sea captain, D.P. opened up a general store in the Carrillo Adobe back in Santa Rosa, in partnership with Donald McDonald (Thompson 1877:71). In June of 1852, partners Alonzo Meacham and Barney Hoen of San Francisco bought out Mallagh and McDonald, although D.P. and his wife lived on at Santa Rosa through at least the following month (California Census, 1852). Between July 1852 and the first months of 1853, the young Mallagh family, with their first child Elena (1852-1925), resettled in San Luis Obispo Co., where on April 23 D.P. purchased a portion of Rancho Pismo from Isaac J. Sparks for the sum of $18,500. The text of the land transaction is as follows:
-Juana "Jennie" Mallagh (~1854 - February 5, 1888)
-David Patrick Mallagh, Jr. (February 7, 1856 - March 23, 1883)
-Felicidad Mallagh (~1857 - unknown)
-Maria Luz "Mary" Mallagh (June 1860 - January 9, 1924)
-Isaac Mallagh (1861 - unknown)
-Joseph Mallagh (December 6, 1862 - April 2, 1887)
-William Mallagh (August 15, 1864 - December 4, 1930)
-John Mallagh (January 15, 1867 - September 17, 1890)
-Anita K. Mallagh (January 1869 - May 8, 1939)
The middle 1850s saw D.P. enter into at least two more land transactions. On September 26, 1854, he deeded a portion of his claim to Rancho Pismo to John M. Price; and on June 7, 1856 he deeded yet another portion back to Isaac J. Sparks. He served as county surveyor from 1855-1857, and became a naturalized citizen of the United States in the District Court at San Luis Obispo on September 6, 1856, at the age of 30. In September 1857 he lost a bid for Assemblyman to W.J. Graves (Sacramento Daily Union, September 14, 1857).
On January 8, 1859, D.P. entered into a mysterious land transaction, the details of which are still not fully understood. He acquired Rancho Huerhuero in northern San Luis Obispo Co. near present-day Creston from Francis Z. Branch, and on the same day sold the property to the firm Bixby & Co. Later that year he lost a campaign to be Superintendent of Public Schools to F. Wickenden.
In a series of acquisitions made on December 10, 1861, February 1, 1862, September 1, 1862 and September 29, 1864, D.P. obtained approximately 1,600 acres of land (Storke 1891) in and around what would come to be known as Cave Landing (Spanish 'La Cueva') or Mallagh's Landing, near the modern-day nude beach known as Pirate's Cove on the outskirts of Avila Beach, CA. The 1864 acquisition was a portion of Rancho San Miguelito, purchased from Miguel Ávila, Inocenta Pico and Francisco Ávila. D.P. eventually ran a wharf at this location, as well as a stagecoach line that took passengers back and forth to San Luis Obispo city, those who had embarked on steamship lines running from Los Angeles to San Francisco. (This site is even claimed by some to contain buried treasure left by Sir Francis Drake in 1579!)
Some have claimed that D.P. began building a wharf in this area as early as 1860 (see here), and it is unclear if the series of land acquisitions in 1861, 1862 and 1864 were necessary for the building of a wharf, or if they simply increased the tract of land surrounding it (although an 1860 date certainly doesn't jive with extant land records). Jordan (2011), citing Nicholson (1980) claims that Mallagh purchased Cave Landing in 1864, although I have not been able to consult the latter source. Nor have I been able to plot the coordinates of these land tracts to determine which purchase corresponds to the cite of the wharf at Cave Landing, so I will let these issues stand for the present. In general, the dynamics surrounding the interaction between Mallagh's Landing and its rival the People's Wharf, finished in September 1869 (Best 1964), are complex and beyond the scope of this post (but see this blog for a useful detailed summary, some of which appears below). Regardless, on February 1, 1868, the State granted D.P. Mallagh and Hub Hollister approval to build a (presumably) new wharf on the site. On December 19, 1870, D.P. petitioned the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors to make improvements on the wharf, which he continued throughout 1871. However, on March 28, 1873 Moses Cerf and A. Blochman bought Mallagh's Landing, with the arrangement that, based on a previous agreement dated February 11, 1873, D.P. would manage both wharves, although he was apparently released from these duties shortly thereafter on January 6, 1874. It is unknown to what degree D.P. had direct involvement in shipping activities in San Luis Obispo Harbor after this period.
This latter period was also marked by a series of electoral victories for D.P. In 1867 he defeated S.A. Pollard for the office of County Treasurer, and he was still exercising this role as late as March 1870 (Daily Alta California, March 16, 1870). On May 2, 1870, he was elected to be a member of the Society of California Pioneers, which is still headquartered today in San Francisco. In May of 1878 he was appointed by the governor pilot of San Luis Obispo Harbor, alongside Marcus Harloe (Sacramento Daily Union, May 29, 1878). This is the last known event that locates D.P. Mallagh in San Luis Obispo County. By June 1880 he had moved to San Rafael, Marin Co., CA, where he worked as a guard at San Quentin Prison, apparently separated from his wife. The details of and motivations for their separation are entirely unknown. D.P. Mallagh was found dead in his bed at San Quentin on the morning of September 27, 1880. He was buried in San Luis Obispo on October 1, although the location of his grave is unknown. (The San Luis Obispo Tribune reports a death date of September 26, which is claimed to the be 55th anniversary of his birth. It is possible that D.P. died the evening of September 26 but was not found until the morning of September 27. I will assume a death date of September 27 here.)
Sources:
Best, Gerald M. 1964. Ships and Narrow Gauge Rails: The Story of the Pacific Coast Company. Berkeley: Howell-North.
Gidney, Charles M., Benjamin Brooks and Edwin M. Sheridan. 1917. History of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura Counties. Chicago: Lewis Publishing.
Jordan, Adrianna L. 2011. The Historical Influence of Railroads on Urban Development and Future Economic Potential in San Luis Obispo. MA thesis: California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo.
Nicholson, Loren. 1980. Rails Across the Ranchos. Fresno: Valley Publishers.
Storke, Ida A. 1891. A Memorial and Biographical HIstory of the Counties of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura, California. Chicago: Lewis Publishing.
Thompson, Robert A. 1877. Historical and Descriptive Sketch of Sonoma County, California. Philadelphia: L.H. Everts & Co.
It is unclear if D.P. was captain of the Honolulu at the time of its first arrival in San Francisco, but he eventually became captain of it, being first attested in that capacity on October 10, 1849. The Honolulu had originally been built in Baltimore in 1847, and was issued in Boston on September 29 of that year. The schooner appears to have run frequent trips between San Francisco and San Pedro, a port in Los Angeles Co., with arrivals in San Francisco on December 15, 1849 and January 30, 1850 (Placer Times), under the command of D.P. Mallagh does not appear to have remained captain of the Honolulu even through 1850, during which he met Juana de Jesús Carrillo (1829-1901), daughter of María Ignacia de la Candelería López (1793-1849), the first woman to receive a land grant from the Mexican government in 1841. (The land came to be known as Rancho Cabeza de Santa Rosa, and the family built an adobe structure on the property that still stands to this day in Santa Rosa, CA.)
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| Juana de Jesús Carrillo de Mallagh (Southern California Historical Society Quarterly, June 1957) |
Following the couple's marriage on January 19, 1851 in San Luis Obispo Co., where Juana's sister Ramona lived with her husband John Wilson (1798-1861), a Scottish sea captain, D.P. opened up a general store in the Carrillo Adobe back in Santa Rosa, in partnership with Donald McDonald (Thompson 1877:71). In June of 1852, partners Alonzo Meacham and Barney Hoen of San Francisco bought out Mallagh and McDonald, although D.P. and his wife lived on at Santa Rosa through at least the following month (California Census, 1852). Between July 1852 and the first months of 1853, the young Mallagh family, with their first child Elena (1852-1925), resettled in San Luis Obispo Co., where on April 23 D.P. purchased a portion of Rancho Pismo from Isaac J. Sparks for the sum of $18,500. The text of the land transaction is as follows:
This Indenture made this twenty third day of April A.D one thousand eight hundred and fifty three by and between Isaac J. Sparks of the County of Sta [Santa] Barbara, State of California party of the first part; and David Mallagh of the County of Sn [San] Luis Obispo party of the second part. Witnesseth that the party of the first part, in and for the consideration of the sum of eighteen thousand five hundred dollars to him in hand paid the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, hereby gives, grants, bargains, sells and conveys unto the said party of the second party, his heirs and assigns forever, all the right, title and interest of the said party of the first part in and to the South Eastern half of that Rancho tract of land or farm, situated in said County of San Luis Obispo generally known by the name of 'Pismo' said Rancho being bounded as follows, 'On the East by the wood of Arroyo Grande, on the West by the small arroya which bounds the Rancho now or lately the property of Miguel Ávila, on the North by the low hills near the Sn Luis Obispo and Nepoma Road, and on the South by the sea, and containing two square Spanish leagues or 'sitios de ganado mayor' more or less, and being the same tract of land granted to one Jose Ortega on the eighteenth day of November A.D 1840 by Manuel Jimeno then acting Governor of California, and conveyed by the said Jose Ortega on the 29th day of May, A.D. 1846, unto the party of the first part by deed; the portion of said Rancho hereby conveyed being that half thereof which lies south east of a straight line running through said Ranch from North east to South west, to be hereafter ascertained by actual survey, saving and excepting two hundred yards square along the Rio Grande in the bottom and fifty yards square on side hill, conveyed by party of the first parts to John M. Price by deed on the sixteenth day of March one thousand eight hundred and forty eight.Mallagh would go on to become a prominent citizen of San Luis Obispo Co., occupying various civic posts, becoming a landowner, building and expanding a major wharf in San Luis Obispo Harbor, and taking part in local vigilante efforts to maintain peace (see here for the latter). Following their settlement in San Luis Obispo Co., D.P. & Juana had nine more children, totaling 10, with an additional pregnancy reported by Juana in the 1900 Census:
And the party of the first part have bargained, sold and conveyed to the party of the second part all the horses, cattle, iron and ear mark that belong to the party of the first part, in the County of Sn [San] Luis Obispo including the Rancho of Guadaloupe, together with all the tenements, hereditaments and appurtenances, rents, issues and profits thereunto belonging, or in any wise appertaining; and all right or claim whether in law or equity of the said party of the first party therein and thereto, to have and to hold the same unto the said party of the second part, the proper use, benefit and behoof of the said party of the second part, his heirs and assigns forever.
In witness whereof the said party of the first part has hereunto set his hand and seal the day and year above written.
Isaac J. Sparks
in presence of
S.A. Pollard
Wm. J. Graves
State of California, County of San Luis Obispo
On this the 23 day of April A.D 1853, personally appeared before me County Clerk in and for the aforesaid County Isaac J. Sparks well known to me to be the person described in and who executed the foregoing instrument, who acknowledged to me that he executed the same freely and voluntarily, and without compulsion and for the uses and purposes therein mentioned.
Elliot Libbey, Cy Clerk
The foregoing was received for record on Saturday, the 23d day of April A.D 1853 at 1P.M. and recorded the same day at 3P.M.
Elliot Libbey, Recorder
-Juana "Jennie" Mallagh (~1854 - February 5, 1888)
-David Patrick Mallagh, Jr. (February 7, 1856 - March 23, 1883)
-Felicidad Mallagh (~1857 - unknown)
-Maria Luz "Mary" Mallagh (June 1860 - January 9, 1924)
-Isaac Mallagh (1861 - unknown)
-Joseph Mallagh (December 6, 1862 - April 2, 1887)
-William Mallagh (August 15, 1864 - December 4, 1930)
-John Mallagh (January 15, 1867 - September 17, 1890)
-Anita K. Mallagh (January 1869 - May 8, 1939)
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| William Mallagh, son of D.P. Mallagh, 1890 (care of Romona McBeth, San Luis Obispo, CA) |
The middle 1850s saw D.P. enter into at least two more land transactions. On September 26, 1854, he deeded a portion of his claim to Rancho Pismo to John M. Price; and on June 7, 1856 he deeded yet another portion back to Isaac J. Sparks. He served as county surveyor from 1855-1857, and became a naturalized citizen of the United States in the District Court at San Luis Obispo on September 6, 1856, at the age of 30. In September 1857 he lost a bid for Assemblyman to W.J. Graves (Sacramento Daily Union, September 14, 1857).
On January 8, 1859, D.P. entered into a mysterious land transaction, the details of which are still not fully understood. He acquired Rancho Huerhuero in northern San Luis Obispo Co. near present-day Creston from Francis Z. Branch, and on the same day sold the property to the firm Bixby & Co. Later that year he lost a campaign to be Superintendent of Public Schools to F. Wickenden.
In a series of acquisitions made on December 10, 1861, February 1, 1862, September 1, 1862 and September 29, 1864, D.P. obtained approximately 1,600 acres of land (Storke 1891) in and around what would come to be known as Cave Landing (Spanish 'La Cueva') or Mallagh's Landing, near the modern-day nude beach known as Pirate's Cove on the outskirts of Avila Beach, CA. The 1864 acquisition was a portion of Rancho San Miguelito, purchased from Miguel Ávila, Inocenta Pico and Francisco Ávila. D.P. eventually ran a wharf at this location, as well as a stagecoach line that took passengers back and forth to San Luis Obispo city, those who had embarked on steamship lines running from Los Angeles to San Francisco. (This site is even claimed by some to contain buried treasure left by Sir Francis Drake in 1579!)
Some have claimed that D.P. began building a wharf in this area as early as 1860 (see here), and it is unclear if the series of land acquisitions in 1861, 1862 and 1864 were necessary for the building of a wharf, or if they simply increased the tract of land surrounding it (although an 1860 date certainly doesn't jive with extant land records). Jordan (2011), citing Nicholson (1980) claims that Mallagh purchased Cave Landing in 1864, although I have not been able to consult the latter source. Nor have I been able to plot the coordinates of these land tracts to determine which purchase corresponds to the cite of the wharf at Cave Landing, so I will let these issues stand for the present. In general, the dynamics surrounding the interaction between Mallagh's Landing and its rival the People's Wharf, finished in September 1869 (Best 1964), are complex and beyond the scope of this post (but see this blog for a useful detailed summary, some of which appears below). Regardless, on February 1, 1868, the State granted D.P. Mallagh and Hub Hollister approval to build a (presumably) new wharf on the site. On December 19, 1870, D.P. petitioned the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors to make improvements on the wharf, which he continued throughout 1871. However, on March 28, 1873 Moses Cerf and A. Blochman bought Mallagh's Landing, with the arrangement that, based on a previous agreement dated February 11, 1873, D.P. would manage both wharves, although he was apparently released from these duties shortly thereafter on January 6, 1874. It is unknown to what degree D.P. had direct involvement in shipping activities in San Luis Obispo Harbor after this period.
This latter period was also marked by a series of electoral victories for D.P. In 1867 he defeated S.A. Pollard for the office of County Treasurer, and he was still exercising this role as late as March 1870 (Daily Alta California, March 16, 1870). On May 2, 1870, he was elected to be a member of the Society of California Pioneers, which is still headquartered today in San Francisco. In May of 1878 he was appointed by the governor pilot of San Luis Obispo Harbor, alongside Marcus Harloe (Sacramento Daily Union, May 29, 1878). This is the last known event that locates D.P. Mallagh in San Luis Obispo County. By June 1880 he had moved to San Rafael, Marin Co., CA, where he worked as a guard at San Quentin Prison, apparently separated from his wife. The details of and motivations for their separation are entirely unknown. D.P. Mallagh was found dead in his bed at San Quentin on the morning of September 27, 1880. He was buried in San Luis Obispo on October 1, although the location of his grave is unknown. (The San Luis Obispo Tribune reports a death date of September 26, which is claimed to the be 55th anniversary of his birth. It is possible that D.P. died the evening of September 26 but was not found until the morning of September 27. I will assume a death date of September 27 here.)
Sources:
Best, Gerald M. 1964. Ships and Narrow Gauge Rails: The Story of the Pacific Coast Company. Berkeley: Howell-North.
Gidney, Charles M., Benjamin Brooks and Edwin M. Sheridan. 1917. History of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura Counties. Chicago: Lewis Publishing.
Jordan, Adrianna L. 2011. The Historical Influence of Railroads on Urban Development and Future Economic Potential in San Luis Obispo. MA thesis: California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo.
Nicholson, Loren. 1980. Rails Across the Ranchos. Fresno: Valley Publishers.
Storke, Ida A. 1891. A Memorial and Biographical HIstory of the Counties of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura, California. Chicago: Lewis Publishing.
Thompson, Robert A. 1877. Historical and Descriptive Sketch of Sonoma County, California. Philadelphia: L.H. Everts & Co.
Digging into baptismal records from Mission San Luis Obispo, I have found the following ("new") vital information on D.P.'s children:
ReplyDeleteFelicita Mallagh
born: July 15, 1857
Eusebio Mallagh (the missing 11th child)
born: April 12, 1859
Maria de la Luz Mallagh
born: June 30, 1860
I found no record of baptism of Elena, Juana ("Jennie") or Isaac.
I can clear up the "mysterious land entry" for the Huer Huero on Jan. 8, 1859. That was the correct date that the deed was transferred to Flint Bixby & Co. The Deed Books at the San Luis Obispo County Recorders office have three deeds all dated January 8, 1859 and in sequence. The first deed is from Mariano Bonilla to Francisco Branch and shows that Bonilla received it as a grant on May 9, 1842 from Gov. Alvarado with additional acreage from Gov. Pico on March 9, 1846. It does not give a date of sale to Francisco Branch but other sources (undocumented) indicate it was about 1847. The second deed is from Francisco Branch to David P. Mallagh and indicates he paid $14,000 for the rancho. Again this deed does not give a date of the sale from Branch to Mallagh - but I have found a news article that shows Mallagh was living there at least in 1858. The third deed is the one to Flint Bixby sale price of $12,000. These deeds are all dated January 8, 1859 because the other sales had never been properly recorded in United States records being prior to California's admission as a state. In order to record the deed to Flint Bixby they entered the previous deed information to show the chain of title. The first two deeds were recorded on January 8th and the deed to Flint Bixby on January 10th - but again, all three are dated January 8th. So Mallagh did not buy and sell the land the same day - he had acquired it at least by or prior to 1858. Because of the new US laws the original grantees had to prove their claims. Francisco Branch was the claimant with confirmation from the US Land Commission on September 3, 1858, although there were additional legal proceedings and the actual patent wasn't issued until August 4, 1866. This was well after it had been sold to Flint Bixby. It was common that the large rancho lands were sold prior to the actual patent being issued to original claimant. Flint Bixby held it until December 4, 1883 when it was sold (along with additional lands they purchased around the original grant) to Thomas Ambrose (2/3 interest), Amos Adams (1/6 interest), Calvin J. Cressey (1/12 interest) and Jonathan V. Webster (1/12 interest). Their deed shows they paid $157,927.91 for 46,122.26 acres (original Huer Huero Rancho was 15,685 acres). These gentleman subdivided and sold most of the lands through realtor Chuancey H. Phillips. Chauncey H Phillips who on March 1, 1866 purchased all the unsold lots, totaling 15,254.17 acres, for an undisclosed amount. Pam Parsons, San Luis Obispo, California
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment, Pam. I must admit that I am new to interpreting land records from this period, and it had never occurred to me that there would be a need to record pre-statehood land transactions at a time of sale post 1850. But what you say makes perfect sense. I wish I had known this in time to amend a biography of Mallagh to appear soon in La Vista, a publication of the History Center of San Luis Obispo County, but there are always future publications. In that biography I discuss a letter from Mallagh to Abel Stearns dated April 6, 1856, in which he mentions already being in effective control of Huerhuero. The dates you add post-patent are very valuable to the history of that grant.
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