California Missions

21 missions were established by the Franciscan monks from the Roman Catholic church which are peppered throughout California. These missions are located from San Diego to Sonoma. They're constructed in Spanish style and much of the labor is attributed to the Native Americans. These missions played a large role in the colonization of California and paved the way for the Golden State we know today. Here is a direct link to the list (which you can view online and download as a PDF): https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8eEAMxReDq1NTJraG55amlXdms/edit?usp=sharing

A great resource for detailed information on individual missions is CaliforniaMissions.com, http://www.missionscalifornia.com/

Access Millions of Digital Documents from the Library of Congress

An amazing source of information is the Library of Congress' website, http://www.loc.gov/about/

The Library of Congress is a research extension of Congress itself. Additionally, it serves to document cultural information. The LOC is the largest library in the United States (and the largest library in the world). It contains millions of books, recordings, photographs, maps and manuscripts in its collections- much of which are accessible online! There is a learning curve to effectively conducting research through their online database but its worth it. Considering their massive online database, you're bound to get lost in the world of historical documents.

For example, there's a write-up about Romualdo Pacheco, a Hispanic who has served as Governor of California who served from 1875-1875 (only 10 months). He was son to an upper-echelon Californio couple, Ramona Carillo de Pacheco and Captain Romualdo Pacheco. He was born in Santa Barbara, California on October 31, 1831. You can read more about his life at the LOC's website, http://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/congress/pacheco.html

Romualdo Pacheco
Image source: Library of Congress

For more information about Romualdo as Governor of California, visit http://governors.library.ca.gov/12-Pacheco.html

A Californio Gold Mine: The SF Bay Time Traveler Blog

I stumbled upon a wonderful gem, http://sfbaytimetraveler.wordpress.com/. This blog hasn't been updated since 2010 but the content that remains is useful and well-written. It contains historical information about early Hispanic California, mostly related to San Francisco, Bay Area.

Among other intriguing topics like the Anza Trail, the blog offers significant information about the Peralta's including a unique article about Luis Maria Peralta. Luis Maria Peralta was a Californio that settled in the Bay Area circa 1776. He owned Rancho de San Antonio which covered most of the Bay Area. (I'd list more information about Don Luis Maria Peralta but SF Bay Time Traveler does it better.)

If you're interested in California's history or doing Californio genealogical research, stop off at the SF Bay Time Traveler blog. It's worth it!

Here's a link to the SF Bay Time Traveler blog:
http://sfbaytimetraveler.wordpress.com/about/the-peraltas-and-rancho-san-antonio/luis-maria-peralta/


(Image Source: SF Bay Time Traveler)

Californio Culture, Mid-19th Century

The Regents of the University of California have an informative short article about Californio culture entitled, Californio Society, 1830s-1880s. The article also includes many historical photographs and links to related topics. Here's the link: http://www.calisphere.universityofcalifornia.edu/themed_collections/subtopic0a.html