1. Mary Meigs Atwater

*Her early years were spent in Seattle, Wash. where she utilized her talents for teaching, writing and her knowledge of hand weaving to establish a business that supported her family, college for both children and herself for the rest of her life.

*Through Shuttle-Craft Guild and The correspondence course in Hand Weaving, she was responsible for much of the revival of the craft of hand weaving in America. She resurrected, modernized and developed weave patterns.

*With her weaving study course and books, she revived traditional hand weaving techniques. Because of her efforts, we have a legacy of knowledgeable and competent weavers.

Reenacted by : Marion Logan

D’igger Morte
Dec. 31, 1839-Jan. 1, 1940

*Born in the Ohio River Valley Frontier *Apprenticed to a mortician/gambler at age 13. *Learned reading, writing & ‘rithmatic also card games and the rough side of life on the river. *1858-1860 attended an eastern medical school-studying biology, anatomy and modern mortuary methods. *Conscripted into the US (Federal) Military Chaplain Corps and later the Sanitation Corps as a mortician during the Civil War. *Continued his career in the west as a mortician, card player and lesser known gunman.

*Ever a defender of - PEACE, LIBERTY AND JUSTICE

Motto: Service Guaranteed for Eternity

Reenacted by: Boots Leone

3. Christopher “Kit” Carson

*Born Dec. 24, 1809 in Madison Co., KY

*He had seven brothers and seven sisters. *At 15 he was apprenticed to a saddle maker but left after two years to join the wagon trains to Santa Fe, NM. *1st trapping expedition was in 1829 in the San Joaquin Valley of California. Was an active trapper until 1842. *Kit met John C. Fremont on a riverboat and was hired to act as Fremont’s chief guide/scout for three expeditions covering the West. *He was with Fremont in the Bear Flag Revolt in 1846-47 and fought in the Battle of San Pasqual among other. *Joined the Union Army during the Civil War, was brevetted to Brig. General. *The remainder of his life was spent as an Indian agent in Taos, NM. *He died May 3, 1869

/Reenacted by Charles Rea

4. Jessie Benton Fremont

*Born in Virginia on May 31, 1824 *Her father was Thomas Hart Benton, a U.S. Senator from Missouri *Jessie was spirited, imaginative and an intellectual. *She married John C. Fremont, explorer. *Her circle of influence included politicians, the political arena, diplomats, scientists, scholars, authors and even explorers. *Jessie’s education included being proficient in writing and speaking both French and Spanish. *She was instrumental in preparing John C. Fremont’s journals for publication, which in turn inspired people to venture westward. *Jessie’s literary accomplishments would later help support her family. *She worked with Charles Lummis on the Landmarks Club. *Jessie died in Los Angeles in 1902. Reenacted by Monique Rea

5. Dona Ysidora Bandini de Couts

*Born in San Diego, 1829 daughter of Juan Bandini *One of 10 children *Sewed the first American flag to fly over San Diego *Married Cave Johnson Couts, West Point graduate from Tennessee. *Ysidora was given 2500 acres as a wedding gift. She built a 23 room adobe called Guajome (the frogs). It had its own church, store and school. *Cave and Ysidora had 10 children. *They were very social, enjoyed having guests come to fiestas and fandangos. *Acquired 25,000 acres of land. *Ysidora ran the ranch another 16 years after Cave died at age 54.

Reenacted by Marcy Barr

6. Cave Couts

*Born near Springfield, Tenn. Nov. 11, 1821. *Graduated from West Point in 1843. Served on the frontier until after the Mexican War then was at Los Angeles, San Luis Rey and San Diego 1848-1851. *Married Ysidora Bandini in 1851. *He resigned from the army and was appointed colonel and aid-de-camp to Governor Bigler. *He and Ysidora had 10 children. *Cave was a member of the first grand jury in 1850 and county judge in 1854. *Acquired the Guajome grant in 1853. Guajome was a wedding gift to his wife from her brother-in-law Abel Stearns. *Their home was known for it’s hospitality. *They became very wealthy , primarily from cattle. *He died in 1874.

Reenacted by Duane Matthews

7. Gaspar de Portola

*As the appointed Governor of Baja and Alta California, Gaspar de Portola traveled with Father Serra and the 1st expedition to California which began on 9 March 1769 from Loreto Mission in Baja Calif. It took the main mission 114 days to arrive in San Diego on 29 June, 1769. *After a rest, he proceeded north to Monterey with Capt. Moncada, Sgt. Ortega and 26 soldados de cuera. *On 9 June 1770 he sailed from Monterey to New Spain leaving Catalonian Lt. Fages as Governor in his place. *In 1776 de Portola was promoted to full Col. And requested a transfer to Catalonia. *By 1784 he was installed as the King’s Lt. in the city of Lleida and served until his death in 1784. *In his will he bequeathed all his earthly possessions to public welfare institutions.

Reenacted by Ron Bauer

8. Hippolyte Bouchard

*Joined the Navy in France at age 9, sailed the world as a powder monkey. *By 25 he had been in the Napoleonic Wars, the Buenos Aires revolution and actions against Spain captaining his own ship “Argentine”. *Bouchard was a privateer and raided Monterey and Santa Barbara. *On Dec. 14, 1818 he set anchor at Dana Point and demanded supplied of the town where Mission San Juan Capistrano stood. The town refused so Bouchard landed 80 men and 3 cannons to sack the Mission and take its treasures. The found no treasure, only a 500 gallon wine vat that they drank. Capt. Bouchard had to drag his sailors back to the ship and they sailed away to Argentina.

Reenacted by Duane Matthews

9. Arcadia Bandini Stearns de Baker

*Born in 1825, one of three daughters of the socially prominent Don Juan Bandini of San Diego. *Arcadia,at 14, married 43 year old Don Abel Stearns, a wealthy Yankee who became a Mexican citizen. They were married for 25 years. He died in 1871 *She then married Col. Robert Baker, owner of San Vicente Rancho. *Arcadia and the Col. moved to Santa Monica and she spent the remainder of her life as the center of social life in So. Calif. *She died in 1912 a very wealthy woman.    

Reenacted by Ruth Levin

10. Charles Lummis

Charles Lummis, journalist, ethnologist, photographer, eccentric and advocate for Indian rights, was one of the most important characters in Mission San Juan Capistrano's history. He was one of the first to realize the historical importance of the chain of California Missions and formed the Landmark Club at the beginning of the 20th Century to raise the awareness of the missions and began efforts to save them. Many of the Landmark's efforts can still be seen around the Mission grounds. He is portrayed here as he was attired when he arrived in Los Angeles after his 3,500 mile walk from Cleveland, Ohio in the winter of 1884-1885. He had been hired as editor of the predecessor of the Los Angeles Times and was sending reports of his travels to the paper and also to his hometown paper in Cleveland.

Reenacted by Richard Duree

11. Dona Maria Josefa Grijalva Yorba

*Dona Maria Josefa was born in Spain in 1767. *At the age of 9 she and her family came to California with the Anza Expedition, her father was one of the leaders. * In 1782, she married Don Jose Antonio Yorba (who came with the Portola Expedition in 1769). * They were married in Alta California and had 14 children. *Don Jose was given the only true Spanish land grant - 80,000 acres called Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana. He named part of the land Yorba Linda after his favorite daughter. *Don Jose died in 1825. *Maria Josefa was considered the first prominent woman settler in California. She taught the Indians how to read and write Spanish and was godmother to many Indians who became Christians.

Reenacted by Venus Franceschi

12. Guadalupe Avila Forster

*Born in 1841 to Soledad Yorba and Juan Avila, the richest people in San Juan Capistrano. *In 1862 she married Marco Forester and over the years had six children. Marco was a gambler, as he loved to entertain everyone. *They lived in a large home called Casa Grande that later became the Las Rosas Hotel and restaurant in San Juan Capistrano.

Reenacted by Pat March

13. Father Juniper Serra

*Born Miguel Jose Serra, on November 24, 1713 in the village of Petra, on the island of Majorca, Spain. *At eight years old he sang with the Franciscan Order and took music lessons. *At fifteen he began to study for the Franciscan Order and took the Franciscan oath in Sept. 1731 and assumed the name of Junipero. *He arrived in Vera Cruz, Mexico in December 6, 1749, at age 36. He walked from Vera Cruz to Mexico City. On that trip he received an insect bite on his left leg that plagued him for the rest of his life. *He began his journey to Alta California arriving in Monterey in 1770. *In 1775 he went to San Juan Capistrano, raised the cross but had to leave for Mission San Diego de Alcala to restore order there. In 1776 he returned to San Juan Capistrano finding the cross still standing and recovered the buried bells. *The Pope approved his right to confirm in 1774. He traveled to all eight missions confirming as he went. On Easter Sunday 1782 he blessed the site of San Buenaventura his ninth and last mission. He died in Carmel August of 1784 after performing mass the previous day.

Reenacted by Rocky James

14. Polonia Montanez

*Polonia Montanez, daughter of Tomas Gutierrez, was born in 1829 in San Juan Capistrano. Her father was a Mission carpenter who was given a land grant in 1841. *She grew up around the Mission, was married at the Mission to Senor Montanez, and was widowed by 1850. *She met Francisco Canedo a servant of Don Juan Forster and they were married in a beautiful ceremony in Father Serra’s Chapel in 1853. Francisco died seventeen years later. *Ten years later in 1880 she married her dear doctor, Isadore Simard and buried him too. *She was one of four midwives in the village. *Around 1890, in the midst of a terrible drought, she told the children if they made a procession, sang and prayed, it would rain. Three days later it rained.

Reenacted by Carol James

15. Clara Shortridge Foltz

In 1875 when she was 26 years of age, her husband abandoned her and their five children, an event which sent her on her pathway of successes and triumphs, though not without abundant hardship and opposition. She wrote, “I am descended from the heroic stock of Daniel Boone and never shrank from a contest nor knew a fear.” She was the first woman lawyer in California and a crusader for women’s voting rights. She was the founder of the public defender system which was established in 30 states. An enthusiastic and splendid orator, she also fought throughout her life for the underdog, spearheading movements to improve prison conditions and state parole systems, and separation of juvenile and adult prisoners. In 1918 at age 81 Foltz entered California’s Republican Gubernatorial primary in which she received a respectable number of votes, although she did not win. In February 2002, the Los Angeles downtown Criminal Courts Building was renamed the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center. She was truly a Freedom Hero.

Reenacted by Bennie Payne

16. Richard Egan

Born in Ireland, Richard Egan settled in San Juan Capisrano in 1868. He first lived in an adobe, but in 1883 constructed a red brick residence on Camino Capistrano. It suffered a devastating fire in 1897 and was rebuilt in 1898. Egan was a landowner, farmer, Justice of the Peace, telegrapher, notary, surveyor, agent for nearby landowners, keeper of rainfall records and dispenser of charity to the needy. From 1880 until 1884, he was a Los Angeles County Supervisor and in 1889 he helped adjust the new boundary line when Orange County was created. By common consent Egan was San Juan Capistrano's alcalde in the Spanish tradition; mayor, judge and chief dignitary. He was first elected Justice of the Peace in 1870 the same year the telegraph came to San Juan and became its first operator. He became a director of the Santa Fe Railroad and their right-of-way agent for their route to San Diego. He supervised the repair of the Mission San Juan Capistrano, financed by the Landmarks Club of Los Angeles in 1896. Judge Egan died in 1923 but his house still stands where he dispensed justice, helped local residents untangle the intricacies of American law.

Reenacted by Robert Desforges and Bruce Neilson

17. Madam Helen Modjeska

*Poland’s greatest actress of all time (1840-1909). *Came to California with her husband -Count Bozenta (Charles Bozenia Chlapowski) and a small group of friends. *Established a Polish agricultural colony in Anaheim but the drought and depression of 1877 caused it to fail.

*Madam Modjeska learned some of her former roles in English and made a stage debut in San Francisco, went on to do the theatrical circuit and became a distinguished Shakespearean actress in the 1980’s & 90’s. *Established a lace factory in Poland which is still in operation. *Loved San Juan Capistrano and she and her husband were frequent guests of Judge Egan. *Built an estate “Arden” in Modjeska Canyon and there is also Modjeska Peak named for her.

Reenacted by Mary Snowbird Mezurecky and Cassandra Neilson

18. Maria Soledad Thomasa Capistrano Yorba

Maria Soledad Thomasa Capistrano Yorba (1806-1867) was born February 12, 1806 in San Gabriel and baptized at the San Gabriel Mission. She died in the smallpox epidemic of 1867. She married Juan Avila in December 1832 and they moved to San Juan Capistrano. Maria Soledad was from one of the oldest families in California. Her grandfather was with the Portola Expedition and one of the first Europeans to see the Valley of San Juan Capistrano. She and her husband had seven children, four living to adulthood. Maria Soledad Avila was very prominent in the town as one of the leading women of the area. She was active at the Mission taking care of the Serra Chapel and is buried near the altar in the Serra Chapel. The Avila’s owned the largest adobe in San Juan. It had 10 rooms with one room being 30 feet long (two rooms still standing on Camino Capistrano Street). The interior of the adobe was finished in hardwoods, stained glass and luxurious furnishings imported from Europe and New England.

Reenacted by Sue Goode

19. Juan Avila

Juan Avila (1812-1889) was born March 9, 1812 in Los Angeles, CA and baptized at Mission San Gabriel on September 3, 1812. He was known as El Rico, the richest man in San Juan Capistrano. He had the largest house in San Juan. Juan Avila was married to Maria Soledad Thomasa Capistrano Yorba. Juan Avila was granted Rancho Niguel (El Rancho Niguel de los Alisos) in June of 1842. He was a "judge of the plains" and a justice of the peace a San Juan. He was brother-in-law to Jose Sepulveda. He supported the Americans in the Mexican War helping to provision American Troops and allowing them to camp at his ranch headquarters in Laguna Niguel. He carried the flag of truce to Commodore Stockton after the battle of La Mesa on behalf of the citizens of Los Angeles. Avila made large amounts of money selling cattle to traders in Northern California during the gold rush (1849-1854). Along with his friend, Juan Forster, he hosted and entertained large numbers of travelers who were passing through San Juan. He was known for his warm hospitality, sense of humor, friendliness and honesty.

Reenacted by Lee Goode

20. Helen Hunt Jackson

Helen was born in 1830 in Amherst, Mass. She was a schoolmate and friend of Emily Dickinson. In 1852 she married Capt. Edward B. Hunt. He was killed in 1863 in a military accident. Both sons died early and she turned to writing a traveling. She came to California for a visit in 1872 and became interested in the Ranchos and Missions and vowed to return to study and write about them. In 1873 she went to Colorado Springs for her health. While there she met and married William S. Jackson a wealthy banker and railroad executive. She became a noted poet and writer of children’s stories. In 1879 she heard Chief Standing Bear describe the forcible removal of the Indians in Nebraska. She wrote “A Century of Dishonor” condemning broken treaties. She again visited California where she learned of the plight of the Mission Indians after 1833 secularization and sale of Mission lands. She was appointed a Special Commissioner to investigate the condition of the Mission Indians of Calif. She wrote the romantic historical novel “Ramona.” She died in 1885 less than a year after “Ramona” was published.

Reenacted by Marlene Parmenter

21. Richard Henry Dana

Richard Dana, Jr., namesake of Dana Point, was a young sailor along the California coast during the early 1830s.  Author of “Two Years Before The Mast” and “The Seaman's Friend”, he became a renown advocate for seaman's rights and was a prominent voice in Boston's infamous Slave Trials. 

As a US Attorney under President Lincoln he effectively argued several Supreme Court cases vital to the North during the Civil War.  At the close of hostilities he was responsible for the prosecution, and subsequent release, of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

Reenacted by Bob Minty and Robert Hagstrom

22. Andrew Summers Rowan

Andrew Summers Rowan was a West Point Graduate(1877) and rose to be a Lt. Col. when he was mustered out of the Volunteer Service in 1899. He home was West Virginia. Rowan was the man who took the “message to Garcia” in the Spanish American War. He received the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism in connection the the operations in Cuba in May, 1898.

Reenacted by John Fischle

23. Ysadora Pico Forster

Ysadora was the daughter of Jose Maria Pico and Maria Estaquia Lopez, a native of Sonora, Mexico. Her father was a soldier of the San Diego Company in 1782 and also at San Luis Rey. Ysadora had 6 sisters and 3 brothers. She was the wife of Juan Forster and sister of Pio Pico, governor of California. Ysadora married Juan Forster, an Englishman who had become a Mexican citizen. The Forsters moved into Mission San Juan Capistrano after it had been sitting for nine ears uninhabited since secularization and sale of the mission. They lived there for 20 years.

Reenacted by Rita Gibby

24. Christobal Dominques

Born in 1761 at Loreto Presidio, which was at that time one of the frontier outposts of the northern provinces of New Spain. He served as a Spanish soldier at San Diego before 1800 and rose to the rank of Sergeant. To be a soldier in the Spanish Army, you had to be at least 15 years old, 5’ tall and know a trade. He married Maria de Los Reyes Hares the daughter of a government commissioner. They had 5 daughters and 4 sons. In 1809 Cristobal’s uncle died and left him a land grant of 75,000 acres which was Rancho San Pedro. Cristobal did not receive the land until 1822 and by that time he was in ill health and could not leave Mission San Diego. He died in 1825. Rancho San Pedro is now Palos Verdes.

Reenacted by Murry Granard

25. Ella Rosenbaum

Ella was born in Canon City Colorado in 1868. She married Oscar Rosenbaum in 1887 and they moved to San Juan Capistrano to begin a life of farming and cattle ranching on land that had belonged to Oscar’s father. The Rosenbaum’s cattle brand was the first recorded in Orange County. They called the ranch Echo Ranch - - if you stood on the high hills on one side of the valley and called loudly across Oso Creek your voice would echo back to you.

They had 18 children, all had to help with with work around the home and the ranch. Ella followed the early California custom of hospitality and invited all who came by their home at meals time to join her and her family. Three of her sons served in WWI. Rosenbaum Firewood at Trabuco Creek Road is still run by a descendant of Ella and Oscar’s. .

Reenacted by Ann Stone

26. Mary Sheehan Ronan

Mary was born in Kansas in 1852 to Irish emigrants. The family traveled by wagon to Colorado and Montana where they experienced life in the gold mining towns of the west. In her late teens she came to San Juan Capistrano and lived in a house near the Mission. She sang in the choir and played the organ at the church.

Mary accompanied Judge Egan to many of the fiestas at the local ranchos. She married Peter Ronan and lived in Missoula Montana. They raised 6 children. In Missoula she took an active roll in entertaining visitors to the Flathead Indian Reservation where her husband was an agent.

Reenacted by Susan Hagstrom