On state of missions Santa Clara & San José: in obedience to orders proceeded to said missions to report upon present needs, as to the management of the missions & their property by the priest in charge; directed his attention principally to the mission buildings & property, & to the manner in which the priest had fulfilled the trust confided to him by Gen. Kearny on 22 March 1847 [by that decree the missions & everything belonging to them were placed under charge of the Catholic priest until the proper tribunals could establish or decide upon various titles & claims made to these missions & property, & the priests as agents of the U.S. Govt 'are to be held responsible for the preservation whilst under their charge — their power was limited to the taking care & preserving from waste; their control to be only such as the priests could exercise 'when the U.S. flag was first raised in the country' — they had previously been deprived by the Mexn authorities of all control & power in the administration of the temporal affairs of the missions']. Father José Mª del Refugio Suárez del Real, missionary of Sta Clara, was under Kearny's decree charged with that & San José & has abused it. At a public meeting held at Sta Clara 21 July, Father Real was charged that he with the cooperation of his superior Father Anzar had disposed of buildings & other property of the missions Sta Clara, San José, Santa Cruz & San Juan 'in an entire disregard of the orders of the Govt & in entire disregard of the duties of the aforesaid priest as curator or guardian of the rights of the Indians thereof.' Also reported that the priest is now selling buildings belonging to the mission, tearing them down; property neglected & going fast to destruction. Recommends a court of inquiry; that all property be transferred to Fr. Real's successor Father Estanislaus Lahet[?]; the missions' two orchards & vineyards alone would yield an income of $25,000–$30,000 during the present year
| Date | 1849-09-01 (exact) |
|---|---|
| From | Col. G.W. Hill (3rd Infantry) |
| To | Secy of State Halleck |
| Place | Monterey |
| Series | Miscellaneous / Unbound Documents |
| Tomo | Unbound |
| Original tomo page | — |
| Savage copy page | 69 |
| Scan leaf | n69–71 |
| Document type | abstract |
| Source | Savage abstract |
Read this leaf on the Internet Archive ↗ · leaf n69–71
Col. G.W. Hill (3rd Infantry) to Secy of State Halleck, Monterey, 1849-09-01, Miscellaneous / Unbound Documents, Unbound, —, Archives of California, C-A 63, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.Cite the document by series, tomo and original tomo page, as the literature does; the C-A number locates it in the repository. To cite this catalogue entry itself, use https://archivesofcalifornia.com/record/ca63/ca63-d167.html