California
by Robert L. Santos
California State University, Stanislaus
Librarian/Archivist
This is the final leg of the Azorean journey to California. All aspects
of the Azorean experience in California will be discussed in this
section. The Azorean came to California orginally by whaling ship.
Sometimes he came directly to the state from the Azores, but mostly
there was a stop in New England first to work and save money for a
passage to California. The Portuguese had some
early connection with California in the age of discovery.
Discovery
The world-traveling Portuguese were the first Europeans to
step on California soil. Joao Rodrigues Cabrilho, employed by Spain
but Portuguese by birth, was on a voyage of discovery when he
sighted San Diego Bay on September 28, 1542. He sailed from
Navidad in New Spain with two ships and with Portuguese sailors in
his crew. From San Diego, he continued up the coast stopping at the
channel islands. Then he put ashore in the Ventura area, and sailed
to Monterey Bay discovering it on November 16th. A tragedy
occurred. Cabrilho fell and broke a bone which became infected. He
died January 3, 1543 and was buried on the channel island of San
Miguel. Bartolome Ferrelo replaced him as captain, and he explored
the California coast to the Oregon border.1
The next Portuguese to set foot on California, was the Portuguese
pilot Nuno da Silva who Sir Francis Drake captured in January 1578.
(Many nations, employed Portuguese pilots because they were the
best in the world.) Silva was the pilot of the Golden Hind when they
stopped north of San Francisco to repair the ship in June 1579. Silva
kept a log of the voyage and the crew acknowledged Silva's ability as
a pilot.2
California became a possession of Portugal, indirectly however.
In 1580, Phillip II of Spain seized the Portuguese throne when it was
vacated after the death of the Portuguese king. All Portuguese and
Spanish possessions, which included California, were under one king
for sixty years.3
Two Portuguese Franciscan missionaries, Fray Francisco de Nogueira
and Fray Rufino, were the next Portuguese to see California. They
were traveling on a ship commanded by Pedro de Unamuno, sailing
from Macao, a Portuguese possession now temporarily under Spain.
On October 18, 1587, they anchored in Morro Bay. Fray Nogueira
went ashore as a member of a landing party that explored 15-18
miles into the interior. Another landing party, with Fray Rufino
along, fell into a fight with some California Indians. The former
landing party
came to their rescue, and everyone fled to the ship with their
wounded.4
Under the employ of Spain, Portuguese captain Sebastiao Rodrigues
Cermeno, sailing from the Philippines, sighted Cape Mendocino on
November 4, 1595. On November 7th, he went ashore and claimed
the land for Spain. He gave the name San Francisco Bay to the
anchorage,
which was later to be renamed Drake's Bay.5 He sailed on
down the coast to Monterey Bay, Morro Bay, and the channel islands.
Ship Jumpers
Deserting ship was not uncommon because the voyages were long
and rigorous, and many captains were tyrants. Two Portuguese
deserted from the ships of Captain George Vancouver during his
voyage around the world. He stopped at San Francisco in 1792, and
the two men jumped ship. It was felt that the Spanish might have
lured them because of their vocational skills. Nevertheless, they
stayed in the area for two years, but were fined $281.33 each for
room and board.6
The Spanish didn't want foreigners in California because they were
worried they might lose control of the the land. They would,
however, allow foreigners to stay if they would be Catholic, marry
into one of the Spanish California families, raise their children
Catholic, and not teach the English language. When the Mexican
government took over California in early 19th century, they allowed
foreigners to stay which resulted in Americans eventually annexing
the state.7
First Portuguese Settlers
The first Portuguese settler in California was Antonio Jose Rocha.
He too deserted ship but was allowed to stay because of his
blacksmith and carpenter skills. He was Catholic and was Portuguese,
a kin to the Spanish, which made him more acceptable in Mexican
California. In 1815, he was in Los Angeles and had a blacksmith
shop.
In 1821, Rocha built "El Molino" or the old mill for the missionaries at
Mission San Gabriel. He also constructed the building which would
later be the first headquarters of Los Angeles county and city
governments. Rocha married Maria Josefa Alvarado, who was from a
prominent California family, and had five children. He got a land
grant in 1828 which was the 4,600 acre Rancho La Brea, and he
raised cattle on it. He allowed the public to use the tar from the now
famed La Brea tarpits to roof their houses. He and his family moved
to Santa Barbara in the 1830's,8 and he died sometime shortly after
that. J.J. Warner, an important early Californian, said this about
Rocha:
He was a pious man, quite a favorite with all the priests, a very industrious
man, and one of the most respectable and esteemed citizens of Los Angeles
from the time of my first acquaintance with him in 1831 until the time
of his death.9
Hubert Howe Bancroft lists five Portuguese who were pioneers in
California before 1830. Rocha was one, and the second one was
Manuel de Dios Pasos, a Brazilian, who arrived at Monterey in 1822
at the age of eighteen. According to the census records, he lived in
Santa Barbara in 1836 and in Los Angeles in 1845. He was a
hunter.10
The third Portuguese settler was Joaquim Pereira who arrived in
Santa Barbara in 1826, on a Mexican ship, at the age of 20. The ship
was wrecked therefore leaving Pereira stranded. He became a
vaquero or cowboy and resided in Santa Barbara. He confided in a
judge that he was a member of a group of 150 men, under the
leadership of Jose Antonio Carrillo, who planned to attack Santa
Barbara some time in August 1840. Carrillo was arrested and
released, but Pereira disappeared and was never heard of again.11
The next Portuguese settler was Jordan Pacheco who arrived in
California in 1829, from San Blas, at the age of 47, and settled in Los
Angeles. He married Maria de Jesus Lopez and raised a family.
He was a tavern keeper with assets valued at $4,500 according to the
1850 census.12
The fifth and last Portuguese settler in the Bancroft's pioneer list was
Manuel de Oliveira who came to California in 1829 at the age of 25.
He married Micaela Pollorena and had four children. He became the
chief steward at Mission San Gabriel, but was removed when
problems arose under his authority.13
There were seven Portuguese who came to California after 1830 and
before the American conquest of 1846. There were probably others,
but Portuguese immigrants would anglicized their names making it
impossible to determine their true identity. Foreign contacts in
California at this time were through trade and whaling. In the early
1840's, there were about 5,000 foreigners in California, and
Portuguese were known to be among them. There were Portuguese
listed in Thomas Oliver Larkins' business ledgers in Monterey for
example.14
Whaling and the Gold Rush
Years before the gold rush in California, Yankee traders plied the
California coast purchasing hides and tallow for the New England
market. American whaling ships were in the Pacific beginning in
1787.15 In 1819 the first New England whaler stopped at Hawaii.16
Bancroft has a listing of nine American whaling ships in California in
1825. The American ship Cyrus was in San Diego in 1830 and had
1,500 barrels coopered for whale oil.17 The California coast was busy
with whaling and trading.
In the 1840's, American traveler William Heath Davis saw 40
whaling ships in San Francisco Bay at one time. They would be there
for four to six weeks taking on provisions from the ranchos on the
eastern side of the bay and doing necessary repairs.18 Down the
coast, there were whaling ships in Monterey Bay hunting the
humpback whale.19 The crews of these Yankee ships had Azoreans
crew members who were working their passage to New England.
Some would jump ship and seek opportunities in California which
soon would be many because of the gold rush.20
In 1848, great schools of bowhead whales were found in the Arctic
near Alaska. Once the Yankee whaling fleet heard of this finding, the
long arduous trek around the horn to Alaska began, and San
Francisco now became another major port for whaling ships besides
Honolulu.21 Whaling ships would anchor at Richardson's Bay
(Sausalito) which is in the northwest corner of San Francisco Bay.
Shortly though, abandoned gold rush ships would soon clutter up the
berthing area.22
The cry of gold brought the world to California. As far away as
Oporto, Portugal, in 1849, a pamphlet appeared announcing the
finding of gold in California. It had the title "Information and
Suggestions Extracted from Official Documents Concerning California
and Her Gold Mines." The following excerpt comes from the pamphlet
which tells more about California than just gold:
A country teeming with gold and precious metals necessarily attracts a great
multitude of people, as indeed we see. Moveover this has an excellent climate,
a soil of incomparable fertility, and occupies a geographical position well
suited for it to become the Universal Emporium of the Trade of Asia and Europe.
These innumerable throngs of people which are flocking into California from
every quarter of the globe are entirely employed in the exploration of gold,
they lack even the most indispensable comforts of life although they have
plenty of gold to buy them. So long as those mines continue to produce gold
in such abundance and so easy to extract (and they are said to be inexhaustible)
the people will not apply itself to any other labor, and for this reason the
country will be for many years the best market for European products.23
This unabashedly exaggerated promotional piece appeals not only to
those gold fever souls, but also to the merchant and the farmer of
which mainland Portugal and the Azores had plenty.
San Francisco Bay filled with abandoned ships of all kinds. Their
crews and officers were in the gold fields seeking instant wealth.
Ship shortages were talked about even as far away as Horta, Faial
which had sons already in the gold fields. The letter is dated October
11, 1849 and is information coming from a trade merchant:
We send you this time a vessel which does not command our unqualified
admiration, but the demand for vessels is far greater than the supply;
the late accounts having revived to a certain degree the 'California
emigration mania.' The question is beginning to pass from mouth to mouth,
'what is to become of all the vessels sent to San Francisco?' Of course the
old ones will lay their bones there, or on the way thither, but so many
new ones have gone that there must be a time when they will all return
or at least a large proportion; what then will become of ship-owners and
ship-builders, who are now reaping a golden harvest?24
Ironically, whaling ships that brought the news of the gold rush to
the east coast, provided transportation back to California where they
were abandoned.25 It was a free passage for a gold-fever crew!26
This jingle was popular on the docks of New Bedford, Massachusetts:
Who jumps ship may go to prison
But all the gold he gits is hisn27
Between 1850 and 1860, the number of Portuguese in California
went from 109 to 1,560.28 There were 804 goldmining in nine
foothill counties of Tuolumne, Placer, Mariposa, El Dorado, Nevada,
Butte, Yuba, Sacramento, and Trinity. Concentrations could be seen at
Shaw Flat and Columbia in Tuolumne County and Auburn in Placer
County.29 Also, Cathay's Valley in Mariposa County had many
Portuguese.30 There were 31 Azorean miners in Klamath County in
1860 and eight Azoreans with nine other Portuguese in Shasta
County also at that time.31
One mining camp in Siskiyou County named Hawkinsville, three
miles south of Yreka, in 1880, still had 175 Portuguese with 70% of
them still in mining.32 Yreka Journal ran this about them in 1868
with the headline, "Portuguese Coming."
We learn that about 140 Portuguese are shortly coming to this country
from the Portuguese Islands and other counties in this State, including a
number of women and children. The Portuguese at Hawkinsville are already
making preparations for them by holding a miners' meeting tomorrow to
regulate size of claims. Several of them intend securing ranches also, and
the prospects are that a very large portion of our county population will
consist of Portuguese, who seem to be a very industrious and hard working
class.33
This article reveals that communication had taken place between
the Portuguese in the mines, those elsewhere in California, and in
the Azores. Lines of communication is central to Azorean migration.
It connects countrymen with countrymen providing information
helpful in the immigration process and settlement. The article also
reveals that the Portuguese were well-received and not considered
"foreigners."
Waves of Immigration
There are essentially four waves of Portuguese immigration into
California: 1800-1850; 1850-1870; 1870-1930; and 1960 to the
present. These are somewhat similar to New England except the first
two waves above were concentrated in one wave in New England.
Also, where in New England the interest was in whaling, fishing, and
textiles, in California it was in whaling and fishing, to a small degree,
but the major interest lay in gold mining and agriculture.
Gold Fever Gone and Now Farming
To get to the gold fields, one had to travel by boat, horse, and foot.
Once there, shelter, food, and medicines would be needed. These
necessities cost an exorbitant price and could be in short supply at
times. Gold mining was hard work and was not successful for
many.34 The Portuguese who grew tired of mining, instead of
returning to whaling, went into a more natural and traditional
Azorean pursuit, farming.
They began settling in the Sacramento Valley, Mission San Jose,
San Leandro, Oakland, and Castro Valley. The East Bay locations
were fertile lowlands just perfect for the type of farming the
Azorean knew best, intensive farming.35 They would work for wages
for awhile, then rent land, and then finally buy land. This process
became a common practice.36 Within time, the Azorean men would
send for their families to come and join them.37
Table 6 shows the distribution of the Portuguese in California for
the years 1860 and 1880. It also shows a definite emphasis in
settlement in the central coast, which is the Bay Area and
Monterey. This region would be the gathering point for migration
which would occur later into the San Joaquin Valley. Sacramento
Valley shows a sizeable Portuguese population because of its
closeness to the mines. When mining luck or patience ran out the
Azorean would farm. Notice that there are very few Portuguese in
southern California which would change some later when fishing took
hold in San Diego.
Table 6
*Portuguese in California By Region
1860 and 1880
Region 1860 Population 1880 Population Percent Gained
______________________________________________________
North Coast 53 219 1.5
North Central 156 594 3.8
North East 5 23 0.2
Central Coast 606 9,409 77.2
Sacramento Valley 289 1,427 10.0
San Joaquin Valley 12 449 3.8
Sierra Mountains 577 831 2.2
Southern California 19 163 1.3
Total 1,717 13,159 100.0
_____________________________________________________________
Source: Alvin Graves, "The Portuguese in California, 1850-1880." 38
*"Portuguese" has to be used in these early years because "Azorean" was not
distinguished in census gathering. But the vast bulk of the California Portuguese came from the Azores.
Portuguese in 1880
In 1880, the region of the north coast had 219 Portuguese with 87%
living in Mendocino County. Sixty-six of them were working in the
lumber industry. In the north central area, 549 lived in the Shasta,
Siskiyou, and Trinity Counties and worked as miners, farmers, and
general laborers. It was found that 201 of the 549 were second
generation already having been born in the United States.39
In the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the 831 Portuguese could be found
living primarily in Tuolumne, Nevada, and Placer Counties. In the
Shaw Flat and Columbia area, there were 163 Portuguese employed
as miners or in farming. Of the 831, 292 were born in the United
States.40
The central coast had 71.5% of the Portuguese living in California
primarily employed in intensive farming in the East Bay. In fact,
nearly 75% of the Portuguese farmers at this time could found in this
region. In some of the communities in Contra Costa, Alameda, and
San Mateo counties, the Portuguese were at least 20% of the total
population.41
The Sacramento Valley had 11% of the state's Portuguese, and they
were employed in farming, fishing and general labor. They lived in
Sacramento, Yolo, and Solano counties. Merritt Township in Yolo
County alone had 218 Portuguese.42 In the San Joaquin Valley, all six
counties had Portuguese with most living in Fresno, Kern, and
Stanislaus counties. They were employed in farming or animal
husbandry. In Fresno County, the largest concentration were
sheepherders with one-half of the Portuguese involved in that
industry. Of the 449 living in this region, 75 were born in the United States.43
There were very few Portuguese living in southern California, and
those that did were in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties. They
were employed as whalers, fishermen, and laborers. Of the 163 living
in this region, 50% were born in California.44 In fact, of the 13,159
Portuguese found in California in 1880, 5,169 were born
in the United States. The other 7,990 were foreign born, but they
were almost entirely from the Azores.45
In 1880, 84% of the Portuguese living in California could be found
in rural areas. Of that, 82.6% owned or operated farms. Of the entire
California Portuguese population, 9.1% were in mining and just 4%
in maritime occupations.46 The Azoreans in California came from the
islands of Faial, Pico, Flores, Sao Jorge, and Terceira.47
In Where Opportunity Knocks Twice, Forrest Crissey, wrote:
Today you may visit whole sections of the Pacific slopes peopled by these
Portuguese islanders, and listen to scores of personal stories of how sea
legs have been trained into steady plow legs, and of the individual trans-
formation of ocean wanderers into plodding farmers who are disinclined
to stray any farther from their homes than they can drive with their own
teams.48
Shore Whaling
Shore whaling in California was done just like in the Azores and
in New England which was described earlier in this study. In
California, shore whaling remained a small industry phasing out by
1900. Later with improved equipment, it would start again but never
ranked in any significance.
Shore whaling began in Monterey in 1851 and was begun either by
Captain Davenport or Captain Joseph Clark, nee Joao Machado. It
wasn't until 1854 that a company was formed as seen in this piece
from the March 14, 1855 edition of the Sacramento Daily Union:
During the year a number of Portuguese whalers have established them-
selves at Monterey Bay for the purpose of capturing such whales as are
indigenous to the coast. They caught 5 grays, 9 humpbacks, four killers;
six were lost; the crew was paid $438 each for its work from April to
September.49
Another company was formed in 1855 of 17 Portuguese and for
three years took 800 barrels of oil. In 1858, Davenport formed
another company which had harpoon guns and took in 600 to 1,000
barrels of oil annually for several years. Whaling companies in
Monterey were merged into one 1865 forming a crew of 23 men.
This company took in $31,000 worth of oil and bone the first four
months!50
This was generally how a shore whaling company divided their
earnings: 1 barrel of oil in 35 went to the boat steerers, coopers, and
ship keepers; 1 barrel in 50 went to the oarsmen and blubber
carriers; the owner of the whaleboats got the rest. The boats cost
$500 each. A day's kill could bring $3,000 to $4,000, but this was the
exception.51
A shore whaling company consisted of a captain, one mate, a cooper,
two boat steerers, and eleven men. Each boat took a crew of six,
while four men were left on shore, working shifts in scanning the
horizons for whales and attending to the boiling blubber in the
trypots.52 There were always two boats out in case a whale smashed
one giving the survivors a boat to return to shore. The boat crews got
their signal from the shore flag as to which direction the whales were
located.53
There were seventeen shore stations along the California operating
intermittently from 1850-1880.54 The members of the
whaling companies were almost all Azoreans as noted by G.B. Goode
of the U.S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries in 1887: "There are
two companies of whalers in San Luis Obispo County. The first . . .
consists of twenty men, most of whom are from the Azore [sic]
Islands. The other camp . . . consists of twenty-one men, all of whom,
save one American, are from the Azores."55 Stations
were found at Crescent City, Half Moon Bay, Carmel Bay, San Simeon,
Portuguese Bend, and San Diego Bay to name a few.
Edwin C. Starks of the California Fish and Game Commisssion wrote
this while investigating the station at Moss Landing, Monterey Bay:
Nearby are the try works, sending forth volumes of thick black smoke from the
scrap-fire under the steaming caldrons of boiling oil. A little to one side is the
primitive storehouse, covered with cypress boughs . . . on the crest of a cone-
shaped hill, of the shapeless mass of multilated whale, together with the men
shouting and heaving at the capstans, the screaming of gulls and other sea fowl,
mingled with the noise of the surf about the shores, and we have a picture of
the general life at a California coast whaling station.56
As for the men, Albert S. Evans said this in his travel journal in 1873
while visiting Pigeon Point station, six miles south of Pescadero:
"These men are all 'Gees" -- Portuguese -- from the Azores or
Western Islands. They are a stout, hardy-looking race, grossly
ignorant, dirty and superstitious. They work hard, and are doing well
in business."57
"Superstitious" was indeed apt for these men who had to fight the
thrashing cetacean at sea. This is shown in this passage from the life
of Robert Louis Stevenson who spent time in Monterey. The
Monterey pavements had whale bones imbeded in them as an
religious offering for a whaler's survival.58 Stevenson walked with
Joaquin, a Portuguese whaler, to the local church, and the whaler
said:
Look at the whalebone pavement in front of the church, Senor Stevenson.
The Star of Hope is there all in the bones of whales that Saint Anthony
has sent us. Each time a whale is caught, Portuguese fishermen carry
bones on their backs all the way from the beach and kneel before the
church to set them into the pavement in honor of the Saint.
I see, Stevenson nodded and looked on the beauty at his feet. Perhaps a
fisher for words can someday honor the Saint by telling all the world
about the devotion of fisher folk who come to the Mission Church of
Monterey to pray and pay tribute.59
At the Carmel Bay station, residences of the shore whalers were
described by Charles M. Scammon in his classic work on whaling. The
picture is that of subsistence farmers doing what they did in the
islands:
Scattered around the foot-hills, which come to the water's edge, are the
neatly whitewashed cabins of the whalers, nearly all of whom are Portu-
guese, from the Azores or Western Islands of the Atlantic. They have
their families with them, and keep a pig, sheep, goat, or cow, prowling
around the premises; these, with a small garden-patch, yielding princi-
pally corn and pumpkins, make up the general picture of the hamlet, which
is paradise to the thrift clan in comparison with the homes of their childhood.60
San Leandro
If New Bedford was the "Portuguese capital of the East," San
Leandro was certainly the "Portuguese capital of the West." In San
Leandro, as early as 1852, there were Portuguese in poultry, boating,
and fishing businesses. Anthony Fountain, nee Antonio Fonte, in
1851
took milk from Oakland to San Francisco by boat. In 1860 there were
240 Portuguese living in San Leandro and Hayward61 such as
Antonio Rogers, who was born in Faial as Antonio Soares. He worked
as a whaler until 1895 when he settled on "Chicken Lane" in San
Leandro.62 In 1870, it was estimated that there were 4,000 to 5,000
Portuguese living in the area.63
In San Leandro there were two streets colorfully named. "Chicken
Lane," which later became Dutton Avenue, was the street where
most early Azoreans settled. They raised chickens along with other
agricultural pursuits. The other street was "Kanaka Road" which was
where Portuguese from Hawaii had settled. These Hawaiians were
mostly Azorean emigrants. "Kanaka Road" became Orchard Avenue
later when fruit trees were planted on a large scale.64
Azorean Antone Silva, nee Antone Carvalho, was a whaling ship
captain and settled in San Leandro with his wife. They had a thirteen
acre farm along "Chicken Lane" for which he paid $1,340 in 1861. He
planted cherries and apricots. His three children changed their name
to Oakes (Carvalho in Portuguese) from which Oakes Boulevard drew
its name.65
The excerpt below comes from a book published in 1876 celebrating
the centennial of the United States. It is about Alameda County in
which San Leandro, Oakland, and Hayward are located:
What they called the Portuguese population in Alameda County commensed
to settle here at an early date, and are amongst the most thriving portion
of our population, occupying as they do, small farms of the best land and
growing vegetables and fruits. They are natives of the Azores or Western
Isles, and are exceedlingly industrious and thrifty class, with simple
hearts and simple pleasures . . . 66
Intensive farming, also known as market gardening or truck farming,
supplied fresh produce to the surrounding communities. The success
the Azorean saw in this type of farming came from hardwork,
ingenuity, and thrift. In Opportunity Knocks Twice, the author
remarks after observing a farm in San Leandro:
When you see a house surrounded by an orchard, and the sides of the road
planted to vegetables clear out to the wheel tracks, you may know that a
Portuguese lives there; but don't make the mistake of thinking that it's
poverty that pushes his gardening up against the wheels of passing vehicles.
It's thrift! These men with street gardens are the solid men of the town.
They own business blocks and ranches, and have bank accounts that put
some of us Americans here 'way in the shade.' It hurts a Portuguese to
waste an inch of land. He'll buy the best land out of doors -- knows the
best when he sees it too -- and will pay a top price without question or
flinching; but after he gets it he wants every inch of it to be working for
him, night and day, every minute of the growing season. And he'll generally
contrive to get three crops a year where an American will be content with
two.67
Another remark on how intensive, "intensive" is!
One of these town orchards in San Leandro has currants between the orchard
rows, beans between the currant rows, a row of beans on each side of the
trees, beans between the trees in the row and beans form the ends of the
rows to the wheeltrack in the street. Not satisfied with this degree of
intensiveness and interplanting, the owner doubled the number of rows in
the space or corner where his private sidewalks joined the public street!68
The Azoreans had a knack or a certain ingenuity when it came to
farming and marketing as expressed in the below passage.
This Azorean farmer came to San Leandro only with clothes on his
back and worked on farms for ten years. He studied the various
crops and felt tomatoes were for him. He comments:
I began to study the tomato game by talking with everybody who grew them
about here, and especially with the men connected with the canneries. There
is generally about one main trick with every crop that makes it a big thing
instead of just a fair thing or a failure. The trick was to plant the tomatoes
so they would mature just perfect for the best price.69
He ended up operating 500 acres employing between 40 to 100
seasonal workers most of whom were fellow Azoreans. (32:90)
Writing in Valley of the Moon, Jack London too tells of the
creativeness of the Portuguese farmer. The main characters, Billy and
Saxon, are walking through San Leandro, "Porchugeeze headquarters"
as they call it, and they discuss why the Portuguese have had success
where "Americans" have failed. They come upon a lineman whose
family used to own the property now belonging to the Portuguese.
They look at a fruit tree that has four main branches with "living
braces" in the crotch. The lineman comments:
You think it growed that way, eh? Well it did. But it was old Silva that made
it just the same -- caught two sprouts, when the tree was young, an'
twisted 'em together. Pretty slick, eh? You bet. That tree'll never blow
down. It's a natural, springy brace, an' beats iron braces stiff. Look along
all the rows. Every tree's that way. See? An' that's just one trick of the
Porchugeeze. They got a million like it.70
They continue their discussion, and the lineman explains how the
Portuguese acquired their land:
. . . my grandfather used to own this . . . Forty years ago old Silva come from
the Azores. Went sheep-herding in the mountains for a couple of years, then
blew in to San Leandro. These five acres was the first land he leased. That was
beginnin'. Then he began leasin' by the hundreds of acres, an' by the hundred-
an-sixties. An' his sisters an' his uncles an' his aunts begun pourin' in from
the Azores -- they're all related there, you know; an' pretty soon San Leandro
was a regular Porchugeeze settlement.
An' old Silva would up by buyin' these five acres from grandfather. Pretty
soon -- an' father by that time was in the hole to the neck -- he was buyin'
father's land by the hundred-an'-sixties. An' all the rest of his relations was
doin' the same thing. Father was always gettin' rich quick, an' he wound up
by dyin' in debt. But old Silva never overlooked a bet, no matter how dinky.
An' all the rest are just like him. You see outside the fence there, clear to
the wheel-tracks in the road -- horse-beans. We'd a-scorned to do a
picayune thing like that. Not Silva. Why he's got a town house in San Leandro
now.71
Some Azoreans owned large acreages, but the average at the time
was 46.6 acres. The farms had orchards of fruit trees, vegetable
gardens, cows, chickens, and hogs. The local economy was a
healthy one but soon urban sprawl would push these farmers east
out into the Livermore Valley and then into San Joaquin Valley.72
Not all the Portuguese in San Leandro were involved in farming.
They also had jobs as carpenters, shoemakers, clerks, railway
workers, cooks, store owners, blacksmiths, and machinists to name
a few.73 The Azoreans came from the islands of Pico, Faial,
Flores, and Sao Jorge, and later from Terceira, Graciosa, Sao Miguel,
and Santa Maria.74 Ponta Delgada, Sao Miguel became the sister city
of San Leandro.75 In the May 12, 1887 issue of the Portuguese
language newspaper of Progresso Californiense, there was an
advertisement for "Azores Hotel," owned by Joao D. Pinheiro, and
charged $5 a week for lodging.76 The Azoreans had arrived!
Sacramento Area
In 1852, there were 33 Portuguese in Sacramento, and in 1890
about 189. Along the Sacramento River, they built levees to
reclaim the land, and farmed an area known as the "Lisbon District"
because of the heavy concentration of Portuguese there.77 The
district had three ferryboats that crossed the river transporting
residents to school, church, and to visit neighbors. In the 1890's,
ferryboat use cost 10 cents per pedestrian, 25 cents for a horse and
rider, 50 cents for a wagon and two horses, 75 cents for wagon with
four horses, and livestock such as sheep, goats, cattle, and hogs were
10 cents each.78
Antonio Mendes, born in Terceira, was one of the first to navigate
the Sacramento River. He abandoned mining in 1855 and bought a
boat that traveled from Stockton to Sacramento conveying people
and cargo. He soon owned a number of boats coming from San
Francisco, mostly paddlewheelers, flatboats, and scows.79
Portuguese planted asparagus in Petuluma, but it was a failure
because of rust damage. It was tried in Sacramento with great
success leaving one Portuguese farmer with a rags to riches life.80
Portuguese in Petuluma later went heavily into chicken farming.81
Ventura
Fortunes were made in lima beans in Ventura County by the
Portuguese. They learned how to manage the soil and the terrain
like Manuel Farias who bought hill land for $25 an acre. He worked
the slopes with two workhorses and one saddle horse which he
rode in front of the others to guide the plow. The farmers broke
through the hardpan and kept the clumps of soil on the surface to
retain the moisture there.82
Frank Crissey made this comment about the Portuguese farmer in
his travels in California during the first decade of this century:
. . . once a Portuguese gets hold of a piece of land he never rests until it is
paid for, and he sacrifices his personal ease and comfort until the mortgage
is wiped out, to that end saving every dollar above the sternest actual
necessities. A mortgaged homestead and an automobile are contrary
to the Portuguese catechism! He never stints his land or his stock, however.
Again, in addition to being an untiring worker, he is an intelligent farmer.
I never knew a Portuguese farmer who was not a good farmer.83
Sheep and Sweet Potatoes in the San Joaquin Valley
There was a small wool industry in the Fresno and Hanford area
beginning in the 1860's where the Portuguese served as shepherds.
But soon the industry went into decline because of drought, which
happened in 1876 and 1877, when sheep and cattle perished by the
thousands. Sheep usually sold for $2 to $3 a head but now sold for 25
cents. This was a sure sign that irrigation was needed to water the
desert-like terrain and turn it into a productive agricultural land.84
Sheep raising too took place in Merced County where one could see
Portuguese shepherds with a dog tending to 2,000 or so sheep.85 One
citizen of the area commented saying, "They [the Portuguese] all have
a natural liking for animals, and stock in their hands always thrives.
As soon as the ranchowners found this out they encouraged the
firstcomers to send back to the Azores for their husky young
relatives."86
The Portuguese worked for awhile as shepherds and then bought
their own land and flocks. Even when irrigation came, they still
drove flocks along the public roads outside their fences to use every
inch of land in a productive form. It kept the grass down which
prevented fires helping local governmental agencies. These roving
flocks would travel four miles a day and might end up being as far as
twenty miles from home. Before long automobile traffic put a stop to
this practice.87
John B. Avila came to California from Sao Jorge in 1883. He worked
for a time in Niles and Mission San Jose in market gardening and
then moved to the Atwater-Buchach area of Merced County in 1888.
He was the first Portuguese in the area. Avila bought flood land for
$1 an acre and planted a patch of sweet potatoes from seedlings he
got from the Azores. He marketed his crops in the Delta area where
they were sent to San Francisco. The tubular vegetable became very
popular, and he increased his acreage and took in three Azorean
partners.88
Sweet potato acreage in Merced County by 1910 had rose to 2,114
acres. Sweet potatoes were planted in abundance in neighboring
Stanislaus County and soon in other valley counties. In 1910, there
were 5,111 sweet potato acres in California.89 Population
in the Merced area increased because the sweet potato's success and
also because irrigation was instituted. In 1908, there were 146
Portuguese in Atwater and 340 in Buchach.90 There was a link from
sweet potatoes to dairying, which would soon dominate the area, as
seen in this comment: "Typically a family would buy twenty to forty
acres, plant sweet potatoes the first season, and later start a dairy
herd."91
From Hawaii
Many Portuguese came from Hawaii to the Bay Area between 1890
and 1910,92 Their contribution is important in the discussion
of Azorean migration to California. Portuguese first arrived in the
Hawaiian Islands, then known as the Sandwich Islands, in 1794.
Antonio Silva, arriving in 1828, brought sugar cane agriculture to the
islands. Another Portuguese, John Elliot de Castro, became King
Kamehameha's friend, adviser, and physician.93
Azoreans jumped ship when the whaling vessels they were aboard
pulled into port for supplies and repair. By 1870, there were about
400 Portuguese living in Hawaiian islands.94
In 1877, the Hawaiian government needed sugar cane workers, and
offered to pay transportation costs for anyone wanting to immigrate
from the Madeira Islands and the island of Sao Miguel in the Azores.
From 1878 to 1899, 12,780 emigrated from those islands to Hawaii.
Also, 1,652 came from mainland Portugal. They had to work in the
sugar cane fields for 36 months for which they got $10 a month for
men and $6.50 for women along with lodging, rations, and medical
care.95
Whole families came. (4:15) Forty-two percent of the Portuguese
emigrants were men, 19% women, and 39% children.96 Women and
children did not work in the sugar cane fields because the work was
very arduous.97 In 1900, 35.6% of the Portuguese lived on the big
island of Hawaii, and 38.1% lived on the island of Oahu.98
Soon though, many of the Portuguese in Hawaii were discouraged.
The local Hawaiian population treated them as laborers of the lower
class. This didn't bode well for the Portuguese people who took pride
in themselves as hard workers and achievers. Many left the islands,
but those that stayed, disbanded as a group, intermarried with other
people, and left the plantations. They didn't keep their Portuguese
traditions because they wanted to rid themselves of the laboring
class stigma.99 These Portuguese spread throughout the
Hawaiian islands, bought land, raised cattle, and grew vegetables,
while some went into urban occupations. In 1920, there were
21,208 Portuguese living in the Hawaiian islands.100
Between 1890 and 1910, numerous Portuguese migrated to
California, primarily to the Bay Area, and specifically for many, to
San Leandro along "Kanaka Road."101 From 1911 to 1914, 2,600 or
more came to California.102 Since then there has been continuous
movement of the Portuguese to and from the Hawaiian Islands.103
An Azorean who eventually settled in Turlock, located in Stanislaus
County, worked with the Portuguese who came from Hawaii, and he
lamented:
I especially enjoyed listening to the Hawaiian-Portuguese music. It was so
sad and plaintive that it made shivers go up and down your spine. These men
were from the Azores, but became endentured workers in the sugar cane
fields in Hawaii. From there they came to California to work in the melon
fields of Turlock, but their hearts were in the land of their youth, the lush,
green fields of the Azores.104
This longing for the homeland is the Azorean "saudade" which was
addressed earlier in this study. The Hawaiian musical instrument, the
ukelele, which means "jumping mosquito" in Hawaiian, was a
Portuguese adaptation. Portuguese cabinet maker Manuel Nunes, in
1877, made the first ukelele in Hawaii which was similar to the small
Madeiran guitar called the cavaquinho.105
San Joaquin Valley, the New Center of Azorean Population
Dairying and the Azoreans are like the euphemistic phrase "goes to
together like hand and glove." Being unskilled and using very little
tools and implements, most Azorean farmer peasants, brought only
their hands and their farming knowledge to the United States for a
livelihood. This is well put in the following commentary by an
Azorean who early in this century migrated to the San Joaquin
Valley:106
I don't remember making a decision to become a farmer. It just seemed to be
the most natural thing for me to do. For centuries my ancestors were farmers,
not from choice but out of absolute necessity as a means of existence. When
you live on an island you eat only what you can grow. The clothing we wore
and the blankets we slept under were made of the wool my father sheared from
a small flock of sheep. My poor mother spent endless days spinning and
weaving the wool into cloth. So generation after generation, the love of the
land was inbred into us. To the early Portuguese immigrant it was nearly
unbelievable that here in the Turlock area there were thousands of acres
of virgin soil, just waiting for the plow. Sometimes when I am working
in the fields, I reach down and get a handful of good clean dirt. It feels warm
in the palm of my hand. I let it dribble trough my fingers and I feel as if I
had just shaken hands with all my ancestors.107
Not just men had an urge to become farmers and dairy farmers;
Azorean women did too as seen in the below fictionalized account
found in Jack London's Martin Eden. In London's early years he spent
time in Oakland and got to know the Portuguese who lived there. He
had a certain repect for the Portuguese people which was seen
earlier in this study in a passage from Valley of the Moon. When one
visits his property in Glen Ellen, California, one learns immediately
that London was very interested in farming and innovative farming
practice.
In this account, the main character Martin Eden, who is a fledgling
writer, makes a promise to his friend, Maria, who is an immigrant
Azorean and neighbor, and does domestic work for him. He wants to
reward her and her children for her work and kindness when he
becomes a successful writer. He asks her what would she want if he
were God and could give her anything. Maria replies:
I lika da have one milka ranch -- good milka ranch. Plenty cow, plenty land,
plenty grass. I lika da have near San Le-an; my sister liva dere. I sella da
milk in Oakland. I maka da plentee mon. Joe an' Nick no runna da cow. Dey
go-a to school . . . Yes, I lika da milka ranch.108
Dairying has been done on the Azorean islands of Sao Jorge, Flores,
and Terceira. In the 1880's, immigrants from Sao Jorge began
milking cows on dairies found in Sausalito and Bolinas. First they
were milkhands, then renters, and finally owners. The Bay Area
market was their pot of gold. Point Reyes had sixty-six Portuguese
milkers; seventy-nine Portuguese owned dairies in the area; and by
1900 in Marin, San Mateo, Monterey, and San Benito counties, one-
half of the dairymen were Portuguese.109
In Sausalito in 1889, there were 313 Portuguese in dairying, and of
those, 78.1% came from the island of Sao Jorge.110 Most milkers
earned $36 a month for a seven-day work week which included
room and board.111 Once enough money was saved, from working as
milkhands, about $2,000, tenant dairying was tried.
Large land holdings in Marin County, 54,250 acres to be specific,
were broken up for tenant dairying. The owner fenced the land,
provided the buildings, including a comfortable house, and cows. The
tenant needed to provide the horses, wagons, farming implements,
dairy equipment, furniture for the house, and the necessary labor. He
rented the cows for $27.50 annually and agreed to take care of the
stock and the farm, making repairs when needed. One-fifth of the
calves went to the owner while the tenant could sell for himself pigs,
calves, and dairy products. His net profit was $5 to $15 a cow
annually from which he saved to buy his own dairy.112
Just before the turn of the century, Portuguese began moving to the
San Joaquin Valley to buy cheap land to farm. They sold their Bay
Area property when urban sprawl encroached and moved to an
area where large acreages could be purchased. At this time, irrigation
was introduced into the valley which became a boon for further
Portuguese migration and investment.113
One Merced resident, while riding with Forest Crissey, the author of
Where Opportunity Knocks Twice, pointed out to his guest the
irrigation canals and fenced in land, and implied that irrigation was
here because of the Portuguese zest and ability for farming:
There is an example of Portuguese methods that is worth the attention of any
American in almost any part of the country. This district through here
is rapidly changing from a range country to a farming country. Every few
miles you'll run across a new irrigation canal with freshly cut laterals.
They welcomed it [irrigation] and said that they'd raise alfalfa and keep
dairies of blood stock.114
Some of the early forms of California dairying were practiced in
Fresno and Kern counties where the Portuguese had served as
shepherds. The wool industry plumented, and the Portuguese
shepherds found employment on dairies. Word soon got around that
dairying was a successful venture in the valley which interested the
Portuguese and brought more of them to the region.115
Dairying provided security for those who practised it. For one, there
was always a monthly milk check providing constant revenue.
(18:68) The investment was solid because one owned land,
equipment, and cattle which could always be sold in an economic
crisis. For the thrifty minded Portuguese, who save their money
continuously, the initial investment was something they could afford.
They saw opportunity in something that an unskilled, mostly
illiterate, and non-English speaking Azorean peasant could do with
success and profit.116
The Azoreans are family-oriented people who sacrifice and work
together as a unit towards a common goal. This family effort is the
basic reason why they became so successful in dairying. No dairy
partnerships are formed outside the family because the children
inherit the dairy.117
The link with the Azores is important too for the successful
continuation of dairying in the hands of the Azoreans. The Azorean
dairy farmers will send for, or bring back relatives and friends from
the Azores to join them in dairying. These new immigrants have
immediate jobs, homes, and paychecks. Soon they move out and own
their own dairies. The culture, and hence the thinking, is basically
singular among the Azoreans which allows for smoother operation of
the dairy business. 118
There are Azorean enclaves strung throughout the valley.119 In a
1960's study, it was found that 82% of dairy workers worked for
Azorean dairymen, and 32% of the dairy workers were Portuguese
who worked for non-Azorean dairymen.120 To quote from the study:
A.F. Mendes of Riverdale recalls that when he migrated to the San Joaquin Valley,
he first located in south-central Kings County, where no less than fifteen
families had gathered that were from the village of Santa Barbara of the island of
Terceira."121
The west side of the valley has been settled primarily by Terceirans
which is 60% of all Azorean dairymen. In eastern Merced County,
50% of the dairymen are from Sao Jorge.122 This cultural
unity among the Azoreans has made them a formidable force in the
California dairy industry.123
This table shows the distribution of Azorean dairymen by island in
the San Joaquin Valley which was derived from research done in the
1960's:
Table 7
Island of Origin of the Portuguese Dairymen
in the San Joaquin Valley
Island Percent
_____________________________________________________________
Terceira 63.0
Sao Jorge 15.0
Pico 11.0
Faial 3.5
Flores 2.5
Sao Miguel 2.0
Santa Maria 1.0
Graciosa 1.0
Corvo 0.0
Total 99.0
______________________________________________________
Source: Alvin Graves, "Azorean Portuguese" 124
In 1915, Azoreans owned one-half of the dairy land in the San
Joaquin Valley and produced over half of the dairy products. Milk
producer's cooperatives sprang up having strong Azorean
membership. In the 1930's, the Portuguese controlled an estimated
60 to 70% of the California dairy industry, owning 450,000 head of
dairy cattle representing $30 million in assets.125
In 1923, 85% of the dairymen in Stanislaus and Merced counties
were Portuguese.126 In Stanislaus County in 1926, there were
407 dairy farms owned by Portuguese with an average of 70 acres.
Also, 493 Portuguese had acreage in alfalfa which is a crop used in
dairying.127
Dairy sizes increased from 30 cows in 1930 to over 100 in the 1960's
because of the advancement of technology.128 In 1972, 1,062
dairies, or 52.6% of the total number, were owned by Portuguese in
the San Joaquin Valley. In an area of 1,700 square miles covering
Fresno, Kings, and Tulare counties, Portuguese control 70% of the
dairy farming. In an area within Kings and Tulare county, Portuguese
have 90% of the dairies.129 The natural disasters in the Azores of the
late 1950's and early 1960's, and the resultant U.S. emergency
refugee laws, has seen many more thousands of Azoreans funneled
into the California dairy industry. This will ensure Portuguese control
of dairying in the future.130
Whaling and Fishing
Earlier in this study, shore whaling was discussed noting the almost
exclusive presence of Azoreans in the enterprise. Deep sea whaling,
or ship whaling, as it is sometimes called,131 found less Azorean
involvement, but involvement nonetheless. Azoreans were parts of
whaling crews and some served as officers.132 We saw earlier how
the Azorean teenage males were smuggled aboard whaling ships.
Frank Gomes did that:
Frank J. Gomes was born on the Island of Flores in 1855. At the age of eighteen
he joined a whaling ship and voyaged four years under great hardship. he was
given a mere $100 as his final share when he came ashore in San Francisco
in 1877.133
Whaling voyages were indeed treacherous and inhumane as seen in
this fictionalized account written by William H. Thomas in 1872 and
found in his book The Whaleman's Adventures in the Sandwich
Islands and California. We find the captain punishing Joe Frank, the
Portuguese cook, for giving a black crew member some rum. The
captain has just hit and kicked Frank, and then:
The Portuguese arose with some difficulty, and stood trembling before the
quarter-deck tyrant [the captain] . . . and then drew back his arm and let his
fist fall upon the unprotected face of the Portuguese, and he fell to the deck
as though struck by lightning.134
One would hope that Joe Frank might jump ship at first opportunity
for his own safety. Frank was at least alive. Whales fared much
worse.
Before the European whaler traveled the oceans hunting the
mammoth sea creature, whale population was immense worldwide.
Along the Pacific Coast, whales would migrate winter and spring
from the Arctic to Mexico.135 San Diego Bay was a favorite
of female whales where they calved in the spring. In 1602, Sebastain
Vizcaino saw whales in Monterey Bay which were described in a
1758 translation:
This bay also had been already surveyed by the Almirante [Vizcaino's ship]
who gave it the name Bahia de Belenas or Whale Bay, on account of the
mulitudes of that large fish they saw there, being drawn thither by the
abundance of several kinds of fish.136
The translator then appended this excerpt:
But the most distinguished fish of both seas are the whales; which induced
the ancient cosmographers to call [lower] California, Punta de Belenas, or Cape
Whale; and these fish being found in multitudes along both coasts give name to a
channel in the gulf, and a bay in the south sea.137
Even in 1876, as the whale supply was waining, R. Guy McClellan
wrote in his work The Golden State: "hundreds of them can be seen
spouting and blowing along the entire coast."138
Hawaii was the center of whaling ship activity in the Pacific like the
Azores had been in the Atlantic. In 1855, there were 650 whaling
ships operating in Pacific with 15,000 men and a $20 million
investment.139 There were at least 100 New Bedford whaling vessels
off the California coast annually.140 Once whales were discovered in
abundance in the Arctic, San Francisco became the hub of whaling
activity in the Pacific which was from 1865 to 1881.141 The ship that
opened whaling interest in San Francisco was the New Bedford
whaling bark, the Russell, with its Azorean crew.
This was 1851.142
Many ships lay in the mud along the shoreline of San Francisco Bay,
abandoned by their crew and officers for the gold fields. Some of
these ships, including New England whalers, were used as
storehouses, saloons, and hotels. When the gold fever died down,
some of them were repurchased for $4,500 to $14,000 and refitted
for whaling.143
The slaughter of the whale is richly documented. Whaler Captain C.M.
Scammon, who published a classic book on whaling, and for whom
Scammon's Lagoon in Baja California is named, described the
massacre of whales in his lagoon in 1855:
While the ships lay moored, as many as twenty whaleboats scoured
the lagoons 'mud-holing' for grays. By day the waters were noisy
with the sounds of thrashing whales, the reports of bomb guns, and
the cries from scores of whalemen. By night the sky was bright
with the fiery glow of boiling try-pots aboard the anchored ships.144
One can imagine the two Azoreans, Frank Gomes and Joe Frank,
whose accounts were given above, and hundreds of their
countrymen, busy in the lagoon, firing harpoons guns, rowing boats
with a whale in tow, and manning the trypots on shore. Shortly
though, the lagoons would run out of whales, and these Azoreans had
to find other occupations ashore.
Azoreans were also involved in the California fishing industry.
Salmon fishing along the Sacramento River was done by the
Portuguese. Any coastal seaport (San Francisco, Pescadero, Monterey,
San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and San Diego) would usually have
some Portuguese operating fishing boats.145 In an 1880 government
report, there were 90 Portuguese fishermen and 228 fishing-rated
businesses operated by Portuguese in California.146
In San Francisco near the wharf on Vallejo street, there was a
"village of Portuguese" as it was described in an 1880 government
report. The investigators found that two-thirds of the Portuguese
were unmarried, lived in cheap housing, and ate in low class
restaurants. They paid 25 cents for a meal or $3 a week. Some owed
$20 to $150 to the restaurant for back meals. "Breakfast at the
Fisherman's Home consists of an egg, biscuit, and wine or coffee, and
is served on a long pine table unpainted," was the description from
the report.147
Tuna fishing was more lucrative and centered in San Diego, or
"Tunaville" as some have called it.148 The first Portuguese fisherman
came to San Diego in 1876 and fished for barracuda and yellowtail.
In 1885, the tuna fishing industry began.149 Joe Mederios and
Manuel Madruga, both from Pico, where much of the Azores Island
fishing is done, came to California from Provincetown. They were in
the Klondike gold rush and worked in codfish ships. Finally they
settled in Point Loma on San Diego Bay and began very profitable
tuna fishing business.150
At first, fish were dried and salted. Then came the fresh fish
business where fish were iced and transported to southern California
coastal markets. In 1919, the canning of fish began which changed
the industry dramatically. Tuna fishing boats evolved just as the
industry did, from small wooden craft to large sea-going tuna ships
worth millions which can travel great distances. The Portuguese were
instrumental in many of these changes.151
True to form, the tuna industry, like the dairy industry, has been a
family business for the Portuguese. They bring relatives and friends
from the Azores to work with them which continues the Portuguese
domination of the industry. Tuna seasons control the activity of the
community at Point Loma. Its family atmosphere provides support
when the fishermen are gone for long lengths of time at sea. The
isolation of the community and the solitude on ship where
Portuguese is spoken, allows the Azorean immigrant to assimilate
into the American culture gradually. He doesn't need to learn the
English language and American culture quickly to function in the
workplace or in his community. This is also true of his dairying
counterpart.152
Later Migration in the State
Occupations of the Portuguese in California this century can be
summarized as follows:
(1) Northern coastal California in lumber industry
(2) Sacramento area in industry, fishing, and farming
(3) San Francisco Bay Area in industry, commerce, and farming
(4) San Joaquin in dairying and farming
(5) Monterey area in fishing
(6) Los Angeles area in commerce, industry, and dairying
(7) San Diego in fishing153
Obviously, this is a generalization, but at least it is an outline to see
where the Portuguese ultimately settled in the state and their
occupations. Of course, in the contemporary era, those of Portuguese
decent are involved in practically every industry and at every level
in our contemporary society.
During the period from 1910 to 1925, a series of California county
histories were published containing biographical sketches of the
"leading men and women" as some of the titles read. Actually very
few women graced the pages of these volumes as it was still a male-
dominated world. This writer studied the Portuguese biographies
found in twenty of the county histories and took biographical facts
from them. The histories used were from counties having high
concentration of Portuguese. There were some county histories which
had no Portuguese biographies at all. In others, there could be as
many as twenty Portuguese biographies which was really only a
small fragment of the book's content. It seems the longer an
immigrant lived in the county, the more possibility that he would
appear in the publication. One's longevity meant that one was a
pioneer and important to development of the area.
This is what this writer learned about the leading Portuguese citizens
found in the county histories: Seventy-nine percent entered
California from 1870 to 1900 with 21% being born in California. Only
one had been a Massachusetts resident for a substantial length of
time, but nearly 40% had stopped briefly in New England before
continuing to California. Two came from Brazil and four from
mainland Portugal. True to form for this period, they originated
primarily from the islands of Pico, Sao Jorge, Flores, Faial, and
Terceira.
Concerning occupations, 70% were in farming and dairying and 25%
in business or commerce. Four percent were general laborers, and
1% were in the professional fields, such as, law, medicine, religion,
and engineering. There were a few bankers, accountants, and
insurance agents.
The Bay Area was the center of Portuguese immigrants last century.
Large numbers have moved out to the San Joaquin Valley as we have
seen. The central coast had 70% of the Portuguese from 1880-1910.
In 1930, this changed to 52% while 33% lived in the San Joaquin
Valley which clearly shows the drift to the San Joaquin Valley.154 But
overall, Portuguese population increased dramatically throughout as
seen in Table 5. It shot up from 15,583 in 1900 to 99,194 in 1930.
Oakland went from a rural commuity to an urban center having a
Portuguese population of 12,260 in 1920.155 (116:72) Second and
third generation Portuguese were now turning to city jobs and
moving away from rural employment. They were becoming more
educated as well.156
In 1930 there were 99,194 in California of Portuguese decent. Of this
total, 63,799 had one or two parents born in the Azores or Portugal,
and 30,395 were immigrants almost soley from the Azores. In 1940,
the census showed that the Portuguese population remained static
which was because of the Depression and unfavorable immigration
laws.157
This excerpt reveals how one Portuguese family in the Oakland hills
provided food during the Depression:
"Mrs. Josephine Silva Reports how it was on their ranch in Palomares Canyon.
Food was plentiful, but people were poor. The entire family butchered regularly.
Everyone had a special job, even to holding the pan to catch the blood for the
traditional Portuguese blood sausage. They salted down meat, cured bacon and
hams and made linguisa. The family drove to Pittsburg to get sacks of oysters
and salmon to salt in barrels. They canned fruit and dried apricots.158
In 1940, 75% of the Portuguese lived in rural areas, but by 1960, this
changed dramatically to 30%. Movement to the urban areas was the
trend in California where jobs in business and industry could be
found. Second and third generation Portuguese were a part of this
movement. Land prices had gone up discouraging any who were
interested in farming.159
In Table 5, there is a noticeable drop in California Portuguese
population from 1960 to 1978. This was because the statistics for the
latter date were for immigrants only. The 21,261 figure does reflect
Azorean immigration after the natural disasters of the 1950's
and1960's when Azorean refugee laws were put into effect. The
eastern states especially, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode
Island, saw a dramatic influx of refugees.
Canada too has had a monstrous wave of Portuguese immigration in
very recent history. There are 250,000 Portuguese living in Canada,
and most came from a 1953 recruitment program of the Canadian
government. Fifty percent came from Sao Miguel, the Azores most
populous island. They were recruited to work in the railroads and
forestry. Many have since gone into urban occupations. Currently,
Toronto has 100,000 Portuguese; Montreal has 20,000. The rest can
be found in Vancouver, Winnipeg, and Quebec.160
Nevada
The gold rush brought some Portuguese to Nevada too, and their
story parallels California's. They came from the islands of Pico, Sao
Jorge, Faial, Flores, and Corvo. Census shows that there were 120
Azorean men working as miners in 1875 in Storey County.161 There
were Portuguese shopkeepers and barbers too. The barbershops at
the time were meeting halls for the male population where news,
gossip, and politics were engaged.162
The Portuguese in Nevada were just as thrifty as their counterparts
in New England and California. A man name Silva was killed in a
work-related accident in 1891. He had $500 in his pocket and $5,000
in the bank. Another Portuguese died of pneumonia with $800 on his
person. One Portuguese miner at Battle Mountain gave his savings
to a store owner for safe-keeping since there were no banks in town.
The miner stacked $2,000 on the store's counter and the store-
owner, Lemaire, tells the story:
This is quite a bit of money, pardner. I'd better give you a receipt for it. [said
the Lemaire] Glaring fiercely at me, the old coot [Portuguese miner] snapped,
Your name's Lemaire ain't it? I nodded. Well, he growled, that's good enough
for me! It wasn't long till the old man had $5,000 cached with us. Then, one
day, he came in and drew the whole blasted thing, and we never saw him again!
We had money stashed all over the store -- in barrels of beans, and brown
sugar barrels, and rice barrels. I often wonder if I've found all of it, or if
there still might be some sticking around!163
The Azoreans also were shepherders who later became ranch owners
possessing large flocks.164 The Portuguese owned dairies as well.
There were two Portuguese dairies found in Gold Hill in 1880. In
1924, one-fourth of the dairies in Nevada were owned by
Portuguese.165
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