Californio Voices: The Oral Memoirs of Jose Maria Amador and Lorenzo Asisara

— Vol. 3: of Al Filo: Mexican American Studies Series

Published: January, 2012  Pages: 360  Features: 11 photos, 1 map. App. Notes. Bib. Index.

In the early 1870s, Hubert H. Bancroft and his assistants set out to record the memoirs of early Californios, one of them being eighty-three-year-old Don José María Amador, a former “Forty-Niner” during the California Gold Rush and soldado de cuera at the Presidio of San Francisco. Amador tells of reconnoitering expeditions into the interior of California, where he encountered local indigenous populations. He speaks of political events of Mexican California and the widespread confiscation of the Californios’ goods, livestock, and properties when the United States took control. A friend from Mission Santa Cruz, Lorenzo Asisara, also describes the harsh life and mistreatment the Indians faced from the priests. more... about Californio Voices: The Oral Memoirs of Jose Maria Amador and Lorenzo Asisara