A Short History of Sonoma

2. The American Era

25 Chapter Two The American Era California history is full of people showing up when they are not wanted. Sonoma’s history is no exception, though some were more welcome than others. Under both Spanish and Mexican law, foreigners who wanted to settle in California and buy land had to convert to Catholicism, give up their former citizenship, swear allegiance to Mexico, and learn Spanish, which most visitors did. Many men also became naturalized citizens and married local women. One of them was Jacob Leese. This Ohio native was born in 1809, went west to trade along the Santa Fe Trail, and ended up in Yerba Buena in 1836. The little settlement was a good place to make money, since Mexico allowed foreigners to engage in the hide and tallow trade. Locally skinned hides and their by-products were traded for manufactured goods that came off American ships and were then sent into the interior to places like Sonoma. By July 1836 Leese had finished building his home in Yerba Buena, which also served as his place of business, and which he claimed was the first house built in the fledgling city. He decided to hold a housewarming (and sly Independence Day celebration) on July 4 and invited prominent Mexican citizens from around the area. One was General Vallejo, who came to the party with his sister Rosalía. She and Leese were quickly attracted to each other and after he was naturalized in 1837, he and 26 a s h o r t h i s t o r y o f s o n o m a The home of Jacob Leese, later the Leese-Fitch adobe, on the Sonoma Plaza. Courtesy Sonoma Valley Historical Society. Used by permission. Rosalía were secretly married. They worried about the general’s reaction to having a Yankee brother-in-law, but after an initial period of disapproval , he came to respect his new relation. Leese and Rosalía moved to Sonoma in 1841 and Vallejo gave them a grant of land called Rancho Huichica, located in the Carneros wine-growing region of present-day Napa County. They also started building a house on the Plaza. As the 1830s progressed, settlers continued to trickle into California. Some were merchants like Leese, who eventually became large landowners and ranchers. Others were less ambitious: fur trappers, wild mountain men, deserters from American and British ships among them. Another was the Swiss entrepreneur John Sutter. Born in 1803, Sutter fled a failed life in Europe and made his way to New York in 1834. Heading west to try his hand at trading, he made it all the way to Honolulu before turning back and fetching up in Yerba Buena in 1839. He saw the way the wind was blowing and became a Mexican citizen, which allowed him to obtain a huge land grant at the junction of the Sacramento and American rivers, now part of the city of Sacramento. He called his rancho New Helvetia (New Switzerland) and not only planted crops but built the massive adobe structure that came to be known as Sutter’s Fort. It was the center of his farm and trading empire, and was the first stop for travelers and settlers after they crossed the Sierras. Sutter’s power rivaled Vallejo’s and the two men were never at ease with each other. t h e a m e r i c a n e r a 27 Then, in May 1841, everything about life in California began to unravel. The Mexican government was getting nervous about the rising tide of foreigners—mostly Americans—who were settling in California. The minister of war issued an order that month mandating that all visitors to the area had to come with passports and consular permission. Those who had been in California for years were not immune from this order; they could be expelled if they didn’t obtain the retroactive paperwork. This didn’t deter very many people, and it also had no effect on the men who showed up simply to take a look around. In August 1841, for example, the sloop-of-war Vincennes, under the command of Cadwalader Ringgold, entered San Francisco Bay. His ship was part of the six-vessel United States Exploring Expedition, a surveying project of the US Navy under the command of Charles Wilkes, who was in Oregon with his own ship...