Life and Death at the Mission

Santa Cruz Mission was founded in 1791. Over the next 20 years, word spread throughout the Ohlone tribes that the Santa Cruz Mission would provide a regular source of food, even through the winter, warm shelter in the winter, clothes made from woven fabrics (a miracle to the Native Americans), manufactured items (also miraculous) both useful (pots and pans) and curious (trinkets such as glass beads, etc.), and education, if they came to live at the mission. Unfortunately, once lured to the mission by these things, the Indians became virtual indentured servants. In fact, for the Mission system to work it required the services of large numbers of "workers" (to till the gardens, construct and maintain buildings, etc.), something which New Spain (Mexico) was unable to provide because few there were willing to relocate to what was considered the harsh and primitive environment of Alta (Upper) California.

The missionaries truly believed they were benefiting what they considered barbaric people through teaching them the manual skills of carpentry, European farming techniques, etc., and through "civilizing" them to the Spanish / European religious and cultural beliefs and practices. This process shattered the ancient native culture wherever it was exposed to it. In addition, diseases which were mostly annoyances to their European hosts decimated the Indian populace, and only small groups remained after 1820.

By 1800, nine years after the founding of the mission, a total of 949 persons had been baptized, almost all of them Indians; 272 couples had been married and 477 buried.

  • In 1793 Father Lasuen paid an official visit

  • In 1795 Fr. Manuel Fernandez replaced Fr. Lopez

  • In 1796 Fr. Jose de la Luz Espi replaced Fr. Salazar

  • In 1797 Dr Domingo Carranza replaced Fr. Fernandez who was discouraged and resentful. He reported to his superiors that the mission was in trouble: the neophytes were deserting and high water was washing out the fields.

  • In 1805 Fr Andres Quintana replaced Fr. Gonzales. Quintana served until 1812 when he was murdered by Indians.

In the first decades of the 1800s Padres Caranza and Quintana were given an assistant, Jose Antonio Uria, and building was pushed. Houses were erected for the Indian women and girls. A better building for the soldiers of the escolta and their families was constructed.