The Lone Woman's Last Home by Santa Barbara Historical Museum

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The story of the Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island is well known, primarily due to the popularity of the children’s novel, Island of the Blue Dolphins, by Scott O’Dell. Less well known are the stories of the two men who discovered her on the island and brought her back to the mainland, George Nidever and Carl Dittman. Authors Susan L. Morris and Alex F. Grzywacki take a closer look at these two men as well as introducing new information on the Lone Woman. In “The Lone Woman’s Last Home,” the two launch into an historical investigation, incorporating a biography of George Nidever while determining just where his Santa Barbara home was located, a location that had been lost to history. In “Carl Dittman Builds a Better Life in Santa Barbara,” Susan Morris traces the life and times of this “man of many names.” Taken together, the two articles shed light on three fascinating figures in local history. THE AUTHORS: Susan Morris is an ethnohistorian who has been engaged in Channel Islands research since 1987. Her focus since 2010 has been research on the Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island. The author of several articles, she was also the lead researcher for the Channel Islands National Park Island of the Blue Dolphins web resource and most recently has conducted research on the Lone Woman’s Nicoleño language. After a career in construction and real estate, Alex Grzywacki began research into local Civil War history. He is presently Senior Vice Commander graves registration officer for the William T. Sherman Camp 28 of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War and is a past board member of the Santa Barbara County Genealogical Society. FRONT COVER IMAGE: Detail, The Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island, Holli Harmon, oil on canvas. The artist is a Southern California native, well known for her depictions of California culture and landscape. Two of her projects include The Portraits of the Central Coast Project and The River’s Journey Project. There is no authenticated photograph of the Lone Woman. This portrait of how she may have looked in 1853 during her brief time in Santa Barbara is based upon historical accounts and the latest research.

DEDICATION: This issue is dedicated to the memory of artist and Noticias designer Judy Sutcliffe (1941-2021) who gave the journal its distinctive look for over thirty years.

Vol. LVI No. 1

THE LONE WOMAN’S LAST HOME by Susan L. Morris and Alex F. Grzywacki

CARL DITTMAN BUILDS A BETTER LIFE IN SANTA BARBARA by Susan L. Morris

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: The authors greatly appreciate the research assistance received for this project from Steve Schwartz, who located important historical maps of Santa Barbara with illustrations of the Nidever adobe; Don Morris, who conducted reconnaissance of the former Nidever adobe lot; and Eric Hvolbøll, who shared information about his grandmother, Louise MacIntyre, who had lived in the Nidever adobe with her mother and stepfather, 1911-1912. This project would not have been complete without the contributions of Steve Schwartz, Don Morris and Eric Hvolbøll. We are especially grateful to Richard Dittman, great-grandson of Carl Dittman, for sharing his family archival materials and historical heirlooms as well as his insights into his ancestor’s history, his chronologies, and published articles. Thanks also to the extended Dittman family, particularly Elizabeth Daoust (nee Dittman) for her stories about her Dittman relatives. We also thank Brittany Bratcher, Kathleen Brewster, Rusty Brown, Scott Byram, Paula Carr, Oswald Da Ros, Kristina Foss, Russell Galipeau, Adolpho Gonzales, Ann Huston, Don Irelan, Charles Johnson, John Johnson, Kurt Kimball, Yvonne Menard, Dorothy Oksner, Monica Orozco, Anne Petersen, Carol Peterson, Michael Redmon, Sara Schwebel, Peter Seaman, Brent Sumner, Steve Senet, Jan Timbrook, Sam Tyler, Kelda Wilson, and Autumn Woolworth for their assistance. We also would like to recognize the invaluable information we received from Nidever family relatives Terry Chaffe, Helen Park Shapero, Margaret Park Smith, and Dennis Smith. In addition, we thank the Santa Barbara Mission Archive-Library for access to copies of the original mission and parish registers, the Montecito Association History Committee for the collection of early Santa Barbara maps, and The Huntington Library for publishing the Early California Population Project database.

THE LONE WOMAN’S LAST HOME by Susan L. Morris and Alex F. Grzywacki

he location of the Santa Barbara adobe where the Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island lived with the family of George Nidever following her removal from the island in 1853 was common knowledge through the late nineteenth century. That information faded as time passed. One local resident who met the Lone Woman told ethnologist John P. Harrington that the Nidever home was “between the estero [estuary] and Las Salinas [The Salt Pond], at Santa Barbara.” Nidever had purchased four city blocks a mile northwest of the Salt Pond in 1852 and built an adobe there. Confirmation of precisely where the Lone Woman spent the final seven weeks of her life before her death in October 1853 came from Deputy County Assessor James L. Barker. Barker’s mother, Martha, purchased the four Nidever city blocks in 1881. Martha and James Barker lived in the former Nidever adobe for twenty-five years, from about 1883-1908. The story of the Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island is known worldwide through the popularity of Scott O’Dell’s children’s novel, Island of the

Blue Dolphins, and widespread use of the book in elementary classrooms across the country (Heizer and Elsasser 1973:i; O’Dell 1960; Schwebel 2016:2). Island of the Blue Dolphins twelve-yearold female protagonist, Karana, was modeled after a much older California Indian woman who spent eighteen years in relative solitude on the most remote of California’s Channel Islands, sixty miles from the nearest point on the mainland, 1835-1853 (Fig. 1). Her native name is unknown and she was referred to as the Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island in nineteenth-century newspaper accounts and later publications. She was given the name Juana María by a Mission Santa Barbara priest, Fr. Francisco Sanchez, when she was conditionally baptized shortly before her death in 1853.1 The Lone Woman spent the last weeks of her life at the Nidever adobe in Santa Barbara (Ellison 1984:89; Terry 1882:4). Like all California native groups at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Lone Woman’s people, the Nicoleños, experienced significant social, cultural, and environmental changes 3

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• Santa Barbara

• Los Angeles San Pedro

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Figure 11.. CCalifornia alifornia coacoast st andand the Cthe hanChannel nel Islands Islands showing showing the likely rothe ute likely taken broute y Geortaken ge Nideby verGeorge , Carl DiNidever, ttman, Figure r a w i t h t h e L o n e W o man. a n d c r e w w h e n t h e y s a i l e d f r o m S a n N i c o l a s I s l a n d i n 1 8 5 3 a n d r e t u r n e d t o S a n t a B a r b a Carl Dittman, and crew when they sailed from San Nicolas Island in 1853 and returned to Santa Barbara with the Lone Woman. Courtesy of Steve Schwartz.

following exploration and colonization of the west coast of North America, and exploitation of California’s rich resources, such as marine mammals like the sea otter (Erlandson et al 2013:67). Once numbering 200-300 people at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Nicoleño population dropped dramatically following a violent confrontation between the Nicoleños and a Russian-led group of Alaska native hunters in 1814. A massacre of the Nicoleños took place as retribution for the reported killing of an Alaska native otter hunter by the native islanders on San Nicolas Island (Farris 2012: 15-16; Gibson et al 2014:336-338; Morris et

al 2014). The Alaska native was a member of a hunting group led by Russian overseer Yakov Babin, which had been deposited on San Nicolas Island by the Russian American Company sailing vessel, the Il’mena. As citizens of Russian Alaska, the Alaska natives had been conscripted by the Russians to hunt sea otter along the California coast in order to collect the luxurious pelts for sale to the Chinese in Canton. A little more than twenty years after the mass killing by the Alaska native hunters, the remaining small band of Nicoleños left the island for Los Angeles in 1835. The Nicoleños sailed on the Mexican schooner, the Peor es Nada,

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with a crew that included an American, Isaac Sparks, and a German-born ship captain, Charles Hubbard (Ellison 1984:36-39; Morris et al 2016; Murray 1878:1st page). One woman—the Lone Woman—was unintentionally left behind. In her early thirties when initially abandoned, she remained on San Nicolas Island, surviving without her community, for eighteen years. Another American, George Nidever, and his crew encountered the Lone Woman on San Nicolas Island nearly two decades later, in the summer of 1853 (Dittman 1878:7th page; Ellison 1984:82). Nidever, who had traveled on the Peor es Nada with Isaac Sparks just a month after the Nicoleños had sailed on that vessel to the mainland, learned of the Lone Woman’s abandonment from Sparks (Ellison 1984:36-39). Since 1835, Nidever had been to San Nicolas Island multiple times to hunt sea otter or collect gull eggs, but he had not seen the Lone Woman on previous trips, either on the vessel, Bolivar Liberator, or on his own schooner, the Cora (Bentz et al. 2018; Ellison 1984:76-80; Ogden 1941:181, 1979:1058). In April of 1852 Nidever and fellow hunters visited San Nicolas Island and saw signs that the Lone Woman was still alive: small footprints in the soil, and wood stakes with dried seal blubber. Nidever set out for San Nicolas Island again in August 1853 with a crew consisting of Prussian-born Carl Dittman; an Irishman called Colorado; and four native men: Policarpio, Melquiades, Hilario Valenzuela, and an unidentified man (Ellison 1984:80-

86; Harrington 1986: R19 F1294, R72 F722, R80 F702; Hudson 1978a:24, 1978b:151, 1980:109-111, 1981:195196; Morris et al. 2020; Schwartz et al 2018). Dittman was said to have been given the name, Charles Brown, by an English sea captain when the captain had difficulty spelling the young sailor’s surname (Dittman 2005:13). After systematically searching the island for her with the others in the group, Dittman, known then as Charley Brown, spotted the Lone Woman sitting within a windbreak enclosure. Nearby was a cave that the Lone Woman also used as shelter (Ellison 1984:84: Schwartz and Vellanoweth 2013). When the hunters arrived at her camp and sat down with the Lone Woman, she offered the men two different types of roasted roots to eat, one of which was the starchy bulb of the plant known as blue dicks (Dichelostemma capitatum), called cacomite in Spanish (Dittman 1878:7th and 8th pages; Ellison 1984:82-84). Both Nidever and Dittman thought that the Lone Woman appeared to be about fifty years of age (Ellison 1984:83; Terry 1882: 4, 10). She accompanied the men and stayed with them in their camp on the north shore of the island while they hunted sea otter. The group spent a month on San Nicolas Island while the men hunted, and then the crew, including the Lone Woman, sailed to Santa Barbara on Nidever’s small schooner (Fig. 2) (Dittman 1878:9th page; Ellison 1984:87). The Lone Woman lived with the Nidever family—her first and only abode on the mainland—for seven weeks

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Indian languages that belong to the Takic branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family (Golla 2011:179-180; Morris et al. 2020). Finding native people in the Santa Barbara area who were able to speak with the Lone Woman was a challenge because she had been Figure 2. San Nicolas Island, California: Location of George Nidever’s brought into neigh1853 campsite on the north shore of the island, with female elephant seals boring Chumash and pups. Photograph by Susan Morris. territory (Dittman th th page; Ellison 1984:88; Hud1878:10 before she died (Dittman 1878:10 page; Ellison 1984:89). During her son 1978a:26-27; Munro 2002; Terry short time on the mainland, Califor- 1882:4, 8-9). Notes from Smithsonian nia Indians from the surrounding area ethnographer John P. Harrington’s earwere brought to try to speak with her ly twentieth-century interviews with (Ellison 1984:88). As a native resident California native consultants show that of one of the southern Channel Islands several native people with the ability (San Clemente, San Nicolas, Santa to speak the same, or similar, dialect as Barbara, and Santa Catalina islands), that of the Lone Woman attempted to the Lone Woman was of Island Gabri- communicate with her while she was elino/Fernandeño descent. Occupying in Santa Barbara (Morris et al 2020). the territory that included the greater Norberto, a Fernandeño man, and Los Angeles area, the Gabrielino are María del Pilar, a Ventureño Chumash also known as Tongva or Kizh (Morris woman, were familiar with, or fluent in, Fernandeño, while Melquiades, a Ven2016:92). An analysis of four words attributed tureño Chumash man, was somewhat to the Lone Woman by a single sec- familiar with the Nicoleño language ondary source, Dr. Lewis Norton Dim- (Morris et al. 2020). All three were able mick, and a song that she was reported to understand or communicate to some to have sung, the tokitoki song, indicate extent with the Lone Woman (Hudthat she spoke a dialect of the Gabri- son 1978a, 1978b, 1981; Schwartz et elino/Fernandeño language (Morris al 2018). As a result, parts of the Lone et al 2020; Munro 2002). Gabrielino/ Woman’s history while she lived in relFernandeño is one of the California ative isolation on San Nicolas Island

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from 1835 to 1853 are more fully understood. According to native accounts, the Lone Woman had a young son who refused to leave the island when the others in their community prepared to sail to the mainland in 1835, so she remained on the island to take care of him (Morris et al. 2020). Once her son died following a tragic boating accident many years later, the Lone Woman was willing to leave San Nicolas Island (Morris et al. 2020).

GEORGE NIDEVER Although Carl Dittman was the first person to interact with the Lone Woman on San Nicolas Island, George Nidever is credited with bringing her to Santa Barbara on his schooner, Cora, in late summer 1853 (Dittman 1878:9th page; Ellison 1984:87; Nidever 1878:161). Nidever’s account of his encounter with the Lone Woman and the time she spent on the mainland before she died is recorded in an autobiography that was dictated to historian Hubert Howe Bancroft’s assistant, Edward F. Murray, in 1878, and later edited and published by William H. Ellison in 1937 as The Life and Adventures of George Nidever [1802-1883], The life story of a remarkable California pioneer told in his own words, and none wasted (Ellison 1984; Nidever 1878). Nidever was not the only one who was interviewed about his life and the events leading to the removal of the Lone Woman from San Nicolas Island. Carl Dittman’s recollections were also

Figure 3. George Nidever and María Sinforosa Ramona Sanchez de Nidever commemorating their 40th wedding anniversary, Feb. 13, 1881. Photograph courtesy Alex Grzywacki.

recorded by Murray (Dittman 1878). But it was the Nidever family who took the Lone Woman in after she arrived in Santa Barbara about September 1, and it was Nidever’s wife, María Sinforosa Ramona Sanchez de Nidever, who was in charge of the Lone Woman while she lived with the family (Fig. 3) (Ellison 1984:89). Born in Tennessee in 1802, Nidever was a mountain man, hunter, and rancher who lived in California from 1833-1883 (Ellison 1984; Nidever 1878). Having crossed the Sierra Nevada into California in 1833 with a hunting party led by Joseph Walker, Nidever sailed from San Francisco on the California to Santa Barbara in April 1834 (Ellison 1984:34-36). Santa Barbara became Nidever’s permanent home.

Figure 4. María Isabel Tomasa Nidever, ca. 1866. Photograph courtesy Alex Grzywacki.

He was soon hunting sea otter along the California coast while operating under port captain William Goodwin Dana’s hunting license. Nidever, as an American, was unable to hunt legally in Mexican-held Alta California. In 1837 Nidever obtained his Mexican citizenship (Tompkins 1983:69). He continued to hunt sea otter along the Alta and Baja California coast and particularly, on the Channel Islands (Ellison 1984:34-89). In January 1841, Nidever was baptized into the Catholic faith, and a month later he married María Sinforosa Ramona Sanchez, daughter of Juan María Sanchez, owner of Rancho Santa Clara del Norte.2 George and Sinforosa Nidever eventually had six children, five of whom lived to adulthood: Marcos Ramon, María del Refugio Francisca,

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Juan, José George Emigdio, José Ramon Jacobo, and María Isabel Tomasa.3 Five young Nidever children, ranging in age from eleven to less than two years old, were present in the home when the Lone Woman came to live with the family in Santa Barbara in 1853. The youngest, Isabel, was born in December 1851 when the family still lived in the adobe on Burton Mound (Fig. 4). According to Isabel’s granddaughter, Helen Park Shapero, “My grandmother was about a year and a half old when the Indian woman was brought to their home. The Indian woman was much taken with the young child.” (Shapero, personal communication, 2007) Shortly before the Lone Woman’s arrival, Nidever expanded his economic pursuits to include ranch operations. In 1852, Nidever purchased a lease to San Miguel Island from Samuel Bruce (Ellison 1984:76). He stocked his island ranch with sheep, cattle, and horses which he transported on the Cora (Ellison 1984:76). Nidever managed the ranch until the severe droughts of the early 1860s decimated his livestock and forced him to sell the island lease to Hiram Mills as documented by deeds in 1869 and 1870.4 He continued to hunt among the Channel Islands and in the summer of 1853, Nidever met the Lone Woman. When she arrived in Santa Barbara on the Cora, the Lone Woman attracted immediate attention (Fig. 1). As Nidever put it, “The news was not long in spreading of the arrival of the old woman, and we had barely reached my house with her when half the town came down

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to see her.” (Ellison 1984:88) Carl Dittman added, “From the beach we took her to Nidever’s house where she remained until her death which took place about seven weeks from the time she landed. The same day we arrived and for weeks afterward, the house was crowded with people that had come to get a sight of her and her things that we had brought from the island.” (Dittman 1878:10th page)

THREE LOCATIONS

Lone Woman’s story about one hundred years after her death, however, that information had been lost. Three possible locations for the Nidever adobe site were later identified by long-time Santa Barbara County residents: Luis Antonio María Ortega, Katherine M. Bell, and Juventino Del Valle. John Peabody Harrington was an ethnographer who worked for the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., from 1915–1955. He interviewed informants who provided important details about native people who interacted with the Lone Woman in 1853. Between 1912 and 1915, Harrington interviewed Luis Antonio María Ortega because Ortega was familiar with people in the Chumash community. The Ortega family had hired many

Emma Hardacre stated in “Eighteen Years Alone: A Tale of the Pacific,” in 1880: “Captain Nidever’s house, where the stranger died, stands in sight of the ocean, and can be pointed out by any school boy in town.” (Hardacre 1880:664) The location of the Nidever adobe was widely known through the end of the nineteenth century, as indicated by Emma Hardacre’s well-known narrative of the Lone Woman, which was published in Scribner’s in 1880. By the time twentiFigure 5. Adobe on Burton Mound in Santa Barbara. George Nidever and eth-century re- family lived in the Burton Mound adobe, also called the Mission House, from searchers became 1840-1852. Photograph courtesy of the Edson Smith Photography Collection, interested in the Black Gold Cooperative Library.

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Figure 6. Bird’s eye view of Santa Barbara, California, 1877, looking north. The Burton Mound adobe is within the black outline that is to the left of the wharf. The Nidever adobe where the Lone Woman lived in 1853 is on the city blocks outlined in black on the far right (See enlargement next page). Courtesy of the Geography and Maps Division, Library of Congress.

native people and Ortega family members became familiar with Chumash dialects (Hudson 1978b:153). Born in 1855, Luis Antonio María Ortega would have been a contemporary of Nidever’s youngest son, Jacob.5 Ortega told Harrington that, “The woman was taken to the house of Jacob Nidever’s folks in Santa Barbara, an adobe situated near where the Southern Pacific Freight Station now stands” (Harrington 1986:R80 F702; Hudson 1978b:152-153; 1981:192). Although he was not alive when the Lone Woman was brought to Santa Barbara, Ortega could certainly have known where the Nidever family lived in 1853. Confusion arose because in later years, researchers assumed that the railway station Ortega referred to was located in downtown Santa Barbara, near Chapala and Gutierrez streets (Hudson 1978b:152-

153, nt. 7; 1981:192; Myrick 1987:26, 31). This location seemed reasonable because the Nidevers had lived in an adobe at Burton Mound, near Chapala Street, since 1840 (Fig. 5; Fig. 6) (Ellison 1984:58; Harrington 1928:5758; Rogers 1929:100). However, this property was sold in 1851, two years before the Lone Woman’s arrival.6 The Nidevers then moved to a newly-constructed adobe near the intersection of four city blocks, 315, 316, 332, 333, that George Nidever purchased in 1852, east of the estuary (Fig. 7; Dittman 1878:6th page).7 The railway and freight station to which Ortega actually referred was built on two former Nidever blocks, and thus was located near the Nidever adobe (Fig. 8). In 1887, the Southern Pacific Railway Company obtained former Nidever blocks 316 and 333, and

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Enlargement of the southeast section of the map on the previous page showing two of the four blocks owned by George Nidever, 315 and 316 (Nidever lots 332 and 333 border these two blocks to the south). The single-story Nidever adobe and two outbuildings lie within the black outline on the right (315), bounded on the north by Mason St., on the east by Nopal St., to the south by Quinientos St. and to the west by Quarantina St. George Nidever’s son lived in the two-story adobe on the left (block 316).

built Santa Barbara’s first passenger and freight station: the Mason Street Station (Fig. 8) (Myrick 1987:26, 31). The Mason Street Station became a freight station only in 1901 and was replaced in 1906, after nearly twenty years of service, by the freight station on the east side of Santa Barbara Street (Myrick 1987:62). The Nidever adobe where the Lone Woman lived with the family had been built on block 315, and was across the street from the old freight station through the early decades of the twentieth century when Ortega gave details to Harrington. Another long-time Santa Barbara resident, Katherine M. Bell, who was baptized in Santa Barbara in 1844, would have been about nine years old when the Lone Woman lived with the Nidever family in 1853.8 Katherine M. Bell’s recollections were edited by

her daughter, Katherine Bell Cheney, and published in 1931. In her memoir, Swinging the Censer, Reminiscences of Old Santa Barbara, Bell identified a second location for the Nidever adobe where the Lone Woman lived upon her arrival in 1853. Bell wrote, “George Nidever rescued the famous old Indian woman of San Nicolas Island in 1853. With my father and Padre Gonzales of the Mission, I went to see her. Somehow my recollection of her is not vivid. Of course, I had heard the wonderful part of her story, but, used to seeing Indians, young and old, I was not strongly impressed. The Nidevers were living on the hill overlooking the salina (Salt Pond). It seems to me that the old adobe stood exactly where lovely Vegamar rises now (Bell 1931:192).” The estate called Vegamar was the hilltop property previously owned by

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Figure 7. Southeast section of U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey of Santa Barbara, California, 1870. George Nidever owned four city blocks (315, 316, 332, 333) from 1852 to 1880. The Nidever adobe and two outbuildings are visible on block 315. The estuary is the waterway to the west of the Nidever blocks; Las Salinas (The Salt Pond) is the body of water in the lower right corner of the map. The map is on display at the Gledhill Library, Santa Barbara Historical Museum. Courtesy of Channel Islands National Park, Ventura, California (Map photograph by Bill Dewey).

George Nidever’s older brother, John Nidever, overlooked the Salt Pond (now the Andrée Clark Bird Refuge).9 The elder Nidever and his large family made their way from Texas and arrived in Santa Barbara on January 18, 1854, according to Evalina Johnson Nidever, the wife of John Nidever’s grandson, Vernon Marion Nidever (Nidever 1971:1st page). After John Nidever died, John Beale bought the former Nidever property in 1897. Beale constructed a mansion and gave it the name, Vegamar. After Beale’s death, John Howard Child married Beale’s widow and the couple

managed the Vegamar estate. The property came to be called the Child Estate, and today the Santa Barbara Zoo occupies the site. The Lone Woman could not have lived on the land overlooking the Salt Pond and owned by John Nidever, as Bell claimed and others, such as Walker Tompkins, repeated, because the elder Nidever was not yet living in Santa Barbara in 1853.10 John Nidever arrived in the area after 1853—he was not listed in Santa Barbara in either the 1850 U.S. Census or the 1852 California State Census. His presence in the county

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was not noted until after 1854 in Santa Barbara County tax assessment records. John Nidever eventually purchased the land next to the Salt Pond in 1857.11 George Nidever, with whom the Lone Woman lived, neither owned the property that became Vegamar, nor did he live at that location during the time that the Lone Woman was in Santa Barbara. John P. Harrington interviewed another local Santa Barbara resident, Juventino Del Valle, and asked him about the Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island and her time in Santa Barbara in 1853. A Californian of Mexican heritage, Del Valle shared information about the site of the Nidever adobe with Harrington, and provided vivid descriptions of the Lone Woman based on his observations during her time on the mainland (Fig. 9). Born in Santa Barbara in 1841 to Ygnacio Del Valle and his first wife,

María del Rosario Lorenzana, Juventino Del Valle spent his early years living with his mother’s family before moving to the Del Valle ranch, Rancho Camulos, which became his permanent home (Harrington 1986:R69 F79).12, 13 Del Valle was twelve years old when the Lone Woman arrived in Santa Barbara in 1853. Del Valle told Harrington that, “He saw the woman when she was staying at the Nidevers (pronounced Nai di vorz) house, between the estero and Las Salinas, at Santa Barbara.” (Harrington 1986:R69 F77) The estero, or estuary, was a water-filled feature flowing towards the sea, west of the four city blocks purchased by George Nidever in 1852. Las Salinas, or The Salt Pond, was about a mile to the east of the Nidever adobe, as seen in the lower right corner of Fig. 7.

Figure 8. Enlarged section of an 1898 map of Santa Barbara, showing the Nidever adobe and outbuildings directly across from the blocks owned by the Southern Pacific Railway. The two remaining Nidever blocks, 315 and 332, are outlined in black. A diagonal mark (stray or intentional) on the map crosses over the top of the Nidever adobe where the Lone Woman lived with the family in 1853. Courtesy of the Geography and Maps Division, Library of Congress.

Figure 9. Juventino de Jesus Del Valle, 18411919. Del Valle saw the Lone Woman at the Nidever adobe and in the church in 1853. In 1913, ethnologist John P. Harrington recorded Del Valle’s remarks about the Lone Woman during an interview at Rancho Camulos. Photograph courtesy Andrea Del Valle.

According to Harrington, Del Valle spoke to him about the Lone Woman: “She was a large, tall woman. She had a duckskin cloak or cape that Mr. Del Valle saw at Santa Barbara. It was made of skins of a green duck sewn together with sea lion or duck sinews neatly. It went over her shoulders and came down to her feet. A beautiful thing” (Harrington 1986:R69 F77). What Del Valle described as duckskin was actually the aquatic bird, the cormorant. Both George Nidever and Carl Dittman reported that when they first encountered the Lone Woman in 1853, she was wearing a gown made out of

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sewn squares of the ‘shag,’ or cormorant, which were found on San Nicolas Island (Dittman 1878:8th page; Ellison 1984:84; Terry 1882:3). Dittman further mentioned that when visitors arrived at the Nidever adobe to see the Lone Woman, “She often sang and danced for them, putting on her dress of bird skins” (Dittman 1878:10th page). Although the Lone Woman lived with the Nidevers, she also visited the Mission church and the town during her seven weeks in Santa Barbara (Terry 1882:5). Del Valle described seeing her in the church: “Mr. Del Valle saw her at the church in Santa Barbara. She looked at every action like a wild thing.” Del Valle continued, “The woman was barefoot. Her hair was braided, hanging down her back, tied with something.” (Harrington 1986:R69 F78). About seven weeks after her arrival in Santa Barbara, the Lone Woman died at the Nidever home. In an 1882 interview with an American Museum of Natural History curator, James Terry, conducted at the Nidever home, Terry asked Nidever, “She used to live with you till she died?” Nidever answered, “Died right here in this room” (Terry 1882:4). The Lone Woman was conditionally baptized before she died, and was buried in the cemetery at Mission Santa Barbara.

CHAIN OF OWNERSHIP According to property deeds in the Santa Barbara County Hall of Records, George Nidever owned city blocks 315,

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316, 332, and 333 from 1852 until April 7, 1880 when a deed shows the sale of the property to F.E. Kellogg.14 In June of 1881, Kellogg sold the four former Nidever blocks to Martha S. Barker, the mother of James L. Barker, for whom Barker Pass Road in Santa Barbara was named.15 James Barker, born in Massachusetts in 1846, became a Santa Barbara county surveyor as well as a deputy county assessor. He acquired the former Nidever blocks through his mother and the two of them lived in the adobe for many years. Barker described the structure as a “fine adobe building on the property, located near the center, on what is now Quinientos Street, about halfway between Nopal and Quarantina. The house was built by Captain Nidever in the ’50s. He brought the Indian woman who had unfortunately been left on San Nicolas Island to the mainland and she lived in this adobe during the six months that she survived after her rescue.”16 The lot which contained the Nidever adobe,

designated as lot 8 in city block 315, was located on the southwest corner of the block and measured 50 feet (Quarantina St.) by 125 feet (Quinientos St.) (Fig. 10).17 This was near the center of the four city blocks that George Nidever purchased in 1852. Santa Barbara city directory listings from 1886 through 1906 did not specify a house number, but instead noted that the Barker residence as on the north side of Quinientos Street, between Nopal and Quarantina18. According to Barker, he and his mother lived at the former Nidever adobe for about twenty-five years until Martha Barker’s death, likely from 1883 through 1908.19

RENTING THE NIDEVER ADOBE, 1911-1912 In 1911, the adobe was rented to the Thompson family. Louise MacIntyre, born in 1894 in California, moved with

Figure 10. Barker Tract in the City of Santa Barbara, 1886, showing city block 315, purchased by George Nidever in 1852. Lot 8 of city block 315, outlined in black, is the location where the Lone Woman lived in the Nidever adobe in 1853. Map courtesy Santa Barbara County Surveyor’s Office Miscellaneous Maps collection.

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Figure 11. Aerial photograph of the four city blocks owned by George Nidever from 1852-1880. The Nidever adobe was situated within the uppermost block, 315, outlined in black. U.S. Highway 101 crosses the southwest corner of the block. Imagery ©2017 Google, map data ©2017 Google.

her mother, two younger brothers, and stepfather, Alexander Thompson, from San Luis Obispo to Santa Barbara in 1911.20 Her mother, Lily Thompson, was friends with James Barker and he offered to rent the adobe at the corner of Quarantina and Quinientos streets to the Thompson family. According to family oral history and notes, Barker told the new tenants that the adobe

was where the Lone Woman lived with the Nidever family when she came to Santa Barbara in 1853, and he showed them the room where the Lone Woman died (E. Hvolbøll, personal communication 2012). Louise MacIntyre mentioned to her family in later years that the Nidever home where she lived with her family in 1911-1912 was built on slightly el-

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evated ground, and on days when the nearby estuary overflowed during the rainy season, she couldn’t attend Santa Barbara High School. To her, it was like living on an island because water surrounded the house, at times (E. Hvolboll, personal communication, 2017). In a 1973 Santa Barbara News-Press article by local historian Walker Tompkins, Louise [MacIntyre] Erro gave details about living with her family in the former Nidever adobe in 1911, and added that Barker showed the family a ship’s cabin door that Nidever had removed from the schooner, Cora, with which he used to retrieve the Lone Woman, and installed it as a door in his kitchen.21 To illustrate his newspaper article, Tompkins included a photograph that had white outlines of what he referred to as the ‘ghost adobe’ as a way of indicating where the Nidever adobe had previously been situated at the intersection of Quarantina and Quinientos streets. Unfortunately Tompkins’ ‘ghost adobe’ was depicted on the west side of Quarantina Street, which was incorrect. The Southern Pacific Railway Company’s Mason Street Station was on the west side of Quarantina, both north and south of Quinientos Street. The Nidever adobe was on the east side of that intersection, on the north side of Quinientos Street, and was removed before construction of the U.S. Highway 101 (Fig. 11, Fig. 12).22 The information that Louise Erro shared with Walker Tompkins and her family is corroborated by a city directory listing and several maps. The 1912 San-

ta Barbara city directory shows Louise MacIntyre as living at the corner of Quinientos and Quarantina streets.23 In addition, the 1877 bird’s-eye view map of Santa Barbara shows the adobe structures on the city block near Quinientos and Quarantina streets, as does the 1870 U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey map, and the 1898 map of Santa Barbara (Figs. 6, 7, 8). One interesting coincidence regarding Louise MacIntyre’s association with the former Nidever adobe was that when she married Martin Erro in 1915, she became related by marriage to the family of George Nidever, through George Nidever’s wife, María Sinforosa Ramona Sanchez de Nidever. Sinforosa’s mother, María Inés Josefa Guevara, was the sister of Benita María Josefa Guevara.24 Benita María Josefa Guevara was Martin Erro’s great grandmother on his mother’s side. Little did seventeen-year-old Louise MacIntyre know when she lived in the Nidever adobe in 1911, that she would one day be connected by marriage to the family of George Nidever, who brought the Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island to Santa Barbara in 1853.

DISCUSSION Nothing of the old adobe remains visible today. Much of city block 315 where the Nidever adobe was situated is now directly under the U.S. Highway 101. Part of that quadrant where the adobe was constructed is outside of the freeway but cordoned off by a

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the use of ground penetrating radar (GPR). A request for the proposed GPR survey at this location has been discussed with Caltrans engineers. Caltrans District 5 is responsible for maintaining the U.S. Highway 101 in Santa Barbara and managing the property immediately adjacent to it. District 5 historians and archaeologists Figure 12. Photograph of the intersection of Quarantina St. and have searched for arQuinientos St., with the railing of the southbound U.S. Highway chival material, includ101 visible in the background. The Nidever adobe was built near this ing field notes, maps, section of city block 315. Photograph by Susan Morris. and photographs of the freeway construction chain link fence (Fig. 12). The archae- project at that intersection. The searchological implications are that evidence es so far have not produced documents of the former Nidever adobe may still or images of the former Nidever adobe exist. If recovered, such evidence could prior to construction of the U.S. Highhelp to describe the daily operations of way 101 through Santa Barbara in the the Nidever household, and perhaps mid-1950s (Carr and Wilson, personal illuminate the last weeks of the Lone communication, 2012). Woman’s life. An existing, although fragmentary, A surface survey of the exposed ter- Nidever adobe is accessible to the public rain adjacent to the freeway on the north within Channel Islands National Park. and south sides was conducted by Mor- The Nidever adobe on San Miguel Isris, Grzywacki, and Morris in 2012, but land (SMI-546) which the family utino trace of the former Nidever adobe lized for ranch operations, 1852-1870, was found. Since trees, brush and grass was constructed by a Mission-trained obstructed much of the view of the site, Indian crew (Costello and Thorpe the visual survey was limited to areas 2010:11). That same crew may also have where vegetation was sparse. There is a built the Nidever family adobe in Sanslight possibility that the foundation of ta Barbara in 1852 on city block 315. the Nidever adobe may be near enough Located in a ravine south of Cuyler’s to the street (i.e., not under the free- Harbor on San Miguel Island, portions way) that it could be identified through of the Nidever adobe walls, construct-

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ed with 22 x 11 inch adobe bricks, were part of the 23 x 26 foot structure and are still visible, according to the 2010 survey and report by Julia Costello and Linda Thorpe (Costello and Thorpe 2010:11-32). Considering the size of the Nidever household in 1853—at least two adults and five children—the adobe constructed on Santa Barbara city block 315 would likely have been closer in size to that of their former residence on Burton Mound, 1840-1852. According to an interview with the last Burton Mound adobe occupant, Max Aman, the home on that site was about 80 x 20 feet, with a 10-foot-wide veranda that extended along the northern, eastern, and southern sides of the adobe (Harrington 1928:60). Because the site had been constructed on top of an early native village, it was excavated by John P. Harrington for the Smithsonian Institution in 1923 with the assistance of David Banks Rogers. The excavation confirmed the adobe dimensions to be 83 feet x 20 feet (Harrington 1928:71). The project cataloged more than 2,500 artifacts from an extensive early native village, Syuxtun (Harrington 1928; Rogers 1929). In his interview, Aman recalled that most rooms in the Burton Mound adobe were 20 x 20 feet, except for the parlor, which was approximately 40 x 20 feet. Aman also suggested that an outbuilding near to the adobe may have served as the kitchen, since it was traditional during Spanish times for the kitchen to be detached from the house (Harrington 1986: R174 F558). Much of what has been learned about the

construction of these two adobes and the layout of the Burton Mound home will aid future research into the former Nidever adobe in Santa Barbara.

CONCLUSION George Nidever died in Santa Barbara in 1883, thirty years after the Lone Woman’s passing. George and Sinforosa Nidever were eventually interred at Calvary Cemetery.25 Nidever is considered to be a California pioneer, whose adventurous life was documented by historian Hubert Howe Bancroft and his assistants (Nidever 1878). Like all of Bancroft’s “pioneers,” Nidever was not among the first people to live in the southern California region. Archaeological evidence from California’s northern Channel Islands has revealed that the area was inhabited by indigenous people as early as 11,500-13,000 years before the present (Erlandson et al 2013:69, 2011; Johnson et al 2002). Nidever’s participation in the retrieval of the Lone Woman from San Nicolas Island led to permanent recognition in the form of a plaque dedicated to the Lone Woman and her arrival in Santa Barbara. Sponsored by the Daughters of the American Revolution and placed on a wall outside of the church in the Santa Barbara Mission cemetery, the plaque text reads as follows: “Juana María, Indian woman abandoned on San Nicolas Island eighteen years, found and brought to Santa Barbara by Capt. George Nidever in 1853, Santa Barbara Chapter Daughters of the

American Revolution, 1928” (Mills and Brickfield 2007:xxix). According to Carl Dittman, a few days before her death, the Lone Woman took a basket that had been hanging in a sycamore tree and threw out the feathers that were stored inside (Terry 1882:10). Dittman believed that her action was a sign that the Lone Woman, by then seriously ill, knew her time was growing short. She died seven weeks to the day from when she arrived in Santa Barbara, reportedly from dysentery, possibly caused by eating contaminated produce (Ellison 1984:89; Murray 1878:3; Stuart 1880:405). Original documents with primary information, such as deeds, sacramen-

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tal registers, census records, memoirs, correspondence, newspaper articles, and maps, along with ethnographic accounts, when correlated, confirm the location of the Nidever adobe where the Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island lived in 1853: on lot 8 at the southwest corner of Santa Barbara city block 315. Illustrations of the adobe in the newly discovered maps (Fig. 6, Fig. 8), historical archaeology reports of other Nidever properties, and a contemporary rendering offer a glimpse of the appearance, construction, and dimensions of the Nidever home where the Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island spent the final weeks of her remarkable life (Fig. 13).

Figure 13. Contemporary rendering of the Santa Barbara adobe where the Lone Woman lived with the Nidever family in 1853. Courtesy of Channel Islands National Park, Ventura, California. Illustration by Elizabeth Chapin.

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NOTES The spelling of George Nidever’s given name and surname were not consistent in the historical records and have been transcribed as they appeared in the documents listed in the Notes section: The Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara, “Deaths, Book 1,1782-1878,” unnumbered page between 113 and 114, no.1183, Juana María, Indian woman brought from San Nicolas Island, conditional baptism and burial,19 Oct 1853; Santa Barbara Mission-Archive Library (SBMAL), Santa Barbara, California.

“First Book of Baptism, Presidio, Vol. 1, 1772-1846,” unnumbered page between 200 and 201, no. 1479, Marcos Ramon Nideavor baptism, 13 February 1842; SBMAL, Santa Barbara, California; The Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara, “First Book of Baptism, Presidio, Vol. 1, 1772-1846,” unnumbered page between 206 and 207, no. 1631, María del Refugio Francisca Nidever baptism, 3 October 1844; SBMAL, Santa Barbara, California; The Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara, “Deaths, Book 1, 1782-1878,” unnumbered page between 59 and 60, no. 709, Juan Nidever, 12 August 1846, born 10 August 1846; SBMAL, Santa Barbara, California; The Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara, “Second Book of Baptisms, Presidio and Santa Barbara Mission, 1846-1861,” unpaginated, no. 121, Jose George Emigdio Nydever baptism, 12 August 1847; SBMAL, Santa Barbara, California; The Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara, “Second Book of Baptisms, Presidio and Santa Barbara Mission, 1846-1861,” unpaginated, no. 242, José Ramon Jacobo Nidever baptism, 16 August 1849; SBMAL, Santa Barbara, California; The Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara, “Second Book of Baptisms, Presidio and Santa Barbara Mission, 1846-1861,” p. 70, no. 427, María Isabel Tomasa Nidever baptism, 22 January 1852, born 19 December 1851; SBMAL, Santa Barbara, California.

The Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara, “First Book of Baptisms, Presidio, Vol. 1, 17721846,” unnumbered page between 180 and 181, no. 1419, Georje Nabider baptism, 27 January 1841; SBMAL, Santa Barbara, California; María Sinforosa Ramona Sanchez, “The Huntington Library, Early California Population Project Database, 2006,” The Huntington’s Early California Population Project, entry for María Sinforosa Ramona Sanchez, baptism 00409, 19 July 1812, citing the Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara baptisms. Sinforosa’s father, Juan María Sanchez, a former Santa Barbara Presidio soldier, received a Mexican land grant, Rancho Santa Clara del Norte, in 1837: Rancho de Sta. Clara á el Norte y cononir el posito [Calif.] [184-?] (Maps of private land grant cases of California, Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley); digital image, Calisphere (https://calisphere.org/item/ark:/13030/ hb696nb2ds/ : accessed 4 June 2017); The Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara, “Marriages, Santa Barbara Presidio, 1786-1885,” p. 18, no. 236, marriage, Georje Nabider and Sinforosa Sanchez, 11 February 1841; SBMAL, Santa Barbara, California. Children born to George Nidever and María Sinforosa Ramona Sanchez de Nidever: The Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara,

Santa Barbara County, California, Deed Book H:137-138, George Nidever, Mark R. Nidever, George E. Nidever to Hiram W. Mills, 8 May 1869; Hall of Records, Santa Barbara, California; Santa Barbara County, California, Deed Book H:635-636, George E. Nidever, Mark R. Nidever, George Nide-

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22 ver to Hiram W. Mills, 26 April 1870; Hall of Records, Santa Barbara. 5

Mission Santa Inés (Santa Ynez, California), “Baptismal Records, Gente de Razon, Santa Inés Mission,” p. 20, no. 1700, Luis Antonio María Ortega, 25 Sept 1855 (born 25 Aug 1855); SBMAL, Santa Barbara, California. 1860 U.S. census, Santa Barbara County, California, population schedule, Santa Ynez, p. 131, dwelling 3, family 3, Louis Ortega (4), digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 June 2017), citing National Archives microfilm M 653, roll 65. 1910 U.S. census, Ventura County, California, population schedule, Ventura, p. 3A, dwelling 85, family 87, Louis M. Ortega (58), digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 5 June 2017). Ortega’s profession was listed as Justice of Peace in the 1910 census.

Santa Barbara County, California, Deed Book B:38-39, George Nidever and María Sinforosa Sanchez de Nidever to Augustus F. Hinchman, 2 November 1851; Hall of Records, Santa Barbara; 1852 California State Census, Santa Barbara County, California, population schedule, Santa Barbara, p. 38, lines 25-31, George Neidevir, María Synforosa Sanchez de Neidevir, Mark Neidevir, Refugia Neidevir, George Neidevir, Jacob Neidevir, Tomasa Neidevir, digital Image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry. com : accessed 27 Mar 2017), citing California State Library repository collection C144, roll 5.

Santa Barbara County, California, Deed Book A:72-73, City of Santa Barbara to George Neidiver, 1 September 1852; Hall of Records, Santa Barbara, California.

Catarina Magdalena Den, “The Huntington Library, Early California Population Project Database, 2006,” Early California Population Project, entry for Catarina Magdalena

Den, baptism 01619, 25 July 1844, citing Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara baptisms. 1852 California State Census, Santa Barbara County, California, population schedule, Santa Barbara, p. 1, line 13, Catharine Den (8), digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www. ancestry.com : accessed 5 June 2017); citing California State Library repository collection C144, roll 5. 9

Michael Redmon, “The Child Estate,” Santa Barbara Independent, 26 May 2010, digital image, Independent.com (http://www.independent.com/news/2010/may/26/child-estate/ : accessed 5 June 2017). Walker A. Tompkins, “Nidever,” Santa Barbara News-Press, 13 August 1967, p. J 11, col. 1; Walker A. Tompkins, “The Ghost Adobe of 1853,” Santa Barbara News-Press, 18 March 1973, p. B-4, col. 1.

Santa Barbara County, California, Deed Book B:591, City of Santa Barbara to John Nidever, 23 July 1857; Hall of Records, Santa Barbara. Deed specifies land that commences at the eastern corner of city block 366 and runs southeast to the edge of the saline lands on the salt ponds or the mean high tide line. Santa Barbara County, California, Deed Book B:609, José María Romero to John Nidever, 21 September 1857; Hall of Records, Santa Barbara. Deed specifies land adjoining the “Montecito de las Salinas.” Santa Barbara County, California, Assessment Book, 1857: Santa Barbara township, John Nidever, Gledhill Library, Santa Barbara Historical Society; “Claim at Salinas [Salt Pond],” 80 acres.

Jubentino de Jesus del Valle, “The Huntington Library, Early California Population Project Database, 2006,” Early California Population Project, entry for Jubentio de Jesus del Valle, baptism 01413, 9 March 1841, citing Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara baptisms. 1852 California State Census,

NIDEVER Santa Barbara County, California, population schedule, Santa Barbara, p. 11, line 38, Joventino Lorenzano (10), digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 5 June 2017); citing California State Library repository collection C144, roll 5. Lorenzano was Juventino del Valle’s mother’s surname; she died and he lived with his mother’s Lorenzano family members in Santa Barbara.

23 home from Mary Ashley part of that time. When Mary Ashley died, the executors of Ashley’s estate sold lot 8 back to Martha S. Barker in 1906. The 1906 deed depicts lot 8 as measuring 50 feet (Quarantina St.) by 125 feet (Quinientos St.). 18

Rancho Camulos, near Piru, California, is an example of an early California ranch, and is also a national historical landmark. The ranch was made famous as inspiration for the setting of Helen Hunt Jackson’s 1884 novel, Ramona.

Santa Barbara County, California, Deed Book V:531-532, George Nidever by Sheriff to F.E. Kellogg Sr., 7 April 1880; Hall of Records, Santa Barbara.

Santa Barbara County, California, Deed Book Y:232, F.E. Kellogg Sr. to Martha S. Barker, 6 June 1881; Hall of Records, Santa Barbara.

“California, Death Index, 1905-1939,” state file no. 23535, “Barker Martha S”, 27 Sep 1907, digital image, Ancestry.com (http:// www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 Apr 2017); citing California Department of Health and Welfare, California Vital Records-Vitalsearch, (www.vitalsearch-worldwide.com).

1910 U.S. census, San Luis Obispo County, California, population schedule, San Luis Obispo, p. 14B, dwelling 104, family 108, Louise MacIntyre, digital image, Ancestry. com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 3 May 2017), citing National Archives microfilm publication T624, roll 104.

Walker A. Tompkins, “The Ghost Adobe of 1853,” Santa Barbara News-Press, 18 March 1973, p. B-4, col. 1.

James L. Barker as told to Michael J. Phillips, “50 Years and More in Santa Barbara,“ Daily News, ca. 1922; James L. Barker, Biographical Files, Central Library, Santa Barbara, California.

Santa Barbara County, California, Deed Book 12:94, Martha S. Barker to Mary A. Ashley, 26 February 1887, Hall of Records, Santa Barbara; Santa Barbara County, California, Deed Book 117:53, Estate of Mary A. Ashley to Martha S. Barker, 16 December 1906. These two deeds demonstrate that Martha Barker sold lot 8 on city block 315 where the Nidever adobe was situated six years after Barker purchased city block 315 in 1881. According to her son, James, mother and son lived at the adobe for 25 years, indicating that they may have rented the

“The Independent Publishing Company’s New Directory of the City of Santa Barbara, Cal., 1886” (Santa Barbara, CA: The Independent Publishing Company, 1886), 33, entry for “Barker, J. L.,” “S cor Quarantina and Nopal sts.”; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 3 May 2017); “Dana Burks’ Santa Barbara City Directory, 1905,” (Santa Barbara, CA: Santa Barbara Directory Co., 1905), 40, entry for “Barker James L,” “ns Quinientos bet Nopal and Quarantina”; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 May 2017). “Dana Burks’ Santa Barbara City Directory, 1906,” (Santa Barbara, CA: Santa Barbara Directory Co., 1906), 32, entry for “Barker James L”; digital image, Ancestry. com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 Apr 2017).

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24 22

This location was confirmed by Louise Erro, who, when taken by her grandson to see the former Nidever adobe, explained that the adobe was no longer visible because it had been taken down to make way for the freeway construction or expansion (E. Hvolbøll, personal communication, 2012).

“Santa Barbara City Directory, 1912-1913,” (Santa Barbara, CA: Santa Barbara Directory Co., 1912), 129, entry for “MacIntire Louise,” Quinientos and Quarantina; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry. com : accessed 3 May 2017).

María Inés Josefa Guevara, “The Huntington Library, Early California Population Project Database, 2006,” The Huntington’s Early California Population Project, entry for María Inés Josefa Guevara, baptism 00113, 22 January 1794, citing the Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara baptisms. María Inés Josefa Guevara was Sinforosa Sanchez de Nidever’s mother. Benita Josefa María Guevara, “The Huntington Library, Early California Population Project Database, 2006,” The Huntington’s Early California Population Project, entry for Benita Josefa María Guebara [Guevara], baptism 00288, 21 March 1805, citing the Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara baptisms. Benita Josefa María Guevara was the sister of María Inés Josefa Guevara. María Monica de la Mercedes Gonzales, “The Huntington Library, Early California Population Project Database, 2006,” The Huntington’s Early California Population Project, entry for María Monica de la Mercedes Gonzales, baptism 01433, 15 May 1841, citing the Royal Pre-

sidio of Santa Barbara baptisms. Mercedes Gonzales’ mother was Benita Josefa María Guevara. The Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara, “Second Book of Baptisms, Presidio and Santa Barbara Mission, 1846-1861,” unpaginated, no. 1114, Josefa Encarnacion Ruberta [Roberta] Orella baptism, 26 March 1859; SBMAL, Santa Barbara, California. Josefa Orella’s mother was Mercedes Gonzales. 1910 U.S. census, Santa Barbara County, California, population schedule, Santa Barbara, p. 10A, dwelling 219, family 219, Martin Erro, digital image, Ancestry. com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 May 2017); citing National Archives microfilm publication T624, roll 105. Martin Erro’s mother was Josefa Orella. 1920 U.S. census, Santa Barbara County, California, population schedule, Careaga Precinct, p. 11A, dwelling 228, family 232, Martin Erro (Head) and Louise Erro (wife), digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 May 2017); citing National Archives microfilm publication T625, roll 145. 25

Mission Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara, California), “Deaths, Book 2, 1873-1912, Santa Barbara Mission” unnumbered page between 59 and 60, no. 528, George Nidiver burial, 27 March 1883; SBMAL, Santa Barbara, California; Matt Kettmann, “Blessing George Nidever’s Tombstone: Channel Islands and Santa Barbara Legend’s Grave Recently Located at Calvary Cemetery,” Santa Barbara Independent, 2 November 2008; digital image, Independent.com (http:// www.independent.com/news/2008/nov/02/ blessing-george-nidevers-tombstone/ : accessed 21 March 2017).

Support for our research came from the National Park Service, Channel Islands National Park, Western National Parks Association and the U.S. Navy.

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REFERENCES Bell, Katherine M. 1931 Swinging the Censer, Reminiscences of Old Santa Barbara, Katherine B. Cheney, ed., p 192. Santa Barbara: Katherine Bell Cheney. Bentz, Linda, Susan L. Morris, and Robert V. Schwemmer 2018 The Lone Woman at the Crossroads. California Humanities project HFAQ1738 working paper, last modified 23 May 2018, Microsoft Word file. Costello, Julia and L. Thorpe 2010 Study of Selected Historic-Period Archaeological Resources on San Miguel Island, Channel Islands National Park. MS on file at Channel Islands National Park, Ventura, California. Dittman, Carl 1878

Narrative of a Seafaring Life on the Coast of California. MS on file at the University of California Bancroft Library, Berkeley.

Dittman, Richard H. 2005 Good Grief, Charley Brown. Ancestors West 31 (1 & 2): 13-15. Ellison, William H., (ed.) 1984 The Life and Adventures of George Nidever [1802-1883]: The life story of a remarkable California pioneer told in his own words, and none wasted. Santa Barbara: McNally & Loftin, and Tucson: Southwest Monuments and Parks Association. Erlandson, Jon M., Lisa Thomas-Barnett, Rene L. Vellanoweth, Steven J. Schwartz, and Daniel R. Muhs 2013 From the Island of the Blue Dolphins: A Unique 19th Century Cache Feature from San Nicolas Island, California. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology. Farris, Glenn J. (ed.) 2012 So Far From Home, Russians in California. Berkeley: Heyday. Gibson, James R. and Alexei A. Istomin, with assistance of Valery A. Tishkov 2014 Russian California, 1806-1860: A History in Documents, Vol. 1. London: Ashgate. Golla, Victor 2011 California Indian Languages. Berkeley: University of California Press. Hardacre, Emma 1880 Eighteen Years Alone: A Tale of the Pacific. Scribner’s Monthly 20:657-664. Harrington, John P. 1928 Explorations of the Burton Mound at Santa Barbara, California. Forty-fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution 1: 23-168. Washington: Smithsonian Institution of American Ethnology.

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1986 John P. Harrington Vol 3: Southern California and Basin. Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution, National Anthropological Archives [Microfilm edition. Millwood, NY: Kraus International Publications.] Heizer, Robert, and Albert Elsasser, (eds.) 1973 Original Accounts of the Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island. Ramona, California: Ballena Press. Hudson, Travis 1978a

Some J. P. Harrington Notes on the “Lone Woman” of San Nicolas Island. Masterkey 52: 23-28. 1978b An Additional Harrington Note on the “Lone Woman” of San Nicolas. Masterkey 52: 151-154. 1980 Additional Harrington Notes on the “Lone Woman.” Masterkey 54: 109-112. 1981 Recently Discovered Accounts Concerning the “Lone Woman” of San Nicolas Island. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 3: 187-199.

Johnson, John R., Thomas W. Stafford, Jr., Henry O. Aije, and Don P. Morris 2002 Arlington Springs Revisited. In Proceedings of the Fifth California Islands Symposium, David R. Brown, Kathryn L. Mitchell, and Henry W. Chaney, eds., pp. 541-545. Santa Barbara: Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. Mills, Elaine L. and Ann J. Brickfield (eds.) 2007 The Papers of John Peabody Harrington in the Smithsonian Institution, 19071957, Volume Three, A Guide to the Field Notes: Native American History, Language and Culture of Southern California/Basin. White Plains, NY: Krauss International Publications. Morris, Susan L., John R. Johnson, Pamela Munro, Steven J. Schwartz, Ernestine Ygnacio-De Soto 2020 The Lone Woman’s Nicoleno Language. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 40 (1). Morris, Susan L., John R. Johnson, Steven J. Schwartz, Rene L. Vellanoweth, Glenn J. Farris, Sara L. Schwebel 2016 The Nicoleños in Los Angeles: Documenting the Fate of the Lone Woman’s Community. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 36 (1). Morris, Susan L., Glenn J. Farris, Steven J. Schwartz, Irina Vladi L. Wender, Boris Dralyuk 2014 Murder, Massacre, and Mayhem on the California Coast, 1814-1815: Newly Translated Russian American Company Documents Reveal Company Concern Over Violent Clashes. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 34 (1). Munro, Pamela 2002

Takic foundations in Nicoleño Vocabulary. In Proceedings of the Fifth California Islands Symposium, David R. Brown, Kathryn L. Mitchell, and Henry W. Chaney, eds., pp. 659-668. Santa Barbara: Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.

NIDEVER Murray, Edward F. (ed.) 1878 The Indian Woman of San Nicolas by George Nidever, MS on file at the Braun Research Library, Autry Museum, Los Angeles.1987 Myrick, David F. 1987 Santa Barbara County Railroads, A Centennial History. Noticias, Quarterly Bulletin of the Santa Barbara Historical Society 33(2 and 3):26, 31. Nidever, Evalina Johnson 1971 Vernon Marion Nidever, MS on file in the Walker A. Tompkins Collection, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Nidever, George 1878 Life and Adventures of George Nidever, a Pioneer of Cal. since 1834. MS on file at the University of California Bancroft Library, Berkeley. O’Dell, Scott 1960 Island of the Blue Dolphins. New York: Houghton Mifflin. Ogden, Adele 1941 The California Sea Otter Trade, 1784-1848. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1979 Trading Vessels on the California Coast, 1786-1848. MS on file at the Bancroft Library, Berkeley. Rogers, David Banks 1929 Prehistoric Man of the Santa Barbara Coast. Santa Barbara: Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. Schwartz, Steven J., John R. Johnson, Susan L. Morris, Carol Peterson 2018 New Discovery in the Story of the Lone Woman. Filmed presentation, December 2018, Shore to Sea Lecture Series, Channel Islands National Park, Ventura, California: https://www.nps.gov/chis/learn/photosmultimedia/2018sts.htm Schwartz, Steven J. and René L. Vellanoweth 2013 Lone Woman’s Cave Found on San Nicolas Island. California Archaeology 5 (2): 391-393. Schwebel, Sara L. 2016 Island of the Blue Dolphins, The Complete Reader’s Edition. Oakland: University of California Press. Stuart, Absalom B. 1880 “A Female Crusoe,” The Sanitarian, September 1880, p. 400-406. Terry, James 1882

Reminiscences of George Nidever and Charles Brown of the Early History of Santa Barbara and the Finding of the Woman (Indian) on San Nicholas Island. MS on file at the Braun Research Library, Autry Museum, Los Angeles.

Tompkins, Walker A. 1983 Santa Barbara History Makers. Santa Barbara: McNally & Loftin, Publishers.

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TIMELINE: GEORGE NIDEVER AND THE LONE WOMAN OF SAN NICOLAS ISLAND (SNI) Bold text: Events involving the Lone Woman of SNI or her people, known as the Nicoleños.

1802 1833 1834 1835 1840 1841 1851 1852 1853 1869 1870 1880 1881 1883

December 20: George Nidever is born in Sullivan County, Tennessee to George Nidever and Christina Nidever (nee Funkhouser).a

December: Nidever crosses the Sierra Nevada with Capt. Joseph Walker’s hunting group and arrives in Monterey, Alta California.a April: Nidever boards the California in San Francisco and sails to Santa Barbara.b He begins hunting under William G. Dana’s hunting license (Dana was Captain of the Port, Santa Barbara).a

Fall: A group of SNI natives (Nicoleños) leaves the island on the schooner, Peor es Nada, chartered by Isaac Sparks. The Nicoleños arrive in Los Angeles; one woman (the Lone Woman) is left behind.c Winter: Nidever sails to Santa Rosa Island on the Peor es Nada with Isaac Sparks to hunt otter; hears about the removal of the Nicoleños and the abandonment of the Lone Woman from Sparks.a Fall: Nidever purchases Santa Barbara property known as the Mission House (later called Burton Mound) from Joseph Chapman.a January 27: Nidever is baptized.d February 13: Nidever marries María Sinforosa Ramona Sanchez.e

November 2: Nidever and wife sell the Mission House property to Augustus Hinchman for $2,300; the Nidever family continues to live in the Mission House through part of 1852.f

Nidever buys the Cora, a schooner of 17 tons burthen, in San Francisco. Soon after, Nidever purchases grazing rights on San Miguel Island from Samuel Bruce (Bentz et al 2018).a April: Nidever, Thomas Jeffries, and two native men sail to SNI to collect gull eggs; they find evidence that the Lone Woman is alive.a When he returns, Nidever builds an adobe on block 315 in Santa Barbara.g September 1: Nidever and wife purchase city blocks 315, 316, 332, 333 from the City of Santa Barbara for $120.h Winter: Nidever, Carl Dittman (known as Charley Brown), and two native men sail to SNI; they find evidence that the Lone Woman is still alive.a August: Nidever, Dittman, Colorado (an Irishman), and four native men sail to SNI to hunt otter; they find the Lone Woman and she joins them. The men hunt for a month then return to Santa Barbara with the Lone Woman.a September 1-October 19: The Lone Woman lives with the Nidever family in the adobe on block 315; she dies after seven weeks.a The Lone Woman is baptized and buried in the Mission Santa Barbara cemetery.i May 8: Nidever and sons sell one-half rights to San Miguel Island to Hiram W. Mills for $5,000.j April 26: Nidever and sons sell the remaining rights to San Miguel Island to Hiram W. Mills for $10,000.k April 7: Nidever sells city blocks 315, 316, 332, 332 to F.E. Kellogg Sr. for $3,015.l

June 6: F.E. Kellogg Sr. sells former Nidever blocks to Martha S. Barker for $3,000.m Barker and son, James L. Barker, live in the former Nidever adobe for 25 years, from about 1883-1908.n March 27: Nidever, who dies at 81, is buried at an undisclosed location.o His remains are later transferred to Calvary Cemetery, Santa Barbara.p

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TIMELINE NOTES a Ellison 1984:passim. b Ogden 1979:659. c Morris, et al 2016. d The Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara, “First Book of Baptisms, Presidio, Vol. 1, 17721846,” unnumbered page between 180 and 181, no. 1419, Georje Nabider baptism, 27 January 1841; Santa Barbara Mission Archive-Library (SBMAL), Santa Barbara, California. e The Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara, “Marriages, Santa Barbara Presidio, 1786-1885,” p. 18, no. 236, marriage, Georje Nabider and Sinforosa Sanchez,11 February 1841; SBMAL, Santa Barbara, California. f Santa Barbara County, California, Deed Book B:38-39, George Nidever and María Sinforosa Sanchez de Nidever to Augustus F. Hinchman, 2 November 1851; Hall of Records, Santa Barbara. 1852 California State Census, Santa Barbara County, California, population schedule, Santa Barbara, p. 38, lines 25-31, George Neidevir (48), María Synforosa Sanchez de Neidevir (40), Mark Neidevir (10), Refugia Neidevir (7), George Neidevir (5), Jacob Neidevir (3), Tomasa Neidevir (11 mos.), digital Image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 27 Mar 2017), citing California State Library repository collection C144, roll 5.

burial, 19 Oct 1853; SBMAL, Santa Barbara, California. j Santa Barbara County, California, Deed Book H:137-138, George Nidever, Mark R. Nidever, George E. Nidever to Hiram W. Mills, 8 May 1869; Hall of Records, Santa Barbara, California. k Santa Barbara County, California, Deed Book H:635-636, George E. Nidever, Mark R. Nidever, George Nidever to Hiram W. Mills, 26 April 1870; Hall of Records, Santa Barbara. l Santa Barbara County, California, Deed Book V:531-532, George Nidever by Sheriff to F.E. Kellogg Sr., 7 April 1880; Hall of Records, Santa Barbara.

g Dittman 1878:6th page. h Santa Barbara County, California, Deed Book A:72-73, City of Santa Barbara to George Neidiver, 1 September 1852; Hall of Records, Santa Barbara, California. i The Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara, “Deaths, Book 1,1782-1878,” unnumbered page between 113 and 114, no.1183, Juana María, Indian woman brought from San Nicolas Island, conditional baptism and

George Nidever later in life. Gledhill Library, Santa Barbara Historical Museum.

30 m Santa Barbara County, California, Deed Book Y:232, F.E. Kellogg Sr. to Martha S. Barker, 6 June 1881; Hall of Records, Santa Barbara. n James L. Barker as told to Michael J. Phillips, “50 Years and More in Santa Barbara,“ Daily News, ca. 1922; James L. Barker, Biographical Files, Central Library, Santa Barbara, California. o Mission Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara, California), “Deaths, Book 2, 1873-1912, Santa Barbara Mission” unnumbered page

NOTICIAS between 59 and 60, no. 528, George Nidiver burial, 27 March 1883; SBMAL, Santa Barbara, California. p Matt Kettmann, “Blessing George Nidever’s Tombstone: Channel Islands and Santa Barbara Legend’s Grave Recently Located at Calvary Cemetery,” Santa Barbara Independent, 2 November 2008; digital image, Independent.com (http://www.independent.com/ news/2008/nov/02/blessing-george-nidevers-tombstone/ : accessed 21 March 2017).

CARL DITTMAN BUILDS A BETTER LIFE IN SANTA BARBARA by Susan L. Morris

eorge Nidever is credited with bringing the Lone Woman from San Nicolas Island to Santa Barbara in the summer of 1853, but it was Carl Dittman, a Prussian-born Santa Barbara resident, who first encountered the Lone Woman on that trip. A member of Nidever’s otter hunting crew, Dittman had been to San Nicolas Island once before and had seen the Lone Woman’s footprints. On his second trip in August 1853, he tracked and located her. Dittman alerted the rest of Nidever’s crew to her presence, and the men visited the Lone Woman as she sat outside her whalebone hut. They assisted her as she packed up her belongings and she camped with the group on the island’s north shore. A month later, the Lone Woman sailed to Santa Barbara on Nidever’s schooner, and she stayed with the Nidever family in their home until her death, seven weeks after her arrival. Unlike George Nidever, Carl Dittman’s name is not displayed on a bronze plaque on the wall of the Mission Santa Barbara cemetery to commemorate his participation in the trip to San Nico31

las Island that led to the encounter with the Lone Woman. Yet Dittman, a foreign-born sailor turned hunter, was every bit as crucial to the outcome of the pivotal visit to San Nicolas Island in 1853 (Fig. 1). Nidever had been to San Nicolas Island five times between 1843 and 1853 without finding the Lone Woman.1 Not only did Dittman carefully track the Lone Woman and adroitly manage the initial encounter between her and the group of six men, but he also facilitated her entry into Santa Barbara society by sewing a skirt for her to wear in Santa Barbara. In fact, Scott O’Dell, author of the perennially popular children’s novel about the Lone Woman, Island of the Blue Dolphins, referenced Dittman as an unnamed man who stitched a dress for the protagonist, Karana, while on the island (O’Dell 1960:179). And according to Dittman’s 1882 interview with James Terry, the Lone Woman indicated to others in Santa Barbara that Dittman created her skirt for her (Terry 1882:10). In fact, the Lone Woman further showed her appreciation for Carl Dittman when she gave him one of her newly made

Figure 1. Photograph of Carl Dittman from the 1850s. Text on the reverse: “Carl Dittman AKA Charley Brown, circa 1850-1854.” Dittman Collection, Gledhill Library, Santa Barbara Historical Museum.

baskets before she died (Terry 1882:10). Dittman’s contributions to life in Santa Barbara in the nineteenth century, however, extend well beyond his association with the Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island. As a German immigrant, he not only built a new life for himself but also for the ten children whom he fathered with two female partners—one, a Native American woman who had been baptized at Mission San Luis Rey, and the other, an immigrant from Australia.2 Dittman literally helped to build the structures, like the prominent Morris House hotel, that were part of the growing city

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of Santa Barbara where he worked as a professional carpenter during the 1870s and 1880s (Fig. 2).3 Like the many immigrants from Europe, Central and South America, Asia, Africa, and elsewhere, Dittman brought useful skills, a healthy work ethic, and fresh ideas that helped to create the city that he called home. Carl Dittman was born in Prussia on November 7, 1825, and was baptized at the Lutheran St. George Church, in Berlin, Brandenburg, as Carl August Ferdinand Dittmann.4 His parents were Wilhelm Friedrich Dittmann and Johanne Sophie Oehlbrecht. As a teenager, Dittman was apprenticed at age fourteen to a master furniture maker at a factory in Berlin. The relationship turned sour when the master allegedly abused his apprentice for making a mistake caning a chair (Dittman 2005:13; R. Dittman, personal communication 2013). After an altercation between Dittman’s father, Wilhelm, and the master craftsman over the abuse, Dittman left the area and shipped out from the nearest seaport, Ueckermunde, on a vessel commanded by a Capt. Ratman (Dittman 1878:1st page). He would never return to Prussia nor see his parents again. Dittman states in his 1878 oral history dictated to E. F. Murray, an assistant to Hubert H. Bancroft, “My right name is Carl Dittmann, although I am generally known as Charley Brown, having adopted this latter name while I was a sailor . . .. I went to sea while still a boy, making my first voyage with Capt. Ratman of my town. I continued to follow the sea, gradually rising from my first

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position as a cook’s boy to able bodied seaman.” (Dittman 1878:1st page) Dittman was reportedly given the name, Charles Brown, by an English sea captain, John Nightingale, when the captain had difficulty spelling the surname Dittmann (Dittman 2005:13). He continued to use the name Charles Brown (or Charley Brown) in California up until 1861, when he formally declared in Santa Barbara County court documents that his real name was Charles Dittmann, not Charles Brown (Dittman 2005:14). The spelling of the Dittman surname was written with a single t and a single n in U.S. census records beginning with the 1870 U.S. Census of Santa Barbara County. Current fam-

ily preference is for the surname to be spelled with two t’s and a single n, and that spelling of the Dittman surname is used here. In his oral history, Dittman described his travels and travails, having endured extreme cold on a trip to Quebec and fever during a voyage to the West Indies. By 1843, Dittman made his way to Liverpool, England, where he signed on to work on the brig, Euphemia, under Captain Nightingale (Dittman 1878:1st page). The ship, initially bound for Valparaiso, Chile, sailed to Honolulu. There the Euphemia was condemned and Dittman signed on as a crewmember of the brig, Juanita, under Captains John Wilson and James Scott (Ogden

Figure 2. State Street looking north from Haley Street, ca 1885. The Morris House is on the left. Carl Dittman, who worked as a carpenter in the 1870s and 1880s, was said to have assisted with the construction of the Morris House. The block where Carl Dittman’s home was located was immediately south of the Morris House. Gledhill Library, Santa Barbara Historical Museum.

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Figure 3. This preliminary sketch map shows the relative positions of the homes of Carl Dittman, George Nidever, Isaac Sparks, and Luis Burton in Santa Barbara. Dittman’s adobe home from 1850-1887 lies within the rectangle at the lower end of State Street, in the middle of the map. The homes of Sparks and Burton are within the rectangle to the left of Dittman’s property, at the intersection of State and Cañón Perdido streets. Nidever’s adobe is within the rectangle on the far right. This map section is from the U.S. Coast Survey of Santa Barbara, California, 1853.

1979:1124-1126). The Juanita, with Dittman onboard, arrived in Monterey, Alta California, on April 23, 1844, and sailed south to Santa Barbara on May 28. “Here our goods were again landed and I was detailed to superintend the transportation in oxcarts, from the beach to the store house, which was the old adobe, that one still standing just below Cook’s building and a little off State Street. Here I remained all the summer of 1844 in charge of the store house, while the brig was trading up and down the coast.” (Dittman 1878:2) Following his stint as a storekeeper,

Dittman asked for and received his discharge from duty from Captains Wilson and Scott. From this time forward, Dittman made Santa Barbara his home, although he ventured widely throughout California and down into Mexico, working as a hunter, an occupation which he engaged in until at least 1860 (Fig. 3; Dittman 1878). In April 1845, Dittman joined George Nidever, Isaac Sparks, James Breck, and an American named Evans for his first otter hunting trip to Baja California aboard the brig Bolivar Liberator. The group, which included

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four Kanakas (Hawaiians), and three California Indians (from San Gabriel, San Luis Rey, and Tulares), arrived at Cedros Island on April 12 (Ogden 1979:1139-1141). The ship went on to Mazatlan where it was sold, and Evans and Dittman built a small schooner for the group to use as they sailed northwards. By August, the men returned to Santa Barbara, having killed around 102 otters. For their labors, Dittman and Evans were paid $16 a month, the Kanakas received $12 a month, while the California Indians were paid $8 to $10 per month, plus food (Dittman 1878:2nd page). In 1846, Dittman joined George Nidever, Bill Fife, Redding McCoy, and a crew of California native men to hunt otter north from Santa Barbara along the California coast. They landed in Monterey in July, where Dittman learned of the Mexican-American War. At that time, the Americans were in possession of the port (Dittman 1878:2nd page). The hunters obtained passports in San Francisco and sailed north of Bodega Bay and continued hunting otter. After heading south to San Luis Obispo, the men narrowly avoided an attack by a band led by an Italian desperado, Antonio, who wanted to kill them and take their otter skins (Dittman 1878:3rd page). Once in Santa Barbara, Nidever, Fife, and Dittman were immediately apprehended by the local California (Mexican) authorities and taken to see Antonio María de la Guerra and Raymundo Carrillo, where they were asked about their nationality. Because Fife

and Dittman were foreigners—Fife was from Scotland and Dittman was a German—they were released. Nidever, as an American, was arrested and told that he was to be taken to Los Angeles as a prisoner. He managed to avoid traveling to Los Angeles and instead stayed hidden, first west of the city at Dos Pueblos, then east in the hills above Montecito. He met up with Major John C. Fremont and his forces and joined them. Dittman had been encouraged to join Fremont, but he declined. Nidever eventually went to Los Angeles with Fremont’s men. He and Sparks, who had also joined Fremont’s forces, returned to Santa Barbara in January of 1847 (Ellison 1984:64-73). In April of 1847, Dittman set out for San Francisco with McCoy and Fife to build boats and hunt otter. The hunters and their crew sailed as far north as Point Reyes and hunted along the coast until they returned to Santa Barbara in August (Dittman 1878:5th page). Dittman stayed on shore that winter and tried his hand at gardening, which proved unsatisfactory. The next year, 1848, he spent time hunting deer for their skins at San Marcos ranch, where Dittman earned an average of $30 a month. By 1849, Dittman learned about the discovery of gold in the Sierra foothills, and in March of that year he and George Islip and Julian Foxen headed for the Stanislaus diggings. Dittman returned with $1,030 after two months’ work and went back to the diggings in the spring of 1850. That trip proved to be less successful, and after four months

of work Dittman earned only $500 in profits (Dittman 1878:5th page). Dittman continued hunting otter in northern California as far as San Simeon, out to Santa Rosa and San Miguel Islands, and down to Moro Hermosa in Baja California (Dittman 1878:5th-6th pages).

THE LONE WOMAN OF SAN NICOLAS ISLAND In the latter part of 1852, Dittman joined George Nidever and two California Indians for a trip to San Nicolas Island. Nidever had been to the island in April of that year with Thomas Jeffries to look for seagull eggs, and they found evidence that the Lone Woman was still alive—recent footprints as well as seal blubber drying on tall poles that were erected near unused huts (Ellison 1984:77-78). When Dittman, Nidever, and the two California Indians arrived on San Nicolas Island later in the year, they found an oblong woven grass basket, about three feet long, placed in the branches of a California Malva real bush. That basket, which was about eighteen inches wide by fourteen inches deep, contained cormorant skins cut into squares, bone needles and knives, fishhooks made of abalone shell, and sinew rope nearly twenty-five feet long (Dittman 1878:6th page). Dittman wanted to place all of the items back in the basket and leave it where they found it, but Nidever thought that they should toss the objects on the ground. When they returned to the island, he reasoned, they would see if the materi-

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al had been returned to the basket and would know that the Lone Woman was indeed alive. That was the strategy that they adopted. The following summer of 1853, Dittman returned to San Nicolas Island once again with George Nidever on board his schooner, the Cora (Bentz et al. 2018). The crew consisted of Dittman, Nidever, an Irishman known as Colorado, and four California native men. Three of those men have been identified: Policarpio, Melquiades, and Hilario Valenzuela (Schwartz et al 2018). They were there primarily to hunt sea otter, but also to look for the Lone Woman, at the request of the Mission Santa Barbara priests (Dittman 1878:6th-7th pages). While on the island, the men began to search for the Lone Woman after spotting her footprints on the island’s west end. Dittman followed her tracks beyond where the prints disappeared in mossy groundcover. He found three empty brush-covered whale rib huts and continued up the northeast side of a ridge. He noticed what appeared to be a crow moving in brush in the distance. This turned out to be the top of the Lone Woman’s head that was barely visible above the brush-covered whale bone enclosure where she was seated. Two dogs alerted to Dittman’s presence, although the woman did not notice him approach. As the dogs began to growl, the Lone Woman gave a yell and the dogs disappeared. In Emma Hardacre’s fanciful portrayal of the Lone Woman’s life, “Eighteen Years Alone: a Tale of the Pacific,” published

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in Scribner’s Monthly, 1880, she exaggerated the number of dogs that were present at the Lone Woman’s hut when Brown approached: “As Brown drew near, a pack of wild dogs reclining close to the woman began to growl; but without looking around the woman uttered a peculiar cry that silenced them, and they ran away to the hills.” (Hardacre 1880:661) The Lone Woman continued to watch the men below but did not notice Dittman nearby. She was seated on the ground of her enclosure, scraping blubber from a seal skin with a knife constructed of a piece of iron hoop and a wood handle. A pile of ashes and bones was just outside her enclosure, and woven grass baskets and waterproof vessels were also on the ground nearby. Dittman decided to attract the attention of the rest of the crew who were searching the flat below the Lone Woman’s home. He placed his hat on the end of the ramrod of his rifle and raised the hat up and down on the rod as a signal to the men to join him. Dittman then presented himself to the Lone Woman, who did not seem startled, but instead smiled, bowed, and talked to him (Dittman 1878:8th page). She was wearing a nearly full-length sleeveless garment of sewn squares of cormorant skin, belted with a sinew rope. Her hair, which was sun-bleached, was thickly matted and reached down to her shoulders. As the other men approached her, the Lone Woman also bowed, smiled, and talked to them. None of the native men present were able to communicate with the Lone Woman. They sat in a

circle around her and she took two different kinds of roots out of two grass bags and roasted them. Once the roots were sufficiently cooked, she offered them to the men to eat. Nidever finally arrived and joined the group. The Lone Woman bowed and smiled to him, as well. Nidever noted, “The old woman was of medium height but rather thick. She must have been about 50 years old, but she was still strong and active. Her face was pleasing, as she was continuously smiling. Her teeth were entire but worn to the gums, the effect, no doubt, of eating dried seal blubber.” (Ellison 1984:83-84) Nidever asked the men if he thought that they could take the woman by force. Dittman replied that he did not think that would be necessary. Dittman patted the woman’s shoulder to get her attention and made motions to suggest packing baskets, carrying them on his back, and walking towards the beach. The Lone Woman understood his meaning and immediately began to put her belongings into baskets. Once the work was completed, all of the men carried baskets as did the Lone Woman, and they stopped at two springs on the way to the shore. The group drank water at what is now known as the Old Garden Spring, and the Lone Woman washed herself at Thousand Springs. Next, they walked along the island’s northwest coast until they reached the location where Nidever’s schooner was anchored (Dittman 1878:9th page). The Lone Woman went on board without any hesitation and stayed near the galley stove, since it was

warm. The native man who was the cook for the hunters had stayed on the Cora and prepared a meal. The Lone Woman received pork and hard tack (biscuits) as soon as everyone was on board, and the food seemed to please her (Ellison 1984:85). It was soon after arriving on the ship that Dittman began to sew a “petticoat” or skirt for the Lone Woman, cut out of bed ticking fabric (Dittman 1878:9th page; Terry 1882:8). To complete the outfit, the men gave the Lone Woman a man’s cotton shirt, a black necktie, and an old cape. The cape, which had belonged to Nidever, was nearly in tatters and the Lone Woman offered to sew up the tears (Ellison 1984:85). Dittman had to thread the needle for her since she had difficulty accomplishing that task, and then she was able to repair the cape. The next day, the group went ashore and set up camp. A sail was used to create a makeshift tent for the hunters and the men made a brush hut for the Lone Woman (Ellison 1984:85). They stayed on shore for about a month, hunting sea otter. The Lone Woman was on her own most of the day, with the cook as a companion. She went to get wood and water and worked on finishing several baskets (Dittman 1878:9th page). At one point, Dittman shot and killed an otter from the shore. The animal was skinned, and the carcass was about to be thrown out to sea, but the Lone Woman protested and indicated that she thought it was a waste of meat to toss the otter into the ocean. After a short while, the carcass began to emit a strong odor, and the Lone Woman al-

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lowed the men to remove the animal. Apparently, this had been a female otter who was about to give birth. Dittman took the young otter, stuffed it, and gave it to the Lone Woman. She hung it from the roof of her shelter by a string and entertained herself by swinging it backwards and forwards (Dittman 1878:9th page). After about a month hunting on San Nicolas Island, when the men had killed over eighty otter, the group packed up and moved onto the Cora and sailed towards Santa Barbara. Soon after they started the voyage, a violent storm sprang up and they navigated toward the leeward side of Santa Cruz Island. During the storm, the Lone Woman gestured to the men that she was going to stop the storm. She got down on her knees, faced the direction of the wind, and appeared to pray. She did this at length and repeated her prayers several times before the wind died down. The Lone Woman smiled and made gestures to indicate that her prayers to calm the storm had been answered (Dittman 1878:9th page; Ellison 1984:87). The next morning, the group arrived in Santa Barbara where the Lone Woman saw sights she had never seen before—oxen pulling an oxcart, and a man on horseback. She appeared to be astounded and delighted. She laughed, talked, and pointed while the oxen and the man on the horse were in view (Dittman 1878:9th page; Ellison 1984:87). The Lone Woman walked to the Nidever adobe at what is now the corner of Quarantina and Quinientos streets,

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where she lived with Nidever, his wife and five children until her death just seven weeks after she set foot on the mainland. From her arrival in Santa Barbara (about September 1, 1853) through mid-October, the Nidever adobe was crowded with people who wanted to get a glimpse of the Lone Woman and her belongings. She put on her bird skin dress, then sang and danced for the visitors, who often gave her small gifts or money. After the visitors left the home, the Lone Woman shared the gifts with the Nidever children (Dittman 1878:10th page). She also returned with gifts when she visited the town, usually in the company of a number of people. The Lone Woman became ill with dysentery within a few weeks, likely after eating unclean fruits and vegetables, and suffered a fall from the Nidever home porch that hurt her back (Stuart 1880:405). Her health rapidly declined. A short time before she died, the Lone Woman gave one of her new baskets to Dittman (Terry 1882:10). Unfortunately, that basket was not kept by the family (R. Dittman, personal communication 2014). Dittman and Nidever left for San Francisco to sell the otter skins that they collected two days before the Lone Woman died.

FIRST FAMILY: FRANCISCA CASCAREÑA FROM MISSION SAN LUIS REY Several events took place during the late 1840s and early 1850s that had a

significant impact on Carl Dittman’s life, in addition to the encounter with the Lone Woman on San Nicolas Island. The first was a relationship between Dittman and a Native American woman, Francisca, which resulted in the birth of two children. Francisca, who at times used the surname Cascareña, had been baptized at Mission San Fernando Rey. We do not know the exact date of her baptism or birth because all of the sacramental records for that mission have been lost. It is likely that Francisca was born about 1822 as implied by her age of forty-eight on the 1870 U.S. Census.5 Francisca gave birth to a daughter, Dominga Amada, before she met Dittman. Dominga was born to Francisca and her husband, Pedro, in Los Angeles in 1841.6 If Francisca was born in 1822, she would have been nineteen when Dominga was born. Like many California Indians whose lives changed following Mexican independence from Spain and mission secularization, Francisca migrated north to look for better opportunities than those that she experienced within the confines of the mission. Francisca traveled from the Mission San Luis Rey area in what is now Oceanside, California, to Santa Barbara with her husband, Pedro. Unfortunately, Pedro, who had also been baptized at Mission San Luis Rey, died in Santa Barbara in 1842.7 Francisca gave birth to a daughter in Santa Barbara a year after Pedro died. María Ramona del Refugio, baptized in Santa Barbara in 1843, was not Pedro’s child. Although the father’s name was not noted on Refugio’s baptismal record,

Refugio claimed that her father was Ramon García, according to her 1872 marriage entry.8 Dittman began a relationship with Francisca by the spring of 1848, and she gave birth to a son, Carlos Manuel, on January 1, 1849.9 Carlos Manuel’s Santa Barbara Presidio baptismal record indicated that Francisca, from Mission San Luis Rey, was his mother, but Carlos’ father was unknown. By February 1850, Francisca gave birth to a daughter, María Juana. Dittman, as Carlos Brown, was named as the father on María Juana’s Santa Barbara Presidio baptismal record.10 However, in an April 11, 1861 Actions of the Santa Barbara District Court document, Dittman declared that he was the father of both Charles (Carlos Manuel) and his sister, Juana (María Juana). “Know all men by these presents that I, Charles Dittmann, commonly known as Charles Brown which latter name I hereby declare is not my true name, do publish, declare, and acknowledge myself to be the father of Charles Cascareña aged about twelve years, and Juana Cascareña aged about eleven years, born in this said county by an Indian woman known by the name of Francisca Cascareña formerly of the mission of San Luis Rey, and I further by these presents hereby adopt the said Charles and Juana Cascareña as my own children.” (Dittman 2005:14; Dittman collection) As the above document suggests, Dittman and Francisca do not appear to have married. No marriage record for the couple has been found, and Juana’s

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baptismal record states that she was natural de or born to parents who were not married. This is one of the reasons why Dittman took the step to formally adopt Francisca’s son and daughter, who were identified with Francisca’s surname, Cascareña, as his own children (Dittman 2005:14). Francisca and Dittman were in a relationship, or at least in contact, for twelve years, from 1848 through 1860 when she was listed with Dittman in the 1860 U.S. Census of Santa Barbara County.11 In fact, Francisca and the two children may have lived with Dittman in 1850, but they were not included on the 1850 U.S. Census of Santa Barbara County because the census enumerator for Santa Barbara did not list any Native Americans, or their mixed-ancestry offspring, in that particular census.12 This omission of Native Americans from the 1850 Federal Census of Santa Barbara County was surprising, given the fact that by 1852, the California State Census showed that at least 606 native men, women, and children were living in Santa Barbara County, out of a total population of 2,131.13 It appears the Santa Barbara County census enumerator, W. B. Stockton, took it upon himself (likely to save time and effort) to ignore the existence of what was likely more than a quarter of the Santa Barbara County population in 1850 by refusing to record native people, or people with perceived native heritage. This exclusion of native people from the 1850 U.S. Census did not occur in neighboring Los Angeles County. In 1860, however, Native Ameri-

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cans were enumerated in Santa Barbara County. Dittman was entered as Charles Brown, thirty-six years old, on that census. Francisca, who was on the line below Dittman (Charles Brown), had an age of thirty on the 1860 census. This was highly likely to be an error because it implied that her birth year was 1830, making her too young to have given birth to daughter Dominga in 1841. There is also a problem with the ages of Francisca’s children with Dittman. Both Juana and Charles are enumerated in the 1860 household: Juana, twelve years old, and Charles, ten years old. The children’s ages were reversed in the census, since Charles was born in 1849 and Juana was born in 1850. Dittman’s relationship with Francisca was not that unusual for couples in Santa Barbara during the mid-nineteenth century. Thomas Jeffries, the English sailor who accompanied George Nidever to San Nicolas Island to hunt for gull eggs in 1852, also started a family with a California Indian woman, Sebastiana. In fact, Sebastiana and Dittman’s partner, Francisca, were friends and were noted in a David Banks Rogers interview as singing and dancing on the Mesa, referred to as the Leadbetter Estates (Harrington 1986: R174, Fr.703). This information came to Rogers from Mrs. Charles Hall, who was the daughter of Richard Jenkins, another Englishman, and Dorotea, a neophyte of Mission Santa Barbara. A young girl at the time, Mrs. Hall was taken by Sebastiana and Francisca to gather roots: “As she was walking along with the two old Indian women, Sebas-

tiana began to sing an Indian song. . . . As Sebastiana began to sing this song, Mrs. Hall looked through the corner of her eyes and saw Francisca dancing to the song as she walked along.” By 1870, Dittman and Francisca were no longer living together. Dittman, forty-six, was listed next to his daughter, Juana, nineteen, on the 1870 U.S. Census, and they lived on State Street in Santa Barbara. Son Charles, twenty-one, a day laborer, lived nearby. As it turns out, Francisca was listed as a widow, with a (w), in the 1870 census. She used the surname Brown, her former “married” name.14 Francisca was in the same household as her daughter, Refugio, who was entered as Refugia García. Also in the household were Refugio’s daughters, Concepción, ten, and Helena, eight. All four females in Francisca’s household were designated with an M in the “color” column, for mulatto— meaning that the census enumerator believed that the two women and two girls were of mixed ethnic origin. A possible reason for Francisca no longer living with Dittman is suggested by a checkmark on the 1870 U.S. Census. Francisca’s daughter, Refugio, was identified with a mark in column 18, “Whether deaf and dumb, blind, insane or idiotic.” If Refugio was disabled, then Francisca may have felt compelled to live with her daughter to take care of her and Refugio’s two young daughters, who were Francisca’s granddaughters.15 Francisca was protective of Refugio, as she amply demonstrated in 1852. On August 10, 1852, Francisca filed a writ with the Santa Barbara County District

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Figure 4. Map section above shows the adobe home of Carl Dittman (known as Charles Brown) on the west side of lower State Street within city block 250. Vitus Wackenreuder is credited as surveyor for the February 1853 map of the city of Santa Barbara. Gledhill Library, Santa Barbara Historical Museum.

Figure 5. Map section above shows the adobe homes of Isaac Sparks and Luis Burton on State Street at Cañón Perdido Street. Section of February 1853 map of the city of Santa Barbara by V. Wackenreuder. Gledhill Library, Santa Barbara Historical Museum.

Court alleging that her daughter, Refugio, was being unlawfully held by José Carrillo (Dittman 2005:15). The Court ordered that Refugio be returned to her mother, Francisca Cascareña. The minutes of the court proceedings are the earliest documentation of Francisca using the surname, Cascareña. We do not know if Refugio lived for a time with Francisca in the Dittman household, but she is not with them on the 1860 census roster. Refugio went on to marry Manuel Cordero in 1872 and the couple, along with her two daughters, are listed in the 1880 U.S. Census of Santa Barbara County.16 The final record that we have

for Francisca is in the 1888 Santa Barbara city directory, where she is recorded as Mrs. Francisca Cascareña, with a residence on Presidio Avenue, close to where the Santa Barbara Historical Museum is today.17

“CASA DE OLIVE” ON STATE STREET On August 19, 1850, Dittman purchased the property and adobe home known as “Casa de Olive” for $310 from the estate of James Scott, his former employer.18 The property was located on the west side of State Street,

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between Haley and Gutierrez streets, on the southeast quadrant of block 250 (Fig. 4). Dittman lived in this home for twenty-seven years. He sold the property and moved to Lompoc in 1887 (Dittman 2005:14). Dittman’s home was about a half mile from the adobe homes of Isaac Sparks and Luis Burton, who lived on the west side of upper State Street, near the intersection of State Street and Cañón Perdido Street (Figs. 3, 5). Sparks was directly involved in the events that led to the Lone Woman’s eighteen-year stay on San Nicolas Island. He chartered the schooner, Peor es Nada, which was used to remove the Lone Woman’s people, the Nicoleños, from San Nicolas Island and took them to San Pedro in 1835 (Morris et al. 2016). Luis Burton was a hunter on the initial voyage of the Peor es Nada in 1834 and may also have participated with Sparks in the 1835 trip to San Nicolas Island. George Nidever’s adobe home, built in 1852, was less than three-quarters of a mile east of Dittman’s new home (Fig. 3). The Nidever family lived in the adobe home on Burton Mound from 1840 until at least April 1852 (See Nidever article, Fig. 6). They were close neighbors to Dittman, and presumably Francisca, young Charles, and Juana, up through that time. Although the deed to Dittman’s new property set out the lot size as sixty-two varas square (Spanish term, equivalent to yards), maps drawn during the early 1850s show the shape of the Dittman property to be rectangular. According to his daughter, Juana, known in later

Figure 6. Ellen Frances Dittman and Frank M. Dill, possibly on their wedding day, Feb. 17, 1892. Dittman Collection, Glenhill Library, Santa Barbara Historical Museum.

years as Mary Jane Brown, the Dittman family home had a shingled roof and a veranda on the front of the house which faced State Street (Dittman 2005:5). Brown said that she been born in the house and stated that she lived in the home until 1872, when she married Benjamin W. C. Brown of Rhode Island, on May 1, 1872.19 Mary Jane Brown recalled that her father owned the land from the adobe house down to the corner of State and Gutierrez streets. The corner of the block was where he kept a corral with

cows and calves. Brown said that her family owned many cows and horses until the drought of 1874, when they all died (Dittman 2011:6). Even with the drought, however, Brown said that there was enough water for people to drink. Like many households in the city, the Dittman property had an open well, and a bucket was used to haul water up out of the well; but because hauling water was a laborious process, women went to Mission Creek to do their laundry. Dittman was very fond of his daughter Mary Jane and gave to her a parcel of land on Gutierrez Street in 1875. In a deed dated May 15, 1875, Dittman declared that “in consideration of love and affection” he granted her a parcel of land on the north side of Gutierrez Street between Anacapa and Santa Barbara streets.20 Mary Jane Brown became a widow after her husband, Benjamin Brown, died in 1883. She never remarried nor does she appear to have had any children. She continued to live in Santa Barbara two blocks east from where she was raised. Her home at 115 East Gutierrez Street was in the same block as

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the parcel that she received from her father.21 Mary Jane Brown died in 1929, and her brother Charles Dittman, died in 1894, following a boating accident (Dittman 2011:5). Neither appear to have left any descendants.

SECOND FAMILY: MARGARET WHITFIELD FROM SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA In 1872, when he was forty-seven, Dittman married a young woman of Irish ancestry from Sydney, Australia: Margaret Whitfield, twenty-four.22 By the 1900 U.S. Census of Santa Barbara County, the couple had eight children, but only four were alive in 1900.23 The children still living in the home as of 1900 were Ludwig, twenty-two years old, George W., twenty years old, and Alfred, who was eighteen. Carl Dill, a seven-year-old grandson, was also enumerated with the Dittman family. His mother Ellen Frances Dittman, born in November 1873, married Frank M. Dill in 1892, and they had a son, Carl

Figure 7. Carl Dittman’s 1840s-era hunting rifle, donated to the Santa Barbara Historical Museum by his sons in 1958. Santa Barbara Historical Museum. Photograph by Bill Dewey.

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(Fig. 6).24 Sadly, Ellen (known as Ella) died in 1895 and was buried in Lompoc, California (Dittman Collection). Ellen’s death was followed soon after by that of Henry Whitfield Dittman, who was born in December 1890, but died in November 1895. And a year later, Anna Wilhelmina Dittman, known as Mena, who was born in November 1889, died in February 1896. All three children were buried in the Evergreen Cemetery, Lompoc, California (Dittman Collection). One of their sons, Charles Dittman, also known as “Doc” or George W. (for George Washington), born in 1880, described his early years in the Dittman home on State Street during a November 26, 1960 interview with nephew Henry Dittman (Dittman collection). My earliest recollections are of Santa Barbara and our home on State Street between Haley and Gutierrez streets… On the property was a large fig tree which we children would climb…The railroad at that time passed near the house and ended at Elwood Street. We kids were in the habit of placing pins on the track for the train to pass over and flatten. Our neighbors were the Forbushes who lived to the south of us; their home faced the railroad tracks. McCorkys [likely, the McClouds] were neighbors on our rear. Further on were the Leyvas. The Southern Pacific Railway tracks and stations were not completed in Santa Barbara until the summer of 1887, so “Doc’s” recollections were from the latter half of 1887 (Myrick 1987:26-27). At this time my father was a landscape gardener and also did carpentry work,

having given up hunting activities which he engaged in for years… Dad worked for a man named Busick while in Santa Barbara. Do not recall the nature of Mr. Busick’s business. My mother worked for Dr. Shaw until her marriage to my father. Carl Dittman moved the family to the Santa Rita area of Lompoc, in Santa Barbara County, after selling the State Street home and property in August 1887 (Dittman 2005:14). Dittman purchased the Santa Rita property from Charles Beckwith. He died on January 11, 1901 in Santa Rita, and is buried in the Evergreen Cemetery in Lompoc.25 His wife, Margaret, seven of their eight children, and several daughters-in-law, were also buried at Evergreen.

RIFLE, POWDER HORN, MARINER’S TELESCOPE AND CARPENTER’S TOOLS

More than one hundred years after Carl Dittman encountered the Lone Woman on San Nicolas Island, his sons donated his hunting rifle and powder horn to the Santa Barbara Historical Society, now the Santa Barbara Historical Museum (Figs. 7-9). Henry Dittman, grandson of Carl Dittman (and son of Ludwig Dittman), donated Dittman’s firearm and powder horn to the Society on behalf of the Dittman sons on August 8, 1958. At the time of the donation, the Society was operating out of the Old Mission in Santa Barbara. The donation receipt was signed by W. Edwin Gledhill, Executive Director of the Society.

Figure 8. Carl Dittman’s 1840s rifle lock showing the name, R Ashmore, along with incised detailing. Santa Barbara Historical Museum. Photograph by Bill Dewey.

Figure 9. Carl Dittman’s powder horn, donated to the Santa Barbara Historical Museum in 1958. Santa Barbara Historical Museum. Photograph by Bill Dewey.

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The hunting rifle had been kept in the Dittman family since Carl Dittman’s death in 1901, passing from Ludwig Dittman to his daughter Elizabeth Daost and husband, then to Elizabeth’s brother, Henry Dittman. Henry Dittman and Edwin Gledhill became friends, and during the late 1950s, Dittman donated not only the rifle, powder horn, and his grandfather’s carpenter’s tools, but also a copy of the unpublished 1878 manuscript with Carl Dittman’s oral history of his life, “Narrative of a Seafaring Life on the Coast of California.” Dittman’s recollections cover events beginning with his departure from Prussia up through the time that the Lone Woman died in Santa Barbara. It is not known for certain whether the octagonal-barrel rifle donated to the Santa Barbara Historical Museum was the rifle that Carl Dittman took with him to San Nicolas Island in 1853. However, “Doc” Dittman claimed that it was, and he saw the final rounds fired from the rifle: “The last load fired out of Dad’s [octagon barrel, percussion] rifle (the one in the Santa Barbara Historical Museum and the one he used all his life) was into an oak tree on the left side of Wilbur Canyon, the only large tree in the area (Dittman Collection).” More recently, Richard Dittman, great-grandson of Carl Dittman, donated his great-grandfather’s mariner’s telescope, known as a “spyglass,” to the Santa Barbara Historical Museum (Figs. 10, 11). At more than thirty-six inches when extended, this wood and brass “spyglass” could certainly have

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47 Figure 10. Carl Dittman’s mariner’s telescope, called a “spyglass,” donated to the Santa Barbara Historical Museum by great-grandson, Richard Dittman. Santa Barbara Historical Museum. Photograph by Susan Morris.

been used while Dittman and Nidever were otter hunting. In fact, in his 1882 interview with James Terry, Dittman told Terry about his 1853 trip to San Nicolas Island: “Then after we went ashore the Old Man got the spyglass to see for otter.” We do not know if Nidever owned his own mariner’s telescope, or borrowed Dittman’s, but the “spyglass” that the Dittman family donated to the Museum would have been a valuable tool that Dittman used during his long and eventful life (Fig. 12).

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION Carl Dittman’s name changes were symbolic of his changing identity and mirror the experience of many immigrants to North America in the nineteenth century. Carl Dittman went from his birth name (spelled Dittmann) to Charles Brown (Charley Brown), to Carlos Brown, to Charles Dittman, in a span of eighteen years, 1843-1861. These name changes represent Dittman’s lack of control over his name as a young sailor in 1843, to the Mexican equivalent of Charley Brown as Car-

los Brown which was noted for him as the father on his daughter’s 1850 Santa Barbara Presidio baptismal record. The final change to the English version of his birth name came in 1861 when Dittman filed court documents and stated that his name was not Charles Brown, but Charles Dittmann. One repercussion of the name changes appears to have been a missed meeting with one of Dittman’s brothers who reportedly came looking for his sibling in Santa Barbara sometime before 1870. Notes in the Dittman Collection of family history material reveal that,

Figure 11. Carl Dittman’s “spyglass” showing identification as a Dolland London, Day or Night mariner’s telescope. Santa Barbara Historical Museum. Photograph by Susan Morris.

Figure 12. Carl Dittman in 1891. Dittman Collection, Gledhill Library, Santa Barbara Historical Museum.

according to Dittman’s wife Margaret, a man named August Dittman came to Santa Barbara by ship looking for his brother, Carl, but could not find him because no one knew who Carl Dittman was—Carl had only been known as Charles Brown. In addition, letters to Carl Dittman had not been delivered to him because the postmaster at that time, William Streeter, only knew of him as Charley Brown. While Dittman sorted through his name alterations and settled into his

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new life in California, Santa Barbara began to transform from Mexican pueblo to American city. The adobe bricks that had been the mainstay for homes and other structures during the first half of the nineteenth century were replaced by wood and brick, following the completion of Stearns Wharf in 1872. The 1,500-foot-long Stearns Wharf made it much easier for lumber and bricks to be shipped to the city for construction projects of all kinds (Morlet 2012:12). A man with carpentry skills such as Carl Dittman was well-placed to be employed during the building boom that began in the 1870s. The map section from the 1877 bird’s-eye view of Santa Barbara shows just how many new homes and other buildings had been erected along lower State Street near Dittman’s home, when compared to the scant number of homes depicted in the same section of the 1853 map of Santa Barbara (Figs. 3, 13). It was when he was working as a carpenter that Dittman applied for his U.S. citizenship. He filed a Letter of Intent to become a naturalized citizen on July 20, 1867 (Dittman 2005:14-15). Four years later, as noted on the California Voter Register for Santa Barbara County, Dittman became a U.S. citizen on August 1, 1871.26 Dittman’s life-changing journey from a Prussian sailor who located the Lone Woman on San Nicolas Island in 1853, to an American family man, was complete.

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Figure 13. Cropped section of a bird’s eye view map of Santa Barbara, 1877. Carl Dittman’s home is below the 18 in the middle of the map (18 represents the I.O.O.F. Hall and Library on the east side of State St.). The Dittman house is the structure in the middle of the block on the west side of State St. The Morris House is one block north and next to 17, at the the intersection of State and Haley streets. Courtesy of the Geography and Maps division, Library of Congress.

NOTES 1

George Nidever was on the Bolivar Liberator (renamed the Oajaca) in 1843 when he visited San Nicolas Island with Isaac Sparks, Job F. Dye, Nicolas Dawson, and Stephen Simmons. The men looked for the Lone Woman and found her footprints but did not see her. Nidever also sailed to San Nicolas Island in 1851 as the pilot of the steamer Quickstep during the U.S. Coastal Survey of the Channel Islands (Ellison 1984:76). He sailed his own schooner, the Cora, to San Nicolas Island three times in 1852 and 1853 before Carl Dittman located the Lone Woman in the summer of 1853 (see Nidever adobe article this issue, Table 1). See Descendant Chart notes for documents related to Mission San Luis Rey neophyte Francisca Cascareña’s life. Carl Dittman, by then known as Charles Dittman, married Margaret Whetfield in 1873 (The Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara, “Marriages, Santa Barbara Presidio, 1786-1885,” no. 813, marriage, Charles Dittman and Margarite Wet-

field, 11 Oct 1873; Santa Barbara Mission Archive-Library (SBMAL), Santa Barbara, California. Carl Dittman’s daughter, Mary Jane Brown (baptized as María Juana), was interviewed for an article that appeared in the May 13, 1922 issue of The Morning Press, part of Michael J. Phillips series: 50 years and more in Santa Barbara (Dittman 2011:5). In the interview, Brown stated that her father, who gave up hunting and worked as a carpenter, helped to build the Morris House fifty years earlier (1872). According to a Santa Barbara newspaper article, Dr. James Shaw opened the Shaw House in November 1871 and, in March 1872, J.F. Morris leased the property and it became the Morris House (Rouse 1971). U.S. Census records for Santa Barbara list Carl Dittman’s profession as a carpenter in 1870 and 1880 (1870 U.S. Census, Santa Barbara County, California, population schedule, Santa Barbara, p. 2 (penned), dwelling 30, family 30, Charles

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50 Ditman, digital image, Ancestry.com (http:// www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 Apr 2018), citing National Archives microfilm publication M593, roll 87; 1880 U.S. Census, Santa Barbara County, population schedule, Santa Barbara, p. 2 (penned), dwelling 10, family 13, Charles Ditman, digital image, Ancestry. com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 Apr 2018), citing National Archives microfilm publication T9, roll 81.

was the daughter of Francisca, a neophyte of Mission San Luis Rey, and an unknown father. The Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara, “Marriages, Santa Barbara Presidio, 17861885,” p. 1397, no. 767, marriage, Manuel Cordero and Refugio Garcia, 17 Feb 1872; SBMAL, Santa Barbara, California. Ramon Garcia and Francisca (Indian) are named as the parents of Refugio Garcia. The Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara, “Second Book of Baptisms, Presidio and Santa Barbara Mission, 1846-1861,” no. 204, Carlos Manuel baptism, 9 Jan 1849, born 1 Jan 1849; SBMAL, Santa Barbara, California. This record states that Carlos Manuel was the son of Francisca, a neophyte from Mission San Luis Rey, and an unknown father. Carlos Manuel was also known as Charles Brown (1860 U.S. Census), taking his father’s assumed surname. According to his sister, María Juana Brown (Mary J. Brown), he was lost at sea when the ship he was sailing in went down in 1894 (Dittman 2011:5).

Ancestry.com, “Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1500-1971,” p. 62, film no. 70165, Carl August Ferdinand Dittmann baptism, 27 November 1825, born 7 November 1825; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 Apr 2018).

Dominga Amada, “The Huntington Library, Early California Population Project Database, 2006,” The Huntington Library Early California Population Project, entry for Dominga Amada, baptism 01044, 17 Feb 1841, legitimate daughter of Pedro and Francisca, neophytes of Mission San Luis Rey, citing the Los Angeles Plaza Church baptisms.

The Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara, “Second Book of Baptisms, Presidio and Santa Barbara Mission, 1846-1861,” no. 326, María Juana baptism, 5 Nov 1850, born 31 Feb 1850 [sic]; SBMAL, Santa Barbara, California. This record states that María Juana was the natural daughter (unmarried parents) of Carlos Brown and Francisca, a neophyte from Mission San Luis Rey.

1860 U.S. Census, Santa Barbara County, California, population schedule, Santa Barbara, p. 26, dwelling 173, lines 20-23, Charles Brown (36), Otter Hunter, Francisca (30), Juana (12), Charles (10), digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 Apr 2018). The ages for Juana and Charles are switched in this census.

The Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara, “Deaths, Book 1, 1782-1878,” no. 450, Pedro, neophyte of Mission San Luis Rey, burial 21 May 1842; SBMAL, Santa Barbara, California.

The Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara, “First Book of Baptisms, Presidio, Vol. 1, 17721846,” no. 1557, María Ramona del Refugio baptism, 17 Jun 1843; SBMAL, Santa Barbara, California. María Ramona del Refugio

1850 U.S. Census, Santa Barbara County, California, population schedule, Santa Barbara, unnumbered page, dwelling 147, family

DITTMAN 171, line 6, Charles Brown (25), digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 2 May 2018) ), citing National Archives microfilm publication M432, roll 35. 13

1852 California State Census, Santa Barbara County, California, population schedule, Santa Barbara, p. 48 (penned), census totals, “Total number of civilized Indians 606,” digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www. ancestry.com : accessed 3 May 2018), citing California State Library microfilm C144, roll 5. 1870 U.S. Census, Santa Barbara County, California, population schedule, Santa Barbara, Township no. 2, p. 11, dwelling 135, line 40, Francisca Brown (48), digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 Apr 2018). Francisca is living in a household with daughter, Refugia Garcia (26), and two granddaughters, Concepción (10), and Helena (8). These three are listed at the top of the next page, p. 12, lines 1-3.

Refugio’s two daughters had two different non-native fathers, neither of whom she was married to at the time that she gave birth: The Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara, “Third Book of Baptisms of the Royal Presidio and Our Lady of Sorrows,” p. 9, no. 2273, Asencion baptism, 13 June 1861, to Jose Dolores Burk and Refugio Garcia; SBMAL, Santa Barbara, California; The Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara, “Third Book of Baptisms of the Royal Presidio and Our Lady of Sorrows,” p. 52, no. 2553, Elena Kimberly baptism, 4 April 1864, to Marcos Kimberly and Refugio Garcia; SBMAL, Santa Barbara, California. 1880 U.S. Census, Santa Barbara County, California, population schedule, Santa Barbara, p. 17 (stamped 494), dwelling 180, line 4, Refugio Cordero (31), digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 Apr 2018).

51 17

“The Independent Publishing Company’s New Directory of the City of Santa Barbara, Cal., 1888” (Santa Barbara, CA: The Independent Publishing Company, 1886), 43, entry for “Cascarena, Mrs. Francisca,” “res. Presidio Avenue”; digital image, Ancestry. com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 Apr 2018). Since the date for this city directory is 1888, Francisca Cascareña’s death was after that date. Francisca appears to have been living just a short distance away from the current location of the Santa Barbara Historical Museum on East De la Guerra Street. Santa Barbara County, California, Deed Book B:1-2, John Wilson, Executor, estate of James Scott to Charles Brown, 19 August 1850; Hall of Records, Santa Barbara.

Brigham Young University-Idaho, “Western States Marriage Index, 1809-2011,” Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, no. 560062, marriage, B.W.C. Brown and Mary J. Ditman, 1 May 1872, database, Ancestry. com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 May 2018).

Santa Barbara County, California, Deed Book N:635, Charles Dittman alias Brown to Mary Jane Brown, 15 May 1875; Hall of Records, Santa Barbara.

1920 U.S. Census, Santa Barbara County, California, population schedule, Santa Barbara, p. 6B, house number 115 E. Gutierrez St., line 83, Mary J. Brown (69), digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 May 2018); citing National Archives microfilm publication T625, roll 146.

Ancestry.com, “Australia, Birth Index, 17881922,” Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, vol. no. V184870865, birth, Margaret Whitfield, 1848, parents Thomas Whitfield and Margaret; database, Ancestry.com (http:// www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 May 2018).

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52 1900 U.S. Census, Santa Barbara County, California, population schedule, Lompoc, p. 151A, dwelling 233, family 233, lines 18-23, Charles Ditman (77), Margaret (50), Ludwig (22), George W (20), Alfred (18), Carl Dill (7), digital image, Ancestry.com (http:// www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 May 2018); citing National Archives microfilm publication T623. In columns 11 and 12 of this census, women are asked: “Mother of how many children,” and “How many of these children living?” The answers to these questions for Margaret Ditman were 8 and 4. Baptisms for the three Dittman sons listed above are as follows: Our Lady of Sorrows, “Baptisms, Book III, 1861-1885,” no. 4126, Charles Ludovich Dittman baptism, 29 April 1878, born 18 February 1878; SBMAL, Santa Barbara, California; Our Lady of Sorrows, “Baptisms, Book III, 1861-1885,” no. 4403, Charles Dittman baptism, 11 April 1880, born 22 February 1880; SBMAL, Santa Barbara, California; Our Lady of Sorrows, “Baptisms, Book III, 1861-1885,” no. 4580, Alfred Augosto Dittman baptism, 31 March 1882, born 17 March 1882; SBMAL, Santa Barbara, California. A son, Thomas Herman Dittman, who was baptized as German (Herman) Thomas Dittman, was alive in 1880 but has not been located in census records: Our Lady of Sorrows, “Baptisms, Book III, 1861-1885,” no. 3866, German Thomas Detmann baptism, 30 January 1875; SBMAL, Santa Barbara, California. Lewis Carl Dittman, who was baptized in 1874, died less

than a year later, in 1875: Our Lady of Sorrows, “Baptisms, Book III, 1861-1885,” no. 3634, Lewis Carl Dittman baptism, 31 March 1882, born 17 March 1882; SBMAL, Santa Barbara, California.

Brigham Young University-Idaho, “Western States Marriage Index, 1809-2011,” Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, marriage, Frank M. Dill and Ellen Frances Dittman, 17 February 1892, database, Ancestry. com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 6 May 2018); Find a Grave, “Find a Grave,” burial Ellen Frances, daughter of Carl and Margaret Dittmann, death 20 January 1895, digital image, Findagrave.com (http://www. findagrave.com : accessed 6 May 2018).

Find a Grave, “Find a Grave,” burial Charles Dittman, death 11 January 1901, digital image, Findagrave.com (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 9 May 2018).

Santa Barbara County, California, Great Register, 1892, Santa Rita Precinct, for Charles Dittman, age 73, digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 May 2018); citing California State Library, Sacramento. Dittman’s age in this register is in error by about 6 years, or about 67 years old. Dittman was described in this register as being 5’7” tall, with brown hair and blue eyes, and he had a mark on the left temple.

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REFERENCES Bentz, Linda, Susan L. Morris, and Robert V. Schwemmer 2018 The Lone Woman at the Crossroads. California Humanities project HFAQ1738 working paper, last modified 23 May 2018, Microsoft Word file. Dawson, Nicholas 1975 California in ’41, Texas in ’51, Memoirs. In Western Americana: Frontier History of the Trans-Mississippi West, 1550-1900, no. 1551. New Haven, CT: Research Publications, Inc. Dittman, Carl 1878

Narrative of a Seafaring Life on the Coast of California. MS on file at the University of California Bancroft Library, Berkeley. Dittman Collection. Gledhill Library, Santa Barbara Historical Society, Santa Barbara, California.

Dittman, Richard H. 2005 Good Grief, Charley Brown. Ancestors West 31 (1 & 2): 13-15. Dittman, Richard H. 2011 The Confusing Biography of Mrs. Mary J. Brown. Ancestors West 37 (3 & 4): 4-8. Ellison, William H., (ed.) 1984 The Life and Adventures of George Nidever [1802-1883]: The life story of a remarkable California pioneer told in his own words, and none wasted. Santa Barbara: McNally & Loftin, and Tucson: Southwest Monuments and Parks Association. Hardacre, Emma 1880 Eighteen Years Alone: A Tale of the Pacific. Scribner’s Monthly 20:657-664. Harrington, John P. 1986 John P. Harrington Vol 3: Southern California and Basin. Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution, National Anthropological Archives [Microfilm edition. Millwood, NY: Kraus International Publications.] Morris, Susan L., John R. Johnson, Steven J. Schwartz, Rene L. Vellanoweth, Glenn J. Farris, Sara L. Schwebel 2016 The Nicoleños in Los Angeles: Documenting the Fate of the Lone Woman’s Community. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 36 (1).

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54 Morlet, Aubrie 2012

City of Santa Barbara West Downtown Historic Building Survey. Electronic document, City of Santa Barbara (https://www.santabarbaraca.gov/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?blobid=34359 : accessed 23 May 2018).

Murray, Edward F. (ed.) 1878 The Indian Woman of San Nicolas by George Nidever, MS on file at the Braun Research Library, Autry Museum, Los Angeles.1987. Myrick, David F. 1987 Santa Barbara County Railroads, A Centennial History. Noticias, Quarterly Bulletin of the Santa Barbara Historical Society 33(2 and 3):26-27. Nidever, George 1878 Life and Adventures of George Nidever, a Pioneer of Cal. since 1834. MS on file at the University of California Bancroft Library, Berkeley. O’Dell, Scott 1960 Island of the Blue Dolphins. New York: Houghton Mifflin. Ogden, Adele 1941 The California Sea Otter Trade, 1784-1848. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1979 Trading Vessels on the California Coast, 1786-1848. MS on file at the Bancroft Library, Berkeley. Rouse, Stella Haverland 1971 Olden Days: Visitors were Housed in Comfort. Santa Barbara News-Press, 21 November 1971. Schwartz, Steven J., Susan L. Morris, John R. Johnson. 2018 The Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island: Her Story from Native American Sources. Presentation at the May 2018 meeting of the Santa Barbara County Archaeological Society, Santa Barbara, California. Stuart, Absalom 1880 A Female Crusoe. The Sanitarian 8(90):400-406. Terry, James 1882

DITTMAN

FRANCISCA CASCAREÑA, NATIVE AMERICAN FROM Francisca MISSION SAN LUIS REY DESCENDANTS Cascareña, Native American from Mission San Luis Rey Descendants (one generation)

Franciscaa abt. 1822—aft. 1888

Pedrob abt. 1820—1842

Dominga Amadac 1841—1926

Ramon Garciad abt. 1820—unknown

Refugio Garciae 1843—aft. 1880

Carl Dittmanf 1825—1901 Carlos Manuelg 1849—abt. 1894

María Juanah 1850—1929

1870 U.S. Census, Santa Barbara County, California, population schedule, Santa Barbara, Township no. 2, p. 11, dwelling 135, line 40, Francisca Brown (48), digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 Apr 2018). Francisca is living in a household with daughter, Refugia Garcia (26), and two granddaughters, Concepcion (10), and Helena (8). These three are listed at the top of the next page, p. 12, lines 1-3; “The Independent Publishing Company’s New Directory of the City of Santa Barbara, Cal., 1888” (Santa Barbara, CA: The Independent Publishing Company, 1886), 43, entry for “Cascarena, Mrs. Francisca,” “res. Presidio Avenue”; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 Apr 2018). Since the date for this city directory is 1888, Francisca Cascareña’s death was after that date. See note f for details about a 1870 U.S. Census, Santa Barbara County, baptisms; The Royal Presidio of Santa BarFrancisca’s use of the surname, Cascareña.

NOTES

California, population schedule, Santa Bar-

bara, “Deaths, Book 1, 1782-1878,” no. 450,

cessed 22 Apr 2018). Francisca is living in

California.

(10), and Helena (8). These three are listed

nia Death Index, 1905-1939“ state file no.

“The Independent Publishing Company’s

digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.an-

entry for “Cascarena, Mrs. Francisca,” “res.

search, (www.vitalsearch-worldwide.com).

Dominga Amada, “The Huntington Population The Huntington Library EarlySan California Populabara, Township no.Library, 2, p.Early 11,California dwelling 135,Project Database, Pedro,2006,” neophyte of Mission Luis Rey, tion Project, entry for Dominga Amada, baptism 01044, 17 Feb 1841, legitimate daughter of Pedro and Francisca, neophytes of Mission San Luis line 40, Francisca Brown (48), digital image, burial 21 May 1842; Santa Barbara Mission Rey, citing the Los Angeles Plaza Church baptisms; The Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara, “Deaths, Book 1, 1782-1878,” no. 450, Pedro, neophyte of Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : acArchive-Library (SBMAL), Santa Barbara, Mission San Luis Rey, burial 21 May 1842; Santa Barbara Mission Archive-Library (SBMAL), Santa Barbara, California.

For baptism citation see above; “California Death Index, 1905-1939“ state file no. 10873, “Salcida, Dominga,” 12 Feb 1926, digital image, Ancesa household with daughter, Refugia Garcia try.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 Apr 2018); citing California Department of Health and Welfare, California Vital Records Search(26), and two granddaughters, Concepcion c For baptism citation see above; “CaliforVitalsearch, (www.vitalsearch-worldwide.com).

The Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara, “Marriages, Santa Barbara Presidio, 1786-1885,” p. 1397, no. 767, marriage, Manuel Cordero and Refugio at the top of the next page, p. 12, lines 1-3; 10873, “Salcida, Dominga,” 12 Feb 1926, Garcia, 17 Feb 1872; SBMAL, Santa Barbara, California. Ramon Garcia and Francisca (Indian) are named as the parents of Refugio Garcia. The Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara, “First Bookof of Baptisms, Presidio, Vol. 1, 1772-1846,” no. 1557, Maria Ramona Refugio baptism,citing 17 Jun New Directory of the City Santa Barbacestry.com : accessed 22delApr 2018); 1843; SBMAL, Santa Barbara, California. Maria Ramona del Refugio was the daughter of Francisca, a neophyte of Mission San Luis Rey, and an ra, Cal., 1888” (Santa Barbara, CA: The InCalifornia Department of Health and Welunknown father; 1880 U.S. Census, Santa Barbara County, California, population schedule, Santa Barbara, p. 17 (stamped 494), dwelling 180, line dependent Publishing Company, 1886), 43, fare, California Vital Records Search-Vital4, Refugio Cordero (31), digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 Apr 2018).

1860 U.S. census, Santa Barbara County, California, population schedule, Santa Barbara, p. 26, dwelling 173, lines 20-23, Charles Brown (36), Presidio Avenue”; digital image, Ancestry. Otter Hunter, Francisca (30), Juana (12), Charles (10), digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 Apr 2018). The ages com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 d The Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara, “Marfor Juana and Charles are switched in this census (see baptismal records below). Francisca’s age of 30 in this census was also incorrect because 2018).Amada, Sincein the thisgreat-grandson city di- of Carlriages, Santa Barbara Presidio, 1786-1885,” she had aApr child, Dominga 1841.date Richardfor Dittman, Dittman, published a record which confirms that his greatrectory is the 1888, death p. 1397, marriage, Manuel Cordero grandfather, Carl, was fatherFrancisca of both CarlosCascareña’s Manuel and Maria Juana: in the Actions of the no. Santa767, Barbara District Court, 11 Apr 1861, Dittman was after date. See not note f for details andof Refugio Garcia, 17 Feb 1872; claims that his real namethat is Charles Dittmann, Charles Brown, that he is the father Charles Cascareña and Juana Cascareña by SBMAL, Francisca, an Indian formerly Mission San Luisuse Rey, and formally adopts the two children as his own (Dittman California. 2005:14). Francisca used the surname aboutof Francisca’s of that thehesurname, CasSanta Barbara, Ramon Garcia Cascareñacareña. as early as 1852. in District Court Minutes, Santa Barbara County, 10 Aug 1852,Francisca a writ states that Francisca Cascareña was theas mother and (Indian) are named the of Refugio who was being held by Jose Carrillo (Dittman 2005:15).

parents of Refugio Garcia.

ThebRoyal of Santa Barbara, “Second of Baptisms, Presidio DPresidio ominga Amada, “The Book Huntington Li- and Santa Barbara Mission, 1846-1861,” no. 204, Carlos Manuel baptism, 9 Jan 1849, born 1 Jan 1849; SBMAL, Santa Barbara, California. This record states Carlos Presidio Manuel was the of Francisca, a neophyte brary, Early California Population Project e Thethat Royal of son Santa Barbara, “First from Mission San Luis Rey, and an unknown father. Carlos Manuel was also known as Charles Brown (1860 U.S. census), taking his father’s asDatabase, 2006,” The Huntington Library Book of Baptisms, Presidio, Vol. 1, 1772sumed surname. According to his sister, Maria Juana Brown (Mary J. Brown), he was lost at sea when the ship he was sailing in went down in Early California Population Project, entry 1846,” no. 1557, María Ramona del Refugio 1894 (Dittman 2011:5). g

for Dominga Amada, baptism 01044, 17

baptism, 17 Jun 1843; SBMAL, Santa Bar-

The Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara, “Second Book of Baptisms, Presidio and Santa Barbara Mission, 1846-1861,” no. 326, Maria Juana baptism, Feb 1841, legitimate daughter of Pedro and bara, California. María Ramona del Refugio 5 Nov 1850, born 31 Feb 1850 [sic]; SBMAL, Santa Barbara, California. This record states that Maria Juana was the natural daughter (unmarried Francisca, neophytes of Mission San Luis was the daughter of Francisca, a neophyte parents) of Carlos Brown and Francisca, a neophyte from Mission San Luis Rey. “California Death Index, 1905-1939“ state file no. 34945, “Brown, Rey, citing the Los Angeles Plaza Church of Mission Sanciting Luis Rey,Department and an unknown Minnie J,” 8 Jun 1929, digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 Apr 2018); California of Health and Welfare, California Vital Records Search-Vitalsearch, (www.vitalsearch-worldwide.com). Minnie is a nickname for Mary.

NOTICIAS

56 father; 1880 U.S. Census, Santa Barbara County, California, population schedule, Santa Barbara, p. 17 (stamped 494), dwelling 180, line 4, Refugio Cordero (31), digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry. com : accessed 22 Apr 2018). f 1860 U.S. Census, Santa Barbara County, California, population schedule, Santa Barbara, p. 26, dwelling 173, lines 20-23, Charles Brown (36), Otter Hunter, Francisca (30), Juana (12), Charles (10), digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 Apr 2018). The ages for Juana and Charles are switched in this census (see baptismal records below). Francisca’s age of 30 in this census was also incorrect because she had a child, Dominga Amada, in 1841. Richard Dittman, great-grandson of Carl Dittman, published a record which confirms that his great-grandfather, Carl, was the father of both Carlos Manuel and María Juana: in the Actions of the Santa Barbara District Court, 11 Apr 1861, Dittman claims that his real name is Charles Dittmann, not Charles Brown, that he is the father of Charles Cascareña and Juana Cascareña by Francisca, an Indian formerly of Mission San Luis Rey, and that he formally adopts the two children as his own (Dittman 2005:14). Francisca used the surname Cascareña as early as 1852. in District Court Minutes, Santa Barbara County, 10 Aug 1852, a writ states that Francisca Cascareña

was the mother of Refugio who was being held by José Carrillo (Dittman 2005:15). g The Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara, “Second Book of Baptisms, Presidio and Santa Barbara Mission, 1846-1861,” no. 204, Carlos Manuel baptism, 9 Jan 1849, born 1 Jan 1849; SBMAL, Santa Barbara, California. This record states that Carlos Manuel was the son of Francisca, a neophyte from Mission San Luis Rey, and an unknown father. Carlos Manuel was also known as Charles Brown (1860 U.S. census), taking his father’s assumed surname. According to his sister, María Juana Brown (Mary J. Brown), he was lost at sea when the ship he was sailing in went down in 1894 (Dittman 2011:5). h The Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara, “Second Book of Baptisms, Presidio and Santa Barbara Mission, 1846-1861,” no. 326, María Juana baptism, 5 Nov 1850, born 31 Feb 1850 [sic]; SBMAL, Santa Barbara, California. This record states that María Juana was the natural daughter (unmarried parents) of Carlos Brown and Francisca, a neophyte from Mission San Luis Rey. “California Death Index, 1905-1939“ state file no. 34945, “Brown, Minnie J,” 8 Jun 1929, digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 Apr 2018); citing California Department of Health and Welfare, California Vital Records Search-Vitalsearch, (www.vitalsearch-worldwide.com). Minnie is a nickname for Mary.

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Contents: The Lone Woman’s Last Home ......................... Page 3 Carl Dittman Builds a Better Life in Santa Barbara ...................................... Page 31