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Show 474 LEADING FACTS OF NEW MEXICAN HISTORY SPANISH tain grievances relative to the revenues of the crown; that on account of his services in this matter the king ‘‘declared his purpose to have selected and located to him’’ the barony of Arizona, or some other land or property. The petition further set forth that not only did Philip V, in 1744, confer this grant upon the ‘‘Baron of Arizonaca’’ but Ferdinand VI, in 1748, affirmed the same grant; that actual possession was delivered to Don Miguel and in 1778 all of these proceedings were confirmed by Carlos IIT.°* It was alleged that the first Don Miguel had a son, Don Jesus Miguel, who became the second baron of Arizona, who married and was survived by a daughter, Dofia Sofia Laura Micaela Silva de Peralta de la Cordoba de Sanchez y Ybarra de Escobeda; that she married Don José Ramon Carmen Maso y Castillo, of Cadiz, Spain, in 1860, and that, on March 4, 1862, there were born to them twins, a girl and a boy, the girl later becoming the wife of Reavis. That these children were born while the Masos were en route to San Francisco from southern California.®%” 396 It was also alleged that the grant was to contain 300 square Spanish leagues of land situate in the northern part of the vice-royalty of New Spain and to be of such form as not to interfere with previous concessions; that it was to include all of the lands, waters, and currents, and all of the minerals, and everything appertaining to the land; that the originals of the confirmatory decrees have always been in the proper archives of Spain and Mexico; that the action of the Inquisition of Mexico on October 10, 1757, specifically designated the proposed location of the grant; that on January 3, 1758, the viceroy of Mexico ordered possession to be given to the newly created baron; that an act of juridical possession of May 13, 1758, recited that said act corresponded with the map etched upon a monumental rock the center of the west boundary line of the grant, lying at the eastern base of Maricopa mountain, and of the nobility, primogeniture, state, and emoluments of said baron, and of the legitimacy, nobility, and primogeniture of his 80”, Jesus Miguel Silva de Peralta de la Cordoba y Sanchez de Bonilla — the second baron of Arizona— by Bonilla y Amaya; that by first baron devised to his barony of Arizona; that on Jara, leaving his wife and his wife, Dofia Sofia Ave Maria Sanches de a codicil to his will, dated January 13, 1788, the son, Jesus Miguel, all the property known as the February 1, 1824, the first baron died in Guadalason, Jesus Miguel, the latter being his only heir, and that his will and codicil were admitted to probate in the city of Guadala- jara, after which the of Arizona. 397 It was alleged executors administered that birth the of this the estate, female including descendant the of barony the first Baron of Arizona occurred on a ranch at Agua Mansa, near San Bernardino, California, while Don José, known as José Maso, with his wife and mother and father-in-law, and an American friend, named John A. Treadway, were ©? route to San Franciseo. It was declared that these children were baptized at the old church of San Salvador, father and paternal grandmother, Castillo, and that the mother and the god-parents being the maternal and Louis Robidoux and the boy twin died a few grand: his wife, Flavia days later. The AND MEXICAN LAND GRANTS 475 About two years after the arrival of the Masos in California, a man named Treadway, who had been of the party, and who had been acting as guardian for the alleged infant heiress, went to Sacramento, where it was said that he died. About 1867 the girl’s grand- mother also died. <A year later the nurse, Tomasa, died, leaving the child in the custody of A. E. Sherwood, in whose house she had lived since 1862. In 1869, Sherwood, being unable to provide for her education, gave her to John W. Snowball of Knight’s Landing, who raised and educated her. From 1876 to the year of her alleged marriage by contract with Reavis, she resided with various persons, being a member of the household of John D. Stevens, of Woodland, in 1882, the year in which, according to the story of Reavis, her association with Reavis was begun. These facts constitute an epitome of the claim presented by Reavis and his wife. In proof of his allegations he had a mass of evidence which had every appearance of being genuine and conclusive. There were copies, duly certified, of the contents of books of record, alleged to have been found in the Guadalajara archives, all of which referred to the allegations concerning the events transpiring between 1742 and 1778. The genealogy of the mythical baron of Arizona was traced back for centuries in Spain, and it appeared that he was the possessor of all the titles which were enumerated in the petition. All that was necessary was to prove that the wife of Reavis was the great-granddaughter of Don Miguel, the first baron of Arizonaca. this cunning So trifling a matter of proof as this did not worry swindler. During the same year that he filed his petition he secured depositions in California which appeared to establish the identity of his wife. Many lawyers of high standing were of the opinion that the government would not be able to withbaptism and records of this church contain what purport to be entries of the The remainder of the party continued on to San Francisco, where burial. they remained some time, there forming the acquaintance of a number of In people who testified to facts showing that they had been in that city. and a nurse July, 1862, Dofia Carmelita Maso, the mother of Don José Maso, named Tomasa, accompanied Treadway to the Sherwood valley in Mendocino Maso shortly afterward visited Spain for the purpose of obcounty, California. taining from the Spanish government a sum of money which it was alleged was Later on his father-in-law also went to Spain, due him and his father-in-law. but before he departed it was claimed that he made a will in San Francisco, to which he added a codicil after his arrival in Spain, leaving all of his Both men died in Spain a few years to his infant granddaughter. ade er. |