Leon 1

San Gabriel Mission: The Queen of the Missions

Crystal Leon
History 301
Professor Resnick
April 30, 2014

Leon 2
The Queen of the Missions
Missions in California were founded with the idea of Christianizing the Native people of
that land, but also for economic gain. 1 They felt that the Native people of the land were savages
that needed to be saved by God. The San Gabriel Mission is one of twenty one missions build in
Alta California by orders of Franciscan missionary Friar Junipero Sera. It was founded on
September 8, 1771 by Father Pedro Cambon and Angel Somera, and it became the fourth
mission constructed. Every mission build was for the purpose of Christianizing the Native people
and also for economic gain, so what made the San Gabriel mission different from the other
missions?
The San Gabriel Mission was built on the basis of spreading Christianity in the new world like
the other missions. Several aspects, however, set apart the San Gabriel Mission form all the
others. The first difference of the San Gabriel was that they had the most baptisms than any other
mission. The second reason was that this mission was known as the Queen of the Missions
because the production of crops such as beans and corn made this mission incredibly prosperous.
Along with producing an abundance of crops it had an abundance of cattle. San Gabriel mission
started with one hundred and twenty eight livestock and by 1772 it reached to forty two thousand
three hundred and fifty. 2 In addition, the San Gabriel mission had a source of fresh water via
aqueducts and reservoirs, it was able to establish and maintain gardens, mills and vineyards that
produced wine. 3 The San Gabriel mission also had a high population. The highest population
1
2
3

Leon 3
recorded was in 1871 with 1,071 people living in the mission. Because the mission had a high
population, they also had a high demand of soldiers.
In the Memoir of Eulalia Perez , Perez writes about her time in the San Gabriel Mission
Some three years later, I came back to San GabrielWhen we arrived Father Jose Sanchez
lodged me and my family temporarily in a small house until work could be found for me My
son Isidro Guillen was taken into service as a soldier in the mission guard Father Zalvadea
introduced many improvements in the mission of San GabrielFather Zalvidea was very much
attached to his children at the mission, as he called the Indians that he himself converted to
Christianity. He traveled personally, sometimes on horseback and at other time on foot and
crossed mountains until he came to remote Indian settlements, in order to bring them into our
religion. Not content with providing abundantly for the neophytes, he planted fruit trees in the
mountains, far away from the missions, in order that the untamed Indians might have food when
they passed by those spots.4
This account by Eulalia Perez gives one an insight to how life was in the mission. It shows how
the demand for soldiers or guards was in high demand because of the large population in the
mission. Furthermore, it shows that the priest had good intentions toward the Native Americans
by providing for them and trying to save them. Even though one can argue that the central
beliefs of the Franciscan and colonizers about the Native people were ignorant, the Franciscans
whole heartedly believed that the only way to save those souls was by converting them into
Christianity. The Franciscans like Juniper Sera wanted to do the duties that they believed God
had sent them on this Earth to do, and that was spread Christianity and his word.
4

Leon 4
The San Gabriel mission is an extremely well kept mission that is full of history. This mission
brings in a lot of tourism and also economic revenue to the city of San Gabriel. It still continues
to set itself apart by having a lot of the original material from the mission. A google review says
Took my 9yr. old daughter there and we both enjoyed the place very much. I've never been to a
mission before and visiting this on really sparked an interest in seeing more around Southern
California. It was very informative and the artifacts, I thought, were very impressive. We'll be
going there again sometime soon 5 This shows that historical sites like the mission of San
Gabriel, provide the opportunity for parents and teachers alike to educate kids on the history of
the missions and of California. Along with providing a chance to teach kids about California
history it is also a hot site for excavating remains thus adding more to the already rich historical
site. In an article in the Los Angeles Times from February 2012, it says that they found new
artifacts after they were digging to build a new freight train. The L.A times says Halfway
through their hunt, the archaeologists have recovered some 20,000 artifacts. By the time they
finish in mid-March, they predict, as many as 60,000 will have been unearthed and cataloged. 6
The recent excavation of this site provides publicity and sparks interest of people to go and visit
the mission. That spark of curiosity is what gets people to become active learners of history.

5
6

Leon 5

Bibliography
1. Jackson, Willian Henry. The Mission of Alta California. 2012.
http://libraries.ucsd.edu/speccoll/missionsites/#intro (accessed april 24, 2013).
2. Pool, Bob. Los Angeles Time: At a planned train trench, an archaeological treasure trove. Los
Angeles, February 06, 2012.
3. Susie S. Porter, Nora E. Jafarly, Edward W. Osowski. "Mexican History: A Primary Source
Reader." 212-218. Philidelphia: Westview Press, 2010.
4. Terry L. Jones and Kathryn A. Klar (eds.) (2007). California Prehistory: Colonization,
Culture, and Complexity. Altimira Press, Landham, MD

5. Yelp: San Gabriel Mission. 2004-2014. http://www.yelp.com/biz/san-gabriel-mission-sangabriel (accessed April 22, 2014).
6. Zephyrin Engelhardt (1931). Mission San Gabriel Arcngel. Franciscan Herald Press,
Chicago, IL.