A couple of years ago, I came across a copy of a newspaper obituary from 1916 of my great great grandmother Maríe Antonia Littlejohn de Castro. As typical of some of the Californio obituaries of the early 20^th century, I thought there were some embellishments. It was stated in the article that Antonia’s husband, Francisco Castro, was the son of General Rafael Castro. There is no evidence that Rafael Castro was a general. The other statement that I assumed false was that Antonia’s father, David Littlejohn was a Scottish sea captain. I knew that David had worked for the John Begg Company, an English shipping company in Chile and Callao the seaport of Lima, Peru before coming to Alta California about 1823, but I did not believe he had been a ship’s captain. I quickly passed off the information as being false.

          This last May I was on a history tour in Northern England, near the border with Scotland. After the tour, I decided to spend a couple of days doing research in Arbroath, Angus, Scotland, David Littlejohn’s birthplace. While there, I happened upon an interesting record of a posthumous baptism of a child of Alexander Littlejohn. The child’s father’s occupation was ship’s master which is the captain. So, there is a possibility that David may have followed in his relative's footsteps and had been a ship’s captain for a short period. Lesson learned: When doing genealogical research, do not make assumptions and pass off information as being false until you have proven it to be false.

          The whole incident made me wonder about all the stories our Californio ancestors might have passed down to their children and grandchildren that in turn were passed down the generations. Francisco Castro and Antonia Littlejohn had sixteen children. When Antonia died in 1916, she already had eighty-five grandchildren. She was also a great and a great great grandmother. I imagine she had a lot of stories for her descendants. A lot of the Californio families had large families. I think we need to go on a campaign to seek out the stories our Californio ancestors may have passed down to their descendants. There is probably a lot of history there that could be lost. With Los Californianos’ membership of 760+, I would think there would be a multitude of stories out there. As a history buff, especially Californio history, I would be interested in hearing some of these stories. This might be a big task, but it would be worth it in the end. I would like to hear your suggestions.

          One bit of information came to me from our member, Ernest Márquez. He says that on June 19, 1839, the Mexican government granted the Rancho Boca de Santa Monica to his ancestor, Francisco Márquez and Francisco Reyes. This last June 19^th it was 170 years ago. He says his cousin, Rosemary Miano, descendant of Bonifacio Márquez, still owns the lot where her house is today in Santa Monica Canyon. Her land has not changed hands from Marquez family descendants since 1839. He is interested in knowing if any other land grant families in California still own a portion of a land grant that has been owned by the family since the land was granted to their ancestor. I would also like to know. I already know of a few, but I’m sure there are more.

          The Riverside meeting which had been scheduled for October 2009 is now rescheduled for April 2010.

          Joseph Sepúlveda Barnes, President