moro y cayucos
Rancho Moro Y Cayucos
"Morro Bay to Cayucos two leagues were granted to Joseph Leonardo Martin Olivera and Vincente Felix 1842." Martin Olivera was the son of Juan Maria Olivera and Maria Guadalupe Briones. Martin was a soldier of the Monterey Company assigned to Mission Soledad. His daughter, Maria Augustina Olivera was born at Mission Soledad August 28, 1819. Maria Augustina married Vincente Felix and they moved to San Luis Obispo in 1825. Her father Martin asked for a grant because of his service to Mexico. They sold Rancho Morro Y Cayucos in 1845 and were all living in San Luis Obispo. Vincente died of cholera December 1, 1850. (1)(2)"San Luis Obispo is addressed as a pueblo in 1845, in a deed dated November 20th of that year, wherein Joaquin Estrada, Juez Primero, certifies to the sale by Don Vincente Felis to Don Santiago Maquinle (James McKinley) of the rancho (un sitio de Ganado Mayor) of San Sebastian, situated on the "Arroyo de los Callucos" (Cayucos), etc., for the consideration of un mil pesos ($1000)._____(3)
(1) San Luis Obispo historian Jennifer Silva |
Also of interest is another Felix family in Morro Bay's history.
The 1872 Obituary of Filomena from Angel's History of San Luis Obispo County:"At Morro Creek, in San Luis Obispo County, of old age, on the 3rd day of March, 1872, Filomena Valenzuela, a native of Santa Barbara, died, aged over eighty years. The deceased outlived successively two husbands, by the second having become the mother of Josse Antonio, Jose Ramon, Vincente and Nicolas Feliz, beside others living near the Morro. She has been a resident of San Luis Obispo County for more than twenty years."
Also of interest is the following from the source below. "Cayuco is a nautical term applied to a small fishing boat, which is like a canoe and often made of skins. A point on the coast of California that was early used as a port was called by that name because the schooners, pausing offshore from the mouth of a small stream, had commerce with the land by means of these small boats. The creek, the little settlement that grew up near its mouth, and eventually the land nearby were all known by the name. |
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Drawing from Myron Angel's History of San Luis Obispo County |
Rancho San Geronimo and Villa CreekRancho San Geronimo Northwest of Cayucos, consisting of two leagues, was granted to Rafael Villavicencio by the Mexican government in 1842. Rafael built a large adobe house 120 feet in length. The ranch was patented in July of 1876. Villa Creek retains the shortened version of Rafael's surname, Villavicencio. Other owners were Ramona Armas, Westley Burnett (b1818 d1905) about 1865, James Blackburn (b1820 d1888) about 1880 and others over the years. See Rafael Villivicencio Family. |
Historic Spots in California, third edition, by Mildred Brooke Hoover, Hero Eugene Rensch, Ethel Grace Rensch and revised by William N. Abeloe. Stanford University Press. page 383. |