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66 Historical Society of Southern California

part between what is now Third and Fourth Streets. He
built his home on the bluff about thirty feet south from
the present site of Third Street. The house, built of adobe,
faced the west, overlooking his possessions. Although
modest in structure, it was comfortable. Immediately after
the completion of his house, he began to prepare the land
for the setting out of fruit trees and vines.
In a short time prosperity smiled on all sides and wel-
comed the foreigner. Soon after, Don Esteban established
his younger son, Don Geronimo, on a piece of land south
of where 7th street runs to-day. There Don Geronimo
built an attractive house and cultivated the land in orchard
and vineyard. Two children were born to Don Geronimo
in this home, one of whom, J. J. Lopez, has been superin-
tendent of the Tejon Rancho for over fifty years, ever since
1873. At that time the ranch was owned by General Ed-
ward F. Beal.
North of the home of Don Geronimo, one of his sisters,
4
Manuela Lopez de Ruiz had her house, an orchard and a
garden. Another sister, Josefa Lopez de Carrion, built her
house on the spot where the late Mr. Hollenbeck’s residence
stands on the edge of the bluff. She cultivated the lands
below. Her son, Saturnino Carrion, sold the property to
Mr. Hollenbeck about the year 1874. Don Saturnino then
bought a large tract of land near the city of Pomona, where
his children still live. Another daughter of Don Esteban,
Maria de la Concepcion Lopez married Don Ygnacio Palo-
mares, owner of the big Rancho de San Jose, the site of
Pomona. Another daughter, Catalina Lopez, married Dr.
George Joseph Rice of Boston, Massachusetts. In 1835,
Dr. Rice took his family east. With him went also his
seven year old brother-in-law, Jose Antonio Lopez, who did
not return until a young man. When speaking of the east
and his voyage around the perilous Cape Horn and to Alaska,
his stories read like a fairy tale, especially his account of
the shipwreck and his miraculous escape with the passengers
4. At this house, she conducted one of the first boarding schools in
Southern California (1S3S to 1851). Among her pupils were Francisco and Luis
Palomares. sons of Ygnacio Palomares. owner of the Rancho de San Jose. My sister.
Juanita Lopez Warren Lazzarevich, also learned her first lessons in Aunt Manuela's
school. She is now over eighty- five years old, but she relates with relish the
mischievous behavior of these early California schoolmates.