The Santa Cruz Patch blog has been, for me, an ongoing study project on the local history of Santa Cruz County, focusing on areas near the city of Santa Cruz. Research for a new post sometimes reveals errors and omissions of the past. This page is a place to note those discoveries, as well as notes on new information, or items that didn't make it into the original post.
2 - The Explorers
Between Cabrillo's coastal exploration of 1542 and Vizcaíno in 1602, there was also the beginning of the voyages of the Manila Galleons, which sailed north to south off the California coast, heading for Acapulco on their return trading trips from Asia. This route was first discovered by Andrés de Urdaneta in 1565. Although exploration was not the galleons' business, and in fact they did their best to stay well off the coast for fear of the rocky shoreline and frequent fog, you never know. One of the early galleons might once have been blown into our bay without them realizing where they were. The route soon shifted farther south and the ships usually reached the California coast around Point Conception (Lompoc).
3 - The Missionaries
In the post, the story of the murdered Father Quintana was briefly told. Also noted is that there is today a Quintana Street in the flats north of Mission Hill. More recently, I read that Quintana Street is in the area where Quintana was murdered and/or his body was discovered.
7 - The Frontiersmen
The facts of Isaac Graham's early life are not well established. He may have come to California with the Walker Party or he may have come, as he claimed, by way of Mexico. It's also far from clear exactly when he first visited and/or settled in Santa Cruz County. He may not have moved until after 1840, when his distillery operation in Natividad was disrupted during the 'Graham Affair'.
13 - The County
More on Moses Meder: The 1889 county map shows the Jewish cemetery plot on Meder Street, many years after Meder sold the surrounding land, but a year before his death in 1890. The bequest could not have been part of his will, so the mystery continues as to why Meder's wife and daughter are buried there but he is not.
21 - The Town
The buildings in the photo taken after the 1894 fire are mislabeled. Neither of the buildings on the left are today's Zoccoli's. The Zoccoli's building is one more building to the left, and not visible in this photo. Those two buildings did, however, survive until 1989. They were incorporated into the original St. George Hotel. This photo, in the SCPL collection, shows how that looked. The 2-story section of the hotel, to the left of the tower, is those two older buildings. Also, you can see the future Zoccoli's on the far left of this photo, which looks like it was taken in the late 20s or early 30s.
2012/07/19 - When Santa Cruz Had Four Wharves
Correction: The "Gharkey" wharf became the "Powder" wharf, not the
"Railroad" wharf. For clearing up my (and many others') confusion, my
thanks to Frank Perry, Barry Brown, Rick Hyman, and Stanley D. Stevens
of "Researchers Anonymous" for an essay titled, "Notes on the History of
Wharves at Santa Cruz, California". It can be downloaded from the
Research Forum website: http://researchforum.santacruzmah.org/viewtopic.php?t=574
24 - Names became Places
Clarification: The info about John B. Felton comes from Clark's Santa Cruz County Place Nmaes. Leon Rowland earlier claimed that the village was named for Charles N. Felton.
