T u b a c
H i s t o r y
Féliz Land Grant & Family Curse
by Mary Bingham
Published: Tubac Villager
June/July 07By the 1790s José Vicente Féliz and family were highly respected citizens of Alta California. Their status was enhanced by their participation in the Anza Expedition of 1775-1776 and the fact that they were among the first California pobladores (settlers).
Remaining in the Los Angeles area to help protect Mission San Gabriel, Vicente as the Comisionado de Los Angles, was present when Los Angeles was given the beautiful name: El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula. (The town of our lady the queen of the angels of Porciúncula.) Today the Porciúncula is known as the Los Angeles River and only has water during the rainy season, much like our own Santa Cruz River. Féliz served as comisionado on and off for ten years. Locals referred to him as “The Little Father of the Pueblo.”
Exemplary soldiers, like Vicente Féliz, upon retiring were given grants of land for their outstanding service to the King of Spain. As early as 1794, but certainly by 1800, Féliz was granted between 4,000 and 8,000 acres of land near the little pueblo of Los Angeles. Sources vary on the size of the original grant, known as El Rancho Nuestra Señora de Refugio de Los Féliz (Our Lady of Refuge of the Féliz). It is better known today as Griffith Park and the Los Feliz District of greater Los Angles.
The Huntington Library’s Early California Population Project, (similar to Tumacácori’s Mission 2000), shows that a Vicente Féliz died on January 30, 1809 at the Santa Bárbara Presidio. His place of birth was Álamos, Sonora, so the chances are excellent that this is our soldado de cuera [leather jacketed soldier].
Now the first mystery begins...
Rancho Los Féliz did not pass to Vicente’s sons Francisco, Doroteo or José de Jesus, all of whom outlived their father by many years. The Féliz land grant passed to Juan José Anastacio Féliz. So who was Anastacio?
With the help of Los Angeles historian and author, Michael Imlay, this and other questions have been answered. For Mr. Imlay the history of the Féliz family curse and related family history is a passion. He has graciously given me permission to reprint information from his Internet articles, and has dug into his research materials and answered my many questions about the family. The following would not have been possible with out his help.
By the early 1800s many Féliz relatives and extended families had moved from Sonora to live with Vicente on the Féliz land grant. However, one family was special. Not only was Anastacio Maria Féliz y Castro a cousin, but he had been one of the early California pobladores. He served at the presidio in San Diego and in 1782 at the new presidio in Santa Barbara. Vicente invited Anastacio and his family to come live with him upon his retirement.
Anastacio, his wife Gertrudis Valenzuela and at least one son Juan José Anastacio moved to Rancho Los Féliz. Juan José married well. His wife was María Ygnacia/Ignacia Eustaquia Verdugo/Berdugo whose family owned the Verdugo land grant directly across the river from the Ranco Los Feliz. His sister Anna Geronima and brother Pedro Antonio also married Verdugos.Juan José died in 1840 leaving Rancho Los Féliz to María Ygnacia. She was by all accounts a great steward of the land and wisely petitioned to receive full title to the grant. She died in 1861 at which time the grant came into the possession of their son José Antonio.
Antonio grew up a child of privilege and managed to squander away much of the land in the few short years he was in charge. According to Thelma Lasher in “The Curse of Los Feliz,” Don Antonio “loved to gamble and drink.” She goes on to say, “In payment for gambling debts, he gave acres of land to hustlers; the other Féliz families tried to convince him to change his ways, but he wouldn’t. They were all heart-broken but could do nothing to stop him.”
The story begins to get a little murky at this point as legends and tales morph with reality. Most versions of the family curse are probably based on Major Horace Bell’s story “The Feliz Curse.” Bell was not above embellishing and slanting a story to suit his own purposes. Thanks to Mr. Imlay we have the following summarized version of the curse plus some major myth busting.
A Ranch
to Die For
by Michael ImlayAccording to Bell, the Féliz Curse dates to 1863, when a smallpox epidemic overtook ranchero Don Antonio Féliz. A noble bachelor, Féliz had always shared his ranch with his sister Soledad and a young, devoted niece named Petranilla. Now, however, Petranilla was sent packing to the pueblo [Los Angeles] for safety. In her absence Féliz received a visit from friend Don Antonio Coronel. But there was trickery afoot; Coronel produced a will making himself heir and coerced Féliz ‘ signature.
Upon her uncle’s death, Petranilla returned to find Coronel firmly ensconced in the family hacienda and everything topsy-turvy. Don Antonio’s godson Juan Sanchez got a few horses. Petranilla got nothing. Miffed beyond belief, she unleashed a vexing tirade against Coronel, the land, and all future owners. No one, she prophesied, would ever profit from the ill-gotten spoils.
Then, to punctuate her curse, she dropped dead.
Almost immediately, the hex worked its voodoo. People around Coronel suffered violent deaths. Frightened, Coronel sold the ranch. Although he died in relative peace, “vile persons” scavenged his remaining estate.
Also true to Petranilla’s word, the Féliz land proved worthless to subsequent owners. Cattle sickened and died, floods ravaged its meadows, and fires swept its timberlines....
Here is Petranilla curse according to Bell. Petranilla says to Coronel:
“Señor, do not dare to speak until I have finished! This is what I hurl upon your head: your falsity shall be your ruin! The substance of the Féliz family shall be your curse! The lawyer that assisted you in your infamy, and the judge, shall fall beneath the same curse! The one shall die an untimely death, the other in blood and violence! You, señor, shall know misery in your age and though you die rich your substance shall go to vile persons! A blight shall fall upon the face of this terrestrial paradise, the cattle shall no longer fatten but sicken on its pastures, the fields shall no longer respond to the toil of the tiller, the grand oaks shall wither and die! The wrath of heaven and the vengeance of hell shall fall upon this place...”
Fact or Fiction?
Over the years the Féliz Curse has seen plenty of ink. One popular version portrays Petranilla as a 17-year-old blind girl.
The ghosts also vary. Some say the specter of Don Antonio Féliz continues to ride the park’s [Griffith Park] trails on moonlit nights. Others have him cackling maniacally atop a large rock overlooking his former ranch. Yet others maintain it’s Doña Petranilla who mounts her white stallion for midnight jaunts, or who suddenly materializes in an old adobe now serving as park headquarters....
Of course, most historians believe the curse is utter nonsense. Some question whether Antonio Féliz or his niece ever existed at all. However, there’s actually some truth to the tale:
[1] Griffith Park did once belong to a Don [Jose] Antonio Féliz, who himself inherited the land from his mother, Maria Verdugo de Féliz, in 1861. It’s highly probable he died in L.A.’s smallpox epidemic two years later.
[2] The sneaky Don Coronel was actually a respected former Los Angles acalde and Féliz attorney who handled several of the family’s real estate transactions. His role in helping Yankee courts settle land titles after 1850 made him controversial with some Californios.
[3] Petranilla was also very real. From the [Bell’s] story’s wording, it’s easy to assume her mother was Don Antonio’s sister Soledad. Not so. Born in 1843, she was the child of Juan Leon Féliz, Don Antonio’s brother. Early California records reveal she was orphaned at an early age. There’s plenty of proof her uncle took her in, but contrary to folklore, there’s no evidence she was blind. Plus she was 20-21 at the time of the curse, not 17.
[4] More interesting, Petranilla was not the poor, solitary señorita the tale implies. Several years before her uncle’s death, she married Esteban Sanchez, whose family owned Rancho La Cienega. The couple appears to have resided at Rancho Los Féliz after their marriage. The Juan Sanchez of the legend was their son.
[5] Petranilla did not swoon and die at Rancho Los Féliz. She passed away some 34 years later in her son’s home, not far from Olvera Street [in downtown Los Angeles]. Her cause of death? A heart ailment.
[6] True to legend, Féliz heirs questioned the veracity of Don Antonio’s will — all the way to the California Supreme Court. They lost.
[7] Most owners after Coronel did indeed find Rancho Los Féliz a bad investment.
Next month:
More victims of the Féliz Curse
Sources:
Historic Adobes of Los Angeles County © 1997 John R. Kielbasa, “Rancho Los Feliz” - http://www.laokay.com/halac/RanchoLosFeliz.htm
The Huntington Library, Early California Population Project Database, 2006 - http://www.huntington.org/Information/ECPPmain.htm
“Los Angeles: A City of Latinos,” by Jennifer Vo and John P Schmal. Somos Primos, March 2004 - http://www.somosprimos.com/sp2004/spmar04/spmar04.htm
“Curse of the Felizes,” by Johanna De Soto. Glendale News-Press, Oct. 31, 1993.
http://english.glendale.cc.ca.us/curse.html
“Griffith Park,” by the Editors. AOL City Guide - http://search.cityguide.aol.com/losangeles/entertainment/griffith-park/v-100057874
“The Curse of Rancho Los Feliz: Plague, Holocaust, and Homicide in Griffith Park,” by Cole Coonce. Los Angeles City Beat - http://www.lacitybeat.com/article
“The Curse of Los Feliz” by Thelma Lasher. Overview: Franklin Hills Residents Association, Issue No. 12, Winter 1994. http://www.franklinhills.org/ov-12.pdf
“The Sanchez Family, Of Los Angeles California,” no author.
http://mylexa123.tripod.com/id24.htm
Bell, Horace, Major, On the Old West Coast; Being Further Reminiscences of a Ranger. New York: W. Morrow & Co., 1930.
“The Dread Feliz Curse,” by Michael Imlay. Mr. Imlay’s Website crashed recently. He hopes have it back up by the time this is published. Here is the link: http://mimlay.com/