huv 5 1900 
 
The 
 
 Real 
 
 Ramona 
 
 
 of Helen Hunt Jackson's 
 Famous Novel 
 
 D. A. HUPrORD & CO., PUBLISHERS 
 226 West Sixth Street Los Angeles, Gal. 
 

 IWV 5 1900 
 
 Copyright entry 
 
 ,NJ».^')v'l.A:^..An 
 
 ! StCCND COPY. 
 I Ofclivwcri to 
 
 OftOH OSViSION, 
 ;0V 23 1900 
 
 I i; 
 
 
THE REAL RAMONA 
 
 Of Mrs. Helen Hunt Jackson^s 
 Famous Novel is alive and 
 well at this writing. We have been 
 asked so many times to direct 
 tourists how to get to the places 
 where she was born and wedded, that 
 we concluded to get out this little 
 booklet, giving the truthful side of 
 Mrs. Jackson's famed fictitious nar- 
 rative of Ramona^ written in her 
 easy and beautiful style. She lives 
 to-day about the same as she did 
 sixteen years ago, with the exception 
 of course that she is older and not so 
 trim and spruce like a young Indian 
 maiden would like to be — in other 
 words, she is now like all other 
 Indian women become as they grow 
 older, greasy and slovenly^ with no 
 
 3 
 
thought of cleanliness or tidiness. 
 She was and is only an Indian, but 
 was fortunate enough to be raised 
 by one of the loveliest and most hos- 
 pitable Spanish ladies that Southern 
 California ever knew, and that lady 
 was Mrs. Y. B. de Couts^, widow of 
 the late Col. Cave Johnson Couts, 
 born in Tennessee in 182 1, came to 
 California in 1848, a West Point 
 graduate, served in the Mexican war, 
 married Ysidora Bandini and moved 
 to San Diego where he served as 
 judge. In 1854, he moved to the 
 
 *Ba7ieroft's Butory of California spells the 
 name with two '* if.s-," but whenever Mrs. de 
 Couts sigued her name she always prefixed the 
 little "de," which I suppose is correct when the 
 surname of the lady preceds that of her husband. 
 Thus : "Ysidora Bandini de Couts." The Amer- 
 icans spells Ysidora with an "7." Bancroft says 
 perhaps Coutts ought to be spelt with one ** f." 
 
Rancho Guajome, a wedding gift of 
 Abel Stearns to Dona Ysidora, and 
 there he spent the rest of his life, 
 becoming rich in lands and live stock, 
 always popular and respected, though 
 as bitter in his enmities as warm in 
 his friendships, making Guajome a 
 center of the famed hospitality of 
 Southern California. Col. Couts 
 died in 1875, when he was 54 years 
 old. His widow, Ysidora, died on the 
 Rancho in 1897, leaving eight surviv- 
 ing children. 
 
 It was in 1884, that Mrs. Helen 
 Hunt Jackson brought before the 
 public her famous novel, Ramona. 
 It has been conceded to be one of the 
 best-written novels portraying the 
 Indian, his habits, and general mode 
 of living. The book is more sought 
 
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after to-day than it was sixteen years 
 ago, and it will never grow old and 
 out of date. The future generation 
 will read it, and it will always be a 
 book that the prominent characters 
 in it will never grow old and weary 
 to the reader. 
 
 While Mrs. Jackson idealized the 
 principal characters in her master- 
 piece, Ramona^ and while the inci- 
 dents and places in her narrative are 
 fictitious so far as their chronology 
 and the causes and effects are con- 
 cerned, the book is a beautiful and 
 faithful story. The three characters 
 are so strong and clearly drawn as to 
 be very easily identified. The set- 
 tings, the scenes, and the various 
 trysting places are always exact, 
 
 9 
 
Mrs. Jackson spent a considerable 
 portion of the 5^ears 1879, 1880 and 
 1 88 1 in SoutHern California, as a 
 sketch writer of Indian life in the 
 ancient Franciscan missions for the 
 Ce7itury Magazine, and at the same 
 time preparing the copy for her 
 Ramona, which the reading public 
 has never gotten tired of It is only 
 rare cases that you will not find 
 Ramona upon the shelves of family 
 libraries. 
 
 The motive and the principal set- 
 tings for her wonderful story in the 
 region occupied by the ancient and 
 scanty Mission Indian tribes in San 
 Diego county, lies between Oceanside 
 on the west and San Jacinto and 
 Temecula on the east, among the 
 sun-burnt hills and chaparral. 
 
 II 
 
Nearly all of these places were 
 tiny hamlets when Mrs. Jackson 
 studied the natives, but since then 
 the Santa Fe railroad has been built 
 through the region, they have be- 
 come progressive, American villages. 
 
 There are very few spots where the 
 old-time Spanish ranchero, with its 
 princely hospitality, its extraordinary 
 generosity, its delightful manana 
 (to-morrow) customs, remain at all 
 intact. These few spots are in the 
 several old Spanish settlements on 
 the line of the Santa Fe railroad from 
 Santa Ana to Oceanside. One who 
 would look upon the dreamy and 
 lazy life of the Indians, as the gifted 
 author of Ramona saw it, must go a 
 score of miles inland from the rail- 
 road stations back among the foothills 
 
 13 
 
and mountains, where the chaparral, 
 mesquite and juniper trees grows. 
 
 The most charming home of them 
 all is the old Mexican grant, the 
 Rancho Guajome, just north of San 
 Diego and near Oceanside, stands ihe 
 remains of the beautiful mission — 
 San Luis Hgij de Francia (custom has 
 dropped " de Francia "), founded by 
 Padre Peyri, and made famous to the 
 world by the genius of Mrs. Jackson. 
 It is still in a splendid state of pres- 
 ervation, kept up principally by 
 Mrs de Couts during her life-time, 
 but each year stamps its works of 
 destruction upon it. 
 
 The late Mrs. Y. B. de Couts was 
 the Senora at the hospital Rancho 
 Guajome. Senora de Couts and Mrs. 
 Jackson became bosom friends. The 
 
 15 
 
lovely character of Senora Moreno 
 was modeled to a nicet}' from Mrs. de 
 Couts, and is an excellent portrayal 
 of that lady's character, which could 
 not be over-estimated. She was a 
 direct descendant of the Bandini 
 family of Los Angeles. Juan Bandini 
 came with the "Higar colony " to Los 
 Angeles in 1834, organized by him- 
 self and J. M, Padres. He was a 
 man of good traits, jovial tempera- 
 ment, a most interesting man socially, 
 well-liked and respected and helped 
 to make the history complete in 
 Southern California. He died in 
 1859. The children by his first wife 
 were : Arcadia, Mrs Abel Stearns, 
 later Mrs. Robt. S. Baker; Ysidora, 
 wife of Col. Cave Johnson Couts ; 
 Josefa, wife of Pedro C. Carrillo; 
 Jose Maria, whose wife was Teresa 
 
 17 
 
Arguello, Juanita. By his second wife, 
 Refugio, were: Juau de la Cruz, 
 H Alfredo, Antonio and two daughters, 
 ' Mrs. Chas. R. Johnson and Mrs. Dr. 
 
 James B. Winston. Mr. Baudini's 
 daughters were famous for their 
 beaut}^ All or most all of his chil- 
 dren still live in Southern Califor- 
 nia, some wealthy, all in comforta- 
 ble circumstances and the very best 
 family connections and well liked, 
 and noted far and wide and in the 
 State of California for their hospital- 
 ity to the " gringoes " (Americans). 
 Mrs. de Gouts was the lady who made 
 the first flag used by the Americans, 
 J prior to California becoming part of 
 m the Union. The Bandini family 
 were one of the strongest union sym- 
 pathizers in California. Mrs. de Couts 
 was one of the sweetest ladies that the 
 
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writer ever met, and that was in the 
 winter of 1888, while residing at San 
 Diego, whose house was always 
 open to her old and new friends as 
 long they chose to abide there. 
 
 Mrs. Jackson made the acquaint- 
 ance of Mrs. de Couts while she 
 and her husband were driving through 
 the country from Los Angeles to San 
 Diego in June, 1878. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Jackson were invited to tarry at the 
 beautiful hacienda of the Rancho 
 Guajome, and the Americans were 
 charmed by the beauty of the ranch, 
 the hospitality of the house and 
 particularly by the loveliness of their 
 hostess, then advancing in age. 
 
 The story of Ramona was born 
 there from little incidents that Mrs. de 
 
 31 
 
Couts happened to tell Mrs. Jackson 
 of the series of hardships and wander- 
 ings of a young Indian couple among 
 the Pachango Indians in that locality 
 had endured, because of the land- 
 grabbing of rapacious white settlers. 
 The Indian husband had been shotto 
 death by a Deputy Sheriff, and the 
 young widow was at that time incon- 
 solable in her grief. 
 
 The possibilities of a unique and 
 powerful stor}^ along the lines of the 
 persecution of the Mission Indians 
 flashed through Mrs. Jackson's mind. 
 She became interested at once, and 
 delaying her visit to San Diego a 
 fortnight, she began the framework 
 of her novel. She had known person- 
 ally of the Indian troubles in Colo- 
 rado and New Mexico, and that 
 
 23 
 
knowledge was an aid in lier proposed 
 work. 
 
 In the fall and winter of 1879-80, 
 the active work of writing and com- 
 piling Ramona began. Mrs. Jack- 
 son spent months at the home of Mrs. 
 de Couts, on the Rancho Guajome. 
 Every morning she was occupied in 
 writing the great story. Once a week 
 or once a fortnight, Mrs. Jackson went 
 out on an exploring tour of the 
 country from Oceanside, over the 
 hills and through the little valleys 
 and canyons toward Temecula. 
 Returning to her secluded room at 
 the Rancho Guajome, she would 
 add new ideas to her narrative or 
 reconstruct a bit of description of the 
 scenery or the Indian life as she had 
 pictured them. 
 
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 4-" 
 
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In September, 1880, Mrs. Jackson 
 went to live in San Jacinto, which 
 as then a mere settlement of Spanish 
 and a few Americans on the border of 
 the reservation of the Saboba and 
 Cahuilla tribes of Mission Indians. 
 There the novel progressed more 
 rapidly. This quaint old pueblo of 
 Saboba was visited time and again by 
 Mrs. Jackson that winter. There the 
 narrative of Ramona's sorrowful wan- 
 derings from Temecula to San Diego, 
 thence to San Pasqual and Saboba, in 
 search of a spot where she might 
 abide in peace, were so pathetically 
 written. In the spring of 188 1, further 
 labor was put on the book at Temec- 
 ula, where Mrs. Jackson had gone 
 to get the local color of the Pachango 
 tribe, and to get new ideas for the 
 delineation of the characters of 
 
 27 
 
Ramona and Alessaudro, whicli were 
 so sympathetically touching. 
 
 The final touches were put on the 
 story in the fall of 1883 ^^ Los An- 
 geles, but there were *many little 
 alterations made in the proofs of the 
 story before it appeared in public in 
 New York in 1884. 
 
 The character of Ramona was 
 drawn from real life, although it was 
 so idealized that a multitude of people 
 acquainted with the Mission Indian 
 life have declared it was the pure 
 work of a great creative fictional 
 genius. During the sixteen years 
 that Ramona has been religiously 
 read by nine-tenths of the people in 
 Southern California, there have been 
 few more generally mooted questions 
 than that concerning the individuality 
 
 29 
 
of tlie character Ramona. There is 
 never a winter passes but what the 
 tourist delights in reading and visit- 
 ing the old home of Ramona, as w^ell 
 as her present home. 
 
 However, there was and there still 
 is a Ramona, She is the wdfe of Jose 
 Machado, a half-breed Indian, who 
 lives on the Pachango Indian reserva- 
 tion near Temecula, in San Diego 
 count3^ Jose is the second husbai^d. 
 Her first husband, w^ho was the 
 Alessandro of Helen Hunt Jackson's 
 storv^, was Ramon Corallez. Her 
 maiden name was Lugardo Sandoval. 
 She never knew who her parents 
 were. How her name came to be 
 given her by the good old padre at the 
 christening at the mission at San 
 Luis Rey she does not know. She 
 
 31 
 
was in the service of Mrs. de Couts at 
 the Rancho Guajome until she was 
 twelve years old. Then she was 
 taken north to Ventura county by 
 the cousins of Mrs. de Couts, who had 
 taken a fancy to the orphan girl, and 
 had noticed her uncommonly cleanly 
 domestic ways and her thoughtful 
 face. At the Camulos ranch in Ven- 
 tura county, in the sheep-shearing 
 time, Lugardo met Ramon Corallez. 
 The elopement southward toward Los 
 Angeles occurred, as it has so charm- 
 ingly been told in Ramona^ but the 
 marriage of Lugardo and Ramon 
 (Ramona and Alessandro) took place 
 at the mission of San Luis Rey a7id 
 not at San Diego, as the author made 
 the alteration for artistic reasons. 
 Young Ramon Corallez and his girl 
 bride experienced all the pitiful 
 
 33 
 
^• 
 
 Rarr)or)a's Son. 
 
episodes that Ramona and Alessandro 
 experienced, and were under the 
 watchful eye of Mrs. de Couts (Senora 
 Moreno), as outlined in the story. 
 
 In October, 1877, Ramon was shot 
 and killed by Samuel Temple, of San 
 Jacinto, for alleged horse stealing, and 
 Lugardo, frightened and broken- 
 hearted, fled across the mountains to 
 the Rancho Guajome, and told her 
 fresh sorrows to Mrs. de Couts. 
 
 When Mrs. Jackson stopped at the 
 ranch a year later, she heard the story 
 of Lugardo and Ramon and was 
 touched. Last summer, while out 
 Kodaking during our vacation we saw 
 Mrs. Machado at her home of straw 
 and chaparral near Temecula. It was 
 a long, dusty drive. About eighty 
 
 35 
 
Indian huts and grass houses are 
 scattered about in a little valley 
 among the sunburnt hills, and how 
 the people manage to get even the 
 scantiest of living was a baffling 
 puzzle to us, as we toiled up a mesa 
 from the canyon road to the crude 
 habitation which had been pointed 
 out as the home of Ramona. 
 
 A dark but pleasant-faced Indian 
 woman sat on the ground in the shade 
 of the hovel as we approached. She 
 was puffing at a corn husk cigarette, 
 and taking it from her mouth looked 
 inquiringly at her visitor. We in- 
 formed her that we had come many 
 miles across the country from San 
 Jacinto to interview her about how 
 she happened to be the Ramona in 
 the book of that name. 
 
 37 
 
She held down her head and there 
 was a long silence. 
 
 *^ Oh, you 'nother one who wants to 
 know about Ramona and Mrs. 
 Jackson," she replied. " Heap folk 
 used come here all time and ask about 
 Ramona book. Now, not many here. 
 More come in winter bye and bye. 
 Some heap nice too me all same. 
 Folks get tired to here me talk, and 
 other folks say me no tell truth about 
 Ramona." 
 
 Another and longer silence. 
 
 Finally, after a generous donation 
 of bags of smoking tobacco and pack- 
 ages of cigarette papers, some red 
 handkerchiefs and beads, we induced 
 the Indian woman to talk about her- 
 self, notwithstanding her aversion to 
 telling the oft- told tale. 
 
 39 
 
" Yes, Mrs. Jackson know me heap 
 well," she stated. " One day when I 
 live at Rancho Guajome, after Sam 
 Temple shoot poor Ramon dead, 
 Senora Couts send for me to come see 
 lady in the house. I go in with 
 Senora Couts and see Mrs. Jackson. 
 She was fine lady. Speak so soft and 
 sweet to me about how poor Ramon 
 got killed, and I cry with her when I 
 tell her how I love poor Ramon . Mrs . 
 Jackson ask me to sit down on bench 
 on porch and tell Senora, and Senora 
 she tell Mrs. Jackson all about awful 
 hard times me and Ramon have with 
 white folks. Mrs. Jackson she like 
 to hear me tell how poor Indians get 
 robbed and starved and killed by 
 white men. She say we all time have 
 white men cheat us, and she feel so 
 sorry for us. She was first 'Mericano 
 
 41 
 
S!:i«*"i:«>SiW"<>\'^^:^o'^SS5: 
 
 
 Ramooa's Twios. 
 
who seem to like poor Indian and say 
 white man who rob and kill us no 
 good. She no sa}^ then she going 
 write book about Ramon and Lugardo. 
 
 " I never read book Ramona^ I no 
 read English good. I read Spanish 
 heap fine. Senora de Couts, who now 
 dead, she tell me all Mrs. Jackson 
 have in heap big book about me and 
 Ramon. Ever}^ week for long time 
 white folks come and say to me, 'Are 
 you Ramona?' I sa}'' 'yes.' Then they 
 tell me I no look like Ramona in 
 book. I laugh and say, 'Well, I no 
 pretty now because I have heap suffer 
 all time, and I no more good and 
 clean like when I was mission girl.' 
 People laugh at my poor talk and go 
 away and say they no think me 
 Ramona. But I Ramona, all same, 
 
 43 
 
LrJO. 
 
she said," with an indignant look at 
 the very idea of anyone ever doubting 
 her word or identity 
 
 Ramona has three children, one a 
 bright looking boy, and two girls, 
 who are twins, who look very much 
 like their mother, and are as much 
 interested in Ramona as she is. 
 
 " How many times did you see 
 Mrs. Jackson?" we asked. 
 
 *^ I see her seven, six times at 
 Rancho Guajome, and she writes on 
 paper what I tell Senora de Couts and 
 Senora tell her. You see I no talk 
 good English then like now. I speak 
 Spanish fine, and Mrs. Jackson she 
 say to Senora de Couts how she want 
 me to tell. Next year when I 
 married Jose Corallez and live 
 
 45 
 
in Temectila, slie come there and see 
 me. She speak little Spanish and I 
 know little English, so we make 
 some more talk together. She tell 
 me to ask other Indians how white 
 man drive them off land where their 
 father and mother lived. She write 
 as I tell her what Indians say to me. 
 She say she feel sorry for Indians. 
 She no like white man. She ask me 
 heap things how Indians like padres, 
 and how Indian girls learn to get 
 good in missions. I tell her all I can 
 think, and she ask me a heap of 
 other things, how w^e sing and pray, 
 and how we have good times. Mrs. 
 Jackson she very fine lady. I like 
 her so very mnch. I like to see her 
 again. She talk nice and sweet to 
 me. I feel sad some many times. 
 I now go. Adios." 
 
 47 
 
After all, no matter how illiterate 
 tlie Indian may seem to be, they have 
 a sensitive nature, and before you are 
 entirely through, they get right up 
 and say " adios" — and that settles it. 
 
 That was the end of the interview 
 with the real Ramona of Mrs, Helen 
 Hunt Jackson's Famous Novel. 
 
 Tourists and friends of Mrs Helen Hunt 
 Jackson and her famous %amona will find 
 many souvenirs connected with their lives 
 in the Chamber of Commerce of Los 
 Angeles recently presented by Mrs. 
 Mariana W. de Coronel, whose husband 
 also came in the " Higar colony" to 
 California, when a lad with his father, Don 
 Ygnacio Coronel. The collection contains 
 many rare relics of early California life, of 
 which Mrs. Coronel refused $30,000 for it. 
 They are all labeled and catalogued for the 
 inspection of the public. 
 
 49 
 
5 1900 
 
 Li^'ST "" CONGRESS 
 
 015 971 348 9 j