Mission San Jose Essay

During the early 1500s- mid 1800s, missions were the original destination by which the Spanish taught both Spanish and Catholicism lifestyle to the Native Americans/Indians. There are 21 missions scattered all over California. Mission San Jose is the fourteenth mission created in Alta California. It is a Spanish mission located in Fremont, California and established in the late 1700s by Padre Fermin Francisco de Lasuen. The mission is the label of the Mission San Jose district of Fremont, which was a free town admitted into the city when it was assimilated in 1957. The purpose of creating this mission was to secure Spain’s claim to this land and teach the native people Christianity and the Spanish way of life. Today, Mission San Jose serves

as museum to the public, telling the history of the mission.
Mission San Jose was created on June 11, 1797 at the site of the Ohlone Village of Oroysom by Padre Fermin Francisco de Lasuen. Lasuen was born at Vitoria in Alava, Spain on July 7, 1736. During his teenage years, he joined the Franciscan missionaries in New Spain and worked with Padre Junipero Serra in Baja, California. In addition, Lasuen took over the missions of Alta California and soon founded nine of the twenty-one Spanish missions after the death of Serra. Although Mission San Jose was the fourteenth mission to be constructed in California, it was the first of the four created that year by Lasuen.
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The city of Fremont was incorporated in 1956 and surrounded five small communities, along with the Town of Mission San Jose.

The location of the church mission was a favorable one due to the fertile soil, good water supply, adjacent lime deposits, hewing and other stone, acreage to the east for cattle grazing, many Indians nearby and easy accessibility to the Bay. This was frequently admired as an example of the ideal environment for a mission. The first mission buildings were established under the supervision of Sergeant Pedro Amador in 1797. It contained a guard house, convento, fence, chapel and barracks. The first permanent chapel was built of adobe and completed in 1809. In 1868, the Mission Church got severely dismantled by an earthquake on the Hayward Fault. Father Julian Federey decided to build a wooden Norman Gothic church to replace the adobe structure, which was then built directly over the old rock foundations and tile floor. Following years later, a Victorian Rectory was constructed between the wooden church and the only remaining adobe building, which is now the museum today (Old Mission San Jose & Museum). In 1853, Mission San Jose was known as the St Joseph Parish and the 1869 structure as St Joseph’s Church. To make room for the reconstruction of the 1809 church, the rectory got relocated in 1979, and the wooden church in 1982 to Burlingame. The Mission Church was restored in 1985 which completed the work on the original Mission San Jose, according to the

brochure.
The lands of Mission San Jose had expand over thousands of acres, with the mission compound at the heart of it all. By direction of the padres, the Indians provided the labor which made the mission so prosperous. The labor of Indians included building construction, manufacturing, farming, and stock rising. During construction, adobe buildings were built for housing, workshops, walls, and worship. Women, men, and children had to construct adobe
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bricks and roof tiles, which was a long process. The manufacturing of various items were produced once the workshops and other rooms encompassing the quadrangle were in place. A tannery handled the many of cattle hides beneficial to trading. Many items were created such as candles and soap, wool was cleaned, which was made into yarn and woven into fabric. In addition, artisans from Mexico educated the Indians on trade like stone masonry and blacksmithing. For farming, the abundant supply of foods grown at the mission needed cultivating, tending, pruning, picking, and processing. Many food items were becoming beneficial to the community. Barley and wheat were consumed and traded, olives became olive oil for cooking, and vineyards produced great wine. Stock raising contributed to the labor lifestyle for Indians. They became vasqueros, also known as cowboys. Vasqueros and their families resided away from the mission and on remote ranchos to get their labor done.
Spanish troops and Franciscan missionaries came to Alta California in 1769, after exploring and settling other parts of North America. They brought the swords and cross to 21 missions, 4 presidios, and 3 pueblos. The missions were their primary colonizing establishment and was developed into the economic, religious, and social centers of the Spanish empire’s northwestern frontier (Skowronek). In response to the recognized threats by England and Russia, the Spanish government wanted to secure its claim to California, while the Franciscans came to