Workman-Temple family
Encyclopedia
The Workman-Temple family relates to the pioneer
interconnected Workman and Temple families that were prominent in: the history
of colonial Pueblo de Los Angeles
and American Los Angeles
; the Los Angeles Basin
and San Gabriel Valley
regions; and Southern California
— from 1830 to 1930 in Mexican Alta California
and the subsequent state of California
, United States
.
, now Cumbria
, England
, to Thomas Workman (1763–1843) and Nancy Hook (1771–1830). When William was eleven years old, his father inherited a substantial home and property in nearby Clifton from a childless aunt and uncle and relocated his family there. In 1814, the Workmans issued cash bequests upon their three sons, with the eldest, David Workman
, using half his money to migrate to America in 1817. David settled in the new town of Franklin, Missouri
, the virtual western end of the country, in 1819, opened a saddlery and returned to England three years later to retrieve the remainder of his bequest. In the process, David convinced William to join him and the two brothers sailed from Liverpool
and landed at Philadelphia in September 1822.
, which opened in Franklin, Missouri in 1821, to Santa Fe de Nuevo México
-New Spain
in the spring of 1825. He then settled in Taos
where he did some fur trapping, opened a store, and, in partnership with American John A. Rowland
, manufactured liquor.
near the Pueblo de Los Angeles in 1844. He and Nicolasa had two children, Antonia Margarita (1830–1892) and Joseph Manuel Workman (ca. 1833-1901.)
While a success as a merchant
and distiller, Workman was embroiled in the difficult local politics of the period in Nuevo México, having been forced to swear loyalty to rebels in the Taos Revolt
who assassinated the departmental Spanish governor in 1837. After a counter-revolt squashed the Taoseño rebellion, Workman and his partner Rowland were arrested for smuggling. A few years later, when the independent Republic of Texas
and its president, Mirabeau B. Lamar
, sought to extend its boundary to the Rio Grande
, thereby annexing the principal towns of New Mexico, Workman and Rowland were named agents of the Texans in New Mexico. Although it is unclear whether they sought the position and were soon replaced, they decided to leave for Alta California
early in 1841.
to the Los Angeles pueblo
. The 1200 miles (1,931.2 km) journey was completed by late fall and John Rowland presented a letter of recommendation from New Mexico's American consul and a list of expedition members to the authorities in Los Angeles.
The Workman-Rowland Party was long considered the "first wagon train of Americans to travel overland to Los Angeles," but the party could not use wagons because of the difficult Old Spanish Trail route, nor were they solely Americans., Workman commemorated his arrival in Southern California
with a glass plaque (still in family hands) that dated his landfall as November 5, 1841, which was a British national holiday called Guy Fawkes' Day.
obtained a Mexican land grant
to the Rancho La Puente
, at that time 18000 acres (72.8 km²), from Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado
in the San Gabriel Valley
about twenty miles (32 km) from Los Angeles. William Workman was not officially an owner at that time, though he received an official document allowing him the privileges of an owner in settling on the rancho
. In July 1845, Governor Pío Pico amended the La Puente grant, adding Workman's name officially as owner and expanding the rancho to the maximum allowable under Mexican land law, eleven square leagues, or almost 49,000 (48,790.55) acres, 48790 acres (197 km²) Rancho La Puente
, out of a portion of which was later carved the city of La Puente
. Workman occupied the western portions of the rancho and built an adobe home on the property in 1842 that was subsequently expanded by 1856 and then significantly remodeled by 1870.
In early 1845, William Workman was appointed captain of a cadre of Americans and Europeans serving with Governor Pío Pico
in his standoff with appointed Governor Manuel Micheltorena
at the battle at Cahuenga Pass of the Mexican American War, northwest of Los Angeles. Although the battle that ensued was limited to minimal gunfire and no casualties, Workman, his lieutenant John Rowland, Benjamin D. Wilson, and James McKinley from the Pico side worked out a surrender option with Americans and Europeans on the Micheltorena side and the governor was allowing to leave California by ship. Pico assumed the governorship, but his relocating of the Alta California capital to Los Angeles from Monterey
and his plan to move the customs house to San Pedro Bay, among other issues, led northerner José Castro to mount a challenge to Pico's authority. Workman was appointed to lead the defense of Los Angeles against an incursion by Castro's forces, when news came that the American army was ready to invade the department of Alta California.
William Workman played an important role in subsequent events during the Mexican-American War. After a group of Americans, including Wilson and Rowland, were seized in late summer 1846 at the Rancho Santa Ana del Chino
house of Isaac Williams, Workman and neighboring ranchero Ignacio Palomares worked to free the prisoners, who were held at Paredon Blanco (later Boyle Heights.) After the native Californios, in the Siege of Los Angeles
, were successful in expelling the American force left to guard the town after the initial conquest by U.S. forces and another American invasion was being led by Commodore Robert F. Stockton, Workman met Stockton at Mission San Juan Capistrano
just after New Year's Day 1847 and arranged an amnesty for all Californios who would resist the American retaking of Los Angeles.
When the last battle of the war on California soil was fought in the San Fernando Valley
in Cahuenga Pass
on 9 January 1845, Workman and two others brought out the flag of truce the following morning at Campo de Cahuenga
. Notably, Pío Pico had been ordered by the legislature of Alta California to go to Mexico and request assistance. When Pico returned to Los Angeles in 1848, he spent some time at Workman's residence. When the ex-governor refused to present himself to the military commander at Los Angeles, Jonathan D. Stevenson
, Stevenson raged that Workman was complicit in this defiance, angrily stating that Workman was "ever hostile to the American cause."
Nine days before the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
was ratified by the Mexican Congress, James W. Marshall
discovered gold at Sutter's Mill
on 24 January 1848. The resulting California Gold Rush
brought a huge economic windfall to Workman, whose hide-and-tallow
trade activities with his cattle ranching paled to the need for fresh beef in the gold regions. The wealth generated allowed Workman to expand his ranching enterprises, enlarge his house, build a cemetery
and chapel
on his grounds, and acquire real estate.
and then gave it to his ranch foreman, Juan Matias Sanchez, and his daughter, Margarita, and her husband, P. F. Temple
, Francisco P. Temple - F.P.T. Subsequently, with his son-in-law F.P.Temple and with Juan Sanchez, Workman acquired neighboring ranchos, including Rancho Potrero Grande
, Rancho Potrero de Felipe Lugo
, and Rancho Potrero Chico, in the area generally known as Misión Vieja or Old Mission, around the first site of Mission San Gabriel at Whittier Narrows
. Workman later had interests in today's Beverly Hills
and Glendale
and also had a claim to the Lytle Canyon
area near Rancho Cucamonga
and Cajon Pass
.
Although the cattle industry was buffeted by the decline of the Gold Rush and battered by the importation of better breeds of cattle from Texas, the death knell of the industry as the backbone of the regional economy was the dual disaster of flood in 1861-62 and drought from 1862-65. Fortunately for Workman, a friend, William Wolfskill
, found water and grass in, of all places, the Mojave Desert
in today's Apple Valley
area and invited Workman and John Rowland to send their herds there. With only a 25% loss in his cattle herd population, Workman still maintained an inventory of thousands of head into the 1870s.
Still, he moved quickly into expanding his agricultural production after 1865. A raiser of wine grapes since the 1840s, Workman built three wine-making and storing structures of brick and had some 60,000 vines on about 100 acre (0.404686 km²) of vineyards. He also had 5000 acres (20.2 km²) of wheat on the "Wheatfield Ranch" north of his home and built a grist mill near the San Gabriel River
. He even experimented successfully with cotton during the Civil War when the southern states were losing crops and market share, but transport proved to be too difficult and the crop was abandoned.
and San Marino
in the San Rafael Hills
; and Centinela near the Centinela Adobe
area in Rancho Aguaje de la Centinela
-Rancho Sausal Redondo
, in the present day Los Angeles International Airport-LAX
area; some of the first oil speculating
in the Santa Susana Mountains
near present day Santa Clarita
, and others.
The two men invested in early railroads too, such as the Los Angeles and Independence Railroad
project from Santa Monica
to Panamint City
and the Panamint Range
mines. To finance these projects, the two joined forces with young merchant Isaias W. Hellman
and formed the second bank in Los Angeles: Hellman, Temple and Company (1868-71.) When Temple and Hellman split over disagreements, Workman being a silent partner, Hellman formed Farmers and Merchants Bank with ex-Governor and pioneer L.A. banker John G. Downey
, while Temple and Workman went on their own.
The banking house of Temple and Workman (1871–1876) was popular, but largely for the wrong reasons. Temple's lending policy was liberal and the bank was poorly managed by head cashier Henry S. Ledyard. Further, the bank's investments in a wide range of projects were dangerously depleting cash reserves, especially after the state economy collapsed in a silver mining stock speculation fever at the Comstock Lode
in Virginia City, Nevada
in late August 1875. When news of the crash at San Francisco reached Los Angeles by telegraph, a panic broke out. Unable to meet the demand for cash by customers, Temple and Workman suspended business for thirty days and desperately needed an infusion of cash to stay open and stave off bankruptcy. After over three months, the bank finally reopened with a loan from Elias J. "Lucky" Baldwin
, a San Francisco capitalist who precipitated the Virginia City crisis by selling off huge amounts of stock and who was investing in Los Angeles area real estate. Baldwin's demands for the loan were virtually impossible to meet, but Temple and Workman accepted nonetheless. With confidence in the bank irrevocably shaken, depositors quietly drained the institution dry of the borrowed funds and Temple and Workman closed on 13 January 1876.
The resulting inventory of the bank's affairs by the assignees revealed an unmitigated management disaster. Though Temple and Workman were worth several million dollars, most of that wealth was tied to land mortgaged to Baldwin. Workman, bewildered by events he had no hand in shaping, was visited by a court receiver named Richard Garvey, also an associate of Baldwin, on 17 May 1876. That evening, an ailing Workman took his own life at his home on his beloved rancho. He was 76 years old.
Workman's death was a shock to a jittery community unnerved by the economic paralysis that plagued the community for the remainder of the decade and well into the next and the population of the city and county dropped for the only time since 1865. As a failed banker, Workman is little known today, though his home at the Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum is open for visitation by those who want to know more about the remarkable life he lived in the Los Angeles area from the 1840s to the 1870s.
surname
s was in September 1845, of William Workman's daughter Antonia Margarita Workman (July 26, 1830–January 24, 1892) to Pliny Fisk Temple
(Francisco P. Temple or F.P.T ) - February 13, 1822–April 27, 1880.) The Temples had eleven children, eight living into adulthood.
Pliny Fisk Temple-F.P.T was named for a Congregationalist missionary in Palestine
, was born to Jonathan Temple and Lucinda Parker in Reading, Massachusetts
, near Boston
. After completing his education, he took ship around Cape Horn
to California in January 1841, hoping to meet his half-brother, Jonathan Temple
, who was twenty-six years older. Jonathan had left for the Sandwich Islands
-Hawaiian Islands
in the early 1820s before Pliny was born, then relocated to Pueblo de Los Angeles
in 1828 and opened the town's first store. He became a prominent citizen. After six months sailing around the horn of South American to Monterey and then traveling south, Pliny arrived at Los Angeles around the first of July 1841. A visit with Jonathan turned into a permanent relocation and Pliny returned home just once, in summer 1870, to enroll two sons at Harvard and M.I.T. in Boston.
Pliny worked as a clerk in his brother Jonathan's store and, when the first small discovery of gold in California was made in Placerita Canyon
in the San Gabriel Mountains
north of Los Angeles in Spring 1842, he shipped gold dust to a brother in Reading who then sent it on to the national Philadelphia Mint
. Perhaps it was at the Temple Store that Pliny met Margarita Workman.
The Antonia and Pliny Temple family lived in Los Angeles
until 1849, while Pliny worked in Jonathan's store, and then left his employ for a brief sojourn in the northern gold fields
. This was followed by F.P.Temple's return to Los Angeles, around which time William Workman granted them half of the 2363 acres (9.6 km²) Rancho La Merced
in the Whittier Narrows near today's South El Monte, California
. The Temples built a single-story adobe house, said to have measured an 70 x 110 feet (33.5 m), and which later had a second floor of wood and was accompanied, by the 1870s, by a two-story French Second Empire (architecture)-style brick dwelling. The Temple ranch had vineyards, orchard
s, a grist mill, and was stocked with cattle, horses and other animals. Temple also was among the first in Los Angeles County to raise thoroughbred horses, starting in the early 1860s. He also was the owner of much property outside the county, including: horse grazing land in Alameda County, California
; thousands of acres in Madera County
and Fresno County, California
; lumber mills in San Antonio Canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains above modern Claremont, California
and at Rancho San Jacinto y San Gorgonio
near today's Idyllwild, California; and cattle ranch lands, a slaughterhouse
and a butcher shop in Springfield, California
and Columbia, California
in Tuolumne County
's famed gold centers.
F.P.Temple was also politically involved, serving as Los Angeles City Treasurer in 1851-52, on the first Los Angeles County board of supervisors in 1852-53 and as Los Angeles county treasurer in 1876-77. He was a rare Whig/Republican in a county political world completely dominated by Democrats - specifically, Southern Democrats.
By the time Los Angeles experienced its first significant growth after the United States Civil War, F.P.Temple dove headlong into business projects that were intended to ride the wave of the boom. As discussed above in the section on William Workman, the silent partner in the partnership Temple spearheaded, the wave eventually crashed and ruined the fortunes of the Temple and Workman families by 1876. Temple's personal popularity among his fellow citizens spared him the wrath that might otherwise have been directed to the president of a failed bank, although he suffered the first of a series of strokes within months after the closure of the bank. Largely confined to a small portion of his Rancho La Merced, Temple died at age 58 of another stroke, then called apoplexy
, though claims by some writers seeking to romanticize the story further than warranted claimed he died in a "rude sheepherder's hut" on a corner of the rancho.
in the 1920s. In 1903, Walter Temple married Laurenza Gonzalez, a member of an early Californio
family, who was born and raised just a stone's throw away from Temple in the Misión Vieja (Old Mission) community in present Whittier Narrows. The two had five children, four living to adulthood, and the family lived on a 50 acres (202,343 m²) parcel inherited from Walter's mother after her death in 1892. With longtime friend, Milton Kauffman, however, Temple acquired 60 acres (242,811.6 m²) to the west at the corner of the Montebello Hills that had belonged to his father before the 1876 failure of the bank of Temple and Workman and sold the former Temple Homestead. Living in an 1869 adobe built by Rafael Basye, the Temples ranched and farmed on their new holdings when their eldest child, Thomas, discovered oil in Spring 1914. After leasing the tract to Standard Oil Company of California, which brought in the first producing well in June 1917, the Temples were the beneficiaries of some two dozen wells drilled over the next several years, including a few major gushers.
William Workman's son José Manuel Workman (February 10, 1833–March 13, 1901) married Josephine Belt (December 19, 1851 – July 1, 1937), a native of Stockton in January 1870 in San Francisco. Joseph and his wife had seven children. Their daughter Josephine Workman became silent movie
actress Mona Darkfeather
(January 13, 1883–September 3, 1977), who portrayed American Indian women in films.
from 1842, with brick additions and a thorough remodel by 1870; "La Casa Nueva," the 1920s Spanish Colonial Revival architecture residence of Walter Temple and Laura Gonzalez,; the 1850s "El Campo Santo Cemetery
" Cemetery, a private family burial ground. All are at the Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum.
, a mile north of the Pomona Freeway — SR-60 at 15415 East Don Julian Road, just west of Hacienda Boulevard.
Free public guided tours are given Wednesday through Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. There are large festivals, weekend living history
tours, and other public events year-round: Info & events and Museum history Blog .
American pioneer
American pioneers are any of the people in American history who migrated west to join in settling and developing new areas. The term especially refers to those who were going to settle any territory which had previously not been settled or developed by European or American society, although the...
interconnected Workman and Temple families that were prominent in: the history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
of colonial Pueblo de Los Angeles
Pueblo de Los Angeles
El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles was the Spanish civilian pueblo founded in 1781, which by the 20th century became the American metropolis of Los Angeles....
and American Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
; the Los Angeles Basin
Los Angeles Basin
The Los Angeles Basin is the coastal sediment-filled plain located between the Peninsular and Transverse ranges in southern California in the United States containing the central part of the city of Los Angeles as well as its southern and southeastern suburbs...
and San Gabriel Valley
San Gabriel Valley
The San Gabriel Valley is one of the principal valleys of Southern California, United States. It lies to the east of Los Angeles, to the north of the Puente Hills, to the south of the San Gabriel Mountains, and west of the Inland Empire. It derives its name from the San Gabriel River that flows...
regions; and Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
— from 1830 to 1930 in Mexican Alta California
Alta California
Alta California was a province and territory in the Viceroyalty of New Spain and later a territory and department in independent Mexico. The territory was created in 1769 out of the northern part of the former province of Las Californias, and consisted of the modern American states of California,...
and the subsequent state of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
England
William ('Don Julian') Workman (November 17, 1799–May 17, 1876) was born in Temple Sowerby, WestmorlandWestmorland
Westmorland is an area of North West England and one of the 39 historic counties of England. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974, after which the entirety of the county was absorbed into the new county of Cumbria.-Early history:...
, now Cumbria
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, to Thomas Workman (1763–1843) and Nancy Hook (1771–1830). When William was eleven years old, his father inherited a substantial home and property in nearby Clifton from a childless aunt and uncle and relocated his family there. In 1814, the Workmans issued cash bequests upon their three sons, with the eldest, David Workman
Boyle-Workman family
The Boyle-Workman family relates to the pioneer interconnected Boyle and Workman families that were prominent in: the history of colonial Pueblo de Los Angeles and American Los Angeles; the Los Angeles Basin and San Gabriel Valley regions; and Southern California — from 1830 to 1930 in Mexican Alta...
, using half his money to migrate to America in 1817. David settled in the new town of Franklin, Missouri
Franklin, Missouri
Franklin is a city in Howard County, Missouri, United States. The population was 112 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Columbia, Missouri Metropolitan Statistical Area.- Geography :Franklin is located at...
, the virtual western end of the country, in 1819, opened a saddlery and returned to England three years later to retrieve the remainder of his bequest. In the process, David convinced William to join him and the two brothers sailed from Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
and landed at Philadelphia in September 1822.
New Mexico
William stayed in Franklin for three years, working for his brother, before joining an early caravan on the Santa Fe TrailSanta Fe Trail
The Santa Fe Trail was a 19th-century transportation route through central North America that connected Missouri with Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pioneered in 1822 by William Becknell, it served as a vital commercial and military highway until the introduction of the railroad to Santa Fe in 1880...
, which opened in Franklin, Missouri in 1821, to Santa Fe de Nuevo México
Santa Fe de Nuevo México
Santa Fe de Nuevo México was a province of New Spain and later Mexico that existed from the late 16th century up through the mid-19th century. It was centered on the upper valley of the Rio Grande , in an area that included most of the present-day U.S. state of New Mexico...
-New Spain
New Spain
New Spain, formally called the Viceroyalty of New Spain , was a viceroyalty of the Spanish colonial empire, comprising primarily territories in what was known then as 'América Septentrional' or North America. Its capital was Mexico City, formerly Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire...
in the spring of 1825. He then settled in Taos
Taos, New Mexico
Taos is a town in Taos County in the north-central region of New Mexico, incorporated in 1934. As of the 2000 census, its population was 4,700. Other nearby communities include Ranchos de Taos, Cañon, Taos Canyon, Ranchitos, and El Prado. The town is close to Taos Pueblo, the Native American...
where he did some fur trapping, opened a store, and, in partnership with American John A. Rowland
John A. Rowland
John A. Rowland was an early settler and rancher of the eastern San Gabriel Valley area of Los Angeles County, California. He and his family were very prominent in the region's early development and the unincorporated community of Rowland Heights, California is named for him.-Early life:John...
, manufactured liquor.
Workman family
William Workman had a common-law marriage with Maria Nicolasa Urioste de Valencia (April 19, 1802–February 4, 1892), a Taos Native American, for more than a decade, having a church marriage at Mission San Gabriel ArcángelMission San Gabriel Arcángel
The Mission San Gabriel Arcángel is a fully functioning Roman Catholic mission and a historic landmark in San Gabriel, California. The settlement was founded by Spaniards of the Franciscan order on "The Feast of the Birth of Mary," September 8, 1771, as the fourth of what would become 21 Spanish...
near the Pueblo de Los Angeles in 1844. He and Nicolasa had two children, Antonia Margarita (1830–1892) and Joseph Manuel Workman (ca. 1833-1901.)
While a success as a merchant
Merchant
A merchant is a businessperson who trades in commodities that were produced by others, in order to earn a profit.Merchants can be one of two types:# A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant...
and distiller, Workman was embroiled in the difficult local politics of the period in Nuevo México, having been forced to swear loyalty to rebels in the Taos Revolt
Taos Revolt
The Taos Revolt was a popular insurrection in January 1847 by Mexicans and Pueblo allies against the United States' occupation of present-day northern New Mexico during the Mexican–American War. In two short campaigns, United States troops and militia crushed the rebellion of the Mexicans and...
who assassinated the departmental Spanish governor in 1837. After a counter-revolt squashed the Taoseño rebellion, Workman and his partner Rowland were arrested for smuggling. A few years later, when the independent Republic of Texas
Republic of Texas
The Republic of Texas was an independent nation in North America, bordering the United States and Mexico, that existed from 1836 to 1846.Formed as a break-away republic from Mexico by the Texas Revolution, the state claimed borders that encompassed an area that included all of the present U.S...
and its president, Mirabeau B. Lamar
Mirabeau B. Lamar
Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar was a Texas politician, diplomat and soldier who was a leading Texas political figure during the Texas Republic era. He was the second President of the Republic of Texas, after David G. Burnet and Sam Houston.-Early years:Lamar grew up at Fairfield, his father's...
, sought to extend its boundary to the Rio Grande
Rio Grande
The Rio Grande is a river that flows from southwestern Colorado in the United States to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way it forms part of the Mexico – United States border. Its length varies as its course changes...
, thereby annexing the principal towns of New Mexico, Workman and Rowland were named agents of the Texans in New Mexico. Although it is unclear whether they sought the position and were soon replaced, they decided to leave for Alta California
Alta California
Alta California was a province and territory in the Viceroyalty of New Spain and later a territory and department in independent Mexico. The territory was created in 1769 out of the northern part of the former province of Las Californias, and consisted of the modern American states of California,...
early in 1841.
Southern California
In September of that year, a group of up to sixty-five or so members, including Americans, Europeans and New Mexicans left New Mexico and took the Old Spanish TrailOld Spanish Trail
Old Spanish Trail may refer to:*Old Spanish Trail , connecting Santa Fe, New Mexico with Los Angeles, California in the 19th century...
to the Los Angeles pueblo
Pueblo
Pueblo is a term used to describe modern communities of Native Americans in the Southwestern United States of America. The first Spanish explorers of the Southwest used this term to describe the communities housed in apartment-like structures built of stone, adobe mud, and other local material...
. The 1200 miles (1,931.2 km) journey was completed by late fall and John Rowland presented a letter of recommendation from New Mexico's American consul and a list of expedition members to the authorities in Los Angeles.
The Workman-Rowland Party was long considered the "first wagon train of Americans to travel overland to Los Angeles," but the party could not use wagons because of the difficult Old Spanish Trail route, nor were they solely Americans., Workman commemorated his arrival in Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
with a glass plaque (still in family hands) that dated his landfall as November 5, 1841, which was a British national holiday called Guy Fawkes' Day.
Rancho La Puente
Early in 1842, John A. RowlandJohn A. Rowland
John A. Rowland was an early settler and rancher of the eastern San Gabriel Valley area of Los Angeles County, California. He and his family were very prominent in the region's early development and the unincorporated community of Rowland Heights, California is named for him.-Early life:John...
obtained a Mexican land grant
Ranchos of California
The Spanish, and later the Méxican government encouraged settlement of territory now known as California by the establishment of large land grants called ranchos, from which the English ranch is derived. Devoted to raising cattle and sheep, the owners of the ranchos attempted to pattern themselves...
to the Rancho La Puente
Rancho La Puente
Rancho La Puente was a ranch in the eastern San Gabriel Valley that, in its fullest extent, measured just under , and remained intact until about 1870. By modern landmarks, the ranch extended from San Gabriel River on the west to just west of the 57 Freeway on the east and from Ramona...
, at that time 18000 acres (72.8 km²), from Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado
Juan Bautista Alvarado
Juan Bautista Valentín Alvarado y Vallejo was a Californio and twice Governor of Alta California from 1836 to 1837, and 1838 to 1842.-Early years:...
in the San Gabriel Valley
San Gabriel Valley
The San Gabriel Valley is one of the principal valleys of Southern California, United States. It lies to the east of Los Angeles, to the north of the Puente Hills, to the south of the San Gabriel Mountains, and west of the Inland Empire. It derives its name from the San Gabriel River that flows...
about twenty miles (32 km) from Los Angeles. William Workman was not officially an owner at that time, though he received an official document allowing him the privileges of an owner in settling on the rancho
Rancho
Rancho may refer to:*Alta California land grants in the 19th century; see Ranchos of California*Rancho High School, a North Las Vegas high school*Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center**Rancho Los Amigos Scale...
. In July 1845, Governor Pío Pico amended the La Puente grant, adding Workman's name officially as owner and expanding the rancho to the maximum allowable under Mexican land law, eleven square leagues, or almost 49,000 (48,790.55) acres, 48790 acres (197 km²) Rancho La Puente
Rancho La Puente
Rancho La Puente was a ranch in the eastern San Gabriel Valley that, in its fullest extent, measured just under , and remained intact until about 1870. By modern landmarks, the ranch extended from San Gabriel River on the west to just west of the 57 Freeway on the east and from Ramona...
, out of a portion of which was later carved the city of La Puente
La Puente, California
La Puente is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 39,816 at the 2010 census.* City flower: The Golden Hibiscus* City colors: Green and White.-History:...
. Workman occupied the western portions of the rancho and built an adobe home on the property in 1842 that was subsequently expanded by 1856 and then significantly remodeled by 1870.
Mexican American War
Pío Pico
Pío de Jesús Pico was the last Governor of Alta California under Mexican rule.-Origins:...
in his standoff with appointed Governor Manuel Micheltorena
Manuel Micheltorena
Manuel Micheltorena was a Brigadier General of the Mexican Army, Adjutant-General of the same, Governor, Commandant-General and Inspector of the Department of the California...
at the battle at Cahuenga Pass of the Mexican American War, northwest of Los Angeles. Although the battle that ensued was limited to minimal gunfire and no casualties, Workman, his lieutenant John Rowland, Benjamin D. Wilson, and James McKinley from the Pico side worked out a surrender option with Americans and Europeans on the Micheltorena side and the governor was allowing to leave California by ship. Pico assumed the governorship, but his relocating of the Alta California capital to Los Angeles from Monterey
Monterey, California
The City of Monterey in Monterey County is located on Monterey Bay along the Pacific coast in Central California. Monterey lies at an elevation of 26 feet above sea level. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 27,810. Monterey is of historical importance because it was the capital of...
and his plan to move the customs house to San Pedro Bay, among other issues, led northerner José Castro to mount a challenge to Pico's authority. Workman was appointed to lead the defense of Los Angeles against an incursion by Castro's forces, when news came that the American army was ready to invade the department of Alta California.
William Workman played an important role in subsequent events during the Mexican-American War. After a group of Americans, including Wilson and Rowland, were seized in late summer 1846 at the Rancho Santa Ana del Chino
Rancho Santa Ana del Chino
Rancho Santa Ana del Chino was a Mexican land grant in the Chino Hills of present day San Bernardino County, California given to Antonio Maria Lugo in 1841 by Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado...
house of Isaac Williams, Workman and neighboring ranchero Ignacio Palomares worked to free the prisoners, who were held at Paredon Blanco (later Boyle Heights.) After the native Californios, in the Siege of Los Angeles
Siege of Los Angeles
The Siege of Los Angeles was a military occupation by the United States Marines of the Pueblo de Los Angeles during the Mexican-American war.-Occupation:...
, were successful in expelling the American force left to guard the town after the initial conquest by U.S. forces and another American invasion was being led by Commodore Robert F. Stockton, Workman met Stockton at Mission San Juan Capistrano
Mission San Juan Capistrano
Mission San Juan Capistrano was a Spanish mission in Southern California, located in present-day San Juan Capistrano. It was founded on All Saints Day November 1, 1776, by Spanish Catholics of the Franciscan Order...
just after New Year's Day 1847 and arranged an amnesty for all Californios who would resist the American retaking of Los Angeles.
When the last battle of the war on California soil was fought in the San Fernando Valley
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...
in Cahuenga Pass
Cahuenga Pass
The Cahuenga Pass is a mountain pass through the eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains in the Hollywood district of the City of Los Angeles, California....
on 9 January 1845, Workman and two others brought out the flag of truce the following morning at Campo de Cahuenga
Campo de Cahuenga
The Campo de Cahuenga, near the historic Cahuenga Pass in present day Studio City, Los Angeles, California, was an adobe ranch-house on the Rancho Cahuenga where the Treaty of Cahuenga was signed between Lieutenant Colonel John C. Frémont and General Andrés Pico in 1847, ending hostilities in...
. Notably, Pío Pico had been ordered by the legislature of Alta California to go to Mexico and request assistance. When Pico returned to Los Angeles in 1848, he spent some time at Workman's residence. When the ex-governor refused to present himself to the military commander at Los Angeles, Jonathan D. Stevenson
Jonathan D. Stevenson
Jonathan Drake Stevenson was born in New York; won a seat in the New York State Assembly ; was the commanding officer of the First Regiment of New York Volunteers during the Mexican-American War in California; entered California mining and real estate businesses; and died in San Francisco on...
, Stevenson raged that Workman was complicit in this defiance, angrily stating that Workman was "ever hostile to the American cause."
Nine days before the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is the peace treaty, largely dictated by the United States to the interim government of a militarily occupied Mexico City, that ended the Mexican-American War on February 2, 1848...
was ratified by the Mexican Congress, James W. Marshall
James W. Marshall
James Wilson Marshall was an American carpenter and sawmill operator, whose discovery of gold in the American River in California on January 24, 1848 set the stage for the California Gold Rush. The mill property was owned by Johan Sutter who employed Marshall to build his mill...
discovered gold at Sutter's Mill
Sutter's Mill
Sutter's Mill was a sawmill owned by 19th century pioneer John Sutter in partnership with James W. Marshall. It was located in Coloma, California, at the bank of the South Fork American River...
on 24 January 1848. The resulting California Gold Rush
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
brought a huge economic windfall to Workman, whose hide-and-tallow
Tallow
Tallow is a rendered form of beef or mutton fat, processed from suet. It is solid at room temperature. Unlike suet, tallow can be stored for extended periods without the need for refrigeration to prevent decomposition, provided it is kept in an airtight container to prevent oxidation.In industry,...
trade activities with his cattle ranching paled to the need for fresh beef in the gold regions. The wealth generated allowed Workman to expand his ranching enterprises, enlarge his house, build a cemetery
Cemetery
A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
and chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
on his grounds, and acquire real estate.
Expansion and agriculture
One such acquisition came in 1850 when William Workman, who had loaned money to grantee Casilda Soto de Lobo, foreclosed on the Rancho La MercedRancho La Merced
Rancho La Merced was a Mexican land grant in present day Los Angeles County, California given in 1844 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to Casilda Soto de Lobo. The name means "Mercy of God". The northwest section of Montebello and the southeastern part of Monterey Park now occupy the area of...
and then gave it to his ranch foreman, Juan Matias Sanchez, and his daughter, Margarita, and her husband, P. F. Temple
Francisco P. Temple
Francisco P. Temple served on the first Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in 1852.-Biography:...
, Francisco P. Temple - F.P.T. Subsequently, with his son-in-law F.P.Temple and with Juan Sanchez, Workman acquired neighboring ranchos, including Rancho Potrero Grande
Rancho Potrero Grande
Rancho Potrero Grande was a Mexican land grant in present day Los Angeles County, California given in 1845 by Governor Pío Pico to Manuel Antonio. The name means "Large Pasture"...
, Rancho Potrero de Felipe Lugo
Rancho Potrero de Felipe Lugo
Rancho Potrero de Felipe Lugo was a Mexican land grant in present day Los Angeles County, California given in 1845 by Governor Pío Pico to Teodoro Romero and Jorge Morillo. The name means pasture of Felipe Lugo. Felipe Lugo was the son of Antonio Maria Lugo of Rancho San Antonio...
, and Rancho Potrero Chico, in the area generally known as Misión Vieja or Old Mission, around the first site of Mission San Gabriel at Whittier Narrows
Whittier Narrows
The Whittier Narrows is located at the southern boundary of the San Gabriel Valley, in Los Angeles County, California. It is a gap in the Puente Hills where the Rio Hondo and the San Gabriel River diverge....
. Workman later had interests in today's Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills is an affluent city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a population of 34,109 at the 2010 census, up from 33,784 as of the 2000 census, it is home to numerous Hollywood celebrities. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together...
and Glendale
Glendale, California
Glendale is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the city population is 191,719, down from 194,973 at the 2000 census. making it the third largest city in Los Angeles County and the 22nd largest city in the state of California...
and also had a claim to the Lytle Canyon
Lytle Creek, California
Lytle Creek is a census-designated place in San Bernardino County. It is about northwest of downtown San Bernardino and 10 miles from the cities of Fontana and Rialto. This small remote community is located in a large southeast-trending canyon on the eastern portion of the San GabrielMountains...
area near Rancho Cucamonga
Rancho Cucamonga
Rancho Cucamonga was a Mexican land grant in present day San Bernardino County, California given in 1839 to dedicated soldier, smuggler and politician, Tiburcio Tapia by Mexican governor Juan Bautista Alvarado. The grant encompassed present day Rancho Cucamonga...
and Cajon Pass
Cajon Pass
Cajon Pass is a moderate-elevation mountain pass between the San Bernardino Mountains and the San Gabriel Mountains in Southern California in the United States. It was created by the movements of the San Andreas Fault...
.
Although the cattle industry was buffeted by the decline of the Gold Rush and battered by the importation of better breeds of cattle from Texas, the death knell of the industry as the backbone of the regional economy was the dual disaster of flood in 1861-62 and drought from 1862-65. Fortunately for Workman, a friend, William Wolfskill
William Wolfskill
William Wolfskill was a cowboy and agronomist from Los Angeles, California, who was highly influential in the development of California's agricultural industry in the 19th century.-Valencia orange:...
, found water and grass in, of all places, the Mojave Desert
Mojave Desert
The Mojave Desert occupies a significant portion of southeastern California and smaller parts of central California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona, in the United States...
in today's Apple Valley
Apple Valley, California
-Climate:*On average, the warmest month is July.*The highest recorded temperature was in 2002.*On average, the coolest month is December.*The lowest recorded temperature was in 1949.*The most precipitation on average occurs in February.-History:...
area and invited Workman and John Rowland to send their herds there. With only a 25% loss in his cattle herd population, Workman still maintained an inventory of thousands of head into the 1870s.
Still, he moved quickly into expanding his agricultural production after 1865. A raiser of wine grapes since the 1840s, Workman built three wine-making and storing structures of brick and had some 60,000 vines on about 100 acre (0.404686 km²) of vineyards. He also had 5000 acres (20.2 km²) of wheat on the "Wheatfield Ranch" north of his home and built a grist mill near the San Gabriel River
San Gabriel River (California)
The San Gabriel River flows through southern Los Angeles County, California in the United States. Its main stem is about long, while its farthest tributaries extend almost altogether...
. He even experimented successfully with cotton during the Civil War when the southern states were losing crops and market share, but transport proved to be too difficult and the crop was abandoned.
Land development and banking
By 1870, Los Angeles was growing rapidly and Workman joined his ambitious son-in-law, F. P. F.(Francis Pliny Fisk) Temple, in the emerging business arena of the nascent city. The two men invested in real estate subdivisions, notably: Lake Vineyard in today's AlhambraAlhambra, California
Alhambra is a city located in the western San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, United States, which is approximately eight miles from the Downtown Los Angeles civic center. As of the 2010 census, the population was 83,089, down from 85,804 at the 2000 census. The city's...
and San Marino
San Marino, California
San Marino is a small, affluent city in Los Angeles County, California. Incorporated in 1913, the City founders designed the community to be uniquely residential, with expansive properties surrounded by beautiful gardens, wide streets, and well maintained parkways...
in the San Rafael Hills
San Rafael Hills
The San Rafael Hills are a mountain range in Los Angeles County, California. They are one of the lower Transverse Ranges, and are parallel to and below the San Gabriel Mountains to the south, adjacent to the San Gabriel Valley overlooking the Los Angeles Basin.-Geography:The Hills contain all or...
; and Centinela near the Centinela Adobe
Centinela Adobe
The Centinela Adobe, also known as La Casa de la Centinela, is an Spanish Colonial style adobe house built in 1834. It is operated as a house museum by the Historical Society of Centinela Valley, and is one of the 43 surviving adobes within Los Angeles County, California...
area in Rancho Aguaje de la Centinela
Rancho Aguaje de la Centinela
Rancho Aguaje de la Centinela was a Mexican land grant in present day Los Angeles County, California given in 1837 to Ygnacio Machado. The name means "Sentinel of Waters" in Spanish, and probably refers to Centinela Springs...
-Rancho Sausal Redondo
Rancho Sausal Redondo
Rancho Sausal Redondo was a Mexican land grant in present day Los Angeles County, California given in 1837 to Antonio Ygnacio Avila by Juan Alvarado Governor of Alta California. The Spanish words, Rancho Sausal Redondo, mean a large circular ranch of pasture with a grove of willows on it...
, in the present day Los Angeles International Airport-LAX
Los Angeles International Airport
Los Angeles International Airport is the primary airport serving the Greater Los Angeles Area, the second-most populated metropolitan area in the United States. It is most often referred to by its IATA airport code LAX, with the letters pronounced individually...
area; some of the first oil speculating
Mentryville, California
Mentryville was an oil drilling town in the Santa Susana Mountains in Los Angeles County, California, USA. It was started in the 1870s around the newly discovered oil reserves in that area. The first oil strike was on September 26, 1876...
in the Santa Susana Mountains
Santa Susana Mountains
The Santa Susana Mountains are a transverse range of mountains in southern California, north of the city of Los Angeles, in the United States. The range runs east-west separating the San Fernando Valley and Simi Valley on its south, from Santa Clara River Valley to the north, and Santa Clarita...
near present day Santa Clarita
Santa Clarita, California
Santa Clarita is the fourth largest city in Los Angeles County, California, United States and the twenty-fourth largest city in the state of California. The 2010 US Census reported the city's population grew 16.7% from the year 2000 to 176,320 residents. It is located about northwest of downtown...
, and others.
The two men invested in early railroads too, such as the Los Angeles and Independence Railroad
Los Angeles and Independence Railroad
The Los Angeles and Independence Railroad , opened October 17, 1875, was a steam powered rail line which travelled from a wharf North of the current Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica along a private right-of-way to 5th and San Pedro Street in downtown Los Angeles...
project from Santa Monica
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...
to Panamint City
Panamint City, California
Panamint City is a ghost town in the Panamint Range, near Death Valley, in Inyo County, California, USA. It is also known by the official Board of Geographic Names identity, Panamint. Panamint was a boom town founded after silver and copper were found there in 1872. By 1874, the town had a...
and the Panamint Range
Panamint Range
The Panamint Range is a short rugged fault-block mountain range on the northern edge of the Mojave Desert, in Death Valley National Park, Inyo County, California, United States.-Geography:...
mines. To finance these projects, the two joined forces with young merchant Isaias W. Hellman
Isaias W. Hellman
Isaias Wolf Hellman was a German-Jewish banker and philanthropist, and a founding father of the University of Southern California.-Biography:...
and formed the second bank in Los Angeles: Hellman, Temple and Company (1868-71.) When Temple and Hellman split over disagreements, Workman being a silent partner, Hellman formed Farmers and Merchants Bank with ex-Governor and pioneer L.A. banker John G. Downey
John G. Downey
John Gately Downey was an Irish-American politician and the seventh Governor of California from January 14, 1860 to January 10, 1862. Until the election of Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2003, Downey was California's only foreign-born governor...
, while Temple and Workman went on their own.
The banking house of Temple and Workman (1871–1876) was popular, but largely for the wrong reasons. Temple's lending policy was liberal and the bank was poorly managed by head cashier Henry S. Ledyard. Further, the bank's investments in a wide range of projects were dangerously depleting cash reserves, especially after the state economy collapsed in a silver mining stock speculation fever at the Comstock Lode
Comstock Lode
The Comstock Lode was the first major U.S. discovery of silver ore, located under what is now Virginia City, Nevada, on the eastern slope of Mount Davidson, a peak in the Virginia Range. After the discovery was made public in 1859, prospectors rushed to the area and scrambled to stake their claims...
in Virginia City, Nevada
Virginia City, Nevada
Virginia City is a census-designated place that is the county seat of Storey County, Nevada. It is part of the Reno–Sparks Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 855 at the 2010 Census.- History :...
in late August 1875. When news of the crash at San Francisco reached Los Angeles by telegraph, a panic broke out. Unable to meet the demand for cash by customers, Temple and Workman suspended business for thirty days and desperately needed an infusion of cash to stay open and stave off bankruptcy. After over three months, the bank finally reopened with a loan from Elias J. "Lucky" Baldwin
Lucky Baldwin
Elias Jackson "Lucky" Baldwin was a prominent California businessman and investor of the second half of the 19th century.-Biography:...
, a San Francisco capitalist who precipitated the Virginia City crisis by selling off huge amounts of stock and who was investing in Los Angeles area real estate. Baldwin's demands for the loan were virtually impossible to meet, but Temple and Workman accepted nonetheless. With confidence in the bank irrevocably shaken, depositors quietly drained the institution dry of the borrowed funds and Temple and Workman closed on 13 January 1876.
The resulting inventory of the bank's affairs by the assignees revealed an unmitigated management disaster. Though Temple and Workman were worth several million dollars, most of that wealth was tied to land mortgaged to Baldwin. Workman, bewildered by events he had no hand in shaping, was visited by a court receiver named Richard Garvey, also an associate of Baldwin, on 17 May 1876. That evening, an ailing Workman took his own life at his home on his beloved rancho. He was 76 years old.
Workman's death was a shock to a jittery community unnerved by the economic paralysis that plagued the community for the remainder of the decade and well into the next and the population of the city and county dropped for the only time since 1865. As a failed banker, Workman is little known today, though his home at the Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum is open for visitation by those who want to know more about the remarkable life he lived in the Los Angeles area from the 1840s to the 1870s.
Temple family - the next generation
The first marriage in Los Angeles city history in which both persons had "Anglo"English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
surname
Surname
A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...
s was in September 1845, of William Workman's daughter Antonia Margarita Workman (July 26, 1830–January 24, 1892) to Pliny Fisk Temple
Francisco P. Temple
Francisco P. Temple served on the first Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in 1852.-Biography:...
(Francisco P. Temple or F.P.T ) - February 13, 1822–April 27, 1880.) The Temples had eleven children, eight living into adulthood.
Pliny Fisk Temple-F.P.T was named for a Congregationalist missionary in Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
, was born to Jonathan Temple and Lucinda Parker in Reading, Massachusetts
Reading, Massachusetts
Reading is an affluent town situated in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, some north of central Boston. The population was 24,747 at the 2010 census.-Settlement and Independence:...
, near Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
. After completing his education, he took ship around Cape Horn
Cape Horn
Cape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island...
to California in January 1841, hoping to meet his half-brother, Jonathan Temple
Jonathan Temple
Jonathan Temple came to Los Angeles in 1828 and became a large landowner, cattle rancher and one of the area's wealthiest citizens.-Biography:...
, who was twenty-six years older. Jonathan had left for the Sandwich Islands
Sandwich Islands
Sandwich Islands was the name given to the Hawaiian Islands by James Cook on one of his voyages in the 1770s. James Cook named the islands after John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, a supporter of Cook's voyages...
-Hawaiian Islands
Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll...
in the early 1820s before Pliny was born, then relocated to Pueblo de Los Angeles
Pueblo de Los Angeles
El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles was the Spanish civilian pueblo founded in 1781, which by the 20th century became the American metropolis of Los Angeles....
in 1828 and opened the town's first store. He became a prominent citizen. After six months sailing around the horn of South American to Monterey and then traveling south, Pliny arrived at Los Angeles around the first of July 1841. A visit with Jonathan turned into a permanent relocation and Pliny returned home just once, in summer 1870, to enroll two sons at Harvard and M.I.T. in Boston.
Pliny worked as a clerk in his brother Jonathan's store and, when the first small discovery of gold in California was made in Placerita Canyon
Placerita Canyon State Park
Placerita Canyon State Park is a California State Park in the San Gabriel Mountains, in an unincorporated rural area of Los Angeles County, north of Los Angeles near Santa Clarita, California.-Cultural History:...
in the San Gabriel Mountains
San Gabriel Mountains
The San Gabriel Mountains Range is located in northern Los Angeles County and western San Bernardino County, California, United States. The mountain range lies between the Los Angeles Basin and the Mojave Desert, with Interstate 5 to the west and Interstate 15 to the east...
north of Los Angeles in Spring 1842, he shipped gold dust to a brother in Reading who then sent it on to the national Philadelphia Mint
Philadelphia Mint
The Philadelphia Mint was created from the need to establish a national identity and the needs of commerce in the United States. This led the Founding Fathers of the United States to make an establishment of a continental national mint a main priority after the ratification of the Constitution of...
. Perhaps it was at the Temple Store that Pliny met Margarita Workman.
The Antonia and Pliny Temple family lived in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
until 1849, while Pliny worked in Jonathan's store, and then left his employ for a brief sojourn in the northern gold fields
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
. This was followed by F.P.Temple's return to Los Angeles, around which time William Workman granted them half of the 2363 acres (9.6 km²) Rancho La Merced
Rancho La Merced
Rancho La Merced was a Mexican land grant in present day Los Angeles County, California given in 1844 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to Casilda Soto de Lobo. The name means "Mercy of God". The northwest section of Montebello and the southeastern part of Monterey Park now occupy the area of...
in the Whittier Narrows near today's South El Monte, California
South El Monte, California
South El Monte is a city in the San Gabriel Valley, in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 20,116, down from 21,144 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...
. The Temples built a single-story adobe house, said to have measured an 70 x 110 feet (33.5 m), and which later had a second floor of wood and was accompanied, by the 1870s, by a two-story French Second Empire (architecture)-style brick dwelling. The Temple ranch had vineyards, orchard
Orchard
An orchard is an intentional planting of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit or nut-producing trees which are grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of large gardens, where they serve an aesthetic as well as a productive...
s, a grist mill, and was stocked with cattle, horses and other animals. Temple also was among the first in Los Angeles County to raise thoroughbred horses, starting in the early 1860s. He also was the owner of much property outside the county, including: horse grazing land in Alameda County, California
Alameda County, California
Alameda County is a county in the U.S. state of California. It occupies most of the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 1,510,271, making it the 7th most populous county in the state...
; thousands of acres in Madera County
Madera County, California
Madera County is a county of the U.S. state of California, located in the Central Valley and the Sierra Nevada north of Fresno County. It comprises the Madera-Chowchilla, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census the population was 150,865...
and Fresno County, California
Fresno County, California
Fresno County is a county located in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California, south of Stockton and north of Bakersfield. As of the 2010 census, it is the tenth most populous county in California with a population of 930,450, and the sixth largest in size with an area of . The county...
; lumber mills in San Antonio Canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains above modern Claremont, California
Claremont, California
Claremont is a small affluent college town in eastern Los Angeles County, California, United States, about east of downtown Los Angeles at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. The population as of the 2010 census is 34,926. Claremont is known for its seven higher-education institutions, its...
and at Rancho San Jacinto y San Gorgonio
Rancho San Jacinto y San Gorgonio
Rancho San Jacinto y San Gorgonio was a Mexican land grant in present day Riverside County, California given in 1843 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to James Johnson. At the time of the US Patent, Rancho San Jacinto y San Gorgonio was a part of San San Bernardino County...
near today's Idyllwild, California; and cattle ranch lands, a slaughterhouse
Slaughterhouse
A slaughterhouse or abattoir is a facility where animals are killed for consumption as food products.Approximately 45-50% of the animal can be turned into edible products...
and a butcher shop in Springfield, California
Springfield, California
Springfield is an unincorporated community located in Tuolumne County, California. It is a former California Gold Rush boomtown in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Springfield is located 1.1 mi SW of Columbia another gold rush boomtown.-History:...
and Columbia, California
Columbia, California
Columbia is a former California Gold Rush boomtown located in the Sierra Nevada foothills. The central portion of the town is preserved as a California state historic park and a National Historic Landmark that preserves the original, gold-rush-town flavor of the town, once dubbed the "Gem of the...
in Tuolumne County
Tuolumne County, California
Tuolumne County is a county in the Sierra Nevada of the U.S. state of California. The northern half of Yosemite National Park is located in the eastern part of the county. As of the 2010 census, the population was 55,365, up from 54,501 at the 2000 census...
's famed gold centers.
F.P.Temple was also politically involved, serving as Los Angeles City Treasurer in 1851-52, on the first Los Angeles County board of supervisors in 1852-53 and as Los Angeles county treasurer in 1876-77. He was a rare Whig/Republican in a county political world completely dominated by Democrats - specifically, Southern Democrats.
By the time Los Angeles experienced its first significant growth after the United States Civil War, F.P.Temple dove headlong into business projects that were intended to ride the wave of the boom. As discussed above in the section on William Workman, the silent partner in the partnership Temple spearheaded, the wave eventually crashed and ruined the fortunes of the Temple and Workman families by 1876. Temple's personal popularity among his fellow citizens spared him the wrath that might otherwise have been directed to the president of a failed bank, although he suffered the first of a series of strokes within months after the closure of the bank. Largely confined to a small portion of his Rancho La Merced, Temple died at age 58 of another stroke, then called apoplexy
Apoplexy
Apoplexy is a medical term, which can be used to describe 'bleeding' in a stroke . Without further specification, it is rather outdated in use. Today it is used only for specific conditions, such as pituitary apoplexy and ovarian apoplexy. In common speech, it is used non-medically to mean a state...
, though claims by some writers seeking to romanticize the story further than warranted claimed he died in a "rude sheepherder's hut" on a corner of the rancho.
Later generations
The tenth child of F. P.F. Temple and Margarita Workman, Walter P. Temple (June 7, 1869–November 13, 1938) brought a resurgence of his family in regional affairs through oil, real estate, construction, and philanthropyPhilanthropy
Philanthropy etymologically means "the love of humanity"—love in the sense of caring for, nourishing, developing, or enhancing; humanity in the sense of "what it is to be human," or "human potential." In modern practical terms, it is "private initiatives for public good, focusing on quality of...
in the 1920s. In 1903, Walter Temple married Laurenza Gonzalez, a member of an early Californio
Californio
Californio is a term used to identify a Spanish-speaking Catholic people, regardless of race, born in California before 1848...
family, who was born and raised just a stone's throw away from Temple in the Misión Vieja (Old Mission) community in present Whittier Narrows. The two had five children, four living to adulthood, and the family lived on a 50 acres (202,343 m²) parcel inherited from Walter's mother after her death in 1892. With longtime friend, Milton Kauffman, however, Temple acquired 60 acres (242,811.6 m²) to the west at the corner of the Montebello Hills that had belonged to his father before the 1876 failure of the bank of Temple and Workman and sold the former Temple Homestead. Living in an 1869 adobe built by Rafael Basye, the Temples ranched and farmed on their new holdings when their eldest child, Thomas, discovered oil in Spring 1914. After leasing the tract to Standard Oil Company of California, which brought in the first producing well in June 1917, the Temples were the beneficiaries of some two dozen wells drilled over the next several years, including a few major gushers.
William Workman's son José Manuel Workman (February 10, 1833–March 13, 1901) married Josephine Belt (December 19, 1851 – July 1, 1937), a native of Stockton in January 1870 in San Francisco. Joseph and his wife had seven children. Their daughter Josephine Workman became silent movie
Silent Movie
Silent Movie is a 1976 satirical comedy film co-written, directed by, and starring Mel Brooks, and released by 20th Century Fox on June 17, 1976...
actress Mona Darkfeather
Mona Darkfeather
Mona Darkfeather was an American actress. During the silent era of motion pictures, from 1911 to 1917, she appeared in 102 movies...
(January 13, 1883–September 3, 1977), who portrayed American Indian women in films.
Legacy
The historic "Workman House", the original adobeAdobe
Adobe is a natural building material made from sand, clay, water, and some kind of fibrous or organic material , which the builders shape into bricks using frames and dry in the sun. Adobe buildings are similar to cob and mudbrick buildings. Adobe structures are extremely durable, and account for...
from 1842, with brick additions and a thorough remodel by 1870; "La Casa Nueva," the 1920s Spanish Colonial Revival architecture residence of Walter Temple and Laura Gonzalez,; the 1850s "El Campo Santo Cemetery
El Campo Santo Cemetery
El Campo Santo is a cemetery located at the Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum, 15415 East Don Julian Road, in City of Industry, California....
" Cemetery, a private family burial ground. All are at the Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum.
Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum
The historic Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum, city owned and funded, is located in the City of IndustryIndustry, California
Industry is an industrial suburb of Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County. Home to over 2,500 businesses and 80,000 jobs, but only 219 residents at the 2010 census - down from 777 residents as of the 2000 United States census - the city is almost entirely industrial...
, a mile north of the Pomona Freeway — SR-60 at 15415 East Don Julian Road, just west of Hacienda Boulevard.
- It has the:
Free public guided tours are given Wednesday through Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. There are large festivals, weekend living history
Living history
Living history is an activity that incorporates historical tools, activities and dress into an interactive presentation that seeks to give observers and participants a sense of stepping back in time. Although it does not necessarily seek to reenact a specific event in history, living history is...
tours, and other public events year-round: Info & events and Museum history Blog .
See also
- Workman and Temple Family
- Jonathan TempleJonathan TempleJonathan Temple came to Los Angeles in 1828 and became a large landowner, cattle rancher and one of the area's wealthiest citizens.-Biography:...
- Pliny Fisk Temple (Francisco P. Temple or F.P.T )Francisco P. TempleFrancisco P. Temple served on the first Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in 1852.-Biography:...
(February 13, 1822–April 27, 1880) - Josephine M. Workman–Mona DarkfeatherMona DarkfeatherMona Darkfeather was an American actress. During the silent era of motion pictures, from 1911 to 1917, she appeared in 102 movies...
(January 13, 1883–September 3, 1977)
- Jonathan Temple
- Boyle-Workman familyBoyle-Workman familyThe Boyle-Workman family relates to the pioneer interconnected Boyle and Workman families that were prominent in: the history of colonial Pueblo de Los Angeles and American Los Angeles; the Los Angeles Basin and San Gabriel Valley regions; and Southern California — from 1830 to 1930 in Mexican Alta...
- William H. WorkmanWilliam H. WorkmanWilliam Henry Workman was an American politician, banker and businessman. He served two terms as the 18th Mayor of Los Angeles, California.-Early life:...
(January 1, 1839–February 21, 1918) - Boyle WorkmanBoyle WorkmanAndrew Boyle Workman was a Los Angeles politician and businessman. He served as President of the Los Angeles City Council and, as such, was acting Mayor on occasion. He was the first city councilman to represent District 4 , under the new charter of 1925...
(September 20, 1868–December 25, 1942)
- William H. Workman
- Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum
- El Campo Santo CemeteryEl Campo Santo CemeteryEl Campo Santo is a cemetery located at the Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum, 15415 East Don Julian Road, in City of Industry, California....
- Evergreen Cemetery, Los Angeles
- El Campo Santo Cemetery
External links
- Official Workman House at the Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum website
- Homestead Museum's history Blog
- Historic Adobes of Los Angeles County: The Adobes of Rancho La Puente
- El Campo Santo Cemetery at Find A GraveFind A GraveFind a Grave is a commercial website providing free access and input to an online database of cemetery records. It was founded in 1998 as a DBA and incorporated in 2000.-History:...
- William Workman at Find A GraveFind A GraveFind a Grave is a commercial website providing free access and input to an online database of cemetery records. It was founded in 1998 as a DBA and incorporated in 2000.-History:...
- Nicolasa Urioste Workman at Find A GraveFind A GraveFind a Grave is a commercial website providing free access and input to an online database of cemetery records. It was founded in 1998 as a DBA and incorporated in 2000.-History:...