Robert J. Elwell became most prominent in California; though Bradshaw, Holmes, and Leandry were also well known men. It was during this year that the Californians were excited at the presence and actions of Jedediah Smith's trappers, their first American visitors by the overland route. As Smith arrived in December 1826, the names of his companions who settled in the country have been included in the list of that year, though they left the company of hunters, and some of them arrived, in 1827.
Orders of the Californian officials in 1828 respecting foreigners were of the same tenor as before; applications for naturalization were frequent; many strangers wished to marry Californian wives. Bands of trappers on the frontiers round about excited some apprehensions. A few immigrants of Mexican blood seem to have come in from Sonora, and all was faithfully reported to the minister of relations in Mexico.[1] In accordance with the decree of March 12, 1828, which declared that no foreigner could remain in Mexican territory without a passport, and regulated the holding of property by naturalized citizens,[2] a reglamento was issued by the president on May 1st prescribing in detail the methods to be observed in obtaining, granting, and using passports of various kinds. This document was doubtless forwarded to California later in the year.[3] I find about sixty new
- ↑ Dept. Rec., MS., vi. 21, 27, 177, 192, 194; vii. 25; St. Pap., Sac., MS., x. 98; Vallejo, Doc., MS., xxix. passim. The Americans celebrated July 4th by burning much powder on the vessels at S. Diego.
- ↑ Mexico, Decreto sobre Pasaportes y modo de adquirir propiedades los Estrangeros, 12 de Marzo de 1828. 12 articles. In Schmidt's Civil Law of Spain and Mexico, 346-51, in Spanish and English; Hayes' Mex. Laws, 81-2
- ↑ Mexico, Reglamento para el ramo de Pasaportes — decretado por el Presidente en 1 de Mayo 1828. Printed copy in Pinto, Doc., i. 3. 25 articles, numbered as 22. Also in Dept. St. Pap., Angeles, MS., ix. 30-6; and part of it in Vallejo, Doc., MS. Omitting minor details, this regulation was in substance as follows: The master of a ship, on arrival, must furnish a report of his foreign passengers, and each passenger a report of his name, business, etc., to the customs officer, who will grant a boleto de disembarco to such as are not Spaniards, and have a passport from the general government, or from duly accredited Mexican agents abroad, or a bond from the consul or agent of their nation at the port of landing, or of a Mexican citizen. The boleto, without which no foreigner could leave the vessel, must be presented within
