Last of Spanish rancheros dies
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June 3, 1904: Teodoro Verdugo died, marking the end of an era, The Times reported.
“The sweet mission bells of San Gabriel will toll a requiem tomorrow morning for the funeral of the last of the haughty old Spanish rancheros -- the last of the old dons who held regal sway in Southern California before the gringo came,” the newspaper said the next day.
Verdugo, 79, who built the Catalina Verdugo Adobe, was the son of Gulio Verdugo, a man The Times described as “a loyal soldier to the Spanish king, rewarded by a grant of eight leagues of land, stretching from Los Angeles to the foothills.”
Verdugo’s obituary noted the parties at the rancho, when “the guests did not come out at 8 and stay a bored hour and a half.... They came for a week or longer.”
The Times ran a death photo of Verdugo, noting it was the first and last picture of him because he refused to be photographed.
“Now that the head of the family is gone it is expected the hacienda and all it stands for will soon be gone also,” The Times said.
In fact, the house exists to this day. In 1985, the Glendale City Council stepped in to save it and other historic sites.
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