Chief Solano

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
Sem-Yeto, "Chief Solano"
Born about 1800
Suisun Bay Area, California, USA
Died about1851
Yulyul village, California, USA

Chief Solano, original native name Sem-Yeto, meaning "brave or fierce hand", and christianed later in life with the Spanish name Francisco Solano, was born about 1800 in the Suisunes Bay region of California. Sem-Yeto was a famous chief and leader of the Suisunes tribe, a Patwin people of the Suisun Bay region of California. Chief Solano was a charismatic, tall and notable Native American leader in Alta California, because of his alliance, frienship and eventually the support of his entire tribe to General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo of Sonoma, in military and political excursions around Sonoma County and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Sem-Yeto was described as tall, 6 feet 7 inches, handsome and brave.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Childhood 1800-1823

Sem-Yeto was born in the Suisunes Bay region of California, and lived there the first years of his life, but was baptized in the San Francisco Mission on July 1810 at roughly age 10 and presumedly grew to adulthood at the mission. Notably, this baptism took place two months after the tragedy of his tribe losing their men in Moraga's raid of 1810 of the Suisunes.[1] Sem-Yeto was possibly captured as a child in Moraga's raid of 1810, or else because of losing so many adults in the raid, his tribe brought him within two months of the battle to the mission to live. The raid of 1810 had demoralized the tribe, and instead of fighting or moving inland, many that year chose to join the mission and stop fighting.

For seven years he lived at the San Francisco Mission Sem-Yeto, he learned Spanish and mission records include his name. In the 1820s he reached manhood and became known as the leader of his people as Chief Solano.

[edit] Sonoma 1823-1846

In 1823, Sem-Yeto moved to present-day town of Sonoma, California, to help build and populate the mission in the the Mission San Francisco de Solano, along with many of the Suisunes tribe who had grown up at the San Francisco Mission. Mission Solano was the final Franciscan mission north of the San Francisco Bay and built under Mexican-American rule. Traveling from the San Francisco Mission to the Sonoma Mission was a good move for Suisunes, they were much closer to their homeland at the second mission.

In 1835, however, the Mexican government began to close down and secularize the missons, dispersing the land and properties. Mexican-Anerican General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo was sent to Sonoma to become the commandante of the new pueblo project, to administer the secularization of the mission, and to keep military control in the region. Chief Solano and the Suisunes became allies of Vallejo. In addition he became a very valuable patron and friend to Chief Solano.

Their first meeting and treaty was remembered by General Vallejo as taking place in June 1835, according to the book Historica de California on Vallejo's first day arriving into present-day Sonoma County: General Vallejo recounts sailing into Sonoma in 1835, just assigned by the Mexican military to extend Mexican domain in the North Bay to maintain a Mexican stronghold against the Russians at Fort Ross. Vallejo described coming to San Rafael, stopping to form an alliance with a Coast Miwok tribe there, then proceeding past Novato to the Rancheria of Captain Pulpula near present-day Schellville where he found over 3000 curious Native Americans amassed, led by Chief Solano. Vallejo pitched tents and dispatched messengers to ask all Native Americans in the region to make treaties with the Mexican government. Vallejo claims that within 48 hours a gathering of 11,000 natives had formed, and only a third of them seemed friendly to him. He remembers Chief Solano acted as his interpreter, and remembers how Chief Solano urged and harangued the gathering crowds to be friendly to the arriving Mexicans, persuading them that alliance meant Mexican-American military aid, and suggesting they could better punish enemy tribes. Thus Chief Solano not only formed an alliance with the Mexican Americans, he also gained a following, from many natives in the region in addition to his own tribe, the Suisunes.[2]

Once the alliance with General Vallejo was formed, Chief Solano and the Suisunes led many expeditions with the object of quelling the other tribes of the region, the Wappo, the Satisyomis (aka Sotoyomes) a Wappo tribe, and the Cainameros (aka the Indians of Cainama in the region toward Santa Rosa)[3] who were attempting to throw off Mexican domination. Chief Solano led both military expeditions against the other tribes, and some peacemaking missions. His main reputation was a man of peace. Chief Solano eventually helped to keep the peace between the region's Native Americans and the Mexicans. A peace treaty was signed in 1836.

In order to impress the Mexican Government, Vallejo arranged for and sent Chief Solano with 100 of his warrior Suisunes down to Monterey, California to impress and seek military support from Juan Bautista Alvarado, governor of Alta California (1836–1837, 1838–1842). Chief Solano and his warriors traveled the distance, but missed meeting Alvarado.[4]

When the small pox epidemic of 1837 decimated the Native American population of the Sonoma-Marin region, Chief Solano was one of the few natives to be vaccinated, and thus survived.

Chief Solano was one of the only natives to receive a land grant from Vallejo in his duties to oversee the mission secularization and parcelling out of Mexican-American lands (the other native to receive land was José Camillo Ynitia). Chief Solano remained a leader of many regional banded tribes and an influential ally and friend of General Vallejo until the Mexican Americans lost control of the state in 1846.

[edit] After Bear Flag Revolt 1846-1850s

In 1846, at the end of the Bear Flag Revolt when California became part of the United States, General Vallejo was taken prisoner by Americans at Sutter's Fort and presumed dead. Chief Solano thought he had lost his closest ally so fled north and found refuge with tribes as far north as Oregon, Washington and possibly Alaska. He returned to California in 1850 and died soon after of pneumonia at the old Yulyul village site in Rockville.[5]

[edit] The Legends

The following legends exist about the popular chief:

[edit] Heir of Chief Malica 1817

Another legend (unconfirmed) that has been handed down is that Sem-Yeto was the heir of Chief Malica who was present in 1817 at the tribe's captured and mass suicide of 1817, who fled at the dying request of Chief Malica.[6] In this version of Sem-Yeto's childhood, Chief Solano was convinced by Chief Malica to flee the battleground suicide as the rightful leader of the remaining people of the tribe in 1817 with the few that fled into the hills. In this legend, for 6 years 1817-1823, Sem-Yeto's whereabouts are not recorded, possibly he lived freely in the hills, or lived with another tribe, or was captured and was Christianized, then he turned up to bring the people to the Mission of Sonoma. For this to be true, Sem-Yeto was not raised and living at the San Francisco Mission since age 10, or if he had, he would have returned by age 17 to his tribal villages. (Note: the battles that Sem-Yeto is alleged to have survived, that of 1810 and 1817 have several similarities: both are a legend of a childhood leader being saved from a fiery battleground death to become the leader of his people. It sounds like the second legend might have simplified two battles into one battle and placed Sem-Yeto at the scene with Malica in order to emphasize his leadership of the people.)

[edit] First Baptism at Sonoma

The Mission San Francisco de Solano of Sonoma records that a "Francisco Solano" was one of the first natives baptized in the mission 1823/24. Some say that was Sem-Yeto. By all accounts Sem-Yeto move to the mission in its founding years with his people and was present at the time, however, if he was already baptized at the San Francisco Mission, theoretically he would not need to be baptized again. So the first baptism at the mission in Sonoma might be another neophyte named after the same Catholic saint. Genealogists may look into if the Chief baptized twice. There is an entry in the ledger but is it him? Possibly, Sem-Yeto went through baptism at Sonoma as a sign to all his people to come be baptized and join him.

[edit] Recognition

In a Fourth of July speech of 1876, General Vallejo describes a deep friendship and appreciation for Chief Solano who in the speech he said should be called a prince. The speech was reprinted in The Sonoma-Index of Dec. 4, 1880.[7]

A statue of Chief Solano was sculpted by Bill Huff in 1934. It was first mounted on a rock above Cordelia, later moved to a library in Fairfield.

Solano County is named directly after Chief (Sem-Yeto) Solano.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Milliken 1995:255.
  2. ^ The story of the alliance, per Historica de California, as retold by Lynch 1997:14-15.
  3. ^ Lewis & Co., 1891, mentions the Satisyomis were generally known as the Guapo. This would be the Wappo.
  4. ^ Fink 1972:74-75.
  5. ^ In addition to the references listed, mission records and mission registers will show genealogical details of his family, and Solano's life was witnessed and described by his widow in her old age
  6. ^ "Tragic Demise of People of the West Wind"
  7. ^ Lynch, 1997:14-15.

[edit] Sources

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../c/h/i/Chief_Solano_a97b.html"