Comicranga was a coastal

Tongva The Tongva ( ) are an Indigenous peoples of California, Indigenous people of California from the Los Angeles Basin and the Channel Islands of California, Southern Channel Islands, an area covering approximately . In the precolonial era, the peop ...

village located at what is now the area of

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

. It is most notable as the home village in the early 19th century of Bartolomea, better known as

Victoria Reid Victoria Reid (c. 1809 – December 23, 1868), also known as Bartolomea Comicrabit, was an indigenous Tongva woman from the village of Comicranga, at what is now Santa Monica, California. She is notable for having been one of the few Indigenous p ...

after her second marriage. She was a respected Indigenous woman in

Mexican California Alta California (, ), also known as Nueva California () among other names, was a province of New Spain formally established in 1804. Along with the Baja California peninsula, it had previously comprised the province of , but was made a separat ...

, who was among the few indigenous people to receive a land grant. As a young widow, she married Scottish immigrant

Hugo Reid Hugo Reid (April 18, 1811 – December 12, 1852) was a Scottish immigrant and early resident of Los Angeles County who became known for writing a series of newspaper articles, or "letters," that described the culture, language, and contemporary ci ...

, who became a naturalized Mexican citizen. The village is referred in various records and spellings to as Comigranga, Comicraibit, Comicrabit, and possibly Coronababit.

History

Indigenous

The village was established in the coastal region of western

Tovaangar Tovaangar (''Tongva'': "the world") refers to the Tongva world or homelands. It includes the greater area of the Los Angeles Basin, including the San Gabriel Valley, San Fernando Valley, northern Orange County, parts of San Bernardino County and ...

. As a coastal village, the usage of ''

te'aat A ''tomol'' or ''tomolo'' ( Chumash) or ''te'aat'' or ''ti'at'' (Tongva/ Kizh) are plank-built boats, historically and currently in the Santa Barbara, California and Los Angeles area. They replaced or supplemented tule reed boats. The boats were ...

s'' may have been important to the village's people. Villagers likely ate acorns, seeds, berries, small game, fish and shellfish.

Shell mound A midden is an old dump for domestic waste. It may consist of animal bones, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with past human occup ...

s were also likely a part of the village. The people in the village was connected to the

Chumash Chumash may refer to: *Chumash (Judaism), a Hebrew word for the Pentateuch, used in Judaism *Chumash people, a Native American people of southern California *Chumashan languages, Indigenous languages of California See also

* Pentateuch (dis ...

through marriage ties. The village was located near

Guashna Guashna was a Tongva village located at Playa Vista, Los Angeles at the mouth of Ballona Creek. The site has also been referred to as Sa'angna (or some variation thereof), with various sources debating whether Sa'angna, meaning "place of tar," wa ...

Mission San Gabriel

Following the Spanish establishment of

Mission San Gabriel Mission (from Latin 'the act of sending out'), Missions or The Mission may refer to: Geography Australia *Mission River (Queensland) Canada *Mission, British Columbia, a district municipality *Mission, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood * O ...

in 1771, the colonists gradually drew villagers away from surrounding settlements. They were brought to the mission for

conversion to Christianity Conversion to Christianity is the religious conversion of a previously non-Christian person that brings about changes in what sociologists refer to as the convert's "root reality" including their social behaviors, thinking and ethics. The sociol ...

and to provide a labor force to work the mission grounds. Villagers worked in '' de facto'' slave conditions that third-party observers at Mission San Gabriel viewed with repulsion. The earliest recorded baptisms of people being taken to Mission San Gabriel began in 1790. These baptisms reportedly peaked around 1803 and 1805, and then dropped off by 1819. This was around the same time that ranchers began to acquire land in the area of the village. In 1812, it was recorded by

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

missionaries that a language dialect may have originated from the village which they referred to as "Kokomcar." Many of the villagers died at the mission. There were a total of 7,854 baptisms (2,459 children) and 5,656 deaths (2,916 children) until

secularization In sociology, secularization () is a multilayered concept that generally denotes "a transition from a religious to a more worldly level." There are many types of secularization and most do not lead to atheism or irreligion, nor are they automatica ...

in 1834 at the mission, indicating a very high rate of death. Children died very young at the missions. One missionary at

reported that three out of every four children born died before reaching the age of two. The mission period ended with the passage of the Mexican secularization act in 1833 by the

First Mexican Republic The First Mexican Republic, known also as the First Federal Republic (), existed from 1824 to 1835. It was a Federal republic, federated republic, established by the 1824 Constitution of Mexico, Constitution of 1824, the first constitution of ...

. Secularization at Mission San Gabriel occurring shortly after.

Victoria Bartolomea Reid

Bartolomea was born at Comicranga between 1808 and 1810 as the daughter of the chief of the village and his wife. Missionaries took her from the village and her parents at the age of six, for

. There she lived with other girls, single women and widows in a guarded dormitory. After an approved marriage to an indio chosen by the Franciscan fathers, she and her husband were granted a small portion of land. This passed to her at his death, and she was notable for receiving a larger land grant,

Rancho Huerta de Cuati Rancho Huerta de Cuati was a Mexican land grant in the San Rafael Hills area of present-day Los Angeles County, California given in 1838 by governor Juan Alvarado to Victoria Reid. The name means "Cuati Garden" in Spanish. The rancho included p ...

, in the Mexican era for her service to the mission.

References

{{Tongva villages Tongva populated places Former Native American populated places in California History of Los Angeles County, California History of Santa Monica, California Native American history of California