The Curator’s Corner:

Mission Indian Fugitivism

One way that Mission Indians responded to the Spanish world was to leave it. In all the missions, especially at Mission San Francisco de Asis (commonly known as Mission Dolores) in the years 1794-1797, Indians would absent themselves from the mission without the permission of the Padres.

There were several reasons why converted Indians chose to return to either their traditional homeland or, in the case of Indians at San Francisco, to flee to the shores of the East Bay.  Among the reasons Spanish law required baptized Indians to make their residence at the mission were the necessity of reciting their doctrina twice a day, of receiving an effective moral training, of acquiring an education in the arts of Spanish culture, and most especially of avoiding the numerous occasions of sin which would normally await them in their native village, particularly if they visited alone or in a small group. Once or twice a year, the Indians were allowed to go in relatively large groups to visit their parents, relatives, and friends in their native villages. Not infrequently, however, Indians would absent themselves from the missions, alone or in small groups, and remain in their native villages for several months or perhaps even longer, sometimes much longer.

Many Mission Indians fled Mission San Francisco in April 1795, after an epidemic (possibly typhoid fever) passed through the mission village in February and March.                                       

 To be continued…….