The Tiburcio Era

When Fr. Tomas Estenaga was the administrator at Mission Dolores in San Francisco, there was an illness that affected the women more then the men. According to the statistics, about half the women died. The young men were not able to find eligible women suitable for marriage. This caused a problem with the older couples, as the women would take off with the younger men. To solve this problem, Father Tomas arranged for the young men to travel to other places where they might be needed as workers, and also to find a wife.

In the summer of 1834 Tiburcio, son of Sumu Chief of the Chiefs from the San Francisco Area, left for Monterey. At this time Monterey was the Capital of Alta California. Tiburcio Arrived at Monterey as part of group of workers sent to Monterey by Fr. Tomes, the priest at Mission Dolores, to work on projects at the capital.

Upon arriving at Monterey, Tiburcio mat Maria Del Rosario; "Rosadio", great-granddaughter of Simon Francisco, "Chief Chanjay". They were married on April 27, 1834 in the Mission church of San Carlos. Being the son of Sumu, Tiburcio had a royal aura of authority about him. Shortly after their marriage Tiburcio called to the remaining members of Chanjay's people and convinced them to follow him to Mission Santa Cruz.

After arriving at Mission Santa Cruz, on August 28, 1835 Rosario gave birth to a baby girl, Maria Jocefa de la Roses. Jocefa was baptized at Mission Santa Cruz. By this time all the Missions had been secularized and the Rumsens were moving from place to place working as domestic farm hands and vaqueros. The tribal members worked for food and lodging as wages for their labor.