Chief Marin
Encyclopedia
Chief Marin was the "great chief of the tribe Licatiut" (a branch of Coast Miwok
native to present-day Marin County, California
), according to General Vallejo
's semi-historical report to the first California State Legislature in 1850. Historical records indicate that he was baptized as a young man at Mission San Francisco de Asís
(of San Francisco, California
) in 1801 and eventually moved to Mission San Rafael Arcángel
(of San Rafael)
, where he was an alcalde in the 1820s. Marin died on March 15, 1839 of natural causes. Marin County
and the Marin Islands
are believed to be named in his honor.
The young man's new wife Marina died the next year on July 17, 1802. He subsequently remarried to a woman named Dona (or Doda) on Sept 26, 1802 at the same mission. She died August 10, 1817. His third and final recorded marriage was to Juana, in the same mission, August 28, 1816.
In subsequent mission records, the Chief appeared as a godparent, a parent (once, a son died at birth), and a widower in the death records of his wives. His name was spelled variously Marin or Marino.
General Vallejo gave Marin very early credence in 1850 as the "great chief of the tribe Licatiut", and the one the County of Marin is named after. He did so on this semi-historical report on the origins of County names to the first California State Legislature in 1850:
This report is considered semi-historical. It puts the chief as a (prisoner) resident of the San Francisco mission about 1816/17. Mission records show in those years, his second wife Dona died there, and he married his third wife, Juana.
His death is recorded at the San Rafael Mission.
and Hubert Howe Bancroft
repeated unsubstantiated stories to the effect that Marin and some other chiefs were light-skinned, intelligent, and leaders because they were descendants of a Spaniard from a shipwrecked galleon. Goerke, who has recently brought together the factual and mythic details of Marin's life, states, "Assumptions that such a lineage made them qualified to be leaders were examples of nineteenth-century racism and ethnocentrism."
Coast Miwok
The Coast Miwok were the second largest group of Miwok Native American people. The Coast Miwok inhabited the general area of modern Marin County and southern Sonoma County in Northern California, from the Golden Gate north to Duncans Point and eastward to Sonoma Creek...
native to present-day Marin County, California
Marin County, California
Marin County is a county located in the North San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. As of 2010, the population was 252,409. The county seat is San Rafael and the largest employer is the county government. Marin County is well...
), according to General Vallejo
Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo
Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo was a Californian military commander, politician, and rancher. He was born a subject of Spain, performed his military duties as an officer of Mexico, and shaped the transition of California from a Mexican district to an American state...
's semi-historical report to the first California State Legislature in 1850. Historical records indicate that he was baptized as a young man at Mission San Francisco de Asís
Mission San Francisco de Asís
Mission San Francisco de Asís, or Mission Dolores, is the oldest surviving structure in San Francisco and the sixth religious settlement established as part of the California chain of missions...
(of San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
) in 1801 and eventually moved to Mission San Rafael Arcángel
Mission San Rafael Arcángel
Mission San Rafael Arcángel was founded in 1817 as a medical asistencia of the Mission San Francisco de Asís as a hospital to treat sick Native Americans of the Bay Area, making it Alta California's first sanitarium. The weather was much better in the North Bay than in San Francisco, and helped...
(of San Rafael)
San Rafael, California
San Rafael is a city and the county seat of Marin County, California, United States. The city is located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area...
, where he was an alcalde in the 1820s. Marin died on March 15, 1839 of natural causes. Marin County
Marin County, California
Marin County is a county located in the North San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. As of 2010, the population was 252,409. The county seat is San Rafael and the largest employer is the county government. Marin County is well...
and the Marin Islands
Marin Islands
Marin Islands are the two islands, East Marin and West Marin, situated offshore from San Rafael, California in the San Pablo Bay extension of San Francisco Bay. The islands comprise the Marin Islands National Wildlife Refuge, which was established in 1992...
are believed to be named in his honor.
Biography
Marin first appears in the historical record on March 7, 1801, when he was baptized as Marino at Mission San Francisco de Asís, and also married on the same day to Marina Mottiqui. The recorder wrote in the baptismal register that he was about twenty years old ("como de 20"), that his native name was Huicmuse and that he came from the Huimen local tribe. The identities of his parents were not provided, typical of Franciscan baptismal entries for adult Indians.The young man's new wife Marina died the next year on July 17, 1802. He subsequently remarried to a woman named Dona (or Doda) on Sept 26, 1802 at the same mission. She died August 10, 1817. His third and final recorded marriage was to Juana, in the same mission, August 28, 1816.
In subsequent mission records, the Chief appeared as a godparent, a parent (once, a son died at birth), and a widower in the death records of his wives. His name was spelled variously Marin or Marino.
General Vallejo gave Marin very early credence in 1850 as the "great chief of the tribe Licatiut", and the one the County of Marin is named after. He did so on this semi-historical report on the origins of County names to the first California State Legislature in 1850:
- "Marin. This is the name of the great chief of the tribe Licatiut....In the year 1815 or 1816 a military expedition proceeded to explore the country north of the bay of San Francisco, and on returning by the Petaluma ValleyPetaluma, CaliforniaPetaluma is a city in Sonoma County, California, in the United States. In the 2010 Census the population was 57,941.Located in Petaluma is the Rancho Petaluma Adobe, a National Historic Landmark. It was built beginning in 1836 by General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, then Commandant of the San...
an engagement ensued with Marin, in which he was made prisoner and conducted to the station at San Francisco, from which he escaped, and again reaching Petaluma, he united his scattered forces, and thence- forward dedicated his most strenuous efforts to harass the troops in their hostile incursions into that part of the country....but was again taken captive to San Francisco in 1824; whence being set at liberty, he retired to the mission of San Rafael, and there died in 1834." -- General Vallejo, 1850
This report is considered semi-historical. It puts the chief as a (prisoner) resident of the San Francisco mission about 1816/17. Mission records show in those years, his second wife Dona died there, and he married his third wife, Juana.
His death is recorded at the San Rafael Mission.
19th Century Legends
Several late nineteenth century historians Alexander TaylorAlexander Smith Taylor
Alexander Smith Taylor , best known for his Indianology of California written in a column for The California Farmer and Journal of Useful Arts , was an avid collector, prodigious author and obscure, sometimes errant, historian with an obscure background, and considered the "first bibliographer of...
and Hubert Howe Bancroft
Hubert Howe Bancroft
Hubert Howe Bancroft was an American historian and ethnologist who wrote and published works concerning the western United States, Texas, Mexico, Central America, British Columbia and Alaska.-Biography:...
repeated unsubstantiated stories to the effect that Marin and some other chiefs were light-skinned, intelligent, and leaders because they were descendants of a Spaniard from a shipwrecked galleon. Goerke, who has recently brought together the factual and mythic details of Marin's life, states, "Assumptions that such a lineage made them qualified to be leaders were examples of nineteenth-century racism and ethnocentrism."