07-29-2008, 10:47 AM
I have known people of Californio heritage, and they very emphatically did not consider themselves Mexicans!
But I got the timing wrong. California was Mexican and not Spanish at the time:
In 1832, Kamehameha III sent one of his high chiefs to California to hire cowboys who could round up wild cattle and teach Hawaiians cattle and horse handling skills. Three Mexican-Spanish vaquero (cowboys) named Kossuth, Louzeida and Ramon began working on Hawai`i island, first breaking in horses to turn them into working animals, then rounding up and handling hordes of cattle.
Turns out the cattle were from California too! Vancouver picked them up in Monterey.
But I got the timing wrong. California was Mexican and not Spanish at the time:
In 1832, Kamehameha III sent one of his high chiefs to California to hire cowboys who could round up wild cattle and teach Hawaiians cattle and horse handling skills. Three Mexican-Spanish vaquero (cowboys) named Kossuth, Louzeida and Ramon began working on Hawai`i island, first breaking in horses to turn them into working animals, then rounding up and handling hordes of cattle.
Turns out the cattle were from California too! Vancouver picked them up in Monterey.