“Portugee Frank", was among the earliest settlers in the area. As far as is known, he was the first Portuguese to come to the Mendocino Coast.
Francisco Faria (or Farnier) was born in 1799 on the island of Pico in the Azores. It is thought that he came to this country on a whaling ship with Captain Fletcher when he was a young man. He joined the Mexican army, deserted and lived with the Indians, survived a bear attack that left his left arm crippled, then arrived in Mendocino about 1852 with Nathaniel Smith. Settling first at Cuffey's Cove, near Greenwood/Elk.
Originally this area was part of a Mexican land grant which extended from the north bank of the Garcia River to the south bank of the Rio Grande (Big River). Originally deeded to William Richardson in 1844, the land grant was challenged when California joined the United States on September 9, 1850.
While his claim was still in litigation, Richardson sold a tract of the rancho grant on June 2, 1853 to Frank Faria and his friend and partner, Nathaniel Smith, a free black man from Maryland, for $1,530. Nathaniel and Francisco are said to have worked the land for the next 16 years – farming, game for the Albion Lumber Mill, and living in close proximity with the indigenous people of the area.
In 1870, the land was sold to Irishman James Kenny, who started the first lumber mill in the area. A town soon sprung up around the mill, and ‘Cuffee’s Cove’ first began appearing on the maps.
A bear-related naming of the locale came from Nathaniel’s obituary printed in the San Francisco Chronicle on March 26, 1906, “Between them [Francisco Faria and Nathaniel Smith] they named the place Cuffey’s Cove on account of a fight they had with a grizzly bear, in which Frank was nearly chewed to death before he could kill the brute with his hunting knife. The bear was named “Old Cuffey,” from the particular manner he used his paws in fighting.”
The Laguna Ranch in Melburne was the second claim to be homesteaded on the Comptche Road and was taken up by A. Louis Gonsalves, who first came to California from the Azores in 1864. The original filing was made by Francisco Faria, who was a cousin of Gonsalves and was already a citizen. Gonsalves was not yet naturalized. For this service, Faria received a life estate to one acre of land alongside the Ukiah-Comptche road where he built a home, a store and the Pioneer Saloon on Comptche Road that he ran with his wife, Mamie.
Portuguese Frank died at the advanced age of 105, having lived in three centuries. His wife, Maria Emelia Faria, also a native of the Azores Islands, died after Frank at the age of 80.
- The Kelley House, Mendocino History
Contributor: Stacinator (49423547)
Francisco Faria (or Farnier) was born in 1799 on the island of Pico in the Azores. It is thought that he came to this country on a whaling ship with Captain Fletcher when he was a young man. He joined the Mexican army, deserted and lived with the Indians, survived a bear attack that left his left arm crippled, then arrived in Mendocino about 1852 with Nathaniel Smith. Settling first at Cuffey's Cove, near Greenwood/Elk.
Originally this area was part of a Mexican land grant which extended from the north bank of the Garcia River to the south bank of the Rio Grande (Big River). Originally deeded to William Richardson in 1844, the land grant was challenged when California joined the United States on September 9, 1850.
While his claim was still in litigation, Richardson sold a tract of the rancho grant on June 2, 1853 to Frank Faria and his friend and partner, Nathaniel Smith, a free black man from Maryland, for $1,530. Nathaniel and Francisco are said to have worked the land for the next 16 years – farming, game for the Albion Lumber Mill, and living in close proximity with the indigenous people of the area.
In 1870, the land was sold to Irishman James Kenny, who started the first lumber mill in the area. A town soon sprung up around the mill, and ‘Cuffee’s Cove’ first began appearing on the maps.
A bear-related naming of the locale came from Nathaniel’s obituary printed in the San Francisco Chronicle on March 26, 1906, “Between them [Francisco Faria and Nathaniel Smith] they named the place Cuffey’s Cove on account of a fight they had with a grizzly bear, in which Frank was nearly chewed to death before he could kill the brute with his hunting knife. The bear was named “Old Cuffey,” from the particular manner he used his paws in fighting.”
The Laguna Ranch in Melburne was the second claim to be homesteaded on the Comptche Road and was taken up by A. Louis Gonsalves, who first came to California from the Azores in 1864. The original filing was made by Francisco Faria, who was a cousin of Gonsalves and was already a citizen. Gonsalves was not yet naturalized. For this service, Faria received a life estate to one acre of land alongside the Ukiah-Comptche road where he built a home, a store and the Pioneer Saloon on Comptche Road that he ran with his wife, Mamie.
Portuguese Frank died at the advanced age of 105, having lived in three centuries. His wife, Maria Emelia Faria, also a native of the Azores Islands, died after Frank at the age of 80.
- The Kelley House, Mendocino History
Contributor: Stacinator (49423547)
“Portugee Frank", was among the earliest settlers in the area. As far as is known, he was the first Portuguese to come to the Mendocino Coast.
Francisco Faria (or Farnier) was born in 1799 on the island of Pico in the Azores. It is thought that he came to this country on a whaling ship with Captain Fletcher when he was a young man. He joined the Mexican army, deserted and lived with the Indians, survived a bear attack that left his left arm crippled, then arrived in Mendocino about 1852 with Nathaniel Smith. Settling first at Cuffey's Cove, near Greenwood/Elk.
Originally this area was part of a Mexican land grant which extended from the north bank of the Garcia River to the south bank of the Rio Grande (Big River). Originally deeded to William Richardson in 1844, the land grant was challenged when California joined the United States on September 9, 1850.
While his claim was still in litigation, Richardson sold a tract of the rancho grant on June 2, 1853 to Frank Faria and his friend and partner, Nathaniel Smith, a free black man from Maryland, for $1,530. Nathaniel and Francisco are said to have worked the land for the next 16 years – farming, game for the Albion Lumber Mill, and living in close proximity with the indigenous people of the area.
In 1870, the land was sold to Irishman James Kenny, who started the first lumber mill in the area. A town soon sprung up around the mill, and ‘Cuffee’s Cove’ first began appearing on the maps.
A bear-related naming of the locale came from Nathaniel’s obituary printed in the San Francisco Chronicle on March 26, 1906, “Between them [Francisco Faria and Nathaniel Smith] they named the place Cuffey’s Cove on account of a fight they had with a grizzly bear, in which Frank was nearly chewed to death before he could kill the brute with his hunting knife. The bear was named “Old Cuffey,” from the particular manner he used his paws in fighting.”
The Laguna Ranch in Melburne was the second claim to be homesteaded on the Comptche Road and was taken up by A. Louis Gonsalves, who first came to California from the Azores in 1864. The original filing was made by Francisco Faria, who was a cousin of Gonsalves and was already a citizen. Gonsalves was not yet naturalized. For this service, Faria received a life estate to one acre of land alongside the Ukiah-Comptche road where he built a home, a store and the Pioneer Saloon on Comptche Road that he ran with his wife, Mamie.
Portuguese Frank died at the advanced age of 105, having lived in three centuries. His wife, Maria Emelia Faria, also a native of the Azores Islands, died after Frank at the age of 80.
- The Kelley House, Mendocino History
Contributor: Stacinator (49423547)
Francisco Faria (or Farnier) was born in 1799 on the island of Pico in the Azores. It is thought that he came to this country on a whaling ship with Captain Fletcher when he was a young man. He joined the Mexican army, deserted and lived with the Indians, survived a bear attack that left his left arm crippled, then arrived in Mendocino about 1852 with Nathaniel Smith. Settling first at Cuffey's Cove, near Greenwood/Elk.
Originally this area was part of a Mexican land grant which extended from the north bank of the Garcia River to the south bank of the Rio Grande (Big River). Originally deeded to William Richardson in 1844, the land grant was challenged when California joined the United States on September 9, 1850.
While his claim was still in litigation, Richardson sold a tract of the rancho grant on June 2, 1853 to Frank Faria and his friend and partner, Nathaniel Smith, a free black man from Maryland, for $1,530. Nathaniel and Francisco are said to have worked the land for the next 16 years – farming, game for the Albion Lumber Mill, and living in close proximity with the indigenous people of the area.
In 1870, the land was sold to Irishman James Kenny, who started the first lumber mill in the area. A town soon sprung up around the mill, and ‘Cuffee’s Cove’ first began appearing on the maps.
A bear-related naming of the locale came from Nathaniel’s obituary printed in the San Francisco Chronicle on March 26, 1906, “Between them [Francisco Faria and Nathaniel Smith] they named the place Cuffey’s Cove on account of a fight they had with a grizzly bear, in which Frank was nearly chewed to death before he could kill the brute with his hunting knife. The bear was named “Old Cuffey,” from the particular manner he used his paws in fighting.”
The Laguna Ranch in Melburne was the second claim to be homesteaded on the Comptche Road and was taken up by A. Louis Gonsalves, who first came to California from the Azores in 1864. The original filing was made by Francisco Faria, who was a cousin of Gonsalves and was already a citizen. Gonsalves was not yet naturalized. For this service, Faria received a life estate to one acre of land alongside the Ukiah-Comptche road where he built a home, a store and the Pioneer Saloon on Comptche Road that he ran with his wife, Mamie.
Portuguese Frank died at the advanced age of 105, having lived in three centuries. His wife, Maria Emelia Faria, also a native of the Azores Islands, died after Frank at the age of 80.
- The Kelley House, Mendocino History
Contributor: Stacinator (49423547)
Inscription
Memoria
FRANCISCO FARIA
elha do Pico Azores
a 14 Fevereiro 1798
Falaceo
31 Oulubro 1904
Edade 105 Annos
8 Mezes 14 Dias
Paz A Sud Alma
(I visually transcribed this cemetery several years ago (no photos), and this additional information was on the stone)
On the back of Francisco's stone:
Mary, his wife
- Kay King
Gravesite Details
105 years 8 months 14 days old
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Explore more
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
