SECOND GENERATION

2. Don Jose Simon DE ROCO was born on Oct 28 1812 in Sta. Cruz de Manila. Jose Simon was born between midnight and 1 am of that Tuesday, 28 October 1812. He was baptized on Oct 31 1812 in Sta. Cruz de Manila. He was baptized by the parish priest of Sta. Cruz at that time, Don Reymundo Rojas, with Don Jose De la Fuente as his godfather.
He was buried on Jul 30 1883 in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Hayward, Ca.. From Jack de Roco's notes:

He was sent to Barcelona Spain at one point to get more education. He served in the Spanish Navy for a short time. He left the Navy, and migrated to New Spain (Mexico). In Mexico, he managed to get work, because of his education, as a manager of a hacienda in the town of Tepic. While working there, he received word from his father, that two of his brothers, Vicente and Arseno, were given permission to return to Spain to finish their education also. Jose Simon worked as manager of the hacienda in Tepic for two years. Then he went to work for a banking firm called "Fletes" in Tepic. In 1847 he was sent by the banking firm to California, which was still part of Mexico under Spanish rule, to pay workers at the New Almaden Mine. Today that area is known as "Silicon Valley", and a museum exists with memorabilia from the New Almaden Mine. The year was 1847,once there he found he loved California. California was where he decided he wanted to live. He returned to Mexico, quit his job, and moved to a growing comunity near the San Luis Obispo mission. Since he had worked as a manager of a hacienda in Tepec, after a short time he was able to find work on a ranch near San Luis Obispo called "Cerritos". The owner was a man called "Don Juan Temple". Today the ranch called "Cerritos", is the small town of "Templeton". He worked there for about six years. At some point during that time, Don Juan Temple gave him full control over the management of the ranch. He was able to buy and sell cattle, hire and fire help, and had power of attorney when Don Juan Temple was not there. Sometime in 1858 he decided to leave Cerritos, and buy a ranch in Kern county, and go into the cattle business. That same year he met and married Mary Ann Power. He was 47, and she was 25 years old. It is interesting to note that he was as Spanish as she was Irish. She was a descendent of the Knight Marshal of Ireland dating back to A.D.1177, under the reign of King Henry the 2nd. So her family was very Irish. She had come to California from Natchez Mississippi to teach music at the "Sisters of Charity Convent" in San Francisco California, at the request of Sister Francis, who had established the Convent. It is interesting to note that the Convent was located where the Palace Hotel now stands. Mary Ann could not get used to the cold weather in San Francisco. So, after a time, Sister Francis sent her to their other convent in "Pico Heights" in Los Angeles California. There, one day in Church, she met my great grandfather Jose Simon. He had asked the priest to introduce him to the pretty lady. The ranch where they lived was 160 acres near the mountains, that he had bought for one dollar and fifty cents an acre from the government. Later he bought another 160 acres for pasture land. the deeds for two other pieces of property that he purchased in the City of San Luis Obispo. One was a lot across the street from the mission San Luis Obispo, next to the French Hotel. Today there is a park and restaurant there. He paid 1,000 dollars in gold coin for that lot, and later "20.00 for a small lot next to it from the City. I talked to the curator of the museum next to the mission, and she told me that he was also a volunteer fireman for a time, and that he was listed as one of the men who rang the mission bells on Sunday. I could not find the records for the sale of the property in Kern County, once more for lack of dates. My great grandfather died at 71 years of age, 15 days before their 25th wedding anniversary, and my great grandmother died four
years before I was born in 1924 at the age of 91.

He was married to Mary Ann POWER on Aug 14 1858 in Nuestra Senora Church, Los Angeles, California, USA. Mary Ann POWER was born in 1833. She died in 1924. Don Jose Simon DE ROCO and Mary Ann POWER had the following children:

18 i. Antonio DE ROCO was born on Jun 3 1859. He died at birth.
+19 ii. Jose Urban DE ROCO.
+20 iii. Mary Isabel DE ROCO.
+21 iv. Vicente Frederick DE ROCO.
22 v. Jovita Blanche DE ROCO was born on Feb 15 1865. She lived in Lafayette.
+23 vi. Marion Samuel DE ROCO.
+24 vii. Conchita Agatha DE ROCO.