Earlier in the year, I looked into the history of Hispanic students at Santa Clara College during the 19th century. It was easily one of my favorite blog posts I’ve written so far because of how much I’ve learned about Californios and early California. However, during my research, I came across the story of Jesús María Estudillo, a Californio and former student of SCC. In my previous blog post, I mentioned how he was praised by his professor for improving in English (McKevitt 40). But, he eventually dropped out of Santa Clara College because of the debt his family took on from being scammed out of their property by squatters and lawyers.
After that post, I felt that Estudillo’s story was still incomplete. I continued to wonder about his life as a student, how he navigated an Anglo society as a Californio, and what he did after leaving SCC. Estudillo attended SCC for six and a half years and kept multiple journals during his time as a student. While most of his journals are stored in the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley, we luckily had a copy of Estudillo’s first journal which covered his first three years as a boarding school student.
In 1856, Estudillo started attending SCC as a thirteen-year-old in the preparatory department. He would later be joined by his brothers Luis and Vicente Estudillo, as well as his cousin, Jose de Guadelupe. Because his family was relatively wealthy due to their landholding status, he lived a life more akin to the ranchero elite (Estudillo & McKevitt 323-324). Like many Californio families, they understood the changing tides of their society as Califonia shifted from Mexican to American rule. According to historian Fr. McKevitt, “For them, education was an indispensable means of protecting eroding family fortunes and a key to survival in the post-conquest world” (Estudillo & McKevitt 323). This mindset is reflected in correspondences between Estudillo and his mother, who once scolded him for not improving enough in his studies (Margolin 58). At SCC Estudillo was particularly passionate about learning English. Beyond learning the language because of societal changes, his journal entries displayed how he found his speaking skills to be a source of his pride. In his journal Estudillo wrote, “I was told by Father Young [Professor of English Literature and Elocution] that I had improved in my voice. This day I made a resolution of studying my grammar and arithmetic more than any other study” (Margolin 52). Estudillo would also become the secretary of the Philhistorian society, and regularly participate in debates.
Of course, there were also moments where Estudillo disliked his classes. Professors would sometimes criticize Estudillo for his “emotional nature and how it translated into his speech” (Margolin 78). In a particularly heated journal entry, Estudillo complained about one of his professors:
Of all my college days, this has been the wretchedest, no peace has dwelled within this troubled bosom in the whole day since grammar class to the hour of writing these few lines, seven o’ clock in the evening. I have wished that I would not have had come back this session and I declare that if I am kept in the same English class after Christmas, I will not come back, at least if the same teacher teaches the same class”
– Entry from Oct. 13 (Margolin 134)
Despite some rough patches, it seems that Estudillo loved attending SCC overall. He especially loved hanging out with his friends and often hung at San Jose with them. Historian Maureen Fitzsimmons remarked, “looking at a list of Estudillo’s friends is like looking at a map of California.” Estudillo often hung out with people with well-known surnames like Vallejo, Pacheco, Bernal, and Castro. It’s also important to note that Estudillo felt comfortable being with both Californios and white Americans. There’s an absence of racial conflict at SCC throughout Estudillos journals, which was a huge contrast to all-girls Notre Dame College nearby, which had records that showed tensions between Californio and Anglo women. Fr. McKevitt theorizes that it is “possible to interpret Estudillo’s silence as a suppressed protest against the inculturation process and ill-treatment to which he was subjected” (Estudillo & McKevitt 328). While Estudillo never clearly states his stance on having to assimilate to American culture, he did cling to his Catholic background. According to sociologists, ethnic groups who are forced to diminish their cultural identities use the church as a “first line of defense” to cope with the sudden changes (Estudillo & McKevitt 327). Estudillo and his family did what they needed to do in order to keep up with their new surroundings.
“We deserve some credit for what we have accomplished under terrible disadvantages”
– Jose Guadelupe Estudillo (Estudillo & McKevitt 323)
When Estudillo turned twenty, his family began to accumulate debt after a lawyer had swindled them out of their property. Estudillo’s family lived in San Leandro, but Estudillo couldn’t help but be worried about their wellbeing. Towards the end of his journal, Estudillo contemplates whether or not he should continue his education at SCC (Estudillo & McKevitt 330). While he did want to graduate, it was extremely common for many students to drop out without receiving a degree, but it was still difficult for Estudillo to leave his beloved school.
If at this moment I was asked, ‘Would you like to go back to Santa Clara? Here, take five hundred dollars,’ I would not hesitate for a moment, but would this very day start; but alas! Fare thee well long-loved spot.”
– Jesús María Estudillo (Estudillo & McKevitt 330)
By the winter of 1864, Estudillo would leave Santa Clara and become an accountant for various businesses. Estudillo’s classes in business administration would help him greatly in his career. He eventually became involved in California politics and work in the budget office; however, I could not find much about his political position except that he was a part of the democratic party. Estudillo’s story, along with the stories of other Californios, broadens our understanding of California history that goes beyond the anglo American perspective. Much of history, both for Santa Clara University and California history, can be traced back to the labor of Californios. Fr. McKevitt mentions how early Hispanic education in California has been an under recognized field, however with the growing interest of historians today, I have hope that we will continue to learn more about Californios and their impacts.
A special thank you to a historian who continues to shed light on Californios and California history, Maureen Fitzsimmons, for once again taking the time to educate me about Estudillo and his family.
Header Photo: Portrait of Jesús María Estudillo (Image from “Hispanic Californians and Catholic Higher Education: The Diary of Jesús María Estudillo, 1857-1864”)
Works Cited
Estudillo, J. M., & McKevitt, G. (1990). Hispanic Californians and Catholic Higher Education: The Diary of Jesús María Estudillo, 1857-1864. California History, 69(4), 320-331.
Margolin, M. (1989). Sketches of California in the 1860s: The Journals of Jesus Maria Estudillo ed. by Margaret Schlichtmann. Western American Literature, 24(1), 79-79
McKevitt, Gerald. The University of Santa Clara: A History, 1851-1977. Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA: 1979.