‘I hate to have people think that we are an anachronism.’ --Bernardo Yorba : Descendant of 1st Ranchero Dusts Off Past

With dirt flying, the two men on horseback raced down the dusty street in the pueblo of Los Angeles. Stopping in front of a general store, they sat imperiously on their mounts as the shopkeeper came out and took their order. That done, they rode off as they had come.

Who are those two “wild men?” asked a mid-19th Century visitor who witnessed the showy display and later wrote about it in a travel book.

“As it turns out they were a couple of Yorbas--can you beat that?” said Bernardo Yorba, grinning as he leaned back in his padded-leather desk chair in his office in an Anaheim high-rise.

“I’d like to know more about them,” said Yorba, a direct descendant of Orange County’s first ranchero family. “Were they as arrogant as the story makes them sound, or was that just the way they did things in those days?”

Yorba is the great-great-grandson of Jose Antonio Yorba, one of 62 Spanish foot soldiers who accompanied Gaspar de Portola on his 1769 expedition of California. Forty-one years later, as a reward for his long service in California for the King of Spain, Yorba was given a 62,000-acre land grant.

The vast parcel, which Yorba named Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana, encompassed the present-day cities of Santa Ana, Orange, Tustin and Costa Mesa.

‘So Many Great Stories’

Bernardo Yorba, a land developer who lives on part of the original ranch in Santa Ana Canyon, is fascinated by California’s legendary ranchero days of the 1800s and has begun his own research into that so-called golden era.

“There’s so many great stories of ranch activities,” he said. “I’m interested in the horsemanship and the people. The women of the ranches were really quite strong and were good managers. I think we should know more about them. I’m not claiming I’m going to be the foremost authority. It’s for my own benefit. I’m just curious.”

Yorba will share what he has so far uncovered about life on the great ranchos of California’s Spanish-Mexican era when he is guest speaker at the fifth annual Orange County Pioneer Council meeting. The reception and dinner next Sunday at The Catch Restaurant in Anaheim is open only to members and their guests.

The council is composed of the descendants of families who came to Orange County before 1914. Its ranks include such familiar Orange County names as Irvine, Muckenthaler and Spurgeon.

“The purpose of the council is to generate interest in preserving the history of the county, and by getting together we hope to encourage people to exchange memories or dig into their files and come up with interesting things,” said dinner chairman Jean Wahlberg, who added that the council has begun an oral history project involving pioneer families.

Wahlberg’s family (the Benjamin F. Kelloggs) arrived in Anaheim in 1868. She acknowledges, however, that the Yorbas “are the longtime pioneers of the area. They are before any of us. We are the people that came from the East.”

Yorba said he respects and admires the pioneer families. “They have done so much.”

A big, rugged man with a deep tan and graying, dark brown hair, Yorba declines to reveal his age. “I don’t like to talk dates,” he said, smiling. “Talking about the 1700s or 1800s, that’s one thing. . . .”

Yorba is a member--”and proudly so”--of the board of trustees of Orange County Centennial Inc., a nonprofit organization coordinating activities for the Orange County Centennial celebration in 1989.

“I think this (the centennial) is going to do a hell of a lot to recognize our history and put the spotlight on people who contributed to our growth over the past 100 years--people like the Segerstroms and the Irvines and the O’Neill family and many others who contributed to our heritage in our later days of development,” he said.

Casually dressed in a white V-neck sweater and brown slacks, Yorba took a visitor on a tour of his two-room office. It is filled with old photographs, paintings and dozens of Western and early California artifacts, including an 1877 map of Southern California land grants, a Mexican saddle and old spurs.

The saddle and spurs reflect Yorba’s lifelong interest in horses. He is a member of the famed Rancheros Visitadores, the decades-old trail-riding fraternity that rides in the Santa Ynez Valley near Santa Barbara. He’s also a member of El Viaje de Portola, an Orange County trail-riding group; and Charros Los Amigos, an organization specializing in Mexican-style rodeos.

As a direct descendant of one of the county’s most illustrious families, Yorba is proud of his heritage.

“Yorba is one of many great old names--Ortegas, Peraltas, Sepulvedas, Verdugos--that left their mark on history,” he said.

However, he laments the fact that many descendants of those illustrious figures are no longer active in public life.

“I just think it’s sad that so many of them--so many of us-- have not gone ahead and maintained a position of prominence and been active in (civic and historical) organizations,” he said. “They’ve got a real laid-back position, and it’s unfortunate because they can contribute a lot. They should take a more active role in at least the preservation of our heritage, if not expanding it.”

Family Not Yet ‘Extinct’

He recalled one newcomer to Orange County who told him he thought the Yorbas were “extinct.”

“I hate to have people think that we are an anachronism. I like to feel I’m playing a continuing role in our developing heritage,” he said.

Yorba, the father of 10 children, feels a sense of responsibility in bearing the Yorba name--a name linked with the settling of the San Francisco Bay area, the founding of the Presidio of Monterey and the building of Father Junipero Serra’s chain of missions.

“I do feel that responsibility; there’s no question,” he said. “Anyone who has ancestors who accomplished what mine did--it’s not right to sit back and rest on their laurels. I just may be stirring up some dust, but I have to do something. I want to demonstrate to my children that it’s the responsibility of every citizen to participate in events--cultural and civic. I don’t care what it is, one must participate.”

Over the years, Yorba has been involved in numerous community activities. He is a former president of the Friends of UC Irvine and a former trustee and executive vice president of Children’s Hospital of Orange County. Currently, he is a trustee of Los Amigos del Pueblo, a Los Angeles preservationist group; a member of the board of directors of Anaheim Stadium Inc., and a member of the Angels Advisory Board.

Wife Also Involved

“My wife (Margaret) has felt the same way I do about the need to demonstrate an interest in civic affairs,” Yorba said. “She’s also involved in civic and social things--the Assistance League, Family Service (Assn.) and all kinds of guilds.”

Yorba is named for Don Bernardo Yorba, one of Jose Antonio Yorba’s four sons and Yorba’s great-grandfather. “He was the one they extol for being the greatest ranchero of the golden age of California,” Yorba said.

Don Bernardo Yorba, sometimes referred to as the “Baron of Santa Ana,” was granted 13,000 acres of land by the Mexican government in 1834 on the north side of the Santa Ana River near present-day Yorba Linda. Through the years, Yorba said, Don Bernardo added to his landholdings, which were adjacent to the land granted by the Spanish government to Jose Antonio Yorba.

The ambitious Don Bernardo, who became the wealthiest member of the family, planted fruit trees and vineyards, grew wheat, corn and beans, and raised cattle, sheep and horses. He is credited with being the first person in the state to irrigate with water drawn by gravity into ditches.

Determined to make his Rancho Canon de Santa Ana self-sufficient, Bernardo Yorba employed more than 100 workers who lived on the ranch, according to historical accounts. Among the trades represented were tanners, soap makers, a dressmaker, a carpenter, a baker, a blacksmith and even a jeweler.

Gracious Adobe Home

Bernardo Yorba also built one of the largest--and most gracious--adobe homes of the era, a two-story, 50-room structure that boasted beam ceilings, wood floors and tiles.

Yorba said the house, named Hacienda San Antonio, was “the hub of all ranch activities.”

“They entertained well, extremely lavishly,” he said. “They were the most hospitable people in the world, and they were very generous to travelers. There was always food, a bed and a fresh horse. One of the customs of the day--at least in Bernardo Yorba’s adobe--was that they’d leave a little money in the guest room, and they (guests) could help themselves.”

“Of course, it was a hard life, too,” Yorba said. “They were not acquainted with some of the amenities we have now. . . . It was rugged, but they knew how to have fun: the rodeos, their dancing and good parties--and good friendships.”

Bernardo Yorba died in 1858. After his death, the Yorba family ranch land was divided among his heirs (Bernardo had 16 children), and over the years, most family members for various reasons sold their interests in the great rancho, Yorba said.

“Through the years the attrition was tremendous. So many of the old-timers couldn’t hold onto the land. Who knows what the hell happened? It’s impossible to trace that stuff. But it didn’t take long. It was sold and God only knew what happened to some of it.

Today’s Value ‘Inconceivable’

“It would be just inconceivable how much that land would be worth today,” Yorba said. He added, however, that “I don’t spend any time wondering about the old guys and what happened to their land.”

When he was born, the family-held land had dwindled down to a few hundred acres, Yorba said.

Gazing out his fifth-floor office window, he conjured up the Orange County of his youth in the ‘30s, when he lived in the north part of Anaheim about half a mile away.

“In those days it was really great on the street where I lived. There’s nothing like bare land and rocks and places where there’s trees. What a great way of growing up, climbing trees and throwing rocks. . . . I use to love to lay on my stomach and watch ants.”

At the time in Anaheim, his father, citrus grower Bernardo M. Yorba, could not walk down the city streets without people calling out his name and saying hello, said Yorba, whose brother, Jack, owns a trucking business in Riverside. “Now, my heavens, this town must be around 25 times the size it was when I was born. . . . Of course, we all like to wax nostalgic.”

Because of his family name, Yorba over the years has been called upon by schools and civic organizations to speak about his family’s history. And while he admits he is not a professional speaker, he does what he can.

“A man would be a fool if he wasn’t proud of his heritage,” he said. “Of course, I didn’t do it. All I have is the name. That’s why I feel the responsibility to continue to contribute to our heritage as best I can. I do feel it is necessary not to sit back on your duff and take things for granted simply because you had an ancestor.”