This journal is an English translation of Father Pedro Font's account of his travels from San Miguel de Horcasitas, Mexico, to San Francisco, California, and back between September 29, 1775, and June 2, 1776. Font traveled with a party under Juan Bautista de Anza, which included settlers bound for Monterey, Spanish soldiers, and other religious figures. This translation was created in "Monterey" on June 15, 1854.
The first 2 pages of the journal concern geography and the creation of a map of Font's travels. The bulk of the volume is comprised of diary entries that Font composed daily during periods of heavy travel and less frequently during stays at various settlements. The group departed San Miguel de Horcasitas on September 29, 1775, and reached San Francisco on March 27, 1776. After a brief rest, they set out on a return journey. They arrived in San Miguel de Horcasitas on June 2, 1776, having left around 200 settlers in Monterey, California.
Font provided the distances he traveled (in leagues), kept notes about interesting occurrences, recorded his approximate latitude and longitude, and described the scenery and settlements along the way. He often discussed the other members of the traveling party, who included soldiers, families, and priests, and commented on the group's encounters with Native Americans and on relationships between various groups of Native Americans. Font occasionally recorded native place names, and sometimes wrote lengthier descriptions for locales such as San Diego, San Francisco, and the "Palace of Montezuma" near Uturituc. The party celebrated fast days and other religious holidays.
The journal has a companion manuscript tracing of a map by Pedro Font, which is located in the library's Map Division. It is titled Mapa Correspondiende al D[ia]rio Que Formo el PF. Pedro Font del Viage Que [hizo] a Monterey y Puerto de San Francisco 7 [del Vi]age Que Hizo el PGarces al Moqui, [1854].
Pedro Font, a Franciscan clergyman, emigrated from Catalonia, Spain, to Mexico, before the 1770s. He ran the Native American mission at San José de los Pimas, Mexico, before 1775, when he accompanied Juan Bautista de Anza on his second exploration of California (1775-1776). He set out with de Anza, a group of settlers, and Spanish soldiers from San Miguel de Horcasitas, Mexico, in September 1775, and traveled to San Diego, Monterey, and San Francisco, California, before returning to Mexico in June 1776. He died in 1781.
