by Paul R. Spitzzeri
We continue with this second and final part of a post on tax assessments for the Workman and Temple family during the 1860s, having looked at those for the first half of the decade when greater Los Angeles was ravaged by floods, droughts, grasshoppers, smallpox and other destructive elements that contributed to a moribund state of the regional economy. Declining property values in these assessments reflect the general malaise of the period.
For 1866, however, F.P.F. Temple’s land values leapt dramatically from about $15,000 to well north of $22,000, including La Merced’s increase from $1,500 to $7,000, while the improvements remained the same, though, again, there may have been a recording error here. Yet, the Potrero de Felipe Lugo tract also leapt markedly, from $1,500 to $6,750, though there was the listing of seven men who “occupied” the property—this was a case of squatting, which forced Temple, Workman and Sánchez to seek legal redress for eviction. For the Main Street property in Los Angeles, there was no change, while the vineyard tract in the Angel City went up by $500 and the interest in Potrero Chico read $500 instead of the $50 the prior year.
Allowing for a $270 reduction, personal property also went up by close to $1,000, half of that an increase in valuation of the 2,000 sheep in which Temple had an interest. While he had only 100 head of cattle, compared to 300 in 1865, the value was actually the same at $600, and Temple had just a few more of the usual type of horses and this is where the reduced amount enters in, but his recent investment in a trio of “American” horses involved the purebred animals imported from Kentucky and which were valued at $400 along with a pair of purebred mules at $100, much more per head than the others. He also added 30 “Jennets and Jacks,” these being donkeys worth $10 each.
The assessment for William Workman included the growth in acreage at La Puente from 6,600 to 8,900, but for reasons that are not clear because the patent for the larger amount mentioned above had not been issued yet. In any case, the value was $3,000, the same as the prior year, but $500 less than in 1863 with the smaller amount of acreage. Improvements, however, were up about $1,000, which might include the recent completion of three brick wineries directly south of the Workman House. For other property, there was no change in the Hancock or Scott ranches, while there were increases of $500 for Hancock’s vineyard and the same jump from $50 to $500 for Potrero Chico.
Workman’s personal property was reduced by $840, both in the valuation of 230 mares and colts and 50 unbroken horses, these numbers being the same as from 1865. The same number of cattle were recorded, as well as other horses and mules, which seems improbable that there was no change at all in his stock from year to year. The values, however, increased significantly for these animals, from, accounting for the adjustment, from under $2,500 to about $3,200. The eight buggies, ox carts and wagons were also worth more, while the furniture and farming tools remained the same. What was new was that Workman now had 500 sheep, priced at $1 a head, so that his total property value was about $14,000, nearly 40% higher than in 1865.
Assessments for 1867 show both a recovering and growing economy and, in Workman’s case, a massive change in his assessment for La Puente because of the significantly expanded acreage due to the confirmation of his claim and the issuance of the patent. He had just shy of 30,000 acres under assessment, with $7,300 at La Puente comprising $2500 for 500 tillable acres and the remainder being pasture land at under $5,000. Also noted were $2,500 in “Houses and Outbuildings” and 170 acres farmed, with 9,000 old grapevines and 6,000 young ones, as well as 56 bearing fruit trees.
There was, though, a reduction of over $4,100, an example of which was a significant mistake at the Potrero Chico with the drop being $1,650 to just $84. Scott’s 600-acre ranch remained the same at $500, as did the Hancock Vineyard. As to the Rancho Rodeo de las Aguas, the 4,415 acres was all assessed to Workman at just $887, an increase from the $300 the prior year, unless Workman added to his interests there.
Personal property also leapt considerably, from about $4,200 to about $8,300, but this included a half-dozen tubs for fermenting wine into brandy (known locally as aguardiente), 45 pipes or barrels and a $150 still for his expanded distilling business. Moreover, the assessment included the recording of nearly 700 gallons of brandy at $1,041 and 1,755 gallons of wine at $351, with these products previously subject to a federal excise tax that we’ll briefly discuss below. Workman’s farm equipment total jumped from $50 to $200, not including a $100 reaper.
With regard to his ranching stock, there were increases here, as well, though more slight with horses, so that there were ten more mares and colts and five additional gentle horses. The 500 sheep, however, from 1866 were not listed and there were twenty more beef cattle than the prior year. Values also increased, so that the prices for horses went up considerably from about $1,500 to double that. Vehicles went up from $300 to $720, with Workman perhaps acquiring some new ones. In all the personal property value went up by well more than a third, while land values increased very moderately, about 10%.
For Temple, there was a good deal more detail provided. With La Merced, it was noted that he had 1,056 acres of pasture land, most in the Montebello Hills, with just $211 in value, while the rest, about 125 acres, was tillable and set at $3,750. His improvements, including the house, barn, sheds and corral were pegged at $5,000. He had 2,000 older grape vines and 13,000 of 4-8 years of age and these valued at $1,600. No value was give for his orchard of 15 orange, 75 lemon, 50 apple, 400 walnut, 100 peach ad 60 almond trees.
In Los Angeles, the house and lot did not change, but the “15 acres near the Mission road and the east side of Los Angeles river” included an “old adobe” as well as 6,000 bearing grapevines and 150 fruit trees, so the total value was almost $4,000, a major jump from the $2,500 in 1866. The 1,224 acres of Potrero de Felipe Lugo included 864 pasture acres at $172.80 and 360 tillable acres at $6,000, while the 50 acres at Potrero Chico were set at $1,000.
Personal property included a still, five fermenting tubs, and eight wine barrels at about $450, no change in household furniture, a major change in farming tools from $50 to $500, and increases in four wagons, an old buggy, two cars and a carriage totaling $660 from $230 the past year. With stock, Temple had a slight increase with 110 cattle and a new set of 10 “American cows,” but 40 hogs instead of a half-dozen previously. He had the same 2,000 sheep and about 30 donkeys, but added 25 bucks, and had the same several mules, while his inventory of horses included two $300 stallions, three $100 American horses and 142 of the general run of animal, with the total north of $2,500.
Lastly, we come to the 1868-1869 assessment year, the first in which two years were indicated. Whereas Temple had previously had the higher totals, Workman leapt ahead substantially. This was because of a revaluation of his massive La Puente holdings. Here were see that 20,000 acres of grazing land were set at $8,000, whereas the total was under $4,800 the previous year.
The tillable land was divided into grain land comprising 3,795 acres planted north of the Workman House on the large plain east of the San Gabriel River where portions of La Puente, Bassett, West Covina and Baldwin Park are today and this was deemed to be worth nearly $19,000. As to the 100 acres of irrigable land along San José Creek south of the Workman House with the vineyard and orchards, this was valued at $1,000. There were 22,000 vines ($1,320) and 52 walnut, 10 apple, 6 pear, and 20 orange trees with these latter set at $132.
The Workman House and improvements were pegged at $4,000 and a recently completed mill at the southwest corner of the ranch near where the creek skirted the edge of the Puente Hills before turning south to meet the newly redirected San Gabriel River (because of flooding in the winter of 1867-1868), was determined, with outbuildings, including the house of miller William Turner, to be worth $3,500.
On the personal property side, Workman had the same number of fermenting tubs, barrels and the still, while his product totaled 1,500 gallons of wine at $300, another 1,500 at $600 (perhaps the first was red and second white wine, the latter being less valuable because of its decidedly poor quality), while there were 200 gallons of brandy at $1 per gallon, a considerably higher price than the 20 and 40 cents, respectively for the wine.
The value of Workman’s farming equipment and household and kitchen furniture went up from $400 to $550 and his vehicles included the jettisoning of carts and the retention of 2 harness wagons and 2 buggies at $285. His inventory of stock included 25 California horses, 250 California mares and colts and 50 unbroken horses, totaling $2,875. He had a pair of oxen at $40 and 2 jack mules at $50, while there was a major increase of some 1,000 cattle so that the 1,400 animals were worth $16,800, three quarters of the value of his personal property. In all, Workman had more than $35,000 in land and above $22,300 in personal holdings, a striking increase from not quite $20,000 total just a year before.
Temple’s total value was about $41,000, with the growth of some $5,000 from 1867 largely coming from the assessment of land. Of his 1,181 acres at La Merced, 881 were grazing lands, about 175 that appears to have been adjusted from the prior year and set at $353, while “300 acres that will produce crops without irrigation” were valued at $3,000. For an unknown reason, Potrero Grande, left out in recent assessments, was back in with 1,107 acres, divided into 607 for grazing at $263 and 500 that also were for non-irrigated crops and valued at $5,000.
The 1,224 acres of Potrero de Felipe Lugo included 860 acres of grazing land at $346 and 360 acres, again not requiring irrigation for farming, at $3,600. There were now 82 acres of Potrero Chico under Temple’s control—it looks as if Workman deeded over his part of the ranch to his son-in-law—at just $85. A new addition to the portfolio included 1,500 acres of the Rancho San Pedro, the north end of which he acquired with El Monte’s Fielding W. Gibson a few years prior and then subdivided much of it for a town that became Compton. Of this 1,313 acres were for grazing and pegged at $525, while the 187 acres of grain land were valued at $935.
Also of recent purchase were the valuable downtown Los Angeles tracts, held by Temple’s late brother Jonathan from about 1830 until his death in 1866 and acquired by F.P.F. in 1867. So, a “lot with adobe and brick houses and sheds, west side of Spring Street” was valued at $4,000, while a set of “brick and adobe buildings at intersection of Spring and Main,” this being the Temple Block, was set at $10,000. The 12-acre vineyard, now described as being “bounded by road to Los Nietos [what became the Downey area] and west by the Los Angeles River,” was valued at $360.
On the personal property front, 6,000 grape vines were set at $360 and 32 fruit trees at $50, with the “house and fence thereon” only listed at $300, which seems another mistake, while household and kitchen furniture was set at $200. For the winemaking, there were two stills, five fermenting tubs and eight barrels at $440. A carriage, a Concord wagon, two other wagons and cart were valued at $260 and farming tools at $200. For stock, there were the American stallions and horses at $800 and the 206 other horses at $2,110, along with a trio of mules, 13 California donkeys and 30 jennets at $320. Ten hogs at $30, the 2,000 “improved” sheep at $3,000, ten milk cows at $200 and 40 cattle at $480 rounded out the inventory.
Also of note for the Civil War years was the implementation of excise and income taxes payable to the federal government to raise revenues for the prosecution of the war by the Union. Thanks for former Homestead volunteer Carolyn Christian, we have access to many of these quarterly reports from the years 1863 to 1866, with income taxes at 3-5%, as well as levies on stock, watches, carriages, and the production of wine and brandy and the licenses permitting this recorded.
This could be the subject for another post, so maybe we’ll save that for another tax day! In the meantime, the rising fortunes of the Workman and Temple family, including their move into the business world with such examples as the Hellman, Temple and Company bank in fall 1868, were reflective of the economic growth in the last half of the Sixties during which the first significant and sustained growth boom in greater Los Angeles commenced, lasting into the middle 1870s. We will also look to discuss the family’s assessments during the first half of the Seventies on another tax day, as well.