Hugo Reid facts for kids

Hugo Reid at Rancho Santa Anita, as imagined by an artist.

Hugo Reid was an interesting person who lived in Los Angeles County a long time ago. He was born in Scotland in 1811. When he moved to California, it was part of Mexico. He became a citizen of Mexico and married a local woman from the Tongva people. The Tongva were the native people living in the area.

Hugo Reid wrote many newspaper articles. These articles were like letters. They described the culture and language of the local Tongva people. He also wrote about how they were treated by the Franciscan missionaries. These missionaries ran the Spanish missions in California.

Life Story of Hugo Reid

Hugo Reid was born in Scotland on April 18, 1811. In the late 1820s, he started a trading business in Mexico. He first visited Los Angeles in 1832. At that time, Los Angeles was part of Mexican Alta California.

Family and Home

Hugo Reid married a Tongva woman named Victoria Bartolomea Comicrabit. She had been given this name at Mission San Gabriel Arcángel. Hugo also adopted her children, María and Felipe.

The "Hugo Reid Adobe" around 1903.

After the Mission San Gabriel's lands were made available, Hugo and his wife received a large piece of land. It was called Rancho Santa Anita and was about 13,319 acres. They built an adobe house there in 1839. An adobe house is made from sun-dried earth bricks.

The governor of Alta California, Pío Pico, officially approved their land grant in 1845. Today, a restored adobe house is known as the "Hugo Reid Adobe." However, this house was built on a different spot nearby by a later owner. Both Reid's original home site and the current adobe are located at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden. This area is now part of the city of Arcadia. People sometimes called Hugo Reid the Scotch Paisano. This nickname meant "Scottish countryman" during his time in Mexican Southern California.

His Important Writings

Hugo Reid wrote 22 letters that were published in the Los Angeles Star newspaper in 1852. These letters are very important. They give us a clear picture of the Tongva people, who were not well-known at the time.

These letters were later put into books. The first book version was published in 1926. Because only 200 copies were made, they were printed again in 1939.

Later Life and Burial

Hugo Reid passed away in Los Angeles on December 12, 1852. His funeral was held at the old Our Lady Queen of Angels Church. He was first buried in the cemetery next to the church. Later, his body was moved to a different cemetery. Finally, his remains were moved to the new Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles.