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The Story Of An Old Copper Kettle
By ken woodward
Four two-wheeled wooden Mexican carretas or carts, each pulled by three yoke of oxen, enter the large, expansive grassy valley that later would be known as Warner’s Hot Springs. It is 1843, and it has been a long and difficult trip that began in the little Mexican pueblo of Los Angeles.
This caravan is headed for the newly acquired ranch land in the Santa Ysabel Valley, where its owners will build their first home. The four carts carry farm and ranch equipment, household goods and one enormous, heavily riveted copper kettle.
Two of the 20 lead stock horses are ridden by Captain Edward Stokes and his wife Maria, the daughter of Jose Joaquin Ortega. Their 3-year-old son, Alfredo, is riding with a servant in one of the carts.
Captain Stokes, former sea captain of a British commercial sailing ship, met the beautiful Mexican señorita Maria del Refugio de Jesus Ortega when his ship pulled into Monterey Bay, the capitol of early California and port-of-call for sailing ships from around the world.
 | | Adolfo, son of Captain Stokes, with wife Dolores Olvera, son Aristides and six daughters pictured in Ramona about 1887. |
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Many foreign sailors and visitors, captivated by this most hospitable culture, remained in California to enjoy this new way of life. Early observers were consistent in their praise and description of the Mexican people of this era: deeply respectful of family traditions, jovial, full of good fellowship and hospitality, extremely kind to those of lesser rank and foreigners, and hosts of gala fiestas, to which all were invited.
They were perhaps the finest horsemen in the world and rode their horses everywhere, even a few hundred feet down the street to see an amigo (friend). Each spring, as many as 20,000 head of cattle were gathered on the plains and the "parting out" and branding lasted for several days.
Exhibiting wonderful feats of horsemanship from the backs of their finely trained roping horses, skilled vaqueros threw and manipulated their leather braided riatas (ropes) with a magical touch. Young belligerent bulls were quickly stretched out as one riata was slipped neatly around two back hooves while another thrown loop from a second vaquero secured the front hooves.
The line of carretas in this trip slowly winds its way down a hill and into the next valley of Santa Ysabel. Edward and Maria recently received a land grant from the Mexican government and are now owners of not only the 17,000-acre Santa Ysabel Valley, but also the 17,000-acre Santa Maria Valley.
 | | The Adolfo Stokes home as seen today, nearly 130 years old. The adobe has been beautifully restored with modern conveniences and is located on Highway 78 just east of Magnolia Avenue. |
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Here they will build a ranch house and raise their three children: Alfredo, Adolfo, and Eduardo. This is the first stop for the copper kettle that soon will be suspended from a tripod and used as a cooking pot for Mexican stew, chickens, rabbits, pigs, deer and other assorted Mexican dishes.
After several years of tranquility on the Stokes-Ortega ranch, a war between Mexico and the United States intrudes on this family and the Mexican culture in California. It is December 1846, and into the valley trudges General Stephen Kearny and his Army of the West, all 133 strong. This ragged contingent of troops has just completed a 1,600-mile trek, some on foot and others on mules and horses, from Santa Fe, N.M.
Kearny meets Captain Stokes and asks him to carry a letter to Admiral Stockton in San Diego and is advised that he, Captain Stokes, is neutral in this fight. Somehow Kearny prevails, and Stokes, no doubt reluctantly, complies with the request.
Four days later, after camping out in the Santa Maria Valley (Ramona), near the hill known as Giants Grave, Kearny and his depleted army proceed to the locally famous battle of San Pasqual. Here they are soundly defeated by Andres Pico and his band of Californios, who fight from horseback with swords and lances.
 | | Ken Woodward shows the old copper kettle used by the Stokes back in 1843. |
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The war soon ends, however, with the United States as the victor — and the Mexican culture in California is changed forever.
In the late 1840s, Captain Stokes dies in Los Angeles, and Maria returns with her family to Los Angeles, where she soon marries into the Olvera family.
By the treaty that ended the war, the Stokes family is able to retain title to the Santa Maria and Santa Ysabel land grants. Adolfo, Alfredo, and Eduardo, now grown young men, return to the Santa Maria Valley in the 1860s, where they begin ranching and farming and soon open a stagecoach stop just east of Magnolia Street and near Highway 78. There, Adolfo Stokes builds a Mexican adobe hacienda, which is still standing in wonderful condition, and on a tripod near the back of the house, he places the old copper kettle.
Later in the 19th century, after the sale of their land in the Santa Maria Valley, the Stokes family moves to the San Luis Rey Valley, near Oceanside, and the old copper kettle again is moved to a new home.
In the Pioneer Days celebration at the Guy B. Woodward Museum this past summer, descendants of Edward and Maria Stokes’ family gathered on the museum’s grounds. In a meaningful ceremony, they presented to the museum the old copper kettle — a symbol of our past and one of the few artifacts remaining of Captain Stokes and Maria’s life.
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