HISTORY OF CARLSBAD | continued

Following in their footsteps were more soldiers and priests, sent to establish missions and pueblos to ensure Spain's hold on its remote territory.  Mission San Luis Rey was founded ten miles north of Agua Hedionda lagoon in 1798.  Five years after Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821, the Franciscans lost their jurisdiction over the Indian converts.  In 1833 the rich mission holdings were secularized, making them available by grants from the Mexican government.  Although the land grants were to be distributed to all, it was the influential Californios, the second generation Hispanics, who ended up with most of them.

Thirteen thousand acres surrounding Agua Hedionda Lagoon were claimed in 1843 by Juan Maria Romouldo Marron.  He and his wife operated several businesses in San Diego, coming to run cattle at Rancho Agua Hedionda only in the summer.  When Marron died in 1853, his family's hold on the ranch became tenuous.

Foreclosure in 1860 put Rancho Agua Hedionda into the hands of Francis J. Hinton, an American.  When Hinton died in 1870, he left Rancho Agua Hedionda to Robert Kelly, his Irish born domo, who in turn, passed it on to nine nieces and nephews after his death in 1890.

Kelly Family picnic at Los Kiotes, 1907