The Three Women of the Casa Peralta
Ludovina Peralta Ivey (1829-1917)
Ludovina, the daughter of Ygnacio Peralta and Maria Rafaela Sanchez Peralta, was born in the Santa Cruz area, but spent her childhood years in her family's San Jose adobe and later in their adobe on San Leandro Creek. California belonged to Mexico until she was 19 years old, when California became a United States territory. She married an American man, William H. Ivey, in 1853. They had no children. Mr. Ivey was a clerk in the County Court House on the corner of Davis and Clarke Streets before it was destroyed by the earthquake of 1868.
In 1874, the Iveys acquired the property that would become the site of the Casa Peralta. They rented it to out as income property. After her husband's death, Ludovina built a new home on the lot and moved in. On June 22, 1901, the San Leandro Reporter carried an article on the construction and remodeling of the house:
Mrs. Ludovina Ivey has had plans drawn and will shortly commence the erection of a fine residence on her property at the corner of Ward (Ward is now named Estudillo Avenue) and Clark Streets. Her many friends are delighted to hear that she has decided to make her home here. The plans were drawn by Hanscom and Hanscom of Oakland and they provide for a nine-room structure, with every modern convenience. It will cost about $5,000.
A few years later, the San Leandro Reporter of January 3, 1903, states, “Mrs. Ivey is having cement walks built around her new residence and Mrs. Toler and Mr. James Toler (Mrs. Toler’s son) have taken up their residence with Mrs. L. Ivey, and hereafter San Leandro will be their home.”
She was a devout Catholic, like the other Peraltas and Estudillos, and was generous in her gifts to the church. She was remembered by her nephew Harold Edwin Hatherly and niece Alice Hatherly Riggin as kind, quiet, sweet, sympathetic and generous. Harold and his wife Esther Hatherly, who helped establish the docent program at the Casa Peralta, lived around the corner on Hays Street. Harold grew up in the Hays Street house (his son Edwin was the 4th generation Peralta to live there). When they were children, Harold and his sister visited their aunts in the Casa Peralta. They would take Aunt Ivey fruit (figs, crabapples, apricots, pears, cherries, plums, quince, raspberries) and horseradish that had been grown on their family's land. Aunt Ivey enjoyed visiting the children as well, and would collect comic papers to take to them. Though she spoke little English, the children were able to understand her and loved her dearly.
After her stroke, the second parlor of the Casa Peralta was used as Ludovina’s bedroom, and she was cared for by her niece Barbara Whitcomb (a practical nurse) and her great-niece, Caroline Hatherly, for three years. In 1917, Ludovina passed away in the second parlor at the age of 88. Her estate was worth $388,854. She was buried in St. Mary’s Cemetery, Oakland.
Ludovina, the daughter of Ygnacio Peralta and Maria Rafaela Sanchez Peralta, was born in the Santa Cruz area, but spent her childhood years in her family's San Jose adobe and later in their adobe on San Leandro Creek. California belonged to Mexico until she was 19 years old, when California became a United States territory. She married an American man, William H. Ivey, in 1853. They had no children. Mr. Ivey was a clerk in the County Court House on the corner of Davis and Clarke Streets before it was destroyed by the earthquake of 1868.
In 1874, the Iveys acquired the property that would become the site of the Casa Peralta. They rented it to out as income property. After her husband's death, Ludovina built a new home on the lot and moved in. On June 22, 1901, the San Leandro Reporter carried an article on the construction and remodeling of the house:
Mrs. Ludovina Ivey has had plans drawn and will shortly commence the erection of a fine residence on her property at the corner of Ward (Ward is now named Estudillo Avenue) and Clark Streets. Her many friends are delighted to hear that she has decided to make her home here. The plans were drawn by Hanscom and Hanscom of Oakland and they provide for a nine-room structure, with every modern convenience. It will cost about $5,000.
A few years later, the San Leandro Reporter of January 3, 1903, states, “Mrs. Ivey is having cement walks built around her new residence and Mrs. Toler and Mr. James Toler (Mrs. Toler’s son) have taken up their residence with Mrs. L. Ivey, and hereafter San Leandro will be their home.”
She was a devout Catholic, like the other Peraltas and Estudillos, and was generous in her gifts to the church. She was remembered by her nephew Harold Edwin Hatherly and niece Alice Hatherly Riggin as kind, quiet, sweet, sympathetic and generous. Harold and his wife Esther Hatherly, who helped establish the docent program at the Casa Peralta, lived around the corner on Hays Street. Harold grew up in the Hays Street house (his son Edwin was the 4th generation Peralta to live there). When they were children, Harold and his sister visited their aunts in the Casa Peralta. They would take Aunt Ivey fruit (figs, crabapples, apricots, pears, cherries, plums, quince, raspberries) and horseradish that had been grown on their family's land. Aunt Ivey enjoyed visiting the children as well, and would collect comic papers to take to them. Though she spoke little English, the children were able to understand her and loved her dearly.
After her stroke, the second parlor of the Casa Peralta was used as Ludovina’s bedroom, and she was cared for by her niece Barbara Whitcomb (a practical nurse) and her great-niece, Caroline Hatherly, for three years. In 1917, Ludovina passed away in the second parlor at the age of 88. Her estate was worth $388,854. She was buried in St. Mary’s Cemetery, Oakland.
The Casa Peralta in 1909, when it was the home of Ludovina Peralta Ivey and Maria Peralta Toler
Maria Antonia Peralta Toler (1836-1926)
Maria was also a daughter of Ygnacio and Rafaela Peralta. Maria was born in the Peralta adobe home on the banks of San Leandro Creek in 1836. As did her sister Ludovina, Maria grew up in the Mexican culture of colonial California until it became a United States territory in 1848, and her world was transformed.
Maria married am American man, William P. Toler, in 1853. Toler had been in California before the United States War with Mexico started. He wrote the proclamation for Commodore Sloat to read when the United States took possession of Monterey on July 7, 1846. He had also been aide-de-camp to Commodore Thomas ap Catesby Jones, who had prematurely raised the American flag in Monterey in 1842. It was Toler who found the papers indicating that war had not been declared and was sent to retrieve the prematurely raised American flag and re-hoist the Mexican flag.
Maria and William Toler had a farm with fruit trees, grapes vines, and ornamental plants on eighteen acres of land near San Leandro Creek. In 1860 the Tolers sold the Alta Mira tract to Ygnacio and built the brick house for him that is now known as the Alta Mira Club House. This house was home to several Peraltas at various times--the Tolers lived there in 1860 according to the census and again from 1865 to 1872. William and Maria became foster parents to Herminia Peralta when Herminia’s mother and father (Maria’s brother) died.
Maria’s husband William died in 1899, and in 1903 she and her son James moved into the Casa Peralta with Ludovina.
James Hoyt Toler was one of the few children of Maria and William who survived the tragedy—perhaps an epidemic—that must have befallen the family in 1868. The great 1868 earthquake occurred later in the year that marked the death of several Toler children. He was an accomplished musician, as well as the vice-president for First National Bank in San Leandro and on the Board of Directors for San Leandro Savings Bank. Two of his prized possessions were the sword and glass drinking cup of Don Luis Peralta. Harold Hatherly, his mother's nephew, remembered James as a wonderful musician and singer, and enjoyed listening to him play the piano.
Harold Hatherly remembered Maria as a stern, domineering, business-like person who remained aloof from people other than her immediate relatives, although he also thought she was a charitable person and loved by her many friends. After her sister passed away, Maria continued to live in the Casa Peralta.
Harold had other recollections of Maria. She had two servants who lived in the basement. Perry, the gardener, lived in the tank house and wore copper circular pierced earrings. During meals, orders to the servants were given by a tap-bell located at Maria’s feet under the table. Harold also remembers how upset she was when another San Leandro resident bought the first car in town. Harold also noted that his Aunt Maria had full use of her faculties until a few weeks before passing away at age 90 in 1926. She is buried in St. Mary’s Cemetery, Oakland.
Herminia Peralta Dargie (1861-1929)
The great-granddaughter of Luís Maria Peralta, Herminia was born March 21, 1861, either in the Peralta adobe on San Leandro Creek or the brick Peralta home that is now the Alta Mira Club (sources conflict). Her father and mother were Miguel (Ygnacio's son) and Francisca Rodríguez Peralta. Herminia attended the College of Notre Dame in San Jose, specializing in music. She was an accomplished pianist and organist, and a faithful patroness of the opera. After her parents died (1868 and 1869), she was raised by her aunt and uncle, Maria and William Toler. Harold Hatherly remembered her as a beautiful woman who loved dressing in Spanish-style clothing, entertaining, and traveling.
Herminia married William Dargie, the Oakland Tribune publisher, in 1881. They had two children. Their daughter Herminia (Minnie) died at the age of five, and their son Will lived only to 21 years of age. In 1911, saddened by the death of his son, William Dargie passed away. To his widow, publisher Dargie left a half-interest in the Tribune, with the privilege of raising money to buy the other half at a court sale to settle his cash bequests. Needing cash herself, Mrs. Dargie got it from a friend of her husband, Congressman Joseph Russell Knowland.
In 1914, Joe Knowland ran unsuccessfully for the U. S. Senate. At the end of his political career and ambitious to be a publisher, he lent Mrs. Dargie $65,000 in return for which she assigned him temporarily her half-interest in the Tribune. This half-interest Knowland put up as collateral for a loan with which he bought the other half of the paper. The end result of these transactions was to make Joe Knowland and Herminia Peralta Dargie joint owners of the Oakland Tribune, with Knowland holding voting control (to cover his $65,000 loan) and acting as publisher and president. Joe Knowland and Herminia Dargie became fast friends.
While Knowland ran the paper at a tidy profit, Mrs. Dargie went to Spain, was welcomed at court, and visited the family of Captain Antonio Rodriguez Martín. Mrs. Dargie took a fancy to Captain Martín, who was the exact age of her deceased son, and took him to California. Captain Martín, a good-looking man in his early 30s, was a former member of the Royal Engineer Corps., and Mrs. Dargie planned to have him restore her aunts' home that she had inherited..
He first remodeled the water tower into an apartment for himself, where he continued to live. He was an exacting taskmaster, and was said to have had the tile installers tear out and redo their work several times before it met his standards.
After the arrival of Captain Martín, the friendship between Mrs. Dargie and William Knowland cooled. Captain Martín made an investigation of the Tribune, to see to it (so he said) that her interests were protected. Joe Knowland went to Washington, and in 1927 and again in 1928, Captain Martín left the United States. When he returned, he had an appointment as Spanish Vice-Consul for San Leandro. He painted the Spanish coat-of-arms on the side of Mrs. Dargie’s automobile, stuck a Spanish flag in the radiator cap, and assumed his position.
Herminia Peralta Dargie died in 1929, her devoted Captain Martín (but not Joe Knowland) at her beside. To Captain Martín she left (“as I would have done had he been my son”) one-half of her $1.5 million residuary estate. The other half went to her sister, Mrs. Josefa Peralta Wilson. Taking precedence over these legacies was $300,000 in cash bequests, which Herminia Dargie had apparently intended to be paid out of Tribune profits. But her death coincided with the 1929 Crash and beginning of the Great Depression. The Tribune was showing losses instead of profits. In 1928, its net profit had been $174,953, its surplus $1,794,314, and it had paid out $186,000 in dividends. By 1934, its net loss was $75,995, it had a deficit of $152,924, and dividends had stopped.
Meanwhile, everything connected with the unhappy Herminia Dargie was being dragged through California courts. The cases ranged from unsuccessful attempts to break her will, to a successful effort by her sister Mrs. Wilson to have Captain Martín removed as executor, on the charge that he had padded an expense account to the tune of $135. Proud, moody Captain Martín refused even to answer the charge.
Mrs. Wilson assigned her interest in the estate (one-fourth of the Tribune) to Joseph Knowland. Captain Martín (who sought solace in calculus) found a champion in Sheldon F. Sackett, publisher of two small Oregon papers who saw a chance to get a foothold in California. Captain Martín assigned him a two-thirds interest in his fourth of the paper in return for legal expenses. Martín and Sackett soon found they had plenty to fight.
In September 1937, publisher Leo E. Owens of the Ridder-owned St. Paul Pioneer Press and Dispatch offered $1,070,000 for the estate’s half-interest in the Tribune and its building company. The petition was denied on the grounds that outside ownership would result in a “disharmony.” In April 1838, Joe Knowland, through a private investment company, bid in a quarter-interest in the paper and a half-interest in the building company for $311,200—which was exactly the amount need to pay off Mrs. Dargie’s cash bequests. This sale was confirmed by the same judge who had denied the $1,070,000 offer seven months earlier.
Left with only an eighth of a newspaper that had paid no dividend since 1933, Antonio Rodriguez Martín petitioned California’s Appellate Court to set aside the sale. The court unanimously upheld the earlier decision, and the Supreme Court refused to review the decision.
Captain Martín tried to avoid paying $50,000 in estate taxes by claiming diplomatic immunity. After four appeals, this was denied in 1941, on the grounds that he had not been appointed Spanish vice-consul in San Leandro until ten days after Mrs. Dargie’s demise. Nevertheless, he continued to live in the Bay Area and participate in consular affairs. In July, 1955, he embarked on a leisurely world tour. In November, 1957, while staying in Cadiz, Spain, 65-year-old Captain Martín died.
Maria Antonia Peralta Toler (1836-1926)
Maria was also a daughter of Ygnacio and Rafaela Peralta. Maria was born in the Peralta adobe home on the banks of San Leandro Creek in 1836. As did her sister Ludovina, Maria grew up in the Mexican culture of colonial California until it became a United States territory in 1848, and her world was transformed.
Maria married am American man, William P. Toler, in 1853. Toler had been in California before the United States War with Mexico started. He wrote the proclamation for Commodore Sloat to read when the United States took possession of Monterey on July 7, 1846. He had also been aide-de-camp to Commodore Thomas ap Catesby Jones, who had prematurely raised the American flag in Monterey in 1842. It was Toler who found the papers indicating that war had not been declared and was sent to retrieve the prematurely raised American flag and re-hoist the Mexican flag.
Maria and William Toler had a farm with fruit trees, grapes vines, and ornamental plants on eighteen acres of land near San Leandro Creek. In 1860 the Tolers sold the Alta Mira tract to Ygnacio and built the brick house for him that is now known as the Alta Mira Club House. This house was home to several Peraltas at various times--the Tolers lived there in 1860 according to the census and again from 1865 to 1872. William and Maria became foster parents to Herminia Peralta when Herminia’s mother and father (Maria’s brother) died.
Maria’s husband William died in 1899, and in 1903 she and her son James moved into the Casa Peralta with Ludovina.
James Hoyt Toler was one of the few children of Maria and William who survived the tragedy—perhaps an epidemic—that must have befallen the family in 1868. The great 1868 earthquake occurred later in the year that marked the death of several Toler children. He was an accomplished musician, as well as the vice-president for First National Bank in San Leandro and on the Board of Directors for San Leandro Savings Bank. Two of his prized possessions were the sword and glass drinking cup of Don Luis Peralta. Harold Hatherly, his mother's nephew, remembered James as a wonderful musician and singer, and enjoyed listening to him play the piano.
Harold Hatherly remembered Maria as a stern, domineering, business-like person who remained aloof from people other than her immediate relatives, although he also thought she was a charitable person and loved by her many friends. After her sister passed away, Maria continued to live in the Casa Peralta.
Harold had other recollections of Maria. She had two servants who lived in the basement. Perry, the gardener, lived in the tank house and wore copper circular pierced earrings. During meals, orders to the servants were given by a tap-bell located at Maria’s feet under the table. Harold also remembers how upset she was when another San Leandro resident bought the first car in town. Harold also noted that his Aunt Maria had full use of her faculties until a few weeks before passing away at age 90 in 1926. She is buried in St. Mary’s Cemetery, Oakland.
Herminia Peralta Dargie (1861-1929)
The great-granddaughter of Luís Maria Peralta, Herminia was born March 21, 1861, either in the Peralta adobe on San Leandro Creek or the brick Peralta home that is now the Alta Mira Club (sources conflict). Her father and mother were Miguel (Ygnacio's son) and Francisca Rodríguez Peralta. Herminia attended the College of Notre Dame in San Jose, specializing in music. She was an accomplished pianist and organist, and a faithful patroness of the opera. After her parents died (1868 and 1869), she was raised by her aunt and uncle, Maria and William Toler. Harold Hatherly remembered her as a beautiful woman who loved dressing in Spanish-style clothing, entertaining, and traveling.
Herminia married William Dargie, the Oakland Tribune publisher, in 1881. They had two children. Their daughter Herminia (Minnie) died at the age of five, and their son Will lived only to 21 years of age. In 1911, saddened by the death of his son, William Dargie passed away. To his widow, publisher Dargie left a half-interest in the Tribune, with the privilege of raising money to buy the other half at a court sale to settle his cash bequests. Needing cash herself, Mrs. Dargie got it from a friend of her husband, Congressman Joseph Russell Knowland.
In 1914, Joe Knowland ran unsuccessfully for the U. S. Senate. At the end of his political career and ambitious to be a publisher, he lent Mrs. Dargie $65,000 in return for which she assigned him temporarily her half-interest in the Tribune. This half-interest Knowland put up as collateral for a loan with which he bought the other half of the paper. The end result of these transactions was to make Joe Knowland and Herminia Peralta Dargie joint owners of the Oakland Tribune, with Knowland holding voting control (to cover his $65,000 loan) and acting as publisher and president. Joe Knowland and Herminia Dargie became fast friends.
While Knowland ran the paper at a tidy profit, Mrs. Dargie went to Spain, was welcomed at court, and visited the family of Captain Antonio Rodriguez Martín. Mrs. Dargie took a fancy to Captain Martín, who was the exact age of her deceased son, and took him to California. Captain Martín, a good-looking man in his early 30s, was a former member of the Royal Engineer Corps., and Mrs. Dargie planned to have him restore her aunts' home that she had inherited..
He first remodeled the water tower into an apartment for himself, where he continued to live. He was an exacting taskmaster, and was said to have had the tile installers tear out and redo their work several times before it met his standards.
After the arrival of Captain Martín, the friendship between Mrs. Dargie and William Knowland cooled. Captain Martín made an investigation of the Tribune, to see to it (so he said) that her interests were protected. Joe Knowland went to Washington, and in 1927 and again in 1928, Captain Martín left the United States. When he returned, he had an appointment as Spanish Vice-Consul for San Leandro. He painted the Spanish coat-of-arms on the side of Mrs. Dargie’s automobile, stuck a Spanish flag in the radiator cap, and assumed his position.
Herminia Peralta Dargie died in 1929, her devoted Captain Martín (but not Joe Knowland) at her beside. To Captain Martín she left (“as I would have done had he been my son”) one-half of her $1.5 million residuary estate. The other half went to her sister, Mrs. Josefa Peralta Wilson. Taking precedence over these legacies was $300,000 in cash bequests, which Herminia Dargie had apparently intended to be paid out of Tribune profits. But her death coincided with the 1929 Crash and beginning of the Great Depression. The Tribune was showing losses instead of profits. In 1928, its net profit had been $174,953, its surplus $1,794,314, and it had paid out $186,000 in dividends. By 1934, its net loss was $75,995, it had a deficit of $152,924, and dividends had stopped.
Meanwhile, everything connected with the unhappy Herminia Dargie was being dragged through California courts. The cases ranged from unsuccessful attempts to break her will, to a successful effort by her sister Mrs. Wilson to have Captain Martín removed as executor, on the charge that he had padded an expense account to the tune of $135. Proud, moody Captain Martín refused even to answer the charge.
Mrs. Wilson assigned her interest in the estate (one-fourth of the Tribune) to Joseph Knowland. Captain Martín (who sought solace in calculus) found a champion in Sheldon F. Sackett, publisher of two small Oregon papers who saw a chance to get a foothold in California. Captain Martín assigned him a two-thirds interest in his fourth of the paper in return for legal expenses. Martín and Sackett soon found they had plenty to fight.
In September 1937, publisher Leo E. Owens of the Ridder-owned St. Paul Pioneer Press and Dispatch offered $1,070,000 for the estate’s half-interest in the Tribune and its building company. The petition was denied on the grounds that outside ownership would result in a “disharmony.” In April 1838, Joe Knowland, through a private investment company, bid in a quarter-interest in the paper and a half-interest in the building company for $311,200—which was exactly the amount need to pay off Mrs. Dargie’s cash bequests. This sale was confirmed by the same judge who had denied the $1,070,000 offer seven months earlier.
Left with only an eighth of a newspaper that had paid no dividend since 1933, Antonio Rodriguez Martín petitioned California’s Appellate Court to set aside the sale. The court unanimously upheld the earlier decision, and the Supreme Court refused to review the decision.
Captain Martín tried to avoid paying $50,000 in estate taxes by claiming diplomatic immunity. After four appeals, this was denied in 1941, on the grounds that he had not been appointed Spanish vice-consul in San Leandro until ten days after Mrs. Dargie’s demise. Nevertheless, he continued to live in the Bay Area and participate in consular affairs. In July, 1955, he embarked on a leisurely world tour. In November, 1957, while staying in Cadiz, Spain, 65-year-old Captain Martín died.