CA-SPANISH-L Archives

From: "Karla Everett" <>
Subject: [CA-SPANISH] Concepcion Tapia de Feliz
Date: Tue, 9 Mar 2004 11:49:44 -0800

Notes for Concepcion Tapia

Los Angeles Times, May 21, 1922 (excerpt)

SACRED GARDEN WILL CONTAIN FAMOUS ROSE

Great Collection of Plants in Park Here to Breathe of a Romantic Past

Breathing the fragrance of a romantic past, more than 2500 cuttings from rare old plants, flowers and trees were brought to Los Angeles last week by Mrs. Martha Nelson McCan, park commissioner, and others who secured the clippings from various mission gardens of the State for the purpose of transplanting them in the Sacred Garden in Brand Park, at the San Fernando Mission.

Accompany Mrs. McCan were Frank Shearer, superintendent of city parks; M. Lambert, nurseryman; J. A. Wilson, draftsman, and C. C. Corson. The party left Los Angeles three weeks ago and visited every mission in California and the location of those missions which exist today only in the minds of the students of history.

In this connection, it is recalled when the mission fathers journeyed to California they brought with them from Spain a growing slip of the Rose of Castile, favorite flower of the Spanish people. The little plant, tenderly cared for by some padre in a mission garden, grew into a bush that was greatly revered for its associations. The flowers were gathered for altar offerings, and were afterward dried, to be used as a herb. It was said that infusions of them would cure fevers and other maladies.

In later years, the Rose of Castile was lost, or thought to be, and a mystery was woven round it. American flower-lovers wondered what had become of the famous old rose, now considered a rarity. Recently a slip of the original bush was found growing in the yard of Senora Concepcion Feliz in the Mexican quarter of Los Angeles. Anastacio Feliz, the aged woman's husband, had received the bush as a legacy from his grandfather, little knowing that it had been the object of search by many.

Last week the bush was donated to the park department of Los Angeles, and cuttings have been taken for planting in the garden at San Fernando . . . "



Los Angeles Times, January 5, 1929: "HER DEATH ENDS ROMANTIC LINK - - Senora Feliz Descendant of Old Spanish Days - - Family Held Grants of Land from Royal Crown - - Part of Original Holdings Now Griffith Park - - A link with the romantic past of California was severed with the death on Thursday of Senora Concepcion Tapia de Feliz, descendant of the grandees (sic) of the Malibu Rancho and widow of the late Anastacio Feliz, descendant of the grandees (sic) of the Feliz grants. - - Funeral services will be conducted at 10 a.m. today at the old Plaza Church, Our Lady of the Angels, where requiem high mass will be chanted, and burial will follow in Calvary Cemetery, where the remains will be laid to rest at the side of her husband in the family plot. The body lay in state last night and until 9 o'clock this morning at Senora De Feliz's former residence, 2723 Glenview avenue. - - PARK IN TRACT - - Senora De Feliz, who was 71 years of age, had been ill for the last three years and!
the immediate cause of her death was paralysis. She died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Juanita F. Ortiz, in San Fernando. - - Anastacio Feliz, who died several years ago, was the last of the inheritors of the Feliz Ranch, the main grant of which covered an are of approximately 3500 acres. During his lifetime he sold the property, which subsequently was subdivided and built up with homes. Three thousand acres, however, later were given to the city of Los Angeles to comprise the Griffith Park section - - PASSING OF PIONEER - - Out of the subdivision, a clause provided for a homesite for Senora De Feliz and it was her residence on Glenview avenue which was a part of the original Feliz grant. Senora De Feliz's middle name, Tapia, appears in the documents of the original Malibu grant, and with her passing, the last member of these two families, who lived in the days when the Malibu and Feliz grants were important holdings in Southern California, is gone. - - She leaves two d!
aughters, Mrs. Juanita Feliz Ortiz and Mrs. Orella (sic) Feliz Meza, and four sons, Ramon E., Armefo (sic)L., Victor and Filiberto Feliz."

This thread:

• [CA-SPANISH] Concepcion Tapia de Feliz by "Karla Everett" <>