DON GUILLERMO HARTNELL RESIGNED HIS POSITION ON SEPTEMBER 7, 1840, JUST BEFORE DONA MARIA TERESA BIRTHED THEIR SON NATHANIEL: Pages 239 – 240, ‘The Lives of William Hartnell,’ by Susanna Bryant Dakin

+++  Traveling on up the coast, leaving his so-called assistant behind, el visitador found that the situation at Capistrano had not been improved by his recent appointment of a mayordomo to succeed the administrador.  According to the diario: “When I passed by San Juan Capistrano the padre ministro [Zalvidea] told me that . . . . . the Indians . . . . were all running away because of Don Ramon Arguello; and that it was necessary to put in another mayordomo.”  Such a move would mean bad blood between el visitador and the most powerful member of the powerful Arguello clan.  On August 19, Hartnell records: “Today I received a letter from Don Santiago Arguello in which he demands satisfaction for my having forcibly deprived his son Ramon of the office of mayordomo of San Juan Capistrano, and so, and so on, and so on.”

Continuing with what now seemed the hopeless task of promoting “harmony among all classes,” el visitador ran into new complications at each mission.  Everywhere the ex-administrators, their families and friends were indignant at being displaced, at being forced away from the feeding trough.  Everywhere Hartnell’s own motives were questioned, along with his assistant’s; and the two were vilified together.  From San Buenaventura, on August 26, Don Guillermo wrote to his “brother” Jimeno: “You will see that my official duties have gone badly with me.”

He was cheered to receive, simultaneously, a letter from Don Manuel visiting at Alisal: (translation)

‘My sister Dona Teresa is waiting for you daily because (if you do not come) she will be assisted only by old women in her delivery, but we trust all will be well.  Angustias already has come out of her “bundling.”  At nine in the morning of the 14th she was delivered of a boy, plump and handsome – the women say he resembles my sister Dona Teresa – and we place him at your service . . . . . I hope you return soon, and remain in good health.  Your affectionate brother.’

This letter pointed the contrast between the simple love and faith of Hartnell’s family and the complex animosities he had aroused as visitador de misiones.  Don Guillermo resolved to resign from this position.  He would quit the labyrinths of politics and return to the warm security of his family circle.  In some other way, he would make them a living.

His resignation, dated September 7, 1840, was sent from the de la Guerra home in Santa Barbara after consultation with his father-in-law.  Governor Alvarado did not accept it immediately, but only after earnest conversations with his friend and former tutor, at the conclusion of his tour.

A last entry in Hartnell’s diario was penned September 15: “I left San Antonio and arrived at my rancho.”  Here he found a five-day-old addition to the family, a fine boy named Nathaniel after his English brother.  The family welcome dispelled the gloom that had been gathering in his soul.