KING OF ORANGES

Mattias Sabich. The first Croatian pioneer in California was Mattias Sabich, coming from Mexico City to Mexican Los Angeles, California in 1834. He had a son, Matias, in 1841 and a son, Francisco, in 1842 in Los Angeles. Matias was a trader and merchant. He was listed on the 1860 Census of Population, but at a later date his son, Francisco, an orchardist, had employed John Cuculich as a nurseryman. Both of these names are found in Dalmatia, Croatia. Sabich planted the first orange groves in Los Angeles and California. All foreigners who became colonists in the Californias who observe the constitution and laws of the Republic will be Mexican citizens as soon as they build their own houses and begin to cultivate their lands. One of the first outgrowths of the new movement toward colonization was the Gomez Farijas Colony. In February 1834 signs began to appear in Mexico City inviting men, women and families to join a colonial adventure to settle California. Among the three hundred or so colonists who left Mexico on August 1, 1834 was a trader named Matias Sabich or Sabici (1798-1852). Sabich married Josefa Franco Lazard, a member of one of the leading families in Mexican and early American California.  Her brother Don Antonio Franco Coronel, was one of the first mayors of Los Angeles and Ygnacio Coronel founded the city’s first school. Matias fathered two sons, Mattias and Francisco and he became a well-known and apparently wealthy member of the community. Sabich’s wife died in Los Angeles and is buried at San Gabriel mission.