Splivalo Street, San Jose, California

SPLIVALO, STEPHEN Sea Captain-Vineyard: In the early 19th century in Viganj, a small village by the sea, in Dalmatia, Croatia, lived Captain Splivalo with his wife, three daughters and two sons. When the sons grew up they went to sea and later were sent to Italy to study at a naval school. The younger son Stephen, subject of this story, was a brilliant student at the Naval Academy in Italy. He was handsome and had the inclination to mix within the rich shipping circles, where he fell in love with a beautiful girl, daughter of the well known family Balzano. The Balzano family accepted young Splivalo in their family. When he finished his schooling he went to sea and sailed on ships under different flags; these voyages took him all over the Mediterranean and Black sea, as well as the North and South Atlantic. Soon he became the skipper of a ship that carried cargoes in the Mediterranean where he had an opportunity to visit his future bride. He must have done well as he acquired two-masted sailing ship which he named "Santa Teresa" in honor of the girl he was in love with; Teresa Balzano. Captain Splivalo was daring and adventurous. He was tired of sailing on the seas he had already sailed. He wanted to sail to parts of the world he never sailed before. After his marriage he decided to sail to China. He loaded his ship with assorted merchandise that he knew he could sell it in various places that he would stop at on his way to China, even in China itself, and with his young bride on board with him he sailed away. But before going on the long trip, he decided to visit his parents in his native village in Dalmatia. Captain Splivalo carried commerce with his ship between China, and the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, and South America, on its pacific side. On a later voyage she gave birth to a son on board the ship, and Captain Splivalo had to perform his duties of a midwife. Much later, when sailing in the vicinity of Chile, she was going to have another baby. Captain Splivalo thought that that to be a midwife once was enough, so he sailed to Calao where another boy was born. The decision was reached that the family remain in Calao, and for Captain Splivalo to keep on sailing and engaging in business with his ship as before, which lasted for some time. Later when he was in Calao the news of the discovery of gold in Coloma, California, arrived. The thought of new adventure germinated in Captain Splivalo the wish to sail to California. And as we will see, luck was with him. The paddle steamer "California" had left New York on October 6, 1849 under the command of Captain Cleveland Forbes. However, Captain Forbes, because of ill health, was relieved by Captain John Marshall at Valparaiso. This was before the news of the gold discovery at Coloma, California, had penetrated to the Atlantic States. Captain Splivalo heard the ship "California" arrival to Calao on her way to San Francisco. When the "California" reached Calao, Captain Splivalo visited Captain John Marshall and informed him of his intention to sail to San Francisco. On nearing San Francisco bay, Captain Marshall gave the wheel of the ship to Captain Splivalo, who thus arrived in California from Calao in 1849, piloting into San Francisco Bay the first steamer to pass through the Golden Gate: the paddle wheeler "California". Captain Splivalo boarded the ship "California" for the return trip to Calao to join with his family and to prepare his own ship for the long sailing trip to San Francisco. The ship from Calao to San Francisco was much longer than Captain Splivalo expected, which was due to calms and unfavorable winds, but the trip was pleasant, during which the ship stopped in various places along the coast of central America, Mexico and California in order to buy fresh provisions. The arrival in San Francisco was for Captain Splivalo like coming home, as he had made many acquaintances during his previous visit. As soon as he arrived in San Francisco he went to look for a comfortable living place for his family, which he found, although it was almost impossible to find anything vacant at that time in San Francisco. As soon as his family settled in the city, Captain Splivalo prepared his ship and continued to ship goods as far as Calao and down the Pacific coast of South America. Captain Splivalo contracted to carry Chinese emigrants in his ship "Santa Teresa" from China to California. During Captain Splivalo's absence a girl was born, and given the name Elvira. When Captain Splivalo gave up sailing he got involved in business in San Francisco. Later, with his family he went into the gold fields where he and his wife operated a general merchandise store. In those days the miners paid for what they purchased in "BITS", but the little mounds that miners made were not high enough, and the merchants urged the miners to add a little more gold dust. When the house in which they had their store burnt down, the gold pieces and the gold dust they saved had accumulated melted and was lost in the cracks of the earth. When, after much hard labor, they had collected the gold, Captain Splivalo bought sixty acres of land with an adobe house in San Jose. Captain Splivalo remodeled the adobe, constructed a wood frame around it and covered it with wood siding, added a second floor to it, with a solarium the whole length of the front of the house; there he used to enjoy the sun, as he had when sailing the seas. After the house was finished he began to grow grapes. His house became a center of attraction and a place of frequent social activities. Captain Splivalo was prominent in civic affairs, and in the records of the city of San Jose there are several documents bearing his signature. His house still stands at 770 Lincoln Avenue, which in his time was called Splivalo Street. Since he was well known in Italy and Spain through his wife's family, Captain Splivalo was asked to represent Spanish grandees who had great lands in California, which he sold for them. For his commission he kept a huge strip of land on the Peninsula for himself. His sons were educated at the University of Santa Clara. He left the strip of land on the Peninsula to his daughter, telling her that some day she would be the richest woman in California. However she did not hold the land and passed it into the hands of other people. Captain Splivalo and his wife Teresa died when very old. They are both buried in the old cemetery at Santa Clara. Recently the Splivalo house was restored by the benevolence of its present owner Mr. Bruzzone, who spent much money to bring the house back to the way it was when captain Splivalo owned it. The house is classified as landmark of the city of San Jose, which is a tribute to Captain Stephen Splivalo, native of Viganj, that beautiful village by the sea, on the Peljesac peninsula in Dalmatia, Croatia. (Splivalo 1975)