Hugo Reid was a resident of Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

 who wrote a series of newspaper letters that described the culture, language, and modern circumstances of the local Gabrieliño Indians and criticized their treatment under the Franciscan

Franciscan

Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....

 mission system.

Life

Born in 1809 or 1810 in Cardross, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, Reid came to the United States as a sailor and jumped ship at Los Angeles in 1832. He married a Gabrieliño woman named Victoria and adopted her children, Maria and Felipe.

Reid was granted the 13319 acres (53.9 km²) Rancho Santa Anita

Rancho Santa Anita

Rancho Santa Anita was a land grant in present day Los Angeles County, California given to Perfecto Hugo Reid. The land grant was formally recognized by Governor Pio Pico in 1845. The land grant covered all or portions of the present day cities of Arcadia, Monrovia, Sierra Madre, Pasadena and San...

 land grant by Mexican Governor Pio Pico

Pío Pico

Pío de Jesús Pico was the last Governor of Alta California under Mexican rule.-Origins:...

 in 1845. His rancho home, known as the Hugo Reid Adobe, is located on the former estate of Lucky Baldwin

Lucky Baldwin

Elias Jackson "Lucky" Baldwin was a prominent California businessman and investor of the second half of the 19th century.-Biography:...

 at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden

Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden

The Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, 127 acres , is an arboretum, botanical garden, and historical site nestled into hills near the San Gabriel Mountains, at 301 North Baldwin Avenue, Arcadia, California, USA...

 in what is now the town of Arcadia

Arcadia, California

Arcadia is an affluent city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, and located approximately northeast of downtown Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley and at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains....

.

Reid published a series of 22 letters in the Los Angeles Star during 1852 which provide an important ethnographic picture of the little–known Gabrieliño and were republished in book form several times. He died in Los Angeles on December 12, 1852. Arcadia's Hugo Reid Elementary School is named after Reid.

See also

• Mission San Gabriel Arcángel
  Mission San Gabriel Arcángel
  The Mission San Gabriel Arcángel is a fully functioning Roman Catholic mission and a historic landmark in San Gabriel, California. The settlement was founded by Spaniards of the Franciscan order on "The Feast of the Birth of Mary," September 8, 1771, as the fourth of what would become 21 Spanish...
  
  
• Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden
  Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden
  The Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, 127 acres , is an arboretum, botanical garden, and historical site nestled into hills near the San Gabriel Mountains, at 301 North Baldwin Avenue, Arcadia, California, USA...