Garcés Baptismal Site

A boy was dying and a passing friar baptised him, and that is the event the state registered. Garcés called him Muchachito, which is not a name but Spanish for little boy, and it is the only thing about the child that any of this records. The village in Grizzly Gulch three miles north is named on the bronze only as Yokut. The register dates the baptism May 23, 1776; the bronze re-cast in 2021 says May 3, which matches the chronology of his journey.

What the plaque says

Garcés Baptismal Site On May 3, 1776, three miles north of this point at a Yokut village site in Grizzly Gulch; Father Francisco Garcés performed the first recorded baptism in the San Joaquin Valley. The service was held for a dying Yokut boy he called Muchachito (young boy). Garcés was a missionary and explorer in New Spain, making five journeys during the 13 years he lived at San Javier del Bac (near present day Tucson, Arizona). Garcés was martyred five years later on July 19, 1781, in California, west of Yuma, Arizona. State Registered Historical Landmark No. 631 Kern County Historical Society In cooperation with California State Parks Dedicated 1952 Re-dedicated 2021

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Mountain House — 5.7 mi
• Lavers Crossing — 12 mi
• Glennville Adobe — 13 mi
• Posey Station — 15 mi