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Petra Pico

Petra Pico (c. April 29, 1834 – September 7, 1902), most notable for her basketry, was a Chumash basket weaver, elder, and regarded as a figurehead of the Ventureño Chumash Community. She was born at Mission San Buenaventura in 1834 to two Chumash neophytes. Her parents were also born and raised at the Mission and had ties to villages throughout modern-day Ventura County, near Santa Paula and the Santa Monica Mountains.

Petra was best known for basket weaving alongside her friends Candelaria Valenzuela and Donaciana Salazar, who married Petra's brother-in-law.

Early Life

Petra Pico, standing against a wall carrying an unfinished woven basket.

According to Mission records, Petra was born on April 29, 1834, the fifth child to Chumash neophytes named Ysidra and Penèw Papumiahuit, who was also called Peregrino Maria.

Petra's mother Ysidra was born at Mission San Buenaventura to parents from Somis and Kayiwish and later served as a consultant of Alphonse Pinart, a French anthropologist and linguist studying the Chumash dialect of Ventura. Her father Penèw was born to Chumash parents from Lalimanux and Somis and, according to John Peabody Harrington's reels, served as a school teacher and choir singer at the Mission.

Youth

Not much is known about Petra's youth; however, a year after California joined the United States in 1848, Petra married her first husband, a Chumash man named Conrado, at 15. She later had two children with him, and one of them had two children of her own.

There are no records showing exactly how she learned to weave baskets, however she likely learned from her mother or an elder within the tribe.

Family & Marriages

Petra had married three times; first, to a Chumash man named Conrado. She had two children by Conrado, but only her eldest daughter, Maria Manuela, survived through infancy. Conrado died, and in 1866, she married Lucas Garcia of Santa Barbara. After Lucas' passing, she married a prevalent Chumash man named Simplicio Pico, from whom she got her last name. Petra and Simplicio lived in what is now the western end of downtown Ventura. When her eldest daughter died in 1878, she began raising her granddaughters, Juana Pascuala and Juana Delfina Francisca, in her home with Simplicio.

Petra Pico weaves a basket while sitting next to Donaciana Salazar, her sister-in-law and fellow basket weaver.

Through her first marriage to Conrado, she became the sister-in-law of another prominent basket weaver, Donaciana Salazar, who was married to Conrado's brother Norberto Skit'ima.

Basketry

Baskets were used by the Chumash for centuries, becoming a functional staple within the community. They were used in storing valuables, food, carrying babies, money, and were works of art, woven with intricate designs and patterns

Petra's basket weaving was regarded as a "new mode" by Fernando Kitsepawit Librado, and was said to have left her juncus to dry for at least 15 days. According to John Peabody Harrington's reels, Luis Antonio Maria Ortega stated that she collected toku, better known as Urtica cord, at Foster park.

In the late 19th century, Petra and her friends were prominent throughout the Santa Barbara Channel region. Their baskets were eagerly bought and collected by early Spanish settlers, so much to the point of entire towns selling out, causing complaints from travelers to the area.

Petra's baskets are now displayed all across the United States. Her final basket before losing her eyesight was named "Queen Isabella's Crown," now held at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

Later life

Petra Pico standing and Apolonia Guzman sitting at the Mission San Buenaventura steps. The little girl is Petra's great-granddaughter, Soraida García.

Towards the end of her life, she worked as a washerwoman for Anglo and Spanish-American families in downtown Ventura. As she grew older, she lived with her granddaughter Juana Pascuala García, her son-in-law, and great-grandchildren in El Rio, California. During this time, Petra was photographed in front of the Mission San Buenaventura steps with Apolonia Guzman and her great-grandaughter Soraida García.

Petra eventually fell sick in the first decade of the 20th century, and the Ventura Free Press on November 22, 1901, reported: "Petra, positively the last of the celebrated pure-Indian basket makers, lies very ill at the home of her great grandchild, Mrs. Garcia, whom she was visiting in El Rio. Petra is about 90 years old. She owns a little home on Spruce Street not far from the courthouse in this city. Petra remembers well the early history of Ventura."

Legacy

Petra died in 1902, having conserved the critical traditions of her ancestors and culture. Today, many of Petra's descendants live on their ancestral lands. However, many live within the Central Valley and neighboring states.

Her life and work are now celebrated throughout Southern California by her descendants and those studying the lives of Indigenous Californians in the 19th century.\\

Category:19th-century Native Americans Category:People from Ventura County, California Category:19th-century Native American women Category:Chumash people Category:California Mission Indians Category:1834 births Category:Basket weavers Category:Basket weaving