PIONEER PICNICS: SETTLERS OF THE EAST SAN GABRIEL VALLEY

What begins as a series of articles on Layne D. Staral’s family history becomes the larger story of the settling of Henry Dalton’s Ranchos Azusa and San José.

In the mid-1800s, these California homesteaders built homes, schools, churches, and the local towns of the San Gabriel Valley.

Including family photos and memorabilia, Pioneer Picnics elaborates on the story of the transition from vast Mexican land grants to small independent communities that still remember and celebrate their beginnings.