Lemuel Carpenter, an American newcomer to Southern California, falls in love with Maria de los Angeles Dominguez, niece of Donya Josefa, the widow who holds Rancho Santa Gertrudes. Their courtship unfolds at the rancho, where Carpenter builds a successful soap and broom business while the family faces disputes over land and rising hardship. Donya Josefa's warning about the land proves prophetic as drought, competition and mounting debts press on the young couple. This episode of the Romance of the Ranchos series traces the rancho's history from its early years through the decades that followed, including the period when the land changed hands and later became part of the oil fields of Santa Fe Springs.

With Lemuel Carpenter, Maria de los Angeles Dominguez, Donya Josefa, John G. Downey, Frank Graham.

Listen for: The auction on the courthouse steps in 1859, Lemuel Carpenter's soap factory, and the later discovery of oil near Fulton Wells

First aired on September 14, 1941.

Episode notes written with AI from the recording itself; the audio is the original broadcast.

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