Maria Sostanes Flores was born November 28, 1858 in California. She was the daughter of Jesus Antonio Flores and Maria Dolores Olivas and had ten siblings: Antonio Raymundo (born 1854), Florencio, Basilia (born 1855), Barbara (born 1856), Victoria (born 1862), Magdalene (born 1864), (Teodora Martina (born 1866), Erlinda S (born 1867), Manuela Raguela (born 1870) and Nicolas (born 1872).
In 1860, Maria and her family were living in Los Angeles. Her father moved the family to San Buenaventura (Ventura) in 1869, when Maria was eleven. Maria was sixteen years old when her mother died in Ventura County in 1874.
By 1878, Maria's father Antonio moved his children to Saticoy, several miles east of Ventura. They lived in a house nearby or adjacent to Julina and Charles Johnson, the mother and step-father of George Henry Moore. George was living with them at that time.
Maria and George developed a relationship during this period, and were married in Saticoy on Valentines Day, February 14, 1879. Their first child, Nathan Washington Moore, was born in Saticoy ten months later on December 17, 1879.
Maria, George and Nathan were recorded as living in Saticoy in the 1880 Census, nearby or adjacent to his mother Julina and her family and Maria's father Antonio and his children. The Census also notes Maria to be at least temporarily disabled due to bronchitis.
Maria and George's second child, Virginia Grace Moore was born in Saticoy on May 20, 1881. Maria's health continued to deteriorate and George decided to move his family to Oregon, hoping that the change would improve Maria's health. In late 1881 or early 1882, George and his family traveled by wagon to the San Joaquin Valley headed for Oregon. The brought a young Mexican girl with them to help care for Maria and her two children. During this journey, George met a group of people In Bakersfield that discouraged him from traveling to Oregon.
George ended up on Greenhorn Mountain working as a laborer dragging logs with a Bull Team of oxen to the sawmill. He registered to vote on June 9, 1882 while working as a laborer at the Long Tom mine. It is most likely that Maria and the children were living on the Greemo property (currently the Record Ranch) at the time, about a two-hour horse ride from the mine. Maria's health deteriorated to the point that George traveled to Bakersfield to secure medicine for her. Maria died on July 3, 1883, while George was on this trip.
When George returned home, he removed some boards from their house and built a casket for Maria. He buried her on the Greemo property, across the gulch from the old Record Ranch house. When Maria died, she was twenty-four years old and been married to George just over four years.
To view Maria's headstone and additional family information, click on her Find A Grave Website.
.
