in 1869 when the rain-soaked limb of a tree snapped beneath his 

 weight and plunged him into an aUigator-infested lagoon. 



Ida Haraszthy was educated in California, New York, and 

 Europe and was widely traveled before she was twenty. With her 

 mother, a woman of distinguished Polish birth, she had crossed 

 America in a covered wagon, sailed around Cape Horn, and made 

 two voyages to Europe. Having first met Major Hancock as a 

 friend of her father when she was a child of nine years, another 

 meeting eleven years later blossomed into romance and they were 

 married in San Francisco in 1863. By this time Major Hancock 

 had become a resident of Los Angeles. 



George Allan Hancock was born of this marriage on July 26, 

 1875. A twin brother, Harry, was short-lived. Another son, Ber- 

 tram, was born to Major and Madam Hancock April 11,1877. The 

 boys spent much of their youth in Santa Monica and on Rancho 

 La Brea. Major Hancock died in January, 1883. Widowed at forty, 

 with two boys to educate. Madam Hancock persisted through years 

 of struggle to carry out plans of her husband in regard to Rancho 

 La Brea, an old Spanish grant which he had purchased. 



At fifteen, Bertram died, and Allan carried on with his mother. 

 He dug brea with pick and shovel on the rancho and hauled it to 

 town to be sold for fuel; plowed and raised grain crops; tended the 

 livestock and, at odd times, studied music. When oil deposits were 

 tapped on the old rancho, he worked in the field, learned the busi- 

 ness, and finally began drilling his own wells, bringing the field to 

 its maximum production. In 1909 Madam Hancock married 

 United States District Judge Erskine Mayo Ross, an outstanding 

 California jurist. After the death of his mother on March IS, 1913, 

 Captain Hancock continued with the development of Rancho 

 La Brea. He took keen interest when Dr. John C. Merriam began 

 excavating prehistoric mammal bones from a plot near one of the 

 ancient tar pits. 



After a time the tract embracing Hancock Park was set aside as 

 a shrine of archaeological interest and donated to the County. In the 

 interest of progress, the old oil wells were closed down and the 

 derricks removed. With civic needs and the greatest good of the 

 community in mind, the remaining acreage of Rancho La Brea was 

 developed along conservative lines. 



