On November 22, 1834, commissioner Juan José Rocha formally acknowledged receipt of the Decree of Confiscation.
The final inventory for Mission San Juan Capistrano was compiled by José Maria de Zalvidea and four of the commissioners, and included:
buildings ($7,298);
chapel ($1,250);
furnishings, tools, and implements ($14,768);
contents of chapel and sacristy ($15,568);
ranchos of San Mateo and Mission Viejo ($12,019); and
library holdings ($490)
for a total valuation of $54,456.
Mission credits totaled $13,123 while debts equaled a mere $1,410.
The Mission library included three volumes of Juan de Torquemada and twelve volumes of the Año Cristiano.
The names of 2,000 neophytes were carried on the Mission rolls.
Mission agricultural holdings for that year consisted of:
8,000 head of cattle;
4,000 sheep;
80 pigs;
50 horses;
9 mules;
150 fanegas of maize;
20 fanegas of beans; and
50 barrels of wine and brandy.

Thereafter, the Franciscans all but abandoned the Mission, taking with them most everything of value, after which the locals plundered many of the Mission buildings for construction materials.
According to Bancroft, "The population of San Juan Capistrano in 1834 had decreased to 861 souls, and in 1840 it was probably less than 500 with less than 100 at the pueblo proper; while in its crops San Juan (Capistrano) showed a larger deterioration than any other (missionary) establishment."
By 1835, little of the Mission's assets remained, though the manufacture of hides and tallow continued in full swing as described in Richard Henry Dana's classic novel Two Years Before the Mast.
The Mission was declared to be "in a ruinous state" and the Indian pueblo dissolved in 1841.
San Juan Capistrano was officially designated by Governor Juan B. Alvarado as a secular Mexican town on July 29, at which time those few who still resided at the Mission were granted sections of land to use as their own.
Following this change in status, the area around the Mission began to decay rapidly; Santiago Argüello (then prefect of the southern District of Los Angeles) complained to the Commandant of the Presidio of Santa Barbara, Don José de la Guerra y Noriega, that "...the unfortunate missions of San Gabriel and San Juan Capistrano [have] been converted into brothels of the mayordomos.

Four years later, the Mission property was auctioned off under questionable circumstances for $710 worth of tallow and hides (equivalent to $15,000 in 2004 dollars) to Englishman John (Don Juan) Forster (Governor Pío Pico's brother-in-law, whose family would take up residence in the friars' quarters for the next twenty years) and his partner James McKinley.
More families would subsequently take up residence in other portions of the Mission buildings.
José María Zalvidea left San Juan Capistrano on or about November 25, 1842, when Mission San Luis Rey de Francia's Ibarra died, leaving the Mission without a resident priest for the first time (Zalvidea had been the Mission's sole priest ever since the death of Josef Barona in 1831.)
The first secular priest to take charge of the mission, Reverend José Maria Rosáles, arrived on October 8, 1843; Vicente Pascual Oliva, the last resident missionary, died on January 2, 1848.
On November 22, 1834, commissioner Juan José Rocha formally acknowledged receipt of the Decree of Confiscation. The final inventory for Mission San Juan Capistrano was compiled by José Maria de Zalvidea and four of the commissioners, and included:
buildings ($7,298);
chapel ($1,250);
furnishings, tools, and implements ($14,768);
contents of chapel and sacristy ($15,568);
ranchos of San Mateo and Mission Viejo ($12,019); and
library holdings ($490)
for a total valuation of $54,456. Mission credits totaled $13,123 while debts equaled a mere $1,410. The Mission library included three volumes of Juan de Torquemada and twelve volumes of the Año Cristiano. The names of 2,000 neophytes were carried on the Mission rolls. Mission agricultural holdings for that year consisted of:
8,000 head of cattle;
4,000 sheep;
80 pigs;
50 horses;
9 mules;
150 fanegas of maize;
20 fanegas of beans; and
50 barrels of wine and brandy.
Thereafter, the Franciscans all but abandoned the Mission, taking with them most everything of value, after which the locals plundered many of the Mission buildings for construction materials. According to Bancroft, "The population of San Juan Capistrano in 1834 had decreased to 861 souls, and in 1840 it was probably less than 500 with less than 100 at the pueblo proper; while in its crops San Juan (Capistrano) showed a larger deterioration than any other (missionary) establishment." By 1835, little of the Mission's assets remained, though the manufacture of hides and tallow continued in full swing as described in Richard Henry Dana's classic novel Two Years Before the Mast. The Mission was declared to be "in a ruinous state" and the Indian pueblo dissolved in 1841. San Juan Capistrano was officially designated by Governor Juan B. Alvarado as a secular Mexican town on July 29, at which time those few who still resided at the Mission were granted sections of land to use as their own. Following this change in status, the area around the Mission began to decay rapidly; Santiago Argüello (then prefect of the southern District of Los Angeles) complained to the Commandant of the Presidio of Santa Barbara, Don José de la Guerra y Noriega, that "...the unfortunate missions of San Gabriel and San Juan Capistrano [have] been converted into brothels of the mayordomos.
Four years later, the Mission property was auctioned off under questionable circumstances for $710 worth of tallow and hides (equivalent to $15,000 in 2004 dollars) to Englishman John (Don Juan) Forster (Governor Pío Pico's brother-in-law, whose family would take up residence in the friars' quarters for the next twenty years) and his partner James McKinley. More families would subsequently take up residence in other portions of the Mission buildings. José María Zalvidea left San Juan Capistrano on or about November 25, 1842, when Mission San Luis Rey de Francia's Ibarra died, leaving the Mission without a resident priest for the first time (Zalvidea had been the Mission's sole priest ever since the death of Josef Barona in 1831.) The first secular priest to take charge of the mission, Reverend José Maria Rosáles, arrived on October 8, 1843; Vicente Pascual Oliva, the last resident missionary, died on January 2, 1848.
Mission San Juan Capistrano