Nicolás José was a man of great power and was a good leader. He, lime many Natives, were forced to work with the Spanish, however he eventually turned against them. On September 27, 1774, twenty-six year old Nicolás José was baptized at the San Gabriel Mission. He was only the third adult male Gabrieleño to be baptized at the mission. Once baptized, Nicolás exercised his newly church-granted authority. He was one of the first Indians to serve as a Gabrieleño marriage witness and the only Gabrieleño to serve as a godparent for a Kumeyaay child. In 1778 he became the Mission’s first alcalde. It is important to note that although Nicolas was baptized and participated in Catholic sacrament administration at the mission, he did not forget that he was a Gabrieleño.

 

Soldiers took advantage Nicolás’ authority and Mission access, however, when Father Serra learned of his actions with the soldiers, he was punished. His punishment was likely the impetus for Nicolás’ change of loyalty and he began actively conducting subversive acts against the Church. Like Popé of the Pueblo revolt over 100 years earlier, Nicolás began planning a San Gabriel Mission rebellion. The rebellion failed and Nicolás was banished from San Gabriel and sentenced to the San Francisco presidio for six years of hard labor.