The county seat of Ventura County traces its history back to 1782 and the founding of Mission San Buenaventura. The "City of Good Fortune" incorporated in 1866 and today numbers more than 110,000 residents.

This book is based on several books published between 1890 and 1917; but mostly from the book, History Of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura Counties California. Sheridan, who wrote the Ventura section, was a Ventura County Pioneer and a partner with the "Signal Newspaper", Ventura's first newspaper. Ventura was a part of the Santa Barbara County. On April 13, 1875, final settlement was effected with Santa Bar­bara County under the terms of the Act of March 22, 1872.The time of the founding of the mission may be traced the beginning of Ventura County. This was on March 31, 1782. San Buenaventura, the County seat, in the beginning had more than one name. Indeed, there were no less than three names given the locality before the advent of Father Junipero Serra, the Franciscan founder of the Mission church. To begin with the Indians of the neighborhood called the place Zucu. What the meaning of this word is has never been learned. The Indian tribes in California were small and there was a wide diversity in the languages of the several tribes, and tracing the meaning of Indian words has always puzzled those who delve into such things. The expedition under Don Rodriguez called the place Pueblo de las Canoes. And later, the overland expedition of Gaspar Portola, traveling from San Diego to locate Monterey, named the place Asuncion de Nuestra Senora. The latter found the native Indians busy at boat-making and reported that many of them took to the sea and traveled the channel waters between the mainland and the islands. It was Father Serra who gave the name San Buenaventura to the location. This was in honor of the Seraphic Doctor and friend of Saint Francis, the founder of the Order of Friars Minor.—The beginnings of an American settlement in a new country are always interesting to succeeding generations and we owe it to them that the annals and the traditions of the Pioneers should be recorded. —T.R. Bard, August 31, 1907