He spent money with a lavish hand, and his friends and associates shared in his generosity, as many old settlers here remember. One historian states that Señor De Celis bought a lot near the site of the Westminster Hotel, built one of the best houses in the city at that time, and presented it outright to a friend who was in straitened circumstances.
He is described as a polished, cultured gentleman of attractive personality, who in his prosperity had hosts of friends, but for several years before his death he was abjectly poor, and at one time almost blind, though later his sight was partially restored.〔

There was a pathetic little funeral yesterday at the old Spanish Church. The casket was of the plainest and there were no flowers; indeed, not even pallbearers to carry it from the hearse to the altar. A few mourners, a small group of friends of the family in former years, mostly women, followed the body borne by men who happened to be passing at the time, down the aisle to the front seats. A spectator would never have imagined . . . that the man . . . was at one time one of the well-known figures of Los Angeles, and the son of a prominent capitalist of early days who counted his leagues by thousands . . . .〔