San Diego county, California; a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I, Part 48

Author: Black, Samuel T., 1846-
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago, S.J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 540


USA > California > San Diego County > San Diego county, California; a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 48


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Carrillo, Domingo Antonio Ignacio, son of Jose Raimundo Carrillo, born at San Diego, in 1791, was a gentleman soldier in the San Diego company from 1807, cadet from 1809, etc. He left service in 1818, but afterward was restored and was at San Diego in 1821; was revenue collector, 1825-8, promoted, to


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lieutenant, 1827; transferred to Santa Barbara in 1830, and later in political troubles ; he married Concepcion Pico, sister of Pio and Andres Pico, in 1810. Their sons were Joaquin, Jose Antonio, Francisco, Alejandro and Felipe, and the daughters were Maria, the wife of Jose M. Covarrubias ; Angela, wife of Ignacio del Valle, and Antonia.


Carrillo, Jose Antonio Ezequiel, a son of Jose Raimundo and brother of Do- . iningo Antonio Ignacio, above mentioned, was born at San Francisco in 1796. He was a teacher at San Diego in 1813 and also at a later date, and at Los Angeles from 1827-31. Having been exiled by Victoria, he became a leader in the move- ment against the governor at San Diego in 1831. He was deeply implicated in trouble of the time of Santa Barbara, where he lived, and where he died in 1862. His first wife was Estefana Pico, and his second wife was Jacinto Pico, sisters of Pio and Andres Pico, of San Diego. A daughter was married to Lewis T. Burton. Don Jose Antonio was a man of natural ability but was dissipated.


Carrillo, Jose Raimundo, founder of the Carrillo family in California, was a native of Loreto, born in 1749, and a son of Hilario Carrillo. He came to Cali- fornia as a soldier, probably with the first expedition in 1769, and rose to the rank of captain, and was commandant at San Diego in 1807-9. He married Tomasa Ignacia, daughter of the soldier Francisco Lugo, the ceremony being performed by Junipero Serra, at San Carlos, April 23, 1781. His early services in Cali- fornia were at Santa Barbara and Monterey, coming to San Diego in 1806. He was buried in the chapel on Presidio Hill, November 10, 1809. His only daughter, Maria Antonia, became the wife of Jose de la Guerra y Noriega. His sons, Carlos Antonio de Jesus, Jose Antonio Ezequiel, Anastasio and Domingo An- tonio Ignacio, were all prominent in the early history of California.


Carrillo, Joaquin, a native of Lower California, was a relative of Jose Rai- mundo, probably a cousin. He was living as a retired soldier at San Diego in 1827. He is said to have been a good performer on the violin and was once put in the stocks of Captain Ruiz because the latter thought him too slow in tuning up to play his favorite tune. He died before 1840. His widow was Maria Ignacia Lopez, and their sons were Joaquin, Julio and Jose Ramon. His daugli- ters were: Josefa, who eloped with Henry D. Fitch; Francisca Benicia, wife of M. G. Vallejo; Maria de la Luz, wife of Salvador Vallejo; Ramona, wife of Romualdo Pacheco and later of John Wilson, who lived in San Francisco; Mabel Pachecp, who was married to Will Tevis; Juana; and Felecidad, the wife of Victor Castro.


Dominguez, Cristobal, was a soldier at San Diego before 1800. He died in 1825. He rose to the rank of sergeant and was grantee of San Pedro ranch in 1822; his wife was Maria de los Reyes Ibanes, at whose house Alfred Robinson resided while in San Diego in 1829, and to whom he refers as "old lady Domin- guez." Part of the American troops were quartered at her house in the Mexican war. Their children were: Maria Victoria, who was married to Jose Antonio Estudillo; Luis Gonzaga; Manuel, who is mentioned by Robinson as Gale's , brother-in-law at San Diego in 1829; Maria Francisca Marcelina, who was mar- ried to William A. Gale and went to Boston to live; Maria Elena Ramona; Jose Nasario; and Pedro Juan Agapito.


Echeandia, Jose Maria, was the only governor of California who made his resi- dence in San Diego. Before coming to California he was a lieutenant-colonel con-


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nected with a college of engineers in Mexico. Besides Robinson's statement that he was "a tall, gaunt personage," who received him "with true Spanish dignity and politeness," we learn from Bancroft that he was "tall, slight and well formed, with fair complexion, hair not quite black, scanty beard and a pleas- ing face and expression. His health was very delicate. In his speech he affected the Castilian pronunciation, noticeably in giving the 'Il,' 'c' and 'z' their proper sounds." He was somewhat absent minded at times. Some of his contempora- ries regarded him as a capricious despot, who would carry out a whim without regard to results; others thought he lacked energy; and still others say he was. popular but overindulgent and careless. Pio Pico found him affable, but apa- thetic. Alfred Robinson, the son-in-law of Captain de la Guerra y Noriega, who strongly opposed Echeandia in the matter of the secularization of the missions, calls him "the scourge of California, and instigator of vice, who sowed seeds of dishonor not to be extirpated while a mission remains to be robbed." William A. Gale found him a man of undecided character, trying to please everybody.


After leaving California he was very poor until 1835, when, an earthquake having damaged a number of buildings, his services as engineer were in demand and he became prosperous. In 1855 he was arrested by Santa Ana for some po- litical cause, but was released. Two stepdaughters took care of him in his old age and he died before 1871.


Estudillo, Jose Antonio, son of Jose Maria, was born at Monterey in 1805. He was grantee of house-lot at San Diego, 1827; in 1828-30 was revenue collec- tor and treasurer; grantee of Otay rancho in 1829; member of the assembly in 1833-5; received a grant of the Temecula rancho in 1835; in 1836-8 alcalde and juez ; administrator and majordomo at San Luis Rey in 1840-3 and owner of land at San Juan Capistrano in 1841 ; treasurer in 1840; juez de paz in 1845-6; collec- tor in 1845; neutral in Mexican war ; first county assessor, 1850; he died in 1852. He was a man of excellent character and large influence. His wife was Maria Victoria, daughter of Sergeant Cristobal and Maria de los Reyes Dominguez, whom he married in 1825. Their children were: Jose Maria, who married a daughter, Luz, of Juan Maria Marron; Salvador, who married Piedad Alta- mirano, sister of Jose Antonio Jose Guadalupe; Jose Antonio, who is a rancher at San Jacinto; and Francisco, who lives at San Jacinto. He first married Car- men Roubidoux, daughter of the celebrated trapper, and his second wife was a daughter of Don Jesus Machado. They had two daughters, both of whom were married to Jose Antonio Aguirre, Francisca being his first wife and Maria del Rosaria his second. The latter afterward married Colonel Nanuel A. Ferrer. Another daughter, Maria Antonia was married to Miguel de Pedrorena and another, Concepcion, was the first wife of George A. Pendleton.


Estudillo, Jose Guadalupe, was a son of Jose Antonio, one of the most promi- nent citizens of San Diego in earlier American days. He was county treasurer from 1864 to 1875; city councilman of San Diego; treasurer of the state one term ; cashier of the Consolidated Bank, etc. He now lives in Los Angeles. He married Adelaide Mulholland.


Estudillo, Jose Maria, was lieutenant of the Monterey Company from 1806 to 1827 and was captain of the San Diego Company from 1827 till his death in 1830. He may be said to have been the founder of the Estudillo family in Cali- fornia. His wife was Gertrude Horcasitas. Jose Antonio, mentioned above, was


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the best known of his children. Another son was Jose Joaquin, who lived on the San Leandro rancho, near San Francisco bay, whose three daughters all mar- ried Americans, Maria de Jesus becoming the wife of William Heath Davis. His daughter Magdalena was grantee of part of the Otay ranch in 1829. Another daughter married Lieutenant Manuel Gomez.


Guerra y Noriega, Jose Antonio de la, a native of Spain, was born March 6, 1779. He became lieutenant of the Monterey Company and came to California in 1801. Here he married, in 1804, Maria Antonia, daughter of Captain Jose Raimundo Carrillo. In 1806 he came to San Diego and was acting commandant for a short time in 1806-7. He had difficulty with Captain Ruiz; acted as agent for sale of his uncle's goods, shipped from Mexico, in 1808, and profited largely ; after 1817 he resided at Santa Barbara, where he was commandant and took a prominent part in public affairs. He was congressman from California in 1827 and the following year named by Echeandia in a list of those who had taken the oath of allegiance; in 1837 was candidate for position of political chief ; in the Mexican war was unfriendly to the United States but remained quiet. He died in 1858.


Of his daughters, Maria de las Angustias, born in 1815, was married to Manuel Jimeno Casarin, and later to Dr. J. D. Ord; Ana Maria, born in 1827, first married Cesario Lataillade, and later Caspar Orena. His sons were: An- tonio Maria, born in 1825; Francisco, born in 1818 and died in 1878; Joaquin, born in 1822, and died before 1870; Jose Antonio, born in 1805; Juan J., born in 1810 and who died unmarried; Miguel, born in 1823; and Pablo, born in 1819.


Captain de la Guerra y Noreiga left a large estate, which Bancroft says his sons dissipated. He was a man of very great influence to the day of his death. His opinions on California political affairs strongly color the views expressed in the book of his son-in-law, Alfred Robinson.


Lopez, Bonifacio, was a son of Ignacio. He was juez de campo at San Diego in 1835; in charge of the mission in 1848; grand juror in September, 1850. His daughter Josefa married Philip Crosthwaite.


Lopez, Ignacio, was a soldier, living in Mission valley in 1821. He was first district elector of San Diego in 1822 and was elected to the legislature; took part in the revolution of 1831. Jose and Juan Lopez, involved in same, probably his sons. Juez de campo in 1836.


Lorenzana, Apolinaria was one of the foundling children sent to California from Mexico in 1800 and lived in San Diego. The name. Lorenzana was that of the archbishop of Mexico, given to all foundlings. She never married but was very charitable and known as La Beata (the sister of charity). She claimed the Jamacha rancho, but lost it. She was in San Luis Rey in 1821-30 and later as- sisted Father Vincente at the San Diego Mission. In later life she lived at Santa Barbara, was poor and blind and supported by charity. She dictated for Ban- croft her memoirs.


Machado, Jose Manuel was corporal of the San Diego Company. He had quite a family of children, his daughters being: Guadalupe, whose first husband was Peter Wilder, and her second, Albert B. Smith; Juana, who was first mar- ried to Damasio Alipas and second to Thomas Wrightington; Rosa, the wife of John C. Stewart ; and Antonia, the wife of Enos A. Wall.


Marron, Juan Maria had a house at San Diego in 1821 ; took part in the revo-


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lution of 183L; second regidor, 1835 ; first regidor, 1836; and owner of the Cueros de Venado rancho, which was attacked by Indians; juez, 1839-44; owner of land at San Juan Capistrano, 1841 ; grantee of the Agua Hediona Rancho, 1842; died September 19, 1853 ; married Felipa, daughter of Juan Maria Osuna and Juliana Lopez. His daughter, Maria Luz, married Jose Maria Estudillo, and had a son, Sylvester.


Marron, Sylvester, was a son of Juan Maria and Felipa Osuna Marron, and married Leonora Osuna. His children were Felipa, who married J. Chauncey Hayes, now of Oceanside, and a daughter who became the wife of John S. Bar- ker. He was married a second time and now lives at Buena Vista, California.


Menendez, Father Antonio, was a Dominican friar, who came from Mexico with Echeandia in 1825 and was chaplain and cure at the Presidio until 1829 at an irregular salary of $15 a month. In December, 1828, his name appears in a list of Spaniards who had taken the oath of allegiance. From August to De- cember of that year he taught a school in San Diego, had eighteen pupils enrolled and was paid the same munificent salary. He was chaplain of the assembly which met at Santa Barbara from July to October, 1830.


His character seems to be put in the class with the coarser Mexican priests who followed the Spanish missionaries. In fact, he illustrated the old saying of "the world, the flesh and the devil" in an unusual degree. "Men's souls for heaven," says Bancroft, "but women for himself he loved, and wine and cards." Pio Pico who was then a young man engaged in trading with Lower California, played cards with him, with varying fortune. On one occasion in San Diego after Menendez had, in a game of cards, despoiled Pico of all his stock of sugar, he added insult to injury by hurling at him a couplet which may be translated:"


"Christ came to ransom man of woman born;


He sought his sheep, himself departed shorn."


Osuna, Juan Maria, was born in California prior to 1800. He was a soldier and corporal of the San Diego Company and later a settler; district elector in 1830, and took part in the revolution of 1831 ; was the first alcalde of San Diego, 1835, juez de paz in 1839-40 and 1846; grantee of San Dieguito in 1836-45. He died about 1847. His daughter Felipe married Juan Maria Marron. His sons were Leandro and Ramon. The former took part in the fight of San Pasqual, in December, 1846. He committed suicide by shooting himself through the heart, April 3, 1859. His son Julio married Chipita Crosthwaite. Ramon Osuna was comisario de policia in 1839; collector of tithes, 1839; grantee of Valle de los Viejas, 1846; member of first grand jury at San Diego, September, 1850.


Pedrorena, Miguel de. The best biographical sketch of this much respected citizen is that contained in William Heath Davis' Sixty Years in California. He says :


"In 1838 Don Miguel de Pedrorena, a resident of Peru, arrived here, being at the time part owner and supercargo of the Delmira. Don Miguel was a native of Spain and belonged to one of the best families in Madrid. After receiving an education in his own country he was sent to London, where he was educated in English, becoming a complete scholar. Most of the Castilian race of the upper class are proud and aristocratic, but Don Miguel, though of high


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birth, was exceedingly affable, polite, gracious in manner and bearing, and in every respect, a true gentleman. He married a daughter of prefect Estudillo, and resided in San Diego until the time of his death in 1850, leaving one son, Miguel, and two daughters, Elena and Ysabel. He was a member of the con- vention at Monterey in 1849, for the formation of the state constitution. He owned the Cajon Rancho and the San Jacinto Nuevo Rancho, each containing eleven leagues, with some cattle and horses. Notwithstanding these large hold- ings of lands he was in rather straitened circumstances in his later years, and so much in need of money that when I visited San Diego in the early part of 1850 he offered to sell me thirty-two quarter blocks (102 lots) in San Diego at a low figure. He had acquired the property in the winter of 1849-50, at the alcalde's sale. I did not care for the land, but being flush and having a large income from my business, I took the land, paying him thirteen or fourteen hundred dollars for it.


"In Madrid he had several other brothers and other relatives, one of his brothers being at that time a minister in the cabinet of the reigning monarch. During the last two or three years of his life those relatives became aware of his unfortunate circumstances and wrote to him repeatedly, urging him to come home to Spain and bring his family with him. They sent him means and assured him that he would be welcomed. Though poor, his proud disposition led him to decline all these offers. Popular with everybody in the department, the recollec- tions of him by those who knew him were exceedingly pleasant."


He settled at San Diego in 1845, having married Maria Antonia Estudillo, daughter of Jose Antonio Estudillo. He strongly favored the American side in the war in 1846 and had a cavalry command with the rank of captain. He built one of the first frame houses in Old Town, which is still standing near the par- sonage. In the late '6os it was used as the office of the Union. He was collec- tor of customs in 1847-8. In 1850 with William Heath Davis and others he was one of the founders of new San Diego. He died March 21, 1850. His only son was Miguel de Pedrorena, born at Old Town in 1844, and died at his ranch in Jamul valley, December 25, 1882. He married Nellie Burton, daughter of Gen- eral H. S. Burton, of the United States Army, at the Horton House in new San- Diego, December 25, 1875. His sister Ysabel was married to Jose Antonio Al- tamirano. She was born at the very moment when the American flag was raised at Old Town, July 29, 1846, a circumstance of which the family is very proud. Victoria was married to Henry Magee, an army officer from the state of New York, of excellent family. Elena married Jose Wolfskill and lives at Los Angeles.


Pico, Andres, son of Jose Maria, was born at San Diego in 1810. In 1836-8 he was an elector and receptor of customs and in charge of Jamul rancho. He took an active part in the uprisings against the Monterey government and was several times a prisoner. In 1839-42 he was lieutenant of the San Diego Com- pany, served as elector, was in charge of the San Luis Rey and obtained lands at Santa Margarita, San Juan Capistrano and Temecula. He was in command at the battle of San Pasqual and in subsequent operations ; made a treaty with Fre- Inont at Cahuenga which ended the war; did not return to San Diego but engaged in mining and land litigation ; represented the counties of Los Angeles, San Ber- nardino and San Diego in the state senate in 1860-1 ; was a democratic presiden-


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tial elector from California, 1852. He was a brave and popular man but coarse and unscrupulous. He died unmarried in 1876.


Pico, Jose Antonio Bernardo, a son of Jose Maria, was born at San Diego about 1794. He was a member of the San Diego Company and clerk in 1817; sergeant, 1828; lieutenant, 1834; and commissioner to secularize San Juan Ca- pistrano, 1834-6; went to Monterey, 1838; grantee of Agua Caliente Rancho in 1840 and left the military service ; grantee of San Luis Rey, 1846; married Sole- dad Ybarra, 1828; died at San Diego, 1871. He was a lively old man, full of jokes and nicknamed Picito (Little Pico) by reason of his small stature. He was a soldier in the Mexican war and second in command under his brother Andres during the operations around San Diego.


Pico, Jose Maria, founder of the Pico family of southern California, was a son of Santiago Pico of Sinaloa. He was a soldier of the San Diego Company from 1782, also at San Luis Rey. He died at San Gabriel in 1819. His wife was Maria Estaquia Lopez, a native of Sonora, whom he married in 1789. Their three sons were Andres, Jose Antonio Bernardo and Pio. They had seven daughters: Concepcion, who was married to Domingo A. I. Carrillo; Estefana and Jacinta, who were married to Jose A. E. Carrillo, the brother of Domingo; Ysadora, who became the wife of John Forster ; Tomasa, who married an Alva- rado ; and Feliciana.


Pico, Pio, as a resident of San Diego who became governor, is a figure of much interest. He was born at San Gabriel in 1801, and removed to San Diego after his father's death in 1819. He kept a small shop there, gambled with Father Menendez with varying fortune, lost all he had at San Vicente, Lower California, and later won twelve mules and stripped the padre at San Diego. He built a house at old San Diego in 1824. Once on going to Los Angeles on a visit, he was ordered by Alcalde Avila, described as an ignorant fellow who ruled by the sword, to go to work on an aqueduct, but being on horseback and armed with a musket, he escaped and returned to San Diego. In 1821 he put up a hide hut at Los Angeles and opened a dram shop, the price of a drink being "two bits." He introduced the use of an ox horn to drink from, with a false wooden bottom to reduce the quantity of liquor.


Mrs. Carson once met him going to the races ; he had his mule panniers loaded down with silver which he was taking to bet on the horse.


He was clerk in a trial at San Diego, 1826; senior vocal of assembly, 1832, and chosen political chief after expulsion of Victoria same year, but only acted twenty days ; majordomo San Luis Rey Mission, 1834; candidate for alcalde, December. 1834, but defeated; elector, 1836; 1837-9, active against Alvarado's govern- ment and more than once a prisoner ; played an active and not always creditable part in troubles of this time ; became governor in 1845, and was the last Mexican governor.


In 1841 he was grantee of Santa Margarita and Las Flores Ranchos; con- veyed the former to his brother-in-law, John Forster, and there was a noted contest for it in later years in the courts but Forster won and retained the valu- able property. He married Maria Ignacia Alvarado in 1834. He spent his later years in Los Angeles and wrote quite a little concerning California history. His character has been variously estimated and he has been much abused for various causes. He seems to have been a man of little education and only moderate intel-


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ligence, fairly honest but without any gifts of statesmanship which would have qualified him for important achievements in the difficult times in which he lived. Nearly all the magazines have at various times contained "write-ups" of the Pico family, and attacks or defenses of his administration.


Rocha, Juan Jose, was a Mexican lieutenant who came with Echeandia in 1825, under sentence of banishment from Mexico for two years. He held dif- ferent commands at Monterey and elsewhere ; gave a ball in honor of the Hijar colony, 1834 ; married Elena Dominguez ; spent his last years in San Diego. He was the father of Manuel Rocha, who was a member of the first grand jury at San Diego in September, 1850.


Ruiz, Francisco Maria, was a native of Lower California; he was at Santa Barbara from 1795, and from 1806 commandant at San Diego; made captain in 1820 and retired in 1827; grantee of the Penasquitas Rancho, and died in 1839, at the age of about eighty-five. He never married. He was the son of Juan Maria Ruiz and Isabel Carrillo, both of distinguished families. His father was killed by a lion. His brother, Jose Manuel, was governor of Lower California. He was a man of violent temper and quarrelsome disposition and had serious difficulty with his relative, Captain de la Guerra y Noriega, whom he knocked down. He was also somewhat dissipated. He seems to have been well liked locally, notwithstanding his many faults.


Serrano, Jose Antonio, was a son of Leandro Serrano. He married Rafaela, daughter of Rosario Aguilar. Their children were: Jesus, who lives at Ven- tura; Luis, born March 12, 1846, who married Serafina Stewart, daughter of John C. Stewart, and lives in San Diego; Rosa, who was married to Andrew Cassidy ; and Adelaide, who was the first wife of Sam Ames, of Old Town. Jose Antonio Serrano was a horse and cattle man. He served under Pico in the Mex- ican war and was engaged at the battle of San Pasqual.


Ubach, Father Antonio D., was a native of Catalonia. He was educated for a missionary priest at Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and had traveled thousands of miles as a missionary among the Indians. He came to San Diego in 1866 and had been in charge of the Catholic parish here ever since. He had a dispensa- tion which allowed him to wear a beard; he had Moorish blood in his veins ; he brought the first organ to San Diego. In early days after the morning service was over he would bring out a football which he brought with him here and would play with the boys on the Plaza. He had the dagger of the celebrated bandit, Joaquin Murietta. He had also had charge of a large number of valuable relics of early Spanish days, including vestments, books of record, etc., from the old mission.


He was the "Father Gaspara" of Mrs. Jackson's Ramona, a circumstance which gave him wide fame and made him an object of extraordinary interest to all strangers. For many years he refused to discuss the truth of the incidents of the story but in the San Diego Union of June 25, 1905, he spoke of the marriage of Ramona as follows :


"Although it took place some forty years ago, I remember it very well- how the couple came to me and asked me to marry them and how I was impressed with them. But it was not in the long adobe building which everybody points out as the place-that is the Estudillo place-but it took place in the little church which stands not far away, near the old cemetery where the old mission bells


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are. Why, I would not marry them outside of the church; Catholics know that. Mrs. Jackson herself says that the wedding took place in the chapel, and I can't imagine why the other building is the one that is usually pointed out.




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