Pregunta 100 - 6 November 2002

Respuesta a Pregunta 100 - 17 June 2005

I was born and raised in Ventura, Calif.  My mother was Louisa E. Lorenzana, her father was Panfilo Lorenzana, his father was Fructoso Lorenzana and his father was Felipe Lorenzana. I just recently got on line and that is why I had not responded to  your pregunta prior to this.  Perhaps we already know each other or are at least cousins.  I would like very much to hear from  you.  lmartymartinez@comcast.net [Lawrence Martinez-Lorenzana (would like to be member), Albuquerque, N.M.]

Respuesta a Pregunta 100 - 11 November 2002

Hi. My great great grandfather was Santiago Salas, born 1825. I believe he left El Paso, Texas  or New Mexico about 1850, and arrived in what would later be known as Sonora, Pinal County, Ariz. There he met Manuela Gallardo, born 1830 in Sonora, Pinal Co.,   Ariz. They hade one son there, Theophilo, born about 1853 . They arrived in California and married in 1863. They had 13 kids. One of them Domingo Salas (born 1856) is my great grandfather. He married Dolores Castillo born 1867 in California.  They were my grandmother's parents. She was Maria Joana Salas, also known as Tilly Inez Ayala (born 1884 in Los Angeles, Calif.)    [Jim W. Garcia (nonmember), Los Angeles County, Calif.]

Respuesta a Pregunta 100 - 6 November 2002

According to Marie Northrop's Spanish-Mexican Families of Early California: 1769-1850, Volume II, pp. 16-17: José Antonio Apolonio (Apolinario) Ayala was born 17 February 1790; baptized 21 February 1790 at Mission Santa Barbara; buried 4 July 1819 at Mission San Gabriel. He had twelve siblings. His parents were José Calixto Ayala (born about 1763 at Real de Cozala, Sinaloa, Mexico of Nicolas Ayala and María Ygnacia) and Juana María Vitala Feliz (born about 1773 at Real de Cozala, Sinaloa, Mexico of Juan Victorino Feliz and Micaela Landera; buried 2 August 1840 at Mission Santa Barbara), who married 3 December 1786 at Santa Barbara Presidio. José Calixto was a soldier in Anza's 1774 Expedition; first marriage of gente de at Mission Santa Barbara; invalido -- retired at Santa Barbara in 1832; was living at Santa Barbara in 1834 and working as hachero (woodcutter). 

On pp. 256-57: María de la Natividad Ruiz was born 25 December 1803; baptized 26 December 1803 at Mission San Gabriel. She had six siblings and one half brother. Her parents were Fructuoso María Ruiz (born about 1760 at El Fuerte, Sinaloa, Mexico of Antonio Ruiz and Antonia Pacheco; buried 7 July 1817 at Mission San Gabriel) and Fructuoso's second wife, María Dolores Lugo (born 16 July 1783; baptized 19 July 1783 at Santa Barbara Presidio Chapel of Manuel Ygnacio Lugo and María Gertrudis Limon (Sanchez)). María del la Natividad married second, Felipe Lorenzana. Fructuoso enlisted at El Fuerte in Rivera's 1781 Expedition to San Gabriel and was soldado de cuera at Santa Barbara. [Benita H. Gray (member), San Diego, Calif.]

Pregunta 99 - 1 November 2002

I am looking for information about Diego Olivera, one of the grantees of  the Guadalupe Rancho. He was a member of the Olivera family that was so prominent in the Santa Barbara/Tepusquet area. He was an unmarried man. Died in 1868, but I don't know where he was buried. [Shirley Contreras (nonmember), Arroyo Grande, Calif.]

Respuesta a Pregunta 99 - 1 November 2002

According to Marie Northrop's Spanish-Mexican Families of Early California: 1769-1850, Volume I, pp. 241-42: Diego Antonio de la Luz Olivera was born 12 November 1786; baptized 13 November 1786 at Mission San Gabriel; buried 22 September 1868 at Mission Santa Barbara, soltero. His parents were Joseph Ygnacio Olivera (born about 1750 at San José del Cabo, Baja California of Martin Olivera and María Micaela Carrillo and buried 26 April 1794 at Mission Santa Barbara) and María Loreta Feliz, who were married 8 December 1778 at Mission San Gabriel. María Loreta was born about 1765 at Alamos, Sonora, Mexico of José Vicente Feliz and María Manuela Piñuelas and she was buried 8 July 1789 at Mission San Gabriel. Diego had one brother (Antonio Lucas María) and two sisters (Ana María Leonor and María Estefana). Diego's father was soldado de cuera of 1769 Expedition, corporal of Mission San Gabriel guard 1776-82; and sergeant at Santa Barbara 1782-94. [Benita H. Gray (member), San Diego, Calif.]

Pregunta 98 - 1 November 2002

Respuesta a Pregunta 98 - 6 August 2003 updated 4 February 2005

I realize your posting is fairly old and your question refers to the Higuera branch and not the Miramontes side. However I felt I might reply that my mother is originally from where Candelario's family came from in a town in Zacatecas, México called Tlaltenango.  I know this because I do family research and my great grandmother Francisca Samaniego Miramontes is from this town.  I happened upon local library resources which mentioned Candelario's mother (Victoria de Luna), who arrived with family but without the father (José), and how they arrived in Monterey in the late 1700s.

I have a microfilm hard copy of the church marriage manuscript  of José Miramontes and Victoria de Luna.  It is from a church about 8 miles south of Tlaltenango in a town called Tepechitlan.  I have personal knowledge of the area and have visited Tlaltenango about 4 times in the last 10 years.  The Miramontes name is densely clustered there and appears in microhistory writings of Tlaltenago (one of which I called "Tlaltenango la ciudad amurallada" which means "the walled city" because of the surrounding mountains.  The Miramontes name is mentioned several times in different accounts and referenced  on several occasions from archival notes dating back to the early 1600s in this region.  My own great, great grandfather is also mentioned in this book.

If you have any questions feel free to ask. [Gus Meza (nonmember), Salinas, Calif.] I have changed my e-mail address if you wish to correspond regarding the Miramontes family in Tlaltenango, Zacatecas. gusmeza@charter.net Gus Meza

Pregunta 97 - 12 October 2002

I am a descendent of the Cota family of Santa Barbara. The connection runs this way: my great-grandmother, Augusta Willey, was the daughter of Rosa Hinchman (born 1854, Santa Barbara) and Henry Willey. Rosa Hinchman was the daughter of María de la Luz de Altagracia Cota (born 1824, Santa Barbara) and Augustus Hinchman.  María Cota was the daughter of María de Jesus Olivera y Briones (born 1791, San Diego Presidio) and Francisco Cota y Lugo (born 1787, San Gabriel Mission). I am interested in joining your organization and in finding out as much as I can about the Cotas and Lugos. I have been at work on a novel about the Spanish women, las Californias, and any bit of information I can collect would be an immense help. (I speak and read Spanish.) Many thanks and best regards. [Alex Giardino (nonmember), Los Angeles, Calif.]

Respuesta a Pregunta 97 - 23 October 2002

For further information on the children of Francisco Lugo and Juana Maria Martinez see Marie Northrop's Spanish-Mexican Families of Early California: 1769-1850 Volume I. This book can usually be found and borrowed from your local library or if they do not have it ask for an interlibrary loan. It was published by the Southern California Genealogical Society. 

One of the children of this union, María Antonia Ysabel Lugo, went on to marry Ignacio Vicente Ferrer Vallejo, and a daughter from this union, Josefa María Vallejo, would marry Francisco Alvarado and become the mother of Juan Bautista Alvarado, the first Provincial Governor of Alta California. After the death of Francisco Alvarado, Josefa María would marry Raymundo Estrada, who was a prominent citizen and soldier at Monterey.

A few good books to read are : Indians and Pioneers of Old Monterey by James Culleton; Monterey County: the Dramatic Story Its Past by Augusta Fink; The Salinas Upside-down River by Anne B. Fisher: Spanish Arcadia by Nellie Van de Grift Sanchez. Also there is much information on these family names in Hubert Howe Bancroft's
History of California (seven volumes). Also a good story on early California women is found in the book, The Romance of Nikolai Rezanov and Concepcion Arguello, the Concha Arguello Story by Eve H. Iverson. Good luck on your book.  [Jimmie Hardy de Estrada (member), Winston, Ore.]

Respuesta a Pregunta 97 - 14 October 2002

Francisco Atanasio Cota was born 16 August 1787, San Gabriel, to father,  Pablo Antonio Cota (born about 1744 at El Fuerte, Sonoma, México), a trailblazer for Portolá and Serra and present at founding of Monterey, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, etc.  His name appears throughout California's earliest history.  His parents were Andres Cota and Angela de Leon. Francisco's  mother, Rosa María de Lugo,  was born about 1763 at La Villa de Sinaloa, Sinaloa, México.  She married Pablo Antonio  30 November 1776; she died 10 January 1797 at the Presidio of Santa Barbara.  Her parents were Francisco Lugo and Juana María Martinez. Three of Pablo Antonio and Rosa María Cota's children, including Francisco Atanasio, married Oliveras: Francisco married María de Jesus Olivera  on 10 May 1811 (he died 21 August 1851).  She was the daughter of Juan María Olivera and María Guadalupe Briones.  Francisco Atanasio Cota was Elector at Santa Barbara in 1828; soldier at Santa Barbara Presidio; comisionado and administrado at Mission Santa Inez 1837-41; grantee of Rancho Santa Rosa 1839; juez at Santa Inez 1841-1848; a resident of Santa Barbara 1850. Best regards, [Ramona Reitz (member), Pacific Grove, Calif.] 

Pregunta 96 -  5 October 2002

Respuesta a Pregunta 96 - 11 March 2005

I'm from Sinaloa, Mexico. And mi familia (the Lugo side) are living in an area called Ocurague, Sinaloa. They moved from the area of El Fuerte or El Agua Caliente, Sinaloa.  This was Justa Lugo (1850) daughter of Felipe Lugo (1822). She had 2 children from somebody that she never married. That is why she gave them her last name. One of her sons Ines Lugo was killed when he was a man. The other son, named Remedios Lugo, was my great grandfather. Later Justa married this other men named Epitacio Sandoval and had 2 more kids, Felipe Sandoval Lugo and Eduardo Sandovan Lugo. They moved from the area of El Fuerte or El Agua Caliente, Sinaloa to this area called Los Terreros Blancos by Ocurague, Sinaloa. They were looking for gold because in those years people from all over the places were coming to this areas to work in the gold mines. Please write back. rentrentalcars@aol.com [Otilia Rochin Lugo (nonmember), Frazier Park, Calif.]   

Pregunta 95 - 18 September 2002

My grandfather's parents were Tomas Benedito Higuera and Basilia Hernandez.  My grandfather was Enrique (Henry) H. Higuera. I would like some information on his brothers and their descendants, if possible.
1. Thomas E. Higuera, married  Miguela Lopez 3 March 1876
2.José Maria Higuera, married María de los Angeles Villa
3. José J. Higuera, married Adelaide Higuera 18 February 1883
4. Miguel Higuera
5. Eliado Higuera
These were all in San Luis Obispo, California.  Thank you for any help. [Edwina Higuera Harris (member), Winnsboro, Texas, edwina95@peoplescom.net ]

Respuesta a Pregunta 95 - 3 January 2008

Edwina Higuera Harris please contact me at lindahiguera49@hotmail.com .  I tried your email and got an error.  I am a descendant of Thomas and Basilia and have information to share. [Linda Higuera (pending member), Loveland, Colo.] Note: please also copy your exchange to the Web site as others may be interested. La Tejedora

Respuesta a Pregunta 95 - 7 November 2007

I am a direct descendant of Tomas and Basilia.  I have some info on my Myfamily website. I have one picture of Basilia and her daughter, granddaughter and great granddaughter from the San Luis Obispo newspaper. For anyone interested in what I have found, please email  lindahiguera49@hotmail.com and I'll send an invite to my site.  Look at the family tree section, Higuera family. [Linda Higuera (nonmember), Loveland, Colo.]

Pregunta 94 - 15 September 2002

My husband's great great grandparents lived here in California  along the Morgan Territory Road  in Livermore, Alameda County. His great great grandfather came from  Sonora, México, as did his grandfather, but his grandmother and her family were Californios.  His grandmother's mother was Virginia  Alviso Miranda and his great grandfather was Manuel Miranda. What I cant seem to find out is  who his great great grandfather's (his name was Miguel Garcia de Palomares) family was and where they were from .   I don't think they were related to the Palomares family from southern California.  Any  help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you! [Bev buffo (not yet member), Pittsburg, Calif.]

Pregunta 93 - 10 September 2002

Requesting any information about an old Franciscan frater, Irish origin, named Paul Simmons, around 1750-1900. Muchas gracias. [Jose Redon (nonmember), Valencia, Spain]

Respuesta a Pregunta 93 - 15 September 2002

Respuesta Pregunta 93 - 12 September 2002

Suggest you  contact Saint Patrick's Church, 721 Main St, Watsonville, CA, 95076 -4336 U.S.A. Phone: 831-724-1317. Vaya con Dios,
[Teresa Russell y Espinosa de Boronda (nonmember), Long Beach, Calif.]

Pregunta 92 - 6 September 2002

Pregunta 91 - 4 September 2002

I recently received a copy of several publications that Herbert L. Hagemann, Jr. wrote and was hopeful in finding him. Sadly I see that you have him on the memorial page.

Herbert L. Hagemann, Jr. #31 Charter of Livermore on 27 June 2000
he descended from the following families:
Bernal, Boutillier, Castro, Félix, Soto, and Sánchez"

He would be related to me and in one of his publications he had photos of my great great great grandparents. Does he have any surviving children that may have taken up where he left off? I was hoping to get copies of my grandparents' photos since no one else that I know of has any. This is all new to me and without help from your genealogist I'd never have known for sure that Augustin Bernal and Juana Higuera were my great great great grandparents. Thanks for any help. [Sierra Brewi]