Eulalia Perez de Guillén Mariné
Encyclopedia
Eulalia Pérez de Guillén Mariné (1766 – June 11, 1878) was a Californio
who was mayordoma of Missión San Gabriel Arcángel
and grantee of Rancho del Rincón de San Pascual
in the San Rafael Hills
, in present day Los Angeles County
, California
. She claimed to have been born in 1766, if so making her 112 years old at the time of her death in 1878, but her case has not been verified or fully proven.
, the capital on the Baja California Peninsula
of the Las Californias
Province in the Viceroyalty of New Spain (in what is today the modern Mexican state of Baja California Sur
), to Diego Pérez of Salamanca
, Spain
and Antonia Rosalia Cota. Macedonia Gonzalez, one of Eulalia's sons, knew Antonia Cota as Lucia Valenzuela according to Eulalia's English born son-in-law and author Michael C. White, aka: Miguel Blanco. Diego Pérez was a ship captain, thought to come from Salamanca
--family members have been unable to trace records of his commission through the Archivo General de Indias
or in Loreto, which has been ravaged by hurricanes over the centuries. Her siblings were Teresa, Petra, Juana, Josefa, Bernardo, and León.
According to family lore, Capitan Pérez taught his daughter how to read and write, a fact later important to her survival and eventual prominence. She married Spanish army Sergeant Miguel Antonio Guillén at age fifteen. He was in the company at the Presidio of San Diego
. They moved from Baja about 1800 —on foot in those days— to the garrison at the new Mission San Gabriel, with their children Petra, Rosaria, and Isidoro. Miguel died while later serving at the garrison at San Diego, leaving Pérez with several children.
. She was eventually made "keeper of the keys" of the missión itself. When she retired, Mexican Governor José Figueroa
rewarded Pérez as the grantee of 14402 acres (58.3 km²) Rancho del Rincón de San Pascual
with her husband Juan Mariné. Rancho San Pascual encompasses the present day cities of Pasadena
, South Pasadena
, and San Marino
. This had been part of the homeland of the Tongva-Gabrieleño Native Americans
for thousands of years.
, as a woman Pérez was unable to have ownership of property in her own name, so she married retired Mexican artillery lieutenant Juan Mariné (d. 1836). According to some descendants, Mariné and his sons lost all the land in a short time by gambling. In another narrative, one of Marine's sons, Fruto, was an active soldier and could not take charge of the Rancho. He sold it to José Pérez and Enrique Sepúlveda in 1839. Perez and Sepúlveda submitted a new land claim and in 1839 were re-granted their own title to Rancho San Pascual by Mexican Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado
. Both built small adobe
houses near the Arroyo Seco
. Jose Perez died in 1841 and Enrique Sepulveda died in 1843, which left Rancho San Pascual abandoned until a new grantee later that year.
, Sr. in the early 20th century and is still standing on Foothill Street in South Pasadena
, and is on the National Register of Historic Places. It was named after a Californio hero, General Jose Maria Flores
, the commander of the Mexican forces in Alta California during the Mexican-American War, who had camped near the adobe. She spent many years of her remaining life in the homes of various daughters, including that of Maria Rita de Guillén de la Ossa, wife of Jose Vicente de la Ossa, owner of Rancho de los Encinos
, foundation of Encino, California. (What remains of that 100 acre (0.404686 km²) rancho is now Los Encinos State Historic Park.
area on Jun 11, 1878. Her death certificate, located in the Santa Ana
courthouse records that she lived to be 140, but descendants for the most part agree on a more conservative figures like 110 or 112 years old, making her a famous centenarian
of early California
and of U.S. history. Eulalia Pérez de Guillén Mariné is buried, with the priests and others, in the Mission San Gabriel cemetery, a highly unusual honor at that time for a woman: a marble bench inscribed with her name marks the spot. Her numerous descendants married other Californios, from the founding Spanish and Mexican families of pre-statehood California
.
Californio
Californio is a term used to identify a Spanish-speaking Catholic people, regardless of race, born in California before 1848...
who was mayordoma of Missión San Gabriel Arcángel
Mission San Gabriel Arcángel
The Mission San Gabriel Arcángel is a fully functioning Roman Catholic mission and a historic landmark in San Gabriel, California. The settlement was founded by Spaniards of the Franciscan order on "The Feast of the Birth of Mary," September 8, 1771, as the fourth of what would become 21 Spanish...
and grantee of Rancho del Rincón de San Pascual
Rancho San Pascual
Rancho San Pascual also known as Rancho el Rincon de San Pascual was a Mexican land grant in present day Los Angeles County, California given to Juan Marine in 1834 by José Figueroa...
in the San Rafael Hills
San Rafael Hills
The San Rafael Hills are a mountain range in Los Angeles County, California. They are one of the lower Transverse Ranges, and are parallel to and below the San Gabriel Mountains to the south, adjacent to the San Gabriel Valley overlooking the Los Angeles Basin.-Geography:The Hills contain all or...
, in present day Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County, California
Los Angeles County is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 9,818,605, making it the most populous county in the United States. Los Angeles County alone is more populous than 42 individual U.S. states...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. She claimed to have been born in 1766, if so making her 112 years old at the time of her death in 1878, but her case has not been verified or fully proven.
Early years
Eulalia Pérez was born in LoretoLoreto, Baja California Sur
Loreto was the first Spanish settlement on the Baja California Peninsula. It served as the capital of Las Californias from 1697 to 1777, and is the current seat of the municipality of Loreto in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur...
, the capital on the Baja California Peninsula
Baja California Peninsula
The Baja California peninsula , is a peninsula in northwestern Mexico. Its land mass separates the Pacific Ocean from the Gulf of California. The Peninsula extends from Mexicali, Baja California in the north to Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur in the south.The total area of the Baja California...
of the Las Californias
Las Californias
The Californias, or in — - was the name given by the Spanish to their northwestern territory of New Spain, comprising the present day states of Baja California and Baja California Sur on the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico; and the present day U.S. state of California in the United States of...
Province in the Viceroyalty of New Spain (in what is today the modern Mexican state of Baja California Sur
Baja California Sur
Baja California Sur , is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state on October 8, 1974, the area was known as the South Territory of Baja California. It has an area of , or 3.57% of the land mass of Mexico and comprises...
), to Diego Pérez of Salamanca
Salamanca
Salamanca is a city in western Spain, in the community of Castile and León. Because it is known for its beautiful buildings and urban environment, the Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988. It is the most important university city in Spain and is known for its contributions to...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and Antonia Rosalia Cota. Macedonia Gonzalez, one of Eulalia's sons, knew Antonia Cota as Lucia Valenzuela according to Eulalia's English born son-in-law and author Michael C. White, aka: Miguel Blanco. Diego Pérez was a ship captain, thought to come from Salamanca
Salamanca
Salamanca is a city in western Spain, in the community of Castile and León. Because it is known for its beautiful buildings and urban environment, the Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988. It is the most important university city in Spain and is known for its contributions to...
--family members have been unable to trace records of his commission through the Archivo General de Indias
Archivo General de Indias
The Archivo General de Indias , housed in Seville, Spain, in the ancient merchants' exchange, the Casa Lonja de Mercaderes, is the document repository of extremely valuable archival documents illustrating the history of the Spanish Empire in the Americas and the Philippines...
or in Loreto, which has been ravaged by hurricanes over the centuries. Her siblings were Teresa, Petra, Juana, Josefa, Bernardo, and León.
According to family lore, Capitan Pérez taught his daughter how to read and write, a fact later important to her survival and eventual prominence. She married Spanish army Sergeant Miguel Antonio Guillén at age fifteen. He was in the company at the Presidio of San Diego
Presidio of San Diego
El Presidio Reál de San Diego is an historical fort established on May 14, 1769, by Commandant Pedro Fages for Spain. It was the first permanent European settlement on the Pacific Coast of the United States. As the first of the presidios and Spanish missions in California, it was the base of...
. They moved from Baja about 1800 —on foot in those days— to the garrison at the new Mission San Gabriel, with their children Petra, Rosaria, and Isidoro. Miguel died while later serving at the garrison at San Diego, leaving Pérez with several children.
Missión San Gabriel
Pérez managed to obtain employment at Missión San Gabriel, initially as cook and midwife for those such as Governor Governor Pío PicoPío Pico
Pío de Jesús Pico was the last Governor of Alta California under Mexican rule.-Origins:...
. She was eventually made "keeper of the keys" of the missión itself. When she retired, Mexican Governor José Figueroa
José Figueroa
General José Figueroa , was a General and the Mexican territorial Governor of Alta California from 1833 to 1835.Figueroa oversaw the initial secularization of the missions of upper California, which included the expulsion of the Spanish Franciscan mission officials.This also involved the issuing of...
rewarded Pérez as the grantee of 14402 acres (58.3 km²) Rancho del Rincón de San Pascual
Rancho San Pascual
Rancho San Pascual also known as Rancho el Rincon de San Pascual was a Mexican land grant in present day Los Angeles County, California given to Juan Marine in 1834 by José Figueroa...
with her husband Juan Mariné. Rancho San Pascual encompasses the present day cities of Pasadena
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
, South Pasadena
South Pasadena, California
South Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 25,619, up from 24,292 at the 2000 census. It is located in in the West San Gabriel Valley...
, and San Marino
San Marino, California
San Marino is a small, affluent city in Los Angeles County, California. Incorporated in 1913, the City founders designed the community to be uniquely residential, with expansive properties surrounded by beautiful gardens, wide streets, and well maintained parkways...
. This had been part of the homeland of the Tongva-Gabrieleño Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
for thousands of years.
Rancho del Rincon del San Pascual
Within the independent Mexican territory of Alta CaliforniaAlta California
Alta California was a province and territory in the Viceroyalty of New Spain and later a territory and department in independent Mexico. The territory was created in 1769 out of the northern part of the former province of Las Californias, and consisted of the modern American states of California,...
, as a woman Pérez was unable to have ownership of property in her own name, so she married retired Mexican artillery lieutenant Juan Mariné (d. 1836). According to some descendants, Mariné and his sons lost all the land in a short time by gambling. In another narrative, one of Marine's sons, Fruto, was an active soldier and could not take charge of the Rancho. He sold it to José Pérez and Enrique Sepúlveda in 1839. Perez and Sepúlveda submitted a new land claim and in 1839 were re-granted their own title to Rancho San Pascual by Mexican Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado
Juan Bautista Alvarado
Juan Bautista Valentín Alvarado y Vallejo was a Californio and twice Governor of Alta California from 1836 to 1837, and 1838 to 1842.-Early years:...
. Both built small adobe
Adobe
Adobe is a natural building material made from sand, clay, water, and some kind of fibrous or organic material , which the builders shape into bricks using frames and dry in the sun. Adobe buildings are similar to cob and mudbrick buildings. Adobe structures are extremely durable, and account for...
houses near the Arroyo Seco
Arroyo Seco (Los Angeles County)
The Arroyo Seco, meaning "dry stream" in Spanish, is a seasonal river, canyon, watershed, and cultural area in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The Arroyo Seco has been called the most celebrated canyon in Southern California.-River course:...
. Jose Perez died in 1841 and Enrique Sepulveda died in 1843, which left Rancho San Pascual abandoned until a new grantee later that year.
Flores Adobe - South Pasadena
Eulalia Pérez lived in the Adobe Flores, the 1839 adobe headquarters of Juan Perez on Rancho San Pascual on the southern slope of Raymond Hill. It was restored by architect Carleton WinslowCarleton Winslow
Carleton Monroe Winslow , also known as Carleton Winslow Sr., was an American architect, and key proponent of Spanish Colonial Revival architecture in Southern California in the early 20th Century....
, Sr. in the early 20th century and is still standing on Foothill Street in South Pasadena
South Pasadena, California
South Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 25,619, up from 24,292 at the 2000 census. It is located in in the West San Gabriel Valley...
, and is on the National Register of Historic Places. It was named after a Californio hero, General Jose Maria Flores
José Mariá Flores
General José María Flores was an officer in the Mexican Army and was a member of la otra banda. He was appointed Governor and Comandante General pro tem of Alta California from 1846 to 1847.-Mexican-America War:...
, the commander of the Mexican forces in Alta California during the Mexican-American War, who had camped near the adobe. She spent many years of her remaining life in the homes of various daughters, including that of Maria Rita de Guillén de la Ossa, wife of Jose Vicente de la Ossa, owner of Rancho de los Encinos
Rancho Los Encinos
Rancho Los Encinos was a Spanish grazing concession, and later Mexican land granted cattle and sheep rancho and travelers way-station on the El Camino Real in the San Fernando Valley, in present day Encino, Los Angeles County, California...
, foundation of Encino, California. (What remains of that 100 acre (0.404686 km²) rancho is now Los Encinos State Historic Park.
Centenarian
Pérez died in the Los AngelesLos Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
area on Jun 11, 1878. Her death certificate, located in the Santa Ana
Santa Ana, California
Santa Ana is the county seat and second most populous city in Orange County, California, and with a population of 324,528 at the 2010 census, Santa Ana is the 57th-most populous city in the United States....
courthouse records that she lived to be 140, but descendants for the most part agree on a more conservative figures like 110 or 112 years old, making her a famous centenarian
Centenarian
A centenarian is a person who is or lives beyond the age of 100 years. Because current average life expectancies across the world are less than 100, the term is invariably associated with longevity. Much rarer, a supercentenarian is a person who has lived to the age of 110 or more, something only...
of early California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and of U.S. history. Eulalia Pérez de Guillén Mariné is buried, with the priests and others, in the Mission San Gabriel cemetery, a highly unusual honor at that time for a woman: a marble bench inscribed with her name marks the spot. Her numerous descendants married other Californios, from the founding Spanish and Mexican families of pre-statehood California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
External links
- Native Daughters of the Golden West: Doña Eulalia Pérez DeGuillén - California Pioneer Project
- Michael White Adobe website - (research section: information on Eulalia Pérez
- "Eulalia Pérez - chapter in the diary of son-in-law Michael White—Miguel Blanco
(published as California all the way back to 1828 By Michael C. White, written by Thomas SavageThomas SavageThomas Savage was an English clergyman.On 3 December 1492, Savage was nominated Bishop of Rochester. He was consecrated on 28 April 1493. He held the post he until 1497 when he was translated to be Bishop of London....
for the Bancroft LibraryBancroft LibraryThe Bancroft Library is the primary special collections library of the University of California, Berkeley. It was acquired as a gift/purchase from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, with the proviso that it retain the name Bancroft Library in perpetuity...
(1877), introduction and notes by Glen Dawson, illustrated by Clarence Ellsworth) - California History Quarterly: Eulalia Pérez de Guillén - 52:71-75; 53:141
- National Genealogical Society Quarterly: California's Centenarian: Eulalia Pérez de Guillén - June 1962, Volume 50 Number 2
- UC Berkeley News: California women's "Collective Voice" exhibit
- Una Vieja y su Recuerdos: Reminiscences of Eulalia Perez
Photos
- Eulalia Pérez: mother of Rita De La Ossa - The De La Ossa Family Photograph Collection
- Santa Clara University: Eulalia Perez
- UC Berkeley News: Exhibit's slideshow]
- Homestead Museum: Eulalia Perez de Guillen Marine circa 1878
Descendants of Eulalia Pérez de Guillén Mariné
- Facebook: Descendants of Eulalia Perez de Guillen Marine - to find one another and collect family history
- Find a Grave: Maria del Rosario de Guillen Blanco/White (d. 1892), daughter
- Find a Grave: Juana Paula White (b. 1833), granddaughter
- Find a Grave: Soila Esperanza Courtney Alvarado (1879-1949), great-granddaughter
- Find a Grave: Beatrice Margaret Alvarado White (1899-1966), great-great-granddaughter
- Find a Grave: Soila Esperanza Courtney Alvarado (1879-1949), great-granddaughter
- AZ Central - Antonio De La Ossa (1838-1902), grandson
- Florestina de la Ossa Gilbert - (186?-1955), Somos Primos obituaries, granddaughter
- Boulevard Sentinel obituaries - Joe Northrop (1918-2003), great-grandson
- Find a Grave: Juana Paula White (b. 1833), granddaughter
- Eulalia Pérez: mother of Rita De La Ossa - The De La Ossa Family Photograph Collection
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- Patricia Murray Chambers (1936-2007), - great-great-great granddaughter, Washington Post obituaries, Frederick News Post obituaries, Placerville Mountain Democrat obituaries
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Recent media links
- Los Angeles Times: "At Flores Adobe, history stands solid" - March 11, 2007
- Homestead Museum blogsite - March 4, 2010
- Raven Jake - October 7, 2009
- Hoy (Spanish version) - October 2, 2008