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Table of Contents

• Names and brief histories of soldiers who escorted first families to Los Angeles, Sept 1781.

• Founding Families of El Pueblo De La Reina De Los Angeles,  of 1781, names and backround histories

• Soldiers who accompanied the Pobladores from Sonora and Sinaloa, Mexico, to El Pueblo de Los Angeles.

• Officers and Soldiers of the 1781 expedition to Alta California, who accompanied Captain Rivera (with their families)

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Some of the soldiers who accompanied the Pobladores and other settlers from Mexico, also settled in California, some became prominent citizens, large Spanish landgrant owners, commanders of the Presidios in California, and even a governor. These soldiers were later assigned to the Presidios in San Diego, Santa Barbara, Monterey, and San Francisco. In Los Angeles alone their was 71 people including soldiers, settlers and their children.

1. Corporal Jose Vicente Feliz, born about 1741, at Alamos, Sonora, Mexico, where he married Maria Ygnacia Manuela Pinuelas in 1758, and where their six children were born. He came to Alta California with the Anza Expedition in 1775. On the way to Ca. near Tubac, Mexico,on the Anza Trail, their son, Jose Antonio was born, but his wife, Maria Ygnacia died in childbirth. She was buried in Nov.1775 at San Xavier del Bac Mission, Sonora Mexico. The child, Jose Antonio arrived safely along with his brothers and sisters with the Expedition at the San Gabriel Mission on January 4,1776, but he died nine months later. Another son, Jose de Jesus Feliz, born about 1764, at Alamos, Sonora, Mexico, married Maria Celia Bonifacia de Cota,(daughter of Roque Jacinto de Cota and Juana Maria Verdugo) born about1759, at the Royal Presidio of Loreto, Baja California.
   
   
2. Private Pablo Antonio de Cota, born about 1744, at the Presidio of El Fuerte, Sinaloa, Mexico, the son of Andres Cota and Angela de Leon. He married Rosa Maria de Lugo on 30th November, 1776, at the San Luis Obispo de Tolosa Mission, Alta California. Pablo Antonio de Cota served as a Soldado(soldier) de Cuera of the 1769 Portola Expedition to the Bay of Monterey, Alta California, accompanying Sargeant Jose Francisco de Ortega and Father Junipero Serra. He served as a corporal at the San Antonio Mission from 1778 to 1779. Escort for the Pobladores on Sept.4th 1781 to the Pueblo de Los Angeles, and sergeant of the escolta at San Buenaventura Mission from 1782 to 1787.
             In 1788, he was promoted to alferez (sub-lieutenant/teniente), and retired to Santa Barbara where he died on December 30, 1800. Rosa Maria de Lugo died January 9, 1797 and was buried at the Santa Barbara Mission. They had nine children with their first born at the San Antonio Mission, the others born at Missions and Presidio's of Monterey, San Gabriel, and Santa Barbara in Alta California.
   
   
3. Private Roque Jacinto de Cota, born about 1724, at El Fuerte, Sinaloa, Mexico, the eldest son of Andres de Cota and Angela de Leon. He married Juana Maria Verdugo, born about 1740, at the Loreto Mission a small fishing port in Baja, Ca.He died on Sep.29, 1798, in San Fernando, Alta California, she died May 13, 1835, in Los Angeles, California.
               Roque Jacinto de Cota served as an escort for the Pobladores from the San Gabriel Mission to El Pueblo de La Reina de los Angeles on Sept. 4, 1781. He is the founder of the older Cota family in Alta California.
   
   
4. Private Francisco Salvador de Lugo, born about 1740, at Villa de Sinaloa, Sinaloa, Mexico. He married Juana Maria Rita Martinez, born about 1745, at Villa de Sinaloa, Sinaloa Mexico. She was the daughter of Jose Maria Martinez and Maria Josefa Vianazul. He died on May 16, 1805 in Santa Barbara, she died on March 23,1790, in Santa Barbara. His daughter, Rosa Maria de Lugo, born about 1760, at Villa de Sinaloa, Sinaloa, Mexico, married Pablo Antonio de Cota on November 30,1776, at the Mission San Luis Obispo, Alta California.
                He was recruited by Captain Rivera in 1774 and arrived at the San Gabriel Mission in 1775. He was stationed in San Luis Obispo and the Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara until 1781, when he served as an escort from the San Gabriel Mission to El Pueblo de Los Angeles on September 4, 1781.

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1. Jose Fernando de Velasco y Lara, born about 1731 at the Port of Cadiz, Spain and came to Mexico about 1750. He used the name of Lara when he was in Alta California. He enlisted on June 24 1780, at the Villa de Sinaloa, Mexico; and about 1774, he was married to Maria Antonia Campos in Cosala, near the Villa de Sinaloa, Sinaloa, Mexico. In this marriage, there were two girls and a boy born at the Villa de Sinaloa. He arrived at the San Gabriel Mission on July 22, 1781, and he was a poblador at the founding of El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Angeles, Sept. 4, 1781.
             Jose Fernando Lara, and two other pobladores, Antonio Mesa and Luis Quintero, petitioned the governor of Alta California, to leave the pueblo; and they left on March 21, 1782. Mesa probably returned to Mexico, while Lara and Quintero went on to establish the San Buenaventura Mission (Ventura), they moved to help establish the new Santa Barbara Presidio under Lieutenant Jose Francisco de Ortega, in August of 1782.
             Lara had understood that his first wife, Barbara Antonia Bravo had died, so he remarried, but he had been misinformed. It was his sister-in-law who had died, se he was sent back to Nayarit, Mexico, because of this situation. He did not return to Alta California, he died about 1783. His children by his second wife stayed in Santa Barbara with their mother; Maria Antonia Campos later remarried about 1784, to Luis Gonzaga de Lugo.She died on January 24, 1791.
   
   
2. Jose Cesario Moreno, born August 27, 1757, at Rosario, Sinaloa, Mexico. He enlisted on Sept.2, 1780 at Rosario, where he married Maria Guadalupe Gertrudis Perez (Nieto). She was born about 1762, and was married Sept. 18, 1780 at Rosario, where he married Maria Guadalupe Gertrudis Perez (Nieto). She was born about 1762, and was married on September 18, 1780, at the age of 18. He came to the San Gabriel Mission on July 22, 1781, and was a poblador at the founding of El Pueblo de Los Angeles Sept. 4, 1781.
            Jose Cesario Moreno was listed as a farmer at Los Angeles in 1790 and later as a regidor (councilman of Los Angeles.   
   Jose Cesario Moreno died on May 10,1806, and was buried at the San Gabriel Mission, Maria Guadalupe Gertrudis Perez (Nieto) lived to be almost 100 years old; she remarried Pedro Jose Perez (Nieto) of Quefugilla, Mexico.
            She died about 1860 and was the last survivor of the pobladoers of El Pueblo de Los Angeles. She was a relative (sister) to Jose Manuel Perez-Nieto, who was first mentioned as a soldier of the Presidio of Monterey, in 1773, he served as an escort for the pobladores to San Diego in August 1781, and was the third Spanish land grantee on the Rancho Los Nietos, a 300,000 acre ranch in Los Angeles, the largest land grant given during the Spanish regime. Ater his death , his ranch was divided up to his, Maria Teresa Morillo, who died at the age of 60 years old, and was buried on September 21,1816, at the San Gabriel Mission.He had four children, one being the owner of Rancho Los Cerritos in Long Beach, a part of the Cota-Temple family of the early 1800's. Jose Manuel Perez Nieto, died at the age of 56, and was buried on December 13,1804, at the San Gabriel Mission.
   
   
3. Jose Antonio Navarro, was born about 1737 at Real del Rosario, Sinaloa, Mexico, where on 1762, he married Maria Regina Dorotea Glorea de Soto and where his three children were born. He enlisted on 21 August 1780, as a 'maestro Sartre' (master tailer); a year later he arrived at the San Gabriel Mission on 18 August 1781.

          On 4 September 1781, he was a poblador at the establishment of the E1 Pueblo de la Reina de los Angeles. His wife died four years later on 16 February 1785 and was buried at the San Gabriel Mission, Los Angeles, Alta California. His son, Jose Maria Eduardo Navarro, was the sexton at the Los Angeles Plaza Church in the 1830's and 1840's. His other son, Jose Clemente Navarro, married Maria del Carmen Rochin on 15 May 1791, at the San Gabriel Mission. His daughter, Mariana Josefa Navarro was married on 30 October 1791, at the Santa Clara Mission to Juan Jose Faustino Higuera and died on 17 March 1812 and buried on 18 March 1812, at the Mission Dolores, San Francisco. Jose Antonio              Navarro lived in Los Angeles until 1790, when he was sent to the Pueblo de San Jose and later assigned to the Presidio of San Francisco. He died at the age of 53 years old, and was buried on 3 September 1793, at the Mission Dolores, San Francisco, Alta California.Jose Clemente Navarro, born about 1772, at Rosario, Sinaloa, Mexico, the son of Jose Antonio Navarro and Maria Regina Dorotea Glorea de Soto. Jose Clemente Navarro was also a leather jacket soldier, assigned to the Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara and later assigned to the La Purisima Mission in 1791. He died on 15 July 1807 and was buried at the San Gabriel Mission on 16 July 1807. Maria del Carmen Rochin, born about 1778, at Los Alamos, Sonora, Mexico, died at the age of 74 years old, and was buried on 14 December 1862, at the Los Angeles Plaza Church, Los Angeles, California.
    

4. Luis Manuel Quintero , was born about 1726, at Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. He enlisted on 3 February 1760, at Los Alamos, Sonora, Mexico, was the last pobladore to sign up with Captain Rivera; he arrived at the San Gabriel Mission on 22 July 1781. About 1760, at Los Alamos, Sonora, Mexico, he married Maria Petra Rubio, who was born about 1741, at Los Alamos, she later died and was buried on 3 March 1802, at the Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara, Alta California.

   At the age of 55 years old, he requested to leave E1 Pueblo de los Angeles, and was granted this request on 21 March 1782, six months after the founding of the pueblo. He too was a Sartre (tailor) by trade and not a farmer. He joined Jose Fernando de Velasco y Lara for the founding of the Mission San Buenaventura (Ventura, California), and the founding of the Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara in August 1782, under the command of Lieutenant Jose Francisco de Ortega, and Antonio Mesa returned to Mexico. He was joined by his wife, Maria Petra Rubio, and his seven children, all of whom were born at Los Alamos, Sonora, Mexico. Three of the girls married soldiers in the 1781, Rivera Expedition t^° Alta California, the other children married and lived in Santa Barbara. Luis Manuel Quintero died on 16 January 1810, in Santa Barbara.

   Their son, Jose Clemente Quintero, born about 1778, married Maria Josefa Andrea Rodriguez, the daughter of Jose Ygnacio Rodriguez and Juana Paula de la Cruz Parra all of Los Alamos, Sonora, Mexico. Their daughter, Maria Dolores Sixtra Quintero, married the grandson of Lieutenant Jose Francisco de Ortega on 10 August 1823, at the Mission La Purisima, Alta California.

   Through his fifteen year old daughter, Maria Fabiana Sebastiana Quintero who on 21 January 1781, married Private Eugenio Valdez, a soldier of the 1781 Rivera Expedition to California, and their daughter Maria Rita Valdez who in 1808, married Vicente Ferrer Villa (a six year old in 1781), who became the owners of the Rancho Rodeo de las Augas, or what is now known as Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California.

   Their adopted daughter, Maria Gertrudis Castelo, born about 1765, to Nicolas Castelo and Rita Gertrudis Valenzuela, came to the Mission San Gabriel with them after her parents died. On 12 November 1782, she married Domingo Aruz, a Catalan volunteer from Spain to the Pueblo de la Reina de los Angeles in 1781.
    

5. Pablo Rodriguez  ,was born about 1755, at Real de Santa Rosa, Sinaloa, Mexico. He enlisted in 1780 at Rosario, Sinaloa, Mexico, and arrived at the San Gabriel Mission in July 1781, with his wife, Maria Rosalia Noriega and one daughter, Maria Antonia Rodriguez, who was born about 1780, at Real de Santa Rosa, Sinaloa, Mexico, on June 1, 1794, she married Juan Patricio Ontiveros, the son of Jose Antonio Ontiveros and Ana Maria Carrasco y Briviescas, at the San Gabriel Mission. Nine additional children were baptized at the San Gabriel Mission, but out of the ten children, only four lived to maturity.

   After his retirement, Pablo Rodriguez moved to San Diego where he was the mayordomo (foreman) at the San Diego Mission in 1790, and the mayordomo of the San Juan Capistrano Mission in 1813. He died at the age of 61 years old, and was buried on 30 April 1816, at the San Juan Capistrano Mission, and Maria Rosalia Noriega died at the age of 69 years old, and was buried on 8 May 1824, at the San Gabriel Mission.
    

6. Jose Antonio Basilio Rosas was born about 1730, near Durango, Mexico. He was married about 1761 at Rosario, Sinaloa, Mexico, to Maria Manuela Calixtra Hernandez, and where seven of his children were born. He was an albanil (mason) by trade. He enlisted on 6 September 1780, at Rosario, Sinaloa, Mexico, and arrived at the San Gabriel Mission on 22 July 1781 with the Rivera Expedition to Alta California. Three other children were born at the San Gabriel Mission, and where most of them were married and lived. His son, Poblador Jose Alejandro Rosas died in 1789, whose wife, Juana Maria Rodriguez had died the year before in 1788, and their children were reared by their grandparents.
   Jose Antonio Basilio Rosas died and was buried at the San Gabriel Mission in 1809.

             

7. Jose Maria Vanegas , was born about 1753, at Real de Bolanos, Jalisco, Mexico. He enlisted on 11 August 1780, at Rosario, Sinaloa, Mexico; and a year later, he arrived at the San Gabriel Mission with his first wife, Maria Bonifacia Maxima Aguilar, and their only child, Cosme Damien Vanegas, born about 1780, at Sinaloa, Mexico. Maria Aguilar died on 3 January 1801,

   Jose Maria Vanegas had the distinction of being the first known alcalde (major) of Los Angeles from about 1786 to 1788 and again in 1796. After his first wife died in 1801, he went to San Diego and perhaps to the San Luis Rey Mission, where he became the mayordomo (foreman). He was married the second time on 8 November 1821, at the age of forty-eight years old, to Maria Victoria Valdez. He must have been a compassionate man, as Victoria was unwed and eight months pregnant. Two years later, Jose Vanegas and Maria Victoria Valdez had their own baby girl, named Maria Francisca Vanegas, born on 26 April 1823, at the Mission San Diego, who married Jose Guadalupe Rodriguez on 8 May 1841. Maria Victoria Valdez, was the daughter of Francisco Valdez, a Catalan Volunteer to California, and to Maria Josefa Leyba, she was born on 23 December 1801, at the Mission San Diego, where she married Jose Vanegas, a grandson of Jose Maria Vanegas.
    

8. Antonio Clemente Feliz Villavicencio , was born about 1751, at Chihuahua, Mexico. He was married at Chihuahua, Mexico to Maria de los Santos Flores, who was born about 1755, at E1 Real de Batapilas, Chihuahua, Mexico. He enlisted on 30 May 1780 at the Villa de Sinaloa, Mexico, and arrived at the San Gabriel Mission on 22 July 1781. Their only child, Maria Geronima, was baptized on 3 October 1781, at the San Gabriel Mission, and being the FIRST child born of the Los Angeles settlers. She died five months later on 4 March 1782. Poblador Villacicencio left for Santa Barbara about 1797, where he died in 1802. Maria de los Santos Flores, died on 16 September 1829, and was buried at the Santa Barbara Mission.

   Antonio Clemente Feliz Villavicencio and his wife had brought with them an adopted daughter to Alta California. She was the orphan, Maria Antonia Josefa Pineulas. She was born about 1773, at the La Villa de Sinaloa, Sinaloa, Mexico, the daughter of Francisco Pinuelas and Maria Alcaraz. Vicente Quijada married Juana Maria Armenta (Landera) about 1779, she died on 26 July 1783, and in 1785, he married Maria Antonia Josefa Pinuelas, at the San Gabriel Mission.
    

9. Jose Antonio Rosas was born about 1730 near Durango, Mexico. He was married about 1761 to Maria Manuela Calixtra Hernandez Rosario at Sinaloa, Mexico, where seven of his children were born. He was an albanil (mason) by trade. He enlisted on September 6, 1780 at Rosario, Sinaloa, Mexico, and arrived at the San Gabriel Mission on July 22, 1781 with the Rivera Expedition to Alta California. Three other children were born at the San Gabriel Mission where most of them married and lived. His son, Poblador Jose Alejandro Rosas, died in 1789, whose wife Juana Maria Rodriguez, had died the year before in 1788, leaving their children to be reared by their grandparents. Jose Antonio Basilio Rosas died and was buried at the San Gabriel Mission in 1809.
   
   Jose Maria Vanegas was born about 1753 at Real de Bolanos, Jalisco, Mexico. He enlisted on August 11, 1780 at Rosario, Sinaloa, Mexico. The next year, he arrived at the San Gabriel Mission with his first wife, Maria Bonifacia Maxima Aguilar, and their only child, Cosme Damien Vanegas, born about 1780, at Sinaloa, Mexico. Maria Aguilar died on January 3, 1801.
   Jose Maria Vanegas had the distinction of being the first known alcalde (major) of Los Angeles from about 1786 to 1788 and again in 1796. After his first wife died in 1801, he went to San Diego and perhaps to the San Luis Rey Mission, where he became the mayordomo (foreman). He was married the second time on November 8, 1821 at the age of forty-eight to Maria Victoria Valdez, who was eight months pregnant and unwed. Two years later, on April 26, 1823, Jose Vanegas and Maria Victoria Valdez had their own baby girl named Maria Francisca Vanegas at the Mission San Diego, who went on to marry Jose Guadalupe Rodriguez on May 8,1841. Maria Victoria Valdez was the daughter of Francisco Valdez (a Catalan Volunteer to California) and Maria Josefa Leyba. She was born on December 23, 1801 at the Mission San Diego, where she later married Jose Vanegas (a grandson of Jose Maria Vanegas).
    

10. Manuel Camero was born about 1751 at Acaponeta, Nayarit, Mexico and was married about 1777 at Real del Rosario, Sinaloa, Mexico to Maria Tomas Garcia. Camero enlisted August 19, 1780 at Rosario, Sinaloa, Mexico. They arrived at the San Gabriel Mission August 18, 1781. As a poblador of Pueblo de Los Angeles, he was given two suertes of land, and was rigidor in 1789. He became inactive in raising crops or cattle at that time and eventually abandoned his land in 1816.
     

11. Antonio Mesa was born about 1743 at Alamos, Sonora, Mexico and was married there in 1767 to Maria Ana Gertrudis Lopez. His wife was also born at Alamos in 1754. Mesa enlisted June 4, 1780 at Villa de Sinoloa, Mexico and arrived in Alta California with his wife and two children, Maria Paula and Antonio Maria, and became a poblador of Pueblo de Los Angeles. He left Los Angeles March 21, 1782 and is believed to have returned to Alamos.
    
     

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Additional soldiers who accompanied the Pobladores from Mexico to the San Gabriel Mission in 1781, included:

     These soldiers and their families were recruited to move from Mexico to Alta California, and settle in the newly established Presidios of Santa Barbara, Monterey and San Francisco, the Missions of San Buenaventura, Santa Barbara, San Carlos, Monterey, San Francisco and San Luis Obispo and others in Alta California. With the promise of land, and a better life under Spanish rule.

1. Captain Rivera

2. Maximo Alanis

3. Ildefonso Dominguez,

4. Isidro German,

5. Felipe Gonzales,

6. Jose Julian Guerrero,

7. Josto Lorenzo Hernandez,

8. Juan Antonio Ibarra,

9. Manuel Ygnacio Lugo,

10. Juan Matlas Olivas

11. Jose Antonio Ontiveros,

12. Jose Polanco,

13. Joaquin Rodriguez,

14. Juan Maria Romero

15. Francisco Xavier Sepulveda,

16. Eugenio Valdez

17. Jose Manuel Valenzuela

18. Juan Jose Villalobo

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Officers and Soldiers of the 1781 expedition to Alta California, who accompanied Captain Rivera (with their families)

1. Jose del Carmen Arana

2. Jose Prudencio Arangure

3. Jose Dario de ArgueIlo, Lieutenant

4. Francisco Xavier Caibo

5. Jose Xavier Cortes

6. Jose Miguel Espinosa

7. Juan Victorino Feliz

8. Jose Rosalino Fernandez

9. Diego Gonzales

10. Francisco Juarez

11. Agustin de Leyba

12. Gaspar Lopez

13. Jose Manuel Machado

14. Jose Maria Martinez

15. Juan Ygnacio Martinez

16. Francisco Xavier Mejias

17. Juan Norberto Mejias

18. Pedro Jose Mejias

19. Juan Andres Hilario Montiel

20. Francisco Ontiveros

21. Jose Antonio Basilio Parra

22. Jose Victor Patino

23. Vicente Quijada

24. Ygnacio Rochin

25. Jose Ygnacio Rodriguez

26. Jose Esteban Romero

27. Efigenio Ruiz

28. Fructuoso Maria Ruiz

29. Jose Pedro Loreto Salazar

30. Jose Maria Gil Samaniego

31. Jose Tadeo Sanchez

32. Guillermo Soto

33. Jose Melesio Valdez

34. Juan Ygnacio Valencia

35. Pedro Valenzuela

36. Segundo Valenzuela

37. Jose Antonio Maria Velarde

38. Juan Jose Villa

39. Ramon Ybarra