Berreyesa family
| Ethnicity | Spanish American (Basque) |
|---|---|
| Current region | United States West Coast |
| Place of origin | Northern California |
The Berreyesa family was a substantial clan of Basque-heritage Spanish-speaking settlers in early Northern California who held extensive land in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. The members of the family lost nearly all of their real estate holdings to Anglo squatters, debts and legal battles in the decades following the formation of the United States Public Land Commission in 1851—though pre-existing land grants of Mexican-era landowners had been continued by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. In the 1850s, Anglo settlers of California killed eight Berreyesa men, and some Berreyesas chose to leave Northern California to save their lives. Antonio Berreyesa once said that his Californio family was the "one which most justly complained of the bad faith of the adventurers and squatters and of the treachery of American lawyers."
The name Berreyesa comes from the Basque name Berrelleza, and was changed in California to several alternate spellings including Berelleza, Berrellesa and Berryessa. Lake Berryessa is the largest geographical feature named for the family.
In the early 18th century, a married couple from the Berrelleza and Cayetano families left the Basque region of Spain to travel to New Spain, and in 1717 they bore a son in Sinaloa. This son, José de Jesús (Cayetano) Berrelleza, married 10-year-old María Nicolasa Micaela Leyba (or Leyva) in Sinaloa in 1735. In 1754, María and José Berrelleza welcomed a daughter, Ana Ysabel (also spelled Isabel), and in 1761 they produced a son, Nicolás Antonio. The children's mother died, and their father took a new wife that the children were very unhappy with.
In 1775, the Spanish government indicated its desire to settle Alta California against further encroachment by Russian fur trappers, so in October, the Lieutenant Colonel Juan Bautista de Anza formed a party of 200 colonists including soldiers for protection. Ana Ysabel, 21, and Nicolás Antonio Berrelleza, 14, joined the group, traveling with the Gabriel Peralta family. The party arrived at Mission San Gabriel Arcángel in January 1776, then continued on to land at Monterey, California in March.
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