María López de Carrillo
| Maria Ygnacia Lopez de Carrillo | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Maria Ygnacia de la Candalaria Lopez January 31, 1793 San Diego, New Spain |
| Died | February 28, 1849 (aged 56) Sonoma, California |
Maria Ygnacia Lopez de Carrillo (January 31, 1793 in San Diego, New Spain – February 28, 1849 in Sonoma, California) was the original grantee of Rancho Cabeza de Santa Rosa, the land on which Santa Rosa, California would later be founded. She was also the mother of the woman after whom Benicia, California was named and the grandmother of Romualdo Pacheco, the 12th governor of California.
Ygnacia was born to Juan Francisco Lopez and Maria Feliciana Arballo on January 31, 1793 and baptized Maria Ygnacia de la Candalaria Lopez. She was baptized in the chapel of the Presidio of San Diego. Her father was a soldier of the guard in San Gabriel. Her mother was a mulatta who had accompanied the Anza Expedition as far as San Gabriel. Her father died when she was 7.
On September 3, 1809, Ygnacia married Joaquin Victor Carrillo, a soldier from Baja California. With Joaquin, she had thirteen children, twelve of whom survived to adulthood. Several went on to play notable roles in the early history of California. In 1821, Francisco María Ruiz, comandante of the Presidio of San Diego, built the family an adobe residence on the flats below the Presidio, where they lived for more than a decade. A portion of the Ruiz adobe, designated "Casa de Carrillo", still stands. After Joaquin's death circa 1836, Ygnacia and her nine unmarried children traveled north by ox-cart over 500 miles (800 km) to Sonoma, where they stayed with her son-in-law Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo.
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