Original grantee of the land that is now Santa Rosa, California (1793–1849)
Doña María Ygnacia López de Carrillo (January 31, 1793 – February 28, 1849) was a Californio ranchera. She was the founder of Santa Rosa. She married into the prominent Carrillo family of California and was the ancestor of numerous prominent Californians.
Biography.
Ygnacia was born to Juan Francisco Lopez and Maria Feliciana Arballo on January 31, 1793, and baptized Maria Ygnacia de la Candelaria 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 and member of the Carrillo family of San Diego. 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 to Sonoma, where they stayed with her son-in-law Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo.
In 1838, Ygnacia got Vallejo's permission to settle in an area north of Sonoma, along Santa Rosa Creek. Her sons, with help from native people and her son-in-law Salvador, built a large adobe, now known as "Carrillo Adobe", near the creek. In 1841, Governor "pro tem" Manuel Jimeno confirmed her possession by granting her of land, designated as the Rancho Cabeza de Santa Rosa. It was one of only a handful of California land grants made to a single woman. Ygnacia supervised the farming on her rancho, where wheat, barley, oats, corn, beans, peas, lentils, watermelons, and muskmelons were grown. Her son Ramon managed her livestock, which included 1,500 horses, 3,000 cattle, and sheep. She became fluent in the language of the native people.
During the Bear Flag Revolt of 1846, her son Julio and two of her sons-in-law were imprisoned at Sutter's Fort. The rancho's livestock, weapons, and provisions were confiscated.
In 1849, a year after Mexico ceded California to the United States, Ygnacia died. Her remains were interred in the chapel of the Mission San Francisco de Solano in Sonoma.
Carrillo Adobe.
The Carrillo Adobe is a historic building. A Franciscan outpost named Assistencia Santa Rosa de Lima was begun on the site in sometime around 1829, but the project was abandoned due to secularization.
After Ygnacia's death, her son-in-law David Mallagh established a trading post and tavern in the adobe. Santa Rosa's first post office was located in the adobe. The trading business continued under various owners into the 1860s. The land passed to Gustav Hahman, who turned it into an orchard. In 1950, Archbishop John Joseph Mitty purchased the land for building the Cathedral of Saint Eugene and its associated school. The Diocese of Santa Rosa erected a chain-link fence around the ruins and made plans to restore the adobe, but these plans never came to fruition.
When surveyed in 1962, all that remained of the adobe was a three-room structure, by with a veranda on all sides.
In 2005, the City of Santa Rosa gave tentative approval for a developer's plan to build up to 165 units on the parcel and spend more than $300,000 to prevent further deterioration of the adobe itself. Archeological investigations in 2006 revealed that the adobe was built on sturdy stone footings. In 2012, vandals broke through the fence and stole some posts and beams, which were later found in a nearby encampment.
Sheltered by a metal-roofed pole structure, the ruins of Carillo Adobe are still visible at behind the Cathedral of Saint Eugene, near the intersection of Montgomery Drive and Franquette Avenue in Santa Rosa.
References.
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