José María Estudillo

José María Estudillo (died April 8, 1830), was an early settler of San Diego, California and was a governing official during San Diego's Mexican period.

Portrait of José María Estudillo located at Casa de Estudillo, Old Town San Diego.

Life

Born in Andalusia, Spain, Captain Estudillo was Commandant of the Presidio of San Diego from October 23, 1820 to September 1821 and again from 1827 to his death in 1830.

Estudillo married Gertrudis Horcasitas. In 1827 Estudillo's son, José Antonio Estudillo, built a large L-shaped adobe house for his father on land granted by Governor José María de Echeandía . The adobe was later enlarged and became U-shaped. The house is still standing, known as Casa de Estudillo, and is one of the oldest surviving buildings in California. It is located in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park, on the southeast side of the Old Town San Diego plaza, and is designated a National Historic Landmark in its own right.

José Antonio Estudillo was the grantee of Rancho Janal. Estudillo's other children were José Joaquin Estudillo, grantee of Rancho San Leandro, on the eastern shore of the San Francisco Bay; María Dolores Estudillo, who married Juan Bandini; and Magdalena Estudillo, the grantee who received Rancho Otay.

In December 1823 he was diarist with Brevet Captain José Romero when they were sent to find a route from Sonora (Mexico) to Alta California; on their expedition they first recorded the existence of "Agua Caliente" at Palm Springs, California.[1][2]

Sources
  1. Niemann, Greg (2006). Palm Springs Legends: creation of a desert oasis. San Diego, CA: Sunbelt Publications. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-932653-74-1. OCLC 61211290. (here for Table of Contents)
  2. Lech, Steve (2004). Along the Old Roads: A History of the Portion of Southern California that became Riverside County: 1772–1893. Riverside, CA: Steve Lech. p. 30. OCLC 56035822.
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