Ygnacio Martínez

Ygnacio Martínez was born in Mexico City, New Spain (now Mexico), and was a soldier in Alta California by 1822. In 1827, as a lieutenant stationed at the Presidio of San Francisco, Martínez met with the American explorer Jedediah Smith and helped to facilitate the continuation of Smith's northward travels toward the Columbia River.

Martínez was the fourth Alcalde of Yerba Buena (now San Francisco) in 1837. In 1842, he was granted the Rancho El Pinole, which included the Alhambra Valley.[1] A part of the rancho later became the city of Martinez.

Martínez married Martina Arellanes in 1807, and the couple had eleven children: nine daughters and two sons. One of the daughters, Maria Antonia Martinez (1803-1887), married William A. Richardson in 1825.

Ygnacio Martínez died in June, 1848, in the area that would become Contra Costa County, and is buried at Mission San Jose Cemetery in Fremont, California.[2] The actor Will Kuluva played Martinez in the 1966 episode "Water Bringer" of the syndicated western television series, Death Valley Days, hosted by Ronald W. Reagan, Rory Calhoun played William Richardson in his first experience of California, when the British whaling ship Orion docked near the San Francisco Presidio. Calhoun's real-life wife of almost 20 years at the time, Lita Baron, was cast as Martinez's daughter, Maria, who would become the future Mrs. Richardson.[3]