Original Settlers (Pobladores) of
El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Angeles, 1781

Photo of Mural by Millard Sheets. Photo by Charles C. Pierce. Courtesy of the California Historical Society & USC Library.

Find Below:

• Putting a Face on the Founders of Los Angeles
• List of the the Founders of Los Angeles
• A Filipino Among the Settlers and Soldiers Who Escorted Them
• Earliest Map of Los Angeles
• Whatever Happened to the Original Settlers?
• Last Surviving Settler

PUTTING A FACE ON THE FOUNDERS OF LOS ANGELES


To honor the founding of Los Angeles (September 4, 1781), we “put a face” on the 44 people who founded what was originally a tiny farming village. Although we cannot know specifically what they looked like, we do have a record of their names, origin, age, sex, and racial make-up (see table below). We matched their demographics with images of similar contemporary Mexicans. The result is this collage of 44 faces offering a conceptive portrayal of what the city’s founders may have looked like. Here, there are 22 adults and 22 children. Two are white and two are black. Eleven are indigenous to Mexico. The rest are multiracial combinations of white, black and indigenous. Half are of African descent. L.A.’s founders were perhaps the most ethnically diverse group of founders for any major city in America. We cannot help but point out that many, living in Los Angeles today, look much like the founders of the city. The faces pictured above represent L.A.'s founders (ages in parentheses) as follows: 1st Row, L-R: Maria Garcia (24), Manuel Camero (30), Maria Campos (23), Maria Juana (6), Jose Julian (4), Maria Faustina (2), Jose Fernando de Velasco y Lara (50), Maria Lopez (27), Maria Paula (10), Antonio Maria (8), Antonio Mesa (38). 2nd Row, L-R: Maria Perez (19), Jose Moreno (22), Maria Soto y Rodriguez (47), Jose Maria (10), Jose Clemente (9), Mariana Jose (4), Jose Navarro (42), Maria Rubio (40), Maria Getrudis (16), Maria Concepcion (9), Maria Tomasa (7). 3rd Row, L-R: Maria Rafael (6), Jose Clemente (3), Luis Quintero (55), Maria Noriega (26), Maria Antonia (1), Pablo Rodriguez (25), Maria Hernandez (43), Jose Maximo (15), Jose Carlos (12), Maria Jose (8), Antonio Rosalino (7). 4th Row, L-R: Jose Marcelino (4), Juan Esteban (2), Jose Rosas (67), Juana Rodriguez (20), Alejandro Rosas (19), Maria Aguilar (20), Cosme Damien (1), Jose Vanegas (28), Maria Seferina (26), Maria Antonia (8), Antonio Villvicencio (30).

1) Married just prior to leaving for the new pueblo because new settlers were required to be heads of families.
2) Mulatto - person born of mixed white and black parentage.
3) Children at the time of the settlement of the Pueblo. Some of the settlers later added more children.
4) Velasco Y Lara was Peninsular - Spaniard born in Spain. Villavicencio was Criollo - Spaniard born in Americas.
5) Mestizo - person born of mixed white and Indian parentage.
6) Sister of fellow settler Pablo Rodriguez.
7) Eldest son of fellow settler José Antonio Basilio Rosas.
8) Vanegas was appointed to be the first alcalde (mayor).

A 12th settler, a Filipino, was meant to help found Los Angeles in 1781.

Four colonial soldiers (escoltas) escorted the original settlers for the final nine-mile leg of their journey, from the Mission San Gabriel to the new pueblo site.

Corporal José Vicente Feliz, age about 40, born in Sonora.
Private Roque Jacinto de Cota, age about 57, born in Sinaloa.
Private Antonio de Cota, Roque Cota's younger brother, age 49, born in Sinaloa.
Private Francisco Salvador de Lugo, age about 41, born in Sinaloa.

Also see: How Los Angeles Came to be Settled.

Diorama of settlers enroute to settle Los Angeles by Joseph Leeland Roop. Diorama at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History - Becoming L.A. exhibit. Image from UCLA Library
Click on image for larger image.

Earliest Map of Los Angeles

The map below was drawn by José Arguello in 1786, just five years after the new pueblo was established. It is the earliest known map of Los Angeles. The map shows relative locations of homes (upper map) and farm plots (lower right) for each of the families settling the new pueblo.

Earliest map of Los Angeles drawn by José Arguello, 1786. Courtesy Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley.
Click on map for larger image.

Whatever Happened to the Original Settlers?

Antonio Clemente Felix Villavicencio - Moved to Santa Barbara in 1797. Died there in 1802.
José Fernando de Velasco y Lara - Among three families reportedly expelled from the pueblo in 1782. He then joined the expedition to establish the Presidio in Santa Barbara. Died in Nayarit shortly after being forced to return to Nayarit in 1783.*
Luis Quintero - Among three families expelled from the pueblo in 1782 and, along with José de Velasco y Lara, joined the expedition to establish the Presidio in Santa Barbara. He may have wished to be near his three daughters who had married soldiers stationed in Santa Barbara. Died in Santa Barbara in 1810.
Antonio Mesa - Apparently became disillusioned with the hardships in Alta California and fell among the families expelled from the pueblo in 1782. He received permission to return to Sonora.
José Antonio Navarro - Sent to San José in 1790 and later to the Presidio in San Francisco. Buried at the Mission Dolores in San Francisco in 1793.
Pablo Rodriguez - Moved to San Diego in 1796 to be mayordomo of Mission San Diego. Later moved to San Juan Capistrano. Buried at the Mission San Juan Capistrano in 1816. His wife was buried at Mission San Gabriel in 1824.
José Vanegas - Remained in Los Angeles for 20 years during which he served as its first alcalde (mayor). Upon the death of his wife in 1801 (she is buried at San Gabriel Mission), he moved to San Diego and the Mission San Luis Rey.
Manuel Camero - Remained in Los Angeles. Served as a Los Angeles regidor (councilman). Buried at Mission San Gabriel in 1819.
José Moreno - Remained in Los Angeles. Served as a Los Angeles regidor. Buried at Mission San Gabriel in 1806.
Alejandro Rosas - Remained in Los Angeles. He died here only a month after his wife in January 1789.
José Antonio Rosas - Remained in Los Angeles. Buried at the Mission San Gabriel in 1809. His wife died in 1823.

* José Fernando de Velasco y Lara was ordered back to Nayarit by California authorities when he confessed to Father Junipero Serra that his first wife, whom he had maintained was dead, might actually still be alive. He had already remarried and had children with his second wife. He unfortunately never returned to his second wife and their children in Santa Barbara, having died not long after returning to Nayarit.

Maria Guadalupe Gertrudis Perez, wife of José Moreno, was the last surviving original settler. She died in 1860, having lived almost 100 years. Her granddaughter, Catalina Carmen Moreno (later Catalina Moreno de Lopez), lived as the wife of Don Andres Pico, brother of Pio Pico and Mexican military commander at the Battle of San Pasqual, but they apparently never formally married. This prevented Catalina from acting as heir to Pico's estate. She was, however, later buried with him.