Claudio López (1767 – 1 Jan 1833) was a

Californio Californio (plural Californios) is a term used to designate a Hispanic Californian, especially those descended from Spanish and Mexican settlers of the 17th through 19th centuries. California's Spanish-speaking community has resided there sinc ...

politician who served as

mayordomo Mayordomo or Chocolate Mayordomo is a brand of Mexican (English: "table chocolate") produced by the company Chocolate Mayordomo De Oaxaca, S. De R.L. De C.V., and based in Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico. The company manufactures Mole (s ...

Mission San Gabriel Arcángel Mission San Gabriel Arcángel ( es, Misión de San Gabriel Arcángel) is a Californian mission and historic landmark in San Gabriel, California. It was founded by Spaniards of the Franciscan order on "The Feast of the Birth of Mary," September ...

and

Alcalde of Los Angeles The mayor of Los Angeles is the chief executive of the Government of Los Angeles as set in the city charter. The current officeholder, the 43rd in the sequence of regular mayors, is Karen Bass, a member of the Democratic Party, though the office ...

Biography

Claudio López was born in 1767 in

San José del Cabo San José del Cabo (, ''Saint Joseph of the Cape'') is a city located in southern Baja California Sur state, Mexico. It is the seat of Los Cabos Municipality lying at a shallow bay northeast of Cabo San Lucas on the Gulf of California. The city h ...

. His parents, Ignacio López and María Facunda López, were members of the prominent and wealthy López family, descended from Castilian aristocracy. He had four siblings: Juan, Juan Francisco, María Francisca, and María de la Encarnación. López was the Mayordomo of San Gabriel for more than thirty years, serving under Frs.

José María de Zalvidea José María de Zalvidea (2 March 1780 – 1846) was a Spanish Franciscan missionary.Historic Kern County: An Illustrated History of Bakersfield p. 8 Chris Brewer, Kern County Museum Foundation, Kern County Museum – 2001 "The work of his diaris ...

and

José Bernardo Sánchez Father José Bernardo Sánchez (September 7, 1778 – January 15, 1833) was a Spanish missionary in colonial Mexico and Alta California. Early life Born in Robledillo de Mohernando, Old Castile, Spain, Sánchez became a Franciscan on October ...

. As Mayordomo, he was responsible for managing the affairs of the mission, including its orchards, vineyards, and warehouses, and overseeing the native laborers. He also supervised the various ranchos subordinate to the mission, such as

San Bernardino San Bernardino (; Spanish language, Spanish for Bernardino of Siena, "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a ...

, Ucaipe, El Chino, San Jose,

Cucamonga Rancho Cucamonga ( ) is a city located just south of the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and Angeles National Forest in San Bernardino County, California, United States. About east of Downtown Los Angeles, Rancho Cucamonga is the 28th ...

, Santa Anita,

Rosa de Castilla María Victoria Ledesma Cuevas (30 May 1932 – 1 August 2022), known by her stage name Rosa de Castilla (), was a Mexican singer and actress. ...

, and San Pasqual. His success at this made him a locally popular figure, with contemporary writer

Hugo Reid Hugo Reid (April 18, 1811 – December 12, 1852), a Scottish immigrant, was an early resident of Los Angeles County who became known for writing a series of newspaper articles, or "letters," that described the culture, language, and contemporary c ...

remarking that, unlike most mission officials, López achieved his successes "without flogging". For his work as Mayordomo, López was granted the use of a rancho, which he named Santa Anita in honor of Anita Cota, whom he hoped to marry. After Anita's death, López instead married her cousin María Luisa Cota on 20 April 1789. The couple had two children: Estevan López and Maria Ygnecia Valenzuela. In 1826, López became

Alcalde Alcalde (; ) is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and administrative functions. An ''alcalde'' was, in the absence of a corregidor, the presiding officer of the Castilian '' cabildo'' (the municipal council) a ...

-Mayor of the

Pueblo de Los Angeles In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...

. He served a single term, and afterwards continued as Mayordomo of San Gabriel until his death in 1833.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez, Claudio 1767 births 1833 deaths Californios Mayors of Los Angeles