Doña The terms Don (in Spanish and Italian), Dom (in Portuguese), and Domn (in Romanian), are honorific prefixes derived from the Latin ''Dominus'', meaning "lord" or "owner". The honorific is commonly used in Spain, Portugal, and Italy, as well ...

María Soledad Ortega de Argüello (1797–1874) was a

Californio Californios (singular Californio) are Californians of Spaniards, Spanish descent, especially those descended from settlers of the 17th through 19th centuries before California was annexed by the United States. California's Spanish language in C ...

ranchera and socialite. She inherited the vast

Rancho de las Pulgas Rancho de las Pulgas was a 1795 Spanish land grant in present-day San Mateo County, California, to José Darío Argüello. The literal translation is "Ranch of the Fleas," named after the exceptional abundance of fleas in the area. The grant ex ...

, which encompassed most of the southern half of the

San Francisco Peninsula The San Francisco Peninsula is a peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area that separates San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. On its northern tip is the City and County of San Francisco. Its southern base is Los Altos and Mountain View, ...

, stretching from San Mateo to Menlo Park.

Life

Granddaughter of Sergeant

José Francisco Ortega José Francisco Ortega (1734 – February 1798) was a New Spanish soldier and early settler of Alta California. He joined the military at the age of twenty-one and rose to the rank of sergeant by the time he joined the Portola expedition in 1769. ...

of the

Portolá expedition thumbnail, 250px, Point of San Francisco Bay Discovery The Portolá expedition was a Spanish voyage of exploration in 1769–1770 that was the first recorded European exploration of the interior of the present-day California. It was led by Gas ...

- reportedly the first European to see the San Francisco Bay, she was one of 13 children. At the age of 25, she married

Luis Antonio Argüello Luis Antonio Argüello (; June 21, 1784 – March 27, 1830) was the first Californio (native-born) List of pre-statehood governors of California, governor of Alta California, and the first to take office under Mexico, Mexican rule. He was the only ...

, son of

José Darío Argüello José Darío Argüello (1753–1828) was a Querétaro-born Californio politician, soldier, and ranchero. He served as interim Governor of Alta California and then a term as Governor of Baja California. Biography José Darío Argüello was born ...

, in 1822 and moved to the

San Francisco Presidio The Presidio of San Francisco (originally, El Presidio Real de San Francisco or The Royal Fortress of Saint Francis) is a park and former U.S. Army post on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula in San Francisco, California, and is part ...

soon thereafter. In November of the same year they move to

Monterey Monterey ( ; ) is a city situated on the southern edge of Monterey Bay, on the Central Coast of California. Located in Monterey County, the city occupies a land area of and recorded a population of 30,218 in the 2020 census. The city was fou ...

, while he was governor, then back to the Presidio until Luis' death in 1830. From then on she ran and took charge of Rancho de las Pulgas. In 1852, she filed a claim for the land following the rules as set by the United States administration to meet the

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo officially ended the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). It was signed on 2 February 1848 in the town of Villa de Guadalupe, Mexico City, Guadalupe Hidalgo. After the defeat of its army and the fall of the cap ...

. Her claim prevailed and was patented by the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

. Instead of the 4 square leagues, as originally granted and court decision, she received 8 (eight) square leagues() by the official survey. She eventually sold any remaining unsold land to the County of San Mateo. In 1859, she moved to

Santa Clara County Santa Clara County, officially the County of Santa Clara, is the sixth-most populous county in the U.S. state of California, with a population of 1,936,259 as of the 2020 census. Santa Clara County and neighboring San Benito County form the ...

to live with her son where he had purchased a part of

Rancho Quito Rancho Quito was a Mexican land grant in present-day Santa Clara County, California given in 1841 by Governor Juan Alvarado to José Zenon Fernandez and José Noriega. The grant included present-day Saratoga, Campbell, and Cupertino. The east ...

. She remained there until her death. In 1976, the City of

Redwood City Redwood City is a city on the San Francisco Peninsula in the Bay Area of Northern California, approximately south of San Francisco and northwest of San Jose. The city's population was 84,292 according to the 2020 census. The Port of Redwo ...

renamed a downtown plaza at the intersection of Broadway and Arguello Street as ''Argüello Plaza''. The Bust of Soledad Ortega de Argüello was erected in September of the same year in that plaza. The bust is on the edge of the train and bus depot, next to the Broadway train crossing.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arguello, Maria Soledad Ortega De 1797 births 1874 deaths Socialites People of Alta California