José Joaquín de la Santísima Trinidad Moraga (22 August 1745 – 13 July 1785), usually simply known as José Joaquín Moraga, was a Spanish colonial expeditionary and soldier who founded

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...

, in 1777.

Life

José Joaquín Moraga was born on August 22, 1745 at

Mission Los Santos Ángeles de Guevavi Mission Los Santos Ángeles de Guevavi ( ood, Geʼe Wawhia) was founded by Jesuit missionary Fathers Kino and Salvatierra in 1691 as La Misión de San Gabriel de Guevavi, a district headquarters in what is now Arizona, near Tumacácori. Subsequ ...

New Navarre New Navarre ( es, Nueva Navarra, eu, Nafarroa Berria) was at first an informal name given to the silver-mining region north of Sinaloa. Just before his death in 1711, the Jesuit Eusebio Kino drew a map of the area with that name. Nuevo Navar ...

Viceroyalty of New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Amer ...

(in present-day Santa Cruz County,

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

). Moraga was second in command to

Juan Bautista de Anza Juan Bautista de Anza Bezerra Nieto (July 6 or 7, 1736 – December 19, 1788) was an expeditionary leader, military officer, and politician primarily in California and New Mexico under the Spanish Empire. He is credited as one of the founding fa ...

in the 1776 overland colonizing expedition from the region of Alta California which would become part of southern Arizona and northern Mexico, to what is now

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. When de Anza returned south to the established base in 1777, Moraga was left in charge of efforts to build housing for the colonists and a military headquarters, the Presidio of San Francisco. Moraga founded the Pueblo of San José on orders from

Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular mal ...

, Spanish

Viceroy of New Spain The following is a list of Viceroys of New Spain. In addition to viceroys, the following lists the highest Spanish governors of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, before the appointment of the first viceroy or when the office of viceroy was vacant. ...

. The pueblo was founded in honor of Saint Joseph on November 29, 1777 as the first official civilian settlement in Alta California. Moraga died in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

in 1785 and was buried in the floor in front of the altar in

Mission San Francisco de Asís Mission San Francisco de Asís ( es, Misión San Francisco de Asís), commonly known as Mission Dolores (as it was founded near the Dolores creek), is a Spanish Californian mission and the oldest surviving structure in San Francisco. Located i ...

(Mission Dolores) in 1791.

Legacy

Streets in San Francisco, California are named after José Joaquín Moraga and fellow Spanish explorers (de) Anza, (de) Argüello, Balboa and Cabrillo. Valencia Street is named after Jose Manuel Valencia, who was a member of both De Anza and Moraga's parties.''The Chronicle'' 12 April 1987 p.6 Moraga's son

Gabriel Moraga Gabriel Moraga (1765 – June 14, 1823) was a Sonoran-born Californio explorer and army officer. He was the son of the expeditionary José Joaquín Moraga who helped lead the de Anza Expedition to California in 1774, Like his father, Moraga is on ...

, born in the northern frontier region of the Viceroyalty of New Spain (in present-day southern Arizona), also became a Spanish soldier in Alta California. With the rank of corporal, he became ''comisionado'' (governor's representative) at the San Jose pueblo, then was assigned to the same job at the 1797 founding of the last of the three Spanish California pueblos, the

Villa de Branciforte Branciforte, originally named Villa de Branciforte, was the last of only three secular ''pueblos'' founded by the Spanish colonial government of Alta California. The pueblo was established in 1797 on the eastern bluff of the San Lorenzo River, fac ...

. He led expeditions exploring the

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; es, Valle de San Joaquín) is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies south of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the San Joaquin River. It comprises seven ...

in the early years of the 1800s. The town of

Moraga, California Moraga is a town in Contra Costa County, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The town is named in honor of Joaquín Moraga, member of the famed Californio family. As of 2020, Moraga had a total population of 16,870 people. Moraga is ...

is named after Joaquín Moraga, grandson of José Joaquín Moraga and the grantee of Rancho Laguna de los Palos Colorados. His home, the Moraga Adobe, is located there.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moraga, Jose Joaquin Californios Explorers of California People in colonial Arizona 18th century in San Jose, California 1745 births 1785 deaths 18th-century Spanish people 18th-century explorers American city founders Spanish explorers of North America Spanish city founders