Ygnacio del Valle
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Ygnacio Ramón de Jesus del Valle (July 1, 1808 – 1880) was a Californio ranchero and politician. He owned much of the
Santa Clarita Valley The Santa Clarita Valley (SCV) is part of the upper watershed of the Santa Clara River in Southern California. The valley was part of the Rancho San Francisco Mexican land grant. Located in Los Angeles County, its main population center is th ...
and served briefly as Mayor of Los Angeles and as a California State Assemblyman.


Early life

Del Valle was born in Jalisco, Mexico. His father, Antonio del Valle, was a soldier in the Spanish army who came to California in 1819 and was
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 ...
(administrator and/or foreman) of
Mission San Fernando Rey de España Mission San Fernando Rey de España is a Spanish mission in the Mission Hills community of Los Angeles, California. The mission was founded on 8 September 1797 at the site of Achooykomenga, and was the seventeenth of the twenty-one Spanish mis ...
. Ygnacio joined the army as a cadet in 1825 at the
Presidio of Santa Barbara A presidio ( en, jail, fortification) was a fortified base established by the Spanish Empire around between 16th and 18th centuries in areas in condition of their control or influence. The presidios of Spanish Philippines in particular, were cen ...
. In 1828 he was promoted to second lieutenant and transferred to the Presidio of San Diego. In 1832, his commander became involved in a power struggle with the commandant of the
Presidio of Monterey The Presidio of Monterey (POM), located in Monterey, California, is an active US Army installation with historic ties to the Spanish colonial era. Currently, it is the home of the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLI-FLC). ...
, where Antonio served. Ygnacio's side won the conflict on the battlefield, causing a rift between father and son, and they never spoke again. Ygnacio then moved to the Monterey Presidio and was in charge of the secularization of
Mission Santa Cruz Mission Santa Cruz (''La Misión de la Exaltación de la Santa Cruz'', which translates as the Mission of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross), was the twelfth of twenty-one Spanish missions in California (today's U.S. state), established by the Fr ...
and
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 ...
. He became a trusted officer, enough to be left in charge of the Presidio in
José Figueroa José Figueroa (1792 – 29 September 1835), was a General and the Mexican Governor of Alta California from 1833 to 1835. He wrote the first book to be published in California. Background and governorship Figueroa was a Mestizo of Spanish ...
's absence. For his service to the Mexican Army, del Valle received the
Rancho El Tejon Rancho or Ranchos may refer to: Settlements and communities * Rancho, Aruba, former fishing village and neighbourhood of Oranjestad *Ranchos of California, 19th century land grants in Alta California **List of California Ranchos *Ranchos, Buenos A ...
land grant in 1843. During this time, he married Maria de Los Angeles Carrillo in 1842.


Ranchos

Antonio died in 1841 without leaving a will. On his deathbed, he decided he wanted to reconcile with his son and, in a letter, offered Ygnacio several properties, including the
Rancho San Francisco Rancho San Francisco was a land grant in present-day northwestern Los Angeles County and eastern Ventura County, California. It was a grant of by Governor Juan B. Alvarado to Antonio del Valle, a Mexican army officer, in recognition for his ser ...
land grant A land grant is a gift of real estate—land or its use privileges—made by a government or other authority as an incentive, means of enabling works, or as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service. Grants ...
he had received. Unfortunately, he died before the letter was delivered to Ygnacio, but the son returned to the family homestead to administer the ranch anyway. Without a will specifying how the estate was to be divided, Jacoba Feliz, Antonio's second wife who remarried after his death, filed a lawsuit to claim part of the land, which was the site the first recorded discovery of gold in California, sparking a minor
gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New ...
in 1842, six years before the more famous California Gold Rush. Eventually, the lawsuit was decided and the land was split, with Ygnacio receiving the Rancho Camulos. However, del Valle did not live on this land initially, instead residing in the
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area of Los Angeles, where he was active in local politics. In the 1840s, he served on the ''junta'' (the equivalent of a city council) as a member and its secretary, as well as treasurer of civil government under Governor Pío Pico. In 1850, he was elected ''alcalde'' of Los Angeles and served only a short time before the city was incorporated as an American city, but during his tenure he established the
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, an early law enforcement group. After California achieved statehood later that year, del Valle served in the California State Assembly for a short period. He was elected to a one-year term in the
Los Angeles Common Council The Los Angeles Common Council was the predecessor of the Los Angeles, California, City Council. It was formed in 1850 under state law, when the city had only 1,610 residents, and it existed until 1889, when the city had about 50,400 residents and ...
in 1852. and was elected again in May 1856 but resigned in December of that year.


Marriage

In 1852, at the age of 44, he married 15-year-old Ysabel Varela. Del Valle remained on the City Council for five years, after which he devoted his time to improving Rancho Camulos. The del Valle family, including five children, finally moved to the rancho in 1861. Ysabel del Valle was known to help poor and orphaned children and when then moved (to Rancho Camulos) she brought eight orphans to live with her family.


Later life

However, the late 1850s and early 1860s were difficult for ranchers in Southern California. Severe flooding had caused great damage to many ranchos. Despite this, the Del Valle family, like many Californios, continued to live beyond its means. Del Valle had to pay off the debts of his stepmother, Jacoba Feliz, in return for which received part of her land inheritance. He had already sold off his Rancho Tejon to pay his own debts as well. The winter floods of 1861-62 were followed by droughts which lasted for three years, which forced del Valle to sell off his remaining land. He was left with just 1,500 acres (6 km²) of his Rancho Camulos, but the ranch survived these hard times and became a thriving operation, the source of the first commercially grown oranges in
Ventura County Ventura County () is a County (United States), county in Southern California, the southern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 843,843. The largest city is Oxnard, California ...
. Through 1870, the del Valles had seven more children, although only five of the twelve would live to adulthood. One,
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, became the youngest-ever president of the California State Senate at age 28 and was instrumental in the preservation of Mission San Fernando, as well as the movement to have the El Camino Real marked with bells. Ygnacio del Valle died in 1880 and was buried on his rancho. Ysabel took over the running of rancho until 1900, then moved back to Los Angeles. In 1905, the ailing woman "refused to die" until she could be reunited with her long-dead husband. His remains were exhumed and moved to Los Angeles. Soon after their arrival, Ysabel died, and she was buried in the same coffin as Ygnacio. Their remains lie at Calvary Cemetery.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valle, Ygnacio del Californios Mexican soldiers People of Alta California Land owners from California Los Angeles Common Council (1850–1889) members 19th-century American politicians 1808 births 1880 deaths Mexican emigrants to the United States Del Valle, Ygnacio Del Valle, Ygnacio People from Jalisco 19th-century American businesspeople