José Antonio Yorba (July 20, 1743 – January 16, 1825), also known as Don José Antonio Yorba I, was a Spanish

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 ...

soldier and an early settler of Spanish California.

Spanish soldier

Born in

Sant Sadurní d'Anoia Sant Sadurní d'Anoia () is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of the Alt Penedès in Catalonia; and the centre of production of a sparkling wine known as '' cava''. It is situated in the north-east of the Penedès Depression at the confluence ...

(San Saturnino) in

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, Spain, Yorba was one of Fages' original Catalan volunteers. In 1762, during the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

, Yorba took part in the

Spanish invasion of Portugal The Spanish invasion of Portugal (1762) between 5 May and 24 November, was a military episode in the wider Fantastic War in which Spain and France were defeated by the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance with broad popular resistance. It involved at f ...

. He became a corporal under

Gaspar de Portolà Gaspar is a given and/or surname of French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish origin, cognate to Casper (given name) or Casper (surname). It is a name of christian origin, per Saint Gaspar, one of the three wise men mentioned in the Armenian ...

during the Spanish expedition of 1769. He was in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

in 1777;

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 ...

in 1782; and in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

in 1789. In 1797 he was retired as inválido sergeant; and in 1810 was grantee of

Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana was a Spanish land concession in present-day Orange County, California, given by Spanish Alta California governor José Joaquín de Arrillaga in 1810 to Jose Antonio Yorba and his nephew Pablo Peralta. The grant ex ...

Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana

In 1810, José Antonio Yorba was awarded by the

Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy (political entity), Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered ...

the

land grant. Covering some 15 Spanish leagues, Yorba's land comprised a significant portion of today's Orange County including where the cities of

Olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'' ("European olive"), is a species of Subtropics, subtropical evergreen tree in the Family (biology), family Oleaceae. Originating in Anatolia, Asia Minor, it is abundant throughout the Mediterranean ...

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower ** Orange juice *Orange (colour), the color of an orange fruit, occurs between red and yellow in the vi ...

Villa Park Villa Park is a association football, football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, with a seating capacity of 42,918. It has been the home of Premier League club Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witt ...

, Santa Ana,

Tustin Tustin is a city located in Orange County, California, United States, within the Los Angeles metropolitan area. In 2020, Tustin had a population of 80,276. The city does not include the unincorporated community of North Tustin. History Pres ...

Costa Mesa Costa may refer to: Biology * Rib (Latin: ''costa''), in vertebrate anatomy * Costa (botany), the central strand of a plant leaf or thallus * Costa (coral), a stony rib, part of the skeleton of a coral * Costa (entomology), the leading edge o ...

and

Newport Beach Newport Beach is a coastal city of about 85,000 in southern Orange County, California, United States. Located about southeast of downtown Los Angeles, Newport Beach is known for its sandy beaches. The city's harbor once supported maritime indu ...

stand today. Upon his death in 1825 he was buried at his request in an unmarked grave in the cemetery at

Mission San Juan Capistrano Mission San Juan Capistrano () is a Spanish missions in California, Spanish mission in San Juan Capistrano, California, San Juan Capistrano, Orange County, California, Orange County, California. Founded November 1, 1776 in colonial ''The Califo ...

. A

cenotaph A cenotaph is an empty grave, tomb or a monument erected in honor of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere or have been lost. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although t ...

was later placed in Yorba's honor.

Descendants

He married his first wife, Maria Garcia Feliz, in 1773. After her death, he married Maria Josefa Grijalva, daughter of Juan Pablo Grijalva, in 1782. Throughout the American and Mormon migration period, descendants of the Yorbas continued to marry into other prominent Spanish families, including the Cota, Grijalvas, Perralta, and Dominguez families. Many of today's recognizable American names in the Southern California area, including the Kraemers and Irvines, also married into these Spanish families. In the early twentieth century,

Samuel Kraemer Samuel Kraemer (1857–1937) was a rancher, farmer, and businessman who is credited with much of the development of Anaheim, California during the 1920s. Kraemer was born July 9, 1857, in Illinois, the son of Elenora Schrag and Daniel Kraemer. His ...

, who had married the last of the "grand" Yorbas, Angelina Yorba, tore down the historic

Yorba Hacienda The Yorba Hacienda was a domestic dwelling constructed by Bernardo Yorba on the Rancho Cañón de Santa Ana Mexican land grant, and located in the present city of Yorba Linda, California. It was notable as the seat of the wealthiest member of the ...

after the city of

Yorba Linda Yorba Linda is a suburban city in northeastern Orange County, California, United States, approximately southeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, and had a population of 68,336 at the 2020 census. Yorb ...

refused to accept it as a donation.

George S. Patton George Smith Patton Jr. (11 November 1885 – 21 December 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, then the Third Army in France and Germany after the Alli ...

, World War II United States General was his great-great-great-grandson. His granddaughter Ramona Yorba was Patton's maternal grandmother. The legacy of the Yorba family can be appreciated at the historic Yorba Cemetery, established in 1858, and currently surrounded by Woodgate Park.Northrop, Marie E. ''The Yorba Family Cemetery: California's Oldest'', National Genealogical Society Quarterly, June 1969, pp. 96-103

Notes

References

* * * *Bancroft, Hubert Howe (1882). The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft. San Francisco: A.L. Bancroft & Co. *Beers, Henry Putney, (1979). "Spanish & Mexican Records of the American Southwest : A Bibliographical Guide to Archive and Manuscript Sources", Tucson : University of Arizona Press *Dominguez, Arnold O., (1985). "José Antonio Yorba I", 2nd Ed., Orange County Historical Society *Pleasants, Adelene (1931). "History of Orange County, California. Vol. 1", Los Angeles, CA : J. R. Finnell & Sons Publishing Company *Mildred Yorba MacArthur, ''A brief history of the Yorba family'', Yorba Linda Public Library, May 1960. *Newmark, Haris (1916) ''Sixty Years in Southern California: 1853-1913'', Knickerbocker Press, New York. * *

Spanish soldier

Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana

Descendants

Notes

References

See also