The land of Hollywood stars and the second-largest city in the United States, Los Angeles, is an economic powerhouse on the West Coast.
It was originally settled by indigenous tribes, including the Chumash and Tongva hunter-gatherers, in 8000 B.C.
Portuguese sailor Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo was the first European to explore the region in 1542. Still, it wasn’t until 1769 that Gaspar de Portolá established a Spanish outpost in the Los Angeles area.
Pueblo de Los Angeles
After having established California's first settlement in San Jose in 1777, Felipe de Neve, Spanish Governor of the Californias, saw the need to establish a second pueblo (village) in Alta California (Upper California), near the Río de Porciúncula (Los Angeles River), west of the Mission San Gabriel Arcangel.
The primary purpose of these settlements was to reaffirm Spanish claims over the territory of upper California in the face of encroachments by Russia from the north and Britain from the sea.
The pueblos also served to help keep Spain’s military garrisons (presidios) in the territory supplied and fed rather than depend on being supplied irregularly by ship. The site of the future Los Angeles that Neve had in mind was earlier commended as a promising location for a settlement by Father Juan Crespi, a Franciscan priest who, more than a decade earlier, accompanied and chronicled the Gaspar de Portolá expedition, the first European land expedition through California.
With the authority of King Carlos III of Spain and the approval of Viceroy Antonio María de Bucareli and Commandant General Carlos Francisco de Croix - Neve's proposed settlement including funding was issued for the new pueblo to be established. Don Fernando Rivera y Moncada, Lieutenant Governor of the Californias, was assigned to oversee the recruitment of settlers and a contingent of soldiers to escort them.
Recruitment for Los Angeles' settlers
Before the recruitment of settlers began, Neve busily went to work creating detailed plans for the new pueblo.
The recruitment of settlers, however, was challenging. Despite the incentives of money, land, and livestock, Rivera y Moncada found it difficult to find promising and willing candidates. At the time, what we know today as Southern California was considered remote and desolate – a prospect most people considered unattractive.
Furthermore, the journey to Alta California promised to be arduous and dangerous. Nevertheless, months of intense searching that extended into Sonora, Sinaloa, and Culiacan eventually led to 12 acceptable families willing to relocate.
From 11 down to 12 families
The first party of settlers set out from Sinaloa on February 2, 1781. By the following August, all settler parties had rendezvoused at the Mission San Gabriel Arcangel.
A few weeks later, Neve, and the rest of the settlers (12 families - one family made it late to Los Angeles), four soldiers and their families, mission priests and a few Indians, set out for the final eight miles of the journey to arrive at the site of the new pueblo.
Neve recorded September 4, 1781, as the official date of establishing El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Angeles, The Town of the Queen of the Angels.
The eleven settlers came from diverse backgrounds. Some of them were Europeans, Africans, and Native Americans (Indians). And here are their names and ethnicity:
- Manuel Camero, Mulatto
- José Fernando de Velasco y Lara, Spaniard
- Antonio Mesa, Black
- José Cesario Moreno, Mulatto
- José Antonio Navarro, Mestizo
- Luis Manuel Quintero, Black
- Pablo Rodriguez, Indian
- José Antonio Basilio Rosas, Indian
- Alejandro Rosas, Indian
- José Maria Vanega, Indian
- Antonio Clemente Felix Villavicencio, Spaniard
The 12th Family Arrived Late to Los Angeles
The original settlers were composed of 12 families. However, one of them came to Los Angeles a little bit later. They were Antonio Miranda Rodriguez, a 50-year-old Filipino widower, and his 11-year-old daughter, Juana Maria.
Before the group made it to the north, they stopped in Loreto in Baja California. There, Juana suffered from smallpox. Therefore, the Rodriguezes remain behind in Loreto while the others continued their journey to Alta California.
When Juana already recovered, the father and daughter managed to arrive in Los Angeles.
Why Antonio Rodriguez's name was not on the Los Angeles founders' list?
According to Los Angeles Almanac, Rodriguez helped the 11 families in their settlement in Los Angeles. However, he didn't settle long in the area.
When he and his daughter finally arrived in Alta California, it was discovered that Rodriguez was a skilled gunsmith. Because of his skill, he was reassigned to the military fort in Sta. Barbara, California in 1782. He worked in the armory, which was a crucial part of the Spaniards' defense installation.
El Presidio Real de Santa Bárbara was a military installation built by Spain in 1782. Its purpose was to defend the Second Military District in California.
In Sta. Barbara, Rodriguez officially settled and later passed on. He was supposed to be one of the founding fathers of Los Angeles, but his destiny led him to be in Sta. Barbara, California.
William Mason, curator of the History Division, Los Angeles County Museum, did research about Antonio Miranda Rodriguez, where he mentioned a Filipino (Manila men) was part of the expedition:
"1781- Antonio Miranda Rodriguez, 50-year old, born in Sonora, Mexico, a descendant of a “Manila Man,” and his daughter, Juana Maria, age 11, was among the founding settlers of the city of Los Angeles, California. He later became the ironsmith of the Santa Barbara Mission in California where he lived until his death. He is buried in the Santa Barbara Mission church."
The would-be poblador (settler), however, was from Manila, and was quite likely a Filipino. Though perhaps not Chinese, Rodríguez was definitely from Asia. And while he was not a founder of Los Angeles, he was apparently Santa Barbara’s first permanent Filipino resident. He is buried there
In the 18th century, when the Philippines was under Spanish ruling similar to America's New Spain. The Manila galleon trade between Manila, Philippines, and Acapulco, Mexico, was a monopoly industry.
Filipino fisherfolk boarded the Spanish ships traveling to Acapulco, jumped out, and settled in Mexico, Texas, and Louisiana. They were then known as "Manila men."
Based on the research of Mason, Rodriguez was a descendant of a "Manila Man," which makes him a Filipino.