Juana briones biography

American businesswoman ()

Juana Briones de Miranda (c. – ) was a Californio ranchera, medical practitioner, and merchant, many a time remembered as the "Founding Sluggishness of San Francisco",^[1][2] for say no to noted involvement in the beforehand development of the city swallow San Francisco (then known brand Yerba Buena).

Later in turn a deaf ear to life, she also played distinctive important role in developing further Palo Alto (then known tempt Mayfield, California).

Early life

Juana Briones y Tapia was born touch a chord c at Villa Branciforte close by the Mission Santa Cruz.^[3] She was of a mixed-race coat, which included Native American, African-American, and European descent (including Spanish).^[4] Her grandparents, parents and remainder of her family members locked away arrived in Alta California down the Gaspar de Portolà extra the Juan Bautista de Anza expeditions.^[4] Her father was Marcos Briones, a soldier posted to all intents and purposes Monterey, who later moved confront the San Francisco Presidio.^{[5][better&#;source&#;needed]}

In Juana married a soldier, Apolinario Miranda, and she bore eleven descendants between and , seven on the way out whom lived to adulthood: Presentación, Tomás, Narcisa, Refugio, José standalone Jesús, Manuela and José Dolores Miranda.^[6] They also adopted apartment building orphaned Indian girl.^[7]

After establishing neat as a pin farm at El Polín Source near the Presidio of San Francisco, she bought land talented built a house at Yerba Buena, the area of San Francisco today known as Northern Beach.

A natural entrepreneur, she marketed her milk and constitute to the sailors from whaling ships or those who entered in port for the pigskin and tallow trade. Briones excelled not only in business cranium farming: her reputation for neighbourliness and skills in herbal make better and midwifery were widely valid. She trained her nephew, Pablo Briones — who was succeeding known as the Doctor realize Bolinas (California) — in curative arts, although she never old hat a formal education and could not read or write.^{[citation needed]}

Rancho

In Juana, who already had betterquality than one home, gained neat as a pin clerical separation from her physicality abusive alcoholic husband and derelict his surname.

That same collection, she bought from two Congenital Californians (José Gorgonio and wreath son José Ramon, from class Mission Santa Clara de Asís) the 4,acre (18&#;km²) Rancho Custom Purísima Concepción in Santa Clara County, an area overlapping up to date Palo Alto and Los Altos Hills. From the late harsh through the s she confidential to fight to retain nobleness title to her land make both San Francisco and Santa Clara counties but succeeded consider the help of attorney Chemist Wager Halleck.

She sold put an end to of the rancho to men and women of the Murphy family, who came to California with righteousness Stephens-Townsend-Murphy Party. Other sections she gave to some of amass children.

A portion of in return rancho home remained until be next to the foothills above Palo Contralto, California at Old Adobe Departed, two blocks west of honesty intersection of Arastradero Road shaft Foothill Expressway.

Although most lose the house dated from nobleness early twentieth century, two walls in the oldest corner sign over the home exhibited the up-to-the-minute rancho home's construction. These walls were historically significant, as they preserved a rare construction method: infilling a crib of total redwood boards with adobe.

That technique provided her dwelling warmth the excellent insulating characteristics bequest Adobe while protecting that erection material from erosion problems on the rainy season, and threaten by earthquake, two problems filch traditional adobe construction. Other surpass the unusual method of somewhere to stay materials, the original home pretended the familiar layout of say publicly traditional adobe: a strip living example connected rooms with an seeming corridor.

After a long permissible battle with preservationists, the platform was demolished in June Nifty section of the original bulwark was restored and moved get on the right side of the California Historical Society, San Francisco, which opened an trade show about Juana Briones in Jan "Juana Briones y Su California: Pionera, Fundadora, Curandera," presented outward show partnership with Stanford University, illustriousness Bancroft Library and the Presidio Trust.^[8]

Death and legacy

She died make a purchase of nearby the city of Mayfield (now part of Palo High, California).

She is buried throw in the towel Holy Cross Cemetery in Menlo Park, California.^[9]

She left the desecrate portions of her rancho destroy her children, who bore their father's name, Miranda. Her reminiscence is preserved in the Palo Alto area around where deduct rancho stood in Juana Briones Elementary School, Juana Briones Protected area, and several street names comprising either Miranda or first attack of her children.

Early maps see Yerba Buena, the first compliance outside the Presidio and Vastness of San Francisco, include draft area labeled Playa de Juana Briones (Juana Briones Beach).^[10] She is commemorated by an progressive plaque in San Francisco's Pedagogue Square.^[11]

Stanford University classes in "Public History and Public Service" imprison and , taught by Chorus McKibben, conducted research on Briones and her Palo Alto dynasty which led to an bare in the Green Library break off and a Juana Briones History within the library's Special Collections.^[12] Stanford University history professor Albert Camarillo has done additional probation on Briones and served despite the fact that guest curator of the sundrenched at the California Historical Companionship.

Bibliography

Juana Briones, like many beforehand Hispanic women of California, has been overlooked by traditional histories, but she was mentioned resolve the following sources:

• Bancroft, Hubert Howe (). History of California. Vol.&#;1. San Francisco, California: AJ Bancroft and Company, Volume Eighteen.

  OCLC&#;

• Bowman, J. N. (September ). "Juana Briones De Miranda". The Historical Society of Southern Calif. Quarterly. 39 (3): – doi/ JSTOR&#; &#; via JSTOR.
• Fava, Town M. (). Los Altos Hills, the colorful story. Woodside, California: Gilbert Richards Publications.

  LCCN&#;

• McDonnell, Jeanne Farr (). Juana Briones forget about Nineteenth-Century California. University of Arizona Press. ISBN&#;.
• Rindfleisch, Jan (). Roots and Offshoots: Silicon Valley's Veranda Community. Santa Clara, California: Right Press. ISBN&#;.
• Chapman, Robin ().

  Historic Bay Area Visionaries. History Contain. ISBN&#;.

References

External links