HISTORY OF THE MARQUEZ FAMILY
Francisco Reyes (1749-1809)
The Marquez family traces its roots in California to 1771 when Francisco Reyes, then 22, left his home in Mexico to join the Spanish army and to accompany Fr. Junipero Serra on his journey to establish the California missions. Francisco Reyes was stationed at Mission San Antonio during its construction.
To further its settlement of California and to compensate its soldiers, Spain offered land grants to a small number of soldiers who had served ten years or more. The Spanish land grants, first known as permissions were a right to occupy the land, not an outright grant of ownership.
In 1784, Francisco Reyes received the Spanish land grant, Rancho Encino (oak), which comprised what is now the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, California. He used the land for cattle ranching. In 1795, however, the Spanish mission founders decided that Rancho Encino would be a favorable location for the Mission San Fernando. Reyes returned Rancho Encino to the Spanish government, and was awarded another rancho in Lompoc, 130 miles north. Reyes also maintained an adobe house in the pueblo of Los Angeles. A prominent citizen, Reyes served as mayor of Los Angeles from 1793 to 1795.
Ysidro Reyes (1813-1861)
The Marquez Family cemetery story picks up with Ysidro Reyes, Francisco Reyes’ grandson. Born in 1813, Ysidro Reyes lived in Los Angeles and owned one of the largest vineyards in the area. He also had a business transporting brea (tar) from the tar pits at Rancho la Brea to homes in Los Angeles for use as roofing material. In 1839 Reyes, along with his friend Francisco Marquez, jointly received ownership to the Mexican land grant Rancho Boca de Santa Monica. Unlike the Spanish land grants Mexico granted outright ownership of the land.
Francisco Marquez (1798-1850)
Francisco Marquez was born in Villa de Leon, Guadalajara, Mexico in 1798. In 1820 Marquez came to Los Angeles, which was still under Spanish control. Marquez set up a blacksmith and harness shop on Calle Principal (now known as Main Street) in downtown Los Angeles.
Marquez and Reyes Receive Title to
Rancho Boca de Santa Monica
In 1838, Ysidro Reyes and Francisco Marquez applied for title to Rancho Boca de Santa Monica, a 6,656 acre tract of land comprising what is now Santa Monica Canyon, the Pacific Palisades, and parts of Topanga Canyon. To obtain a land grant, an applicant had to be a Mexican citizen of good character, Catholic, and agree to build a house, plant fruit trees on the land and stock the rancho with at least 150 head of cattle. Their application was approved, and they received title a year later in 1839.
The trapezoidal shaped Rancho ran along the shore of the Pacific Ocean from Topanga Point (a short distance west from the mouth of Topanga Canyon) to the first a gully in the cliffs where the present Montana Avenue meets the sea. The border then made a gentle turn toward the northwest, and proceeded to a place called CaÔada de la Iglesia which was a spot near the intersection of the present Sunset Boulevard and Sullivan Canyon. The northern border extended through the rough terrain of the Santa Monica Mountains to what is now the town of Fernwood in Topanga Canyon. The western border began at Fernwood, and extended down to the Pacific Ocean to where the survey started.
Marquez, along with his wife, Roque Valenzuela and their young son, Manuel, moved to Santa Monica Canyon. He built an adobe house in the upper mesa of the Canyon—the first permanent structure built in the area. They had eleven children, only five of whom survived to adulthood. Marquez built another blacksmith shop and continued to live and work the rancho until his death in 1850.
For their home on the new rancho Ysidro Reyes and his wife Maria Antonia Villa built a house in what is now the Huntington Palisades. He later abandoned that location in favor of a place near what is now 7th and Adelaide Streets. Reyes complained that he was losing too many of his chickens and small animals to wild animals that came down from the mountains. Reyes and his wife had eleven children.
In 1879 Francisco Marquez’s youngest son Pascual married Ysidro Reyes’ daughter Michaela. Marriage as well as their common interest in their land united the families. Pascual and Micaela had ten children.