Juan Bautista Alvarado
Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado
1809-1882
Juan Valentín Bautista Alvarado y Vallejo (February 14, 1809 – July 13, 1882) was a Californio politician that served as Governor of Alta California from 1837-42. Prior to his term as governor, Alvarado briefly led a movement for independence of Alta California from 1836-37, in which he successfully deposed interim governor Nicolás Gutiérrez, declared independence, and created a new flag and constitution, before negotiating an agreement with the Mexican government resulting in his recognition as governor and the end of the independence movement.
Alvarado was born in Monterey, Alta California, to José Francisco Alvarado and María Josefa Vallejo. His grandfather Juan Bautista Alvarado accompanied Gaspar de Portolà as an enlisted man in the Spanish Army in 1769. His father died a few months after his birth and his mother remarried three years later, leaving Juan Bautista in the care of his grandparents on the Vallejo side, where he and Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo grew up together. They were both taught by William Edward Petty Hartnell, an English merchant living in Monterey.
In 1827 the eighteen-year-old Alvarado was hired as secretary to the territorial legislature. In 1829 he was briefly arrested along with Vallejo and another friend, José Castro, by soldiers involved in the military revolt led by Joaquín Solis. In 1831 he built a house in Monterey for his mistress, Juliana Francisca Ramona y Castillo, whom he called "Raymunda", to live in (or, more likely, her sister, Maria Reymunda Castillo). Over the years, the pair had a total of at least two illegitimate daughters whom he recognized (Estefana del Rosario, born 1834, and María Francisca de la Asención born 1836) and perhaps several more he did not recognize, but he never married their mother. During this period Alvarado began drinking heavily. One of his daughters claimed that Raymunda had refused to marry Alvarado because of his excessive drinking.
In 1839, Castro's oldest daughter, María Martína Alexandra, married Juan Valentín Bautista Alvarado, a native Californian and the governor of California, and moved to Monterey to live with him in the governor's mansion. In 1848, after the United States acquired California as a result of the Mexican War and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, María and Juan Bautista moved back to San Pablo to live with their six children (and María's mother, Gabriella) in the family adobe at Church Lane and San Pablo Avenue. Not surprisingly, some of the other family members quickly moved out! The Alvarados planted a six-acre orchard of fruit trees on the land between the creeks.
See Also: Juan Bautista Alvarado - Wikipedia; Juan Bautista Alvarado (1809-1882) - Find a Grave Memorial
Genealogical Family Tree
Charts by Earl Conley**; 1987; 38 pages; reference pamphlets file at the El Cerrito Library.
This volume is primarily genealogical tables
of the Francisco Castro (the father of Victor Castro)
and Juan Alvarado families.
Source: elcerritohistoricalsociety.org
The Governor's mansion at Monterey; former home of Don Juan Bautista Alvarado before moving with his wife, María Martina Berryessa y Castro to the adobe home at Rancho San Pablo.
Mexican Colonial Governor, Juan Bautista Alvarado (full name: Juan Bautista Valentín Alvarado y Vallejo), was the son of a Spanish military officer born at the presidio of Monterey, Alta California. He was named Juan Bautista after his paternal grandfather and Valentín because he was born on Saint Valentine's Day. His father Don José Francisco Alvarado and his mother Doña Josefa María Vallejo were members of the earliest of California's exploring families. Unfortunately, a few months after he was born, his father died. His mother remarried in 1812 and he was left in the care of his maternal grandparents where he and cousin, Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo grew up together.
Alvarado quickly built a reputation for himself and by 1834, was elected to the California legislature and appointed Collector of the Customs House at Monterey. In 1836, he led a revolt that overthrew Mexican California Governor Nicolás Gutiérrez and seized Monterey (then, capital of Alta California) and was appointed governor. The California Lone Star Flag was raised in a revolt against the Mexican Government in 1836 by Juan Alvarado and Isaac Graham. Although their capture of Monterey did not succeed in independence for California, it inspired the creation of a flag. He was acclaimed as President of Alta California soon after until the disbandment of Alta Californian independence in favor of greater autonomy from the Mexican government and recognition of Alvarado as Governor of Alta California in 1837.
Juan Bautista married Don Francisco María Castro's daughter, María Martina Berryessa y Castro at Mission Santa Clara in 1839. However, he didn't attend his own wedding having his half-brother, José Antonio Estrada, stand in for him. Though he claimed to be detained in Monterey on official business, it was rumored he was actually drunk and unable to function. After the wedding, Alvarado lived with his bride in Monterey.
He was offered the governorship a third time after his involvement in the Bear Flag Revolt (June-July 1846) and Mexican American War (1846-1848), but he declined, instead, retiring to his wife Martina's family estate at Rancho San Pablo in 1848.
Alvarado did not participate in the California Gold Rush but concentrated his efforts at agriculture and business. He opened The Union Hotel on the rancho in 1860, but his businesses were mostly unsuccessful. After Martina's death in May 1875, Alvarado wrote his 'Historia de California' as dictated to Hubert Howe Bancroft’s staff in 1876. He died on his ranch in 1882 and is buried at Saint Mary's Catholic Church in Oakland.
Juan Bautista Alvarado was governor of Alta California from 1836 to 1842, and ruled with credit and honor to himself, his country, and his constituency. He lived to see three different Californias. Spanish Alta California ('Upper California'), ruled by Spain from 1804 until 1821. Mexican Alta California, 1822 to 1847, after California gained independence from Spanish rule. And, lastly, American California when California became the 31st state of the union in 1848. Juan Bautista Alvarado was a brilliant and ambitious politician who led California to transitory independence from Mexico in the decade before the American government took over the future state.