Ávila family of California

The Ávila family was a prominent

.

Cornelio Ávila

Cornelio Ávila (1745–1800) was born at El Fuerte del Marqués de Montesclaros in New Navarre, New Spain (today's El Fuerte, Sinaloa, Mexico). When Antonio Cornelio Ávila was born about 1745, his father, Wilibardo Avila, was 55 and his mother, Olga Lidia Ruíz Maldonado, was 20.

Cornelio was a Spanish soldier who served in Alta California, then stayed to settle in the two-year-old Pueblo de Nuestra Señora Reina de los Ángeles sobre el Río Porciúncula in 1783 with his wife María Ysabel Urquídez (1750–1801) and 6 children: José de Santa Ana Ávila y Urquídez (1770–1806), Francisco José Ávila (1772–1832), Agustina Ávila (born 1775), Anastasio Ávila (born 1776), Antonio Ignacio Ávila (1781–1858), Ildefonsa Ávila (born 1782).

After settling in Los Angeles, three

Cornelio Ávila died while visiting Santa Barbara in 1800, and was buried at the Presidio Cemetery.

José de Santa Ana Ávila

José de Santa Ana Ávila y Urquídez (1770–1806), was born in Pueblo De Baca, in the

Viceroyalty of New Spain

(nowadays Mexico), one of several sons of Cornelio Ávila. José de Santa Ana married María Josefa Osuna y Alvarado in 1792. He was also a Spanish soldier at Santa Barbara 1801–1806.

Miguel Ávila

Miguel Ávila (1796–1874) was a Californio son of José de Santa Ana Ávila, born in Los Angeles. In 1816 he enlisted in the

in 1849.

María Ignacia Marcia Ávila

María Ignacia Marcia Ávila (1793–1858) was a daughter of José de Santa Ana Ávila y Urquídez and María Josefa Osuna y Alvarado. She married José Dolores Sepúlveda of Rancho de los Palos Verdes in 1813. After his death she married José Antonio Machado of Rancho La Ballona.

Francisco Ávila

Francisco Ávila (1772–1832) was a wealthy ranchero and alcalde (mayor) of the pueblo of Los Angeles 1810–1811. Ávila was a Spaniard native of El Fuerte, New Spain (present-day Sinaloa, Mexico), which at the time was part of Spain. He was one of several sons of Cornelio Ávila and his wife. Francisco came to Los Angeles sometime after 1794. In 1810, Francisco Ávila became alcalde of the pueblo of Los Angeles. The pueblo's population at the time grew to 415 inhabitants.

In 1823, the Mexican government granted him 4,439 acres (17.96 km²) of land

built in 1818 by Francisco Ávila, still stands today in the heart of historic Olvera Street.

In November 1826, Ávila was one of the local notables invited to

Francisco Ávila married María del Rosario Verdugo (1793–1822) in 1810; she was the daughter of

Rancho San Vicente y Santa Mónica

, and his wife.

Francisco Ávila died on April 5, 1832. His four children (Januario Ávila, Pedra Ávila de Ramírez, Francisca Ávila de Rimpau, and Louisa Ávila de Garfias) were granted the patent to Rancho Las Ciénegas in 1871.

Antonio Ygnacio Ávila

Antonio Ygnacio Ávila (1781–1858) was another of the several sons of Cornelio Ávila and his wife. He married Rosa María Ruiz (1789–1866) in 1804. He was the grantee of the 22,458-acre (90.88 km²) Rancho Sausal Redondo.

Ascensión Ávila

María Ascensión Ávila (born 1811), daughter of Antonio Ygnacio Ávila and his wife, married Pedro Antonio José Sánchez (born 1806). They had six children together, one of whom was Tomás Ávila Sánchez.^[8] After the death of her husband, Ascensión lived with Pío Pico, and had two daughters by him, Griselda and Joaquina.

Juan Ávila

Juan Ávila (1812–1889), son of Antonio Ygnacio Ávila, was the grantee of Rancho Niguel in 1842. He married María Soledad Tomasa Capistrano Yorba. He was a "judge of the plains" at Los Angeles in 1844, and justice of the peace at San Juan Capistrano in 1846.^[9]

Rafaela Ávila

Rafaela Ávila (born 1818) married in 1843 Emigdio Véjar (1810–1863), grantee of Rancho Boca de la Playa.

Bruno Ygnacio Ávila

Bruno Ygnacio Ávila (1788–1861) was one of several sons of Cornelio Ávila. Bruno Ávila regained for his family Rancho Aguaje de la Centinela from Ygnacio Machado in 1845 through an exchange of property. Bruno Ávila, owned a modest adobe town house near present-day 7th and Alameda Streets in the pueblo of Los Angeles. It was a three-room structure on a small tract of land with a fenced-in vineyard. Machado traded his entire rancho, including the adobe hacienda, for Bruno Ávila's pueblo property. Bruno Ávila moved into the Centinela adobe and went into the business of raising cattle on the land, which was adjacent to his brother's Rancho Sausal Redondo. Within ten years, Bruno accumulated several thousand head of cattle. In 1854 he borrowed $400 from John G. Downey and agreed to pay six- percent interest per month, or seventy-two percent per year, which was the standard lending rate at the time for private loans. The following year he borrowed $1400 from Hillard P. Dorsey at a similar interest rate. Ávila, who put up Rancho La Centinela for collateral, was unable to repay the loans and subsequently lost his rancho in 1857. The land was seized and auctioned off at a Sheriff's sale.^[10]

Anastasio Ávila

Anastasio Ávila (born 1776) was one of several sons of Cornelio Ávila. He was alcalde of Los Angeles in 1819–1821. In 1843, he was the grantee of the 3,559-acre (14.40 km²) Rancho La Tajauta.

Enrique Ávila

Enrique Ávila, son of Anastasio Ávila, was 2nd alcalde of Los Angeles in 1847. Enrique Ávila served on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for two terms 1868–1872.^[11]

José María Ávila

José María Ávila (1790–1831) was one of several sons of Cornelio Ávila. He was

, who also had a son. They had four children of their own.

References