José María Alvarado
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José María Alvarado (1813–1846) was the son of Juan Bautista Alvarado (a soldier and cousin to the governor by the same name) and María Raimunda Yorba. José's grandfather, the elder Juan Bautista Alvarado, accompanied Gaspar de Portolà as an enlisted man in the Spanish Army in 1769. He married Lugarda Dionisia Osuna, daughter of Juan María Osuna.
In 1840, Sgt. Alvarado was given a land grant to 8878-acre (36 km²) Rancho Los Vallecitos de San Marcos by his cousin, Governor Alvarado. The ranch was located in present San Marcos, California. In 1842, Alvarado was Suplente (Substitute Justice of the Peace) of San Diego.
During the Mexican-American War, Alvarado fought in the Battle of San Pasqual. He later was one of 11 men captured by an Indian band in the home of José Antonio Serrano, owner of Rancho Pauma. They were taken to an Indian ranchería at Agua Caliente, on Rancho San José, tortured, and killed. This was known as the Pauma Massacre. His widow then sold their ranch with the permission of her sons and later remarried.
[edit] See also
- "Los Vallecitos de San Marcos Rancho", Historic Ranchos of San Diego (1969)
- "The Bloody Lances", The Silver Dons (1963) by Richard F. Pourade details the Indian massacre. Also the chapter "Pauma Rancho and Cuca Rancho" in Historic Ranchos of San Diego
