Californio References
Armijo, Pena, Rodriguez & Vaca Families
updated August 20, 2026



 
   


References

Bowen, Jerry (2007) "The Pena Adobe and the Vacas and Penas: Settlers Who Followed the Old Spanish Trail to Solano County" in Spanish Traces (journal), Spanish Trail Association, v. 36 (Spring 2007), p. 14-20.

Californio First Families (website), an online genealogical database maintained by Sheila Ruiz Harrell and Don Gibson that is "dedicated to researching the first families arriving in California starting in 1769, and some native people already living here."

Chavez, Fray Angelico (1954), "Baca", "Cabeza de Baca" & "Pena" in Origins of New Mexico Families in the Spanish Colonial Period, Historical Society of New Mexico, Santa Fe, p. 9-11, 141-145 & 152-154.

Baca (image 153)
Cabeza de Baca (image 164)
Pena (image 268)

Curry, John (1907), "Judge Curry and Spanish Landgrants" (annotated 1990 by Wyman Riley) in Solano Historian, Solano County Historical Society, v. VI, n. 2 (Dec 1990), p. 7. Solano Genealogical Soc. Library #979.452 SCHS - 2.

John Curry (1814-1912) was the eighth Chief Justice of California, and a candidate in 1859 for Governor of California. He was employed for time after California became a state to represent the interests of the original holders of Mexican land grants, and later by the other side during investigations by the Board of California Land Commissioners.

Curtice, Lynette Ann (19844) An Archaeological and Historical Perspective on the Pena Adobe and Rancho Los Putos, Solano County, California, unpublished M.S. Thesis, University of Calilfornia, Riverside, 343 pp.

Delaplane, Kristin (1996), "Armijo’s holdings torn by ownership wars" in Historical Articles of Solano County, California (website), published Sunday, February 11, 1996.

----- (2003), "Armijo Family Prospered on Tolenas Land Grant", Fairfield Daily Republic (newspaper), published February 22, 2003.

Early California Population Project Database (website), an online genealogical database maintained by the University of California at Riverside, and The Huntington Library of Los Angeles. It covers "more than 100,000 individuals who appear in the sacramental records created by California’s Franciscan missionaries between 1769 and 1850."

Esquibel, Jose Antonio, Beyond Origins of New Mexico Families (website). Genealogical Additions that go Beyond Origins of New Mexico Families in the Spanish Colonial Period by Fray Angélico Chávez.

Armijo (Duran de Armijo)
Baca
Pena-Alvarez
Founders of Santa Fe, 1610.

Goerke-Shrode, Sabine (2004), The Armijo Family Story (in three parts), published by the Vacaville Reporter (newspaper).

"PART I: The Armijo Trail Led from Santa Fe to L.A.", published July 11, 2004.
"PART II: How Jose Armijo Got a Land Grant", published July 24, 2004.
"PART III: Early Grant Owner Flourished on a Lawless Frontier", published August 8, 2004.

Great New Mexico Pedigree Database (website). An online genealogical database at www.hgrc-nm.com that is maintained by the Hispanic Genealogical Research Center of New Mexico (HGRC).

Hafen, Leroy R. (1947), "Armijo's Journal", in The Huntington Library Quarterly (journal), v. 11, no. 1 (Nov 1047), p. 87-101. An English translation of the original 1829-1830 diary of Antonio Armijo published in Spanish by the Mexican Government.

Original Diary (in Spanish)

Hough, Granville W. & Hough, N.C. (1998, 1999), Spain's California Patriots in its 1779-1783 War with England During the American Revolution: Parts 1 & 2, Society of Hispanic Historical and Ancestral Research (SHHAR), Midway City, CA, 157 & 188 p.

part 1 (1998)
part 2 (1999)

King, Alexander V., personal communication. King is a published genealogist and historian, who is the former director of the Old Spanish Trail Association.

Northrup, Marie (1971, 1984), Spanish-Mexican Families of Early California: 1769-1850, Southern Calif. Genealogical Soc., Burbank, CA, v. I (1971) & v. II (1984).

Extracted Genealogies for select families - Briones, Lugo, Rodriquez, Soto, Miramontes, & Tapia.

Northrup, Marie (undated), Roster of Portola Expedition, 1769; The Anza Expedition, 1776, Conference of Calif. Historical Societies, 10 & 16 p.

Old Spanish Trail Association (2018), Antonio Armijo, one-page, three-panel folding flier, www.oldspanishtrail.org.

Robinson, John (2005a), "Antonio Maria Armijo -- New Mexico Trader to California Ranchero" in Solano Historian (journal), Solano County Historical Society, v. 21-1 (Spring-Summer 2005), p. 19-28. Solano Genealogical Soc. Library Call No. 979.452 SCHS - 2.

----- (2005b), "Antonio Maria Armijo -- New Mexico Trader to California Ranchero" in Spanish Traces (journal), Spanish Trail Association, v. 11-3, p. 17-30. (Same article as above).

Smith, Robert, (undated), "Armijo, Vaca, Pena, & Berryessa Genealogies", unpublished manuscript, Solano Genealogical Society Library, Vacaville. Library Call No. 929.2 ARM (oversize).

Spanish California Census Records on SFGenealogy.com

California Census, 1775
San Jose Census, 1777
San Francisco Presidio Census, 1782
California Census, 1790
Residents around the Bay of San Francisco, 1838
Census of San Francisco, 1842

Strout, Clevy Lloyd (1978), The Resettlement of Santa Fe, 1695: The Newly Found Muster Roll" in New Mexico Historical Review (journal), University of New Mexico, v. 53, n. 3, p. 262-279.

Thompson, Ian (1987), "Forgotten Founders" in Fairfield Daily Republic (newspaper), Issue Tuesday, 17 Feb 1987, p. A1 & A12.

Weir, David A., (1963), An Armijo Proposed Book: Notes from 1953-1963, unpublished manuscript, Solano Community College Library, Fairfield, 59 p. Also available online from the Vacaville Heritage Center.

David Weir (1889-1971) was a local historian, and the publisher for 30 or so years of the Fairfield Daily Republic newspaper (he retired in 1949 from the newspaper). This "unpublished manuscript" is said to be a series of unpublished articles that he wrote on Jose Francisco Armijo, and it is the primary source for the Thompson (1987) and Goerke-Shrode (2004) articles on the Armijo family.

Young, Wood (1965), Vaca-Pena Los Putos Rancho and the Pena Adobe, Solano Printing and Publishing, Inc., Vallejo, CA, 40 pp and Appendices.

 

 



APPENDIX: Maps

Map of Santa Fe area.
Map of 1773 Rivera Expedition.
Map of 1775 Anza Expedition.
Map of 1775 Anza Expediiton.
Map of the Old Spanish Trail.
Click each map for a more detailed view

 

 



APPENDIX: Ancestor Trees

         

       

 

 



APPENDIX: Family Histories

     

 

 



Copyright © 1998- - Bella Vista Ranch