San Diego County Biographies
 
JOSE ANTONIO ALTAMIRANO

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

 
JOSE ANTONIO ALTAMIRANO, of San Diego, was born at La Paz, Lower California, May 
31, 1835. His father, Thomas Altamirano, was a commission merchant and shipper, 
and loaded vessels at La Paz for Mazatlan, San Blas, and other points; he was an 
influential and prominent man and had a large, prosperous business. He married 
Miss Dolores Carrillo, a native of Lower California, and was the father of 
twelve children. Jose, the youngest child, received special care in his 
education, being naturally bright. Assisting his father in his business, he 
became acquainted with many principles which in after life proved of great value 
to him. In May, 1849 , Jose concluded to leave home for Upper California, and 
shortly afterward he arrived in San Diego. During the early gold-mining period 
he spent over four years in the mountains from Merced river northward as far as 
the Klamath river, engaged in mining , supplying the miners with provisions, 
which he conveyed to them on packed mules. He bought a large number of mules in 
Lower California, and sold them at a great profit in San Diego. In 1859 he 
engaged in the rearing of live-stock on an extensive scale, on his ranch in San 
Jacinto, near San Diego. His business increased upon his hands so greatly that 
in 1869 he found that he required a larger scope of country for pasturage, and 
he therefore drove his stock down into Lower California in to the Valle de las 
Palmas, a large ranch.

November 12, 1863, he married Miss. Yasabel de Pedroena, a daughter of Don 
Miguel de Pedroena, who was born in Madrid, of a good family of high social 
standing. While still a young man he lived in London several years and acquired 
the English language. Don Miguel, Mrs. Altamirano�s father, came to California 
in 1838, and is several times mentioned in Bancroft�s history as a man of 
splendid character and high standing. In the history of her sister, Mrs. J. W. 
Wolfskill, of Los Angeles, the following record is made of Don Miguel :�From 
1845 his home was in San Diego, where he married Miss Estudillo, by whom he had 
four children: Victoria, deceased; Migues, Jr., deceased, who married a daughter 
of General Burton; Ysabel, who married A. A. Altamirano, and Elena, who married 
J. A. Wolfskill. Don Miguel was the grantor of the rancho San Jacinto in 1846, 
and his wife was grantor of the rancho El Cajon in 1845; of the former of which 
Mrs. Alamirano still owns the portion she inherited. He strongly approved the 
cause of the United States acting, as Juez de Paz and as Stockton�s aide, with 
the rank of Captain, in the California Battalion. In 1847-�48 he was collector 
of customs at San Diego. He represented the State of Monterey in 1849, being one 
of the most popular members of the Spanish race in that lodge. He died in 1850.�

Mr. Altamirano�s family comprises seven daughters and four sons. He has a 
pleasant home in the old town of San Diego, or North San Diego as it is now 
called. He is an interesting and enterprising business man, having many 
interests in the county. He is a stockholder in the San Marcos Land and Town 
Company, and has live-stock in San Jacinto and in Lower California.
 
An Illustrated History of Southern California: Embracing the Counties of San 
Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula of Lower 
California, from the Earliest Period of Occupancy to the Present Time.... - 
Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890. pp 258-259