Juan Bautista Valentin Alvarado y Vallejo was born in Monterey, Alta California, on 02/14/1809 under Spanish rule, to a family that had come with the Portola-Serra Expedition in 1769 to settle Alta California for Spain. After losing his father shortly after birth, he was educated under Spanish tutelage with his uncle Mariano G. Vallejo. He became the first native-born son to serve as Governor of Mexican California, holding office from 1836 to 1842. During his public career, Spanish Missions promoted civic improvements, fostered education, issued multiple land grants, and dealt with the advent of American immigration and takeover in the mid 1840s. In 1839 he married Maria Martina Castro de Alvarado, daughter of Francisco Maria Castro of Rancho San Pablo, whose grandparents had immigrated to California with the Juan Bautista de Anza Settler Expedition of 1775-1776, and they lived in the gubernatorial mansion in Monterey during his tenure. After the U.S. takeover and annexation of California, they retired to her family property at Rancho San Pablo, where Martina inherited the San Pablo adobe home and more than half of the nearly 16,000-acre rancho after her mother Doña Gabriela Castro died in 1851. There Alvarado became a rancher and businessman and testified in court numerous times over legal titles granted under the Spanish and Mexican governments. Juan and Martina helped San Pablo grow and prosper, including donating property for residents to build Saint Paul’s Catholic Church. Martina, remembered as a beloved woman of gracious character, died in 1875, and business in San Pablo was suspended on the day of her funeral. Alvarado died in San Pablo on 7/13/1882, and their adobe home is now a California Landmark.
