Felicita Family
Stories are far more than just stories, they are memories of loved ones,
never to be forgotten.
We are proud to pass on the stories of our loved ones, from one generation to the next. Creating a legacy that grows with each generation.
Where our story begins
Our family's roots run deep throughout history. Some of the earliest records of our ancestors go back to the Spanish conquistadors. Starting with Francisco Verdugo, a Conquistador (military soldier-explorer) under the command of Hernan Cortez. Verdugo helped Cortez concur the Aztec Capital of Tenochtitlan alongside native tribes, which lead to the fall of the Aztec Empire and eventually brought Mexico under Spanish rule. After conquering Mexico the Spanish crown authorized Cortez to grant lands to deserving spaniards. Francisco Verdugo was granted land in the area of Tenochtitlan. These grants were a powerful reason why Spanish conquistadors eventually moved to concur the Americas.
La Plaza, as seen from the Pico House, c. 1869. The "Old Plaza Church" is to the left, the brick reservoir on the right, and in the center of the plaza, was the original terminus of the Zanja Madre aqueduct.
Pioneering Los Angeles
The raw materials of Spain’s settlement of California were Mexican soldiers. These soldiers were men who left behind their parents and siblings in Sinaloa and Sonora to serve on the northern outskirts of Spain’s empire during the 1770s and 1780s. One family that contributed several soldiers to Spain’s colonial effort was the Féliz family of Álamos, Sonora. Jose Vicente Feliz was the great great great grandfather of Maria Felicita Sanchez. He was apart of the Anza Expedition that brought the first settlers to California, and became one of the first settlers of Alta California. In 1781, he was one of four soldiers to guard the settlers which founded the settlement of El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles (the Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels), which would become Los Angeles. He was then appointed to the office of Comisionado de Los Angeles on January 13, 1787 by Governor Pedro Fages of Alta California, to help build and protect the first pueblo of Los Angeles. In essence, Vicente had become the city manager, the enforcer of laws, and was the presiding judge. Vicente Féliz served in this position until 1794 when he retired from the army after 18 years of service. For his service to the Pueblo, Vicente was given a land grant of 6,647 acres by Governor Pedro Fages a year or so later. Located in the present day region of Los Feliz and Griffith Park about three miles north of the center of the pueblo, the grant was called El Rancho Nuestra Señora de Refugio de Los Féliz (Our Lady of Refuge of the Féliz Family), but eventually became known simply as Los Féliz.
The Fate of Los Féliz
The Los Féliz Rancho was eventually inherited by Vicente’s children. The Rancho was the scene of a famous murder in 1836 when Domingo Féliz was ambushed and stabbed to death by his wife’s lover. Eventually, María Ygnacia Féliz – a daughter-in-law of Vicente – inherited the rancho and soon after married Juan Diego Verdugo. At that point, Rancho Los Féliz passed into the hands of the Verdugo and Coronel families and was eventually purchased by Colonel Griffith Jenkins Griffith in 1882 and now encompasses today current well known sites such as Griffith observation and Griffith Park. The Feliz name still lives on honored in streets such as Feliz district and Blvd, a well known land marks in Los Angeles.
Read the whole story here:
https://www.indigenousmexico.org/articles/the-feliz-family-pioneers-of-los-angeles
