Good morning wsdean,
My name is Anna. I'm a grand-daughter of JAY and MJG through Bernardo, Prudencio I, Prudencio II, etc.
I grew up around the Yorba ranch in the 50's. I had always known of the position of Jose Antonio in Calif. history but recently became interested in the life of Maria Josefa. I have been doing basic casual research for a couple of years and recently digging deeper. This is my first experiment with message boards so I appreciate any advice on protocol or leads to follow.
I would like to write an account of the life of this remarkable woman, especially as I am the last generation to have experienced that rancho life. I am looking for everything I can from the circumstances of her life in Sonora before the Anza expedition, through helping to build the original SF presidio to the end of her life at Santiago de Santa Ana.
One of the fascinating stories I found was printed in "Saddleback Ancestors" Orange County California Genealogical Society, 1969 (p. 66 unreferenced)about MJ's challenge to the will to include daughters as well as sons. I have seen this story referred to also by documents in the Janet Gould collection at Corona Public Library.
I have found a great deal of background information on her life and times. This story is one that eludes me. I have done research at Huntington Library, the Braun southwest museum, corresponded with the archivist of the Center for Oral History at CSU Fullerton and librarians at the Bancroft Library.
I have a copy of JAY's will from the Janet Gould Collection. I am also looking for the will of MJ's father, Juan Pablo Grijalva, who also was questioned about the exclusion of daughters in his will. (Bancroft's History of California v. 2 p 104).
My next step is to negotiate the collection of State, Provincial, and Legislative records compiled by Thomas Savage:
http://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Savage%2C+T...If you have any clues to translated transcripts or indices, please let me know. I read spanish but handwritten 18th cent. language is difficult.
Thanks so much for your help. Anna