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| Felix and statue of King Carlos III at Santa Barbara Presidio |
Many documents I'd found on Quintero seem to undermine his contributions to the pueblo. The harsh description of "useless"
appears to be of significance to his eventual transfer to Santa Barbara. Three of his daughters were already there having
been married to Spanish soldiers before leaving Sonora, so for the family to be reunited was perhaps all for the better. The
truth is, at his age he may have found it difficult to adapt to the rigorous farm work at the pueblo. Anyway, I'm sure the
soldiers at the presidio were happy to be having their uniforms hemmed on a regular basis.
Romero is a major surname in the Santa Barbara area today and it's where the name comes into my lineage - specifically
when Maria Felipa Lugo married military sergeant Tomas de la Trinidad Romero (later listed as farmer on an 1852 census) on
5 Febuary 1826 and had a son, Anastacio Romero, on 21 April 1831. Anastacio is my great-great-great grandfather. His father
Tomas was the grandson of Jose Maximo Alanis, yet another military man who assisted in escorting the pobladores. He actually
ended up owning land here in the Los Angeles area which later became known as the affluent town of Westwood, home to the campus
of UCLA. The land eventually ended up in the hands of another family member who had the land taken illegally due to an
apparent lack of proper documentation and changing territorial laws created to favor Anglo settlers. The disputed land ended
up in the courts in the late 1800s, and again in the 1930s, which makes me pround to know that distant relatives of mine
were fighting for justice at a time during the Great Depression when Mexicans were experiencing mass deportations to free
up scarce jobs.
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| Felix at Westwood Park next to tree with plaque detailing Maximo Alanis as one-time land owner |
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| Genealogy chart for cousin Felix |
Below is my lineage to Quintero - notice my great-great grandfather is Felix's grandfather
(*) represents bloodline:
*Luis Quintero & Maria Petra Rubio
Jose Rosalino Fernandez & *Maria Josefa Juana Quintero
Jose Miguel Lugo & *Maria Isabel Fernandez
Tomas de la Trinidad Romero & *Maria Felipa Lugo
*Anastasio Romero & Francisca Tiburcia Poyorena
*Alfred Romero & Frances Ayala
Joseph Rios & *Louise Romero
Albert Camou Leon III & *Pauline Rios
*Albert John Leon IV & Rebecca Ann Monge
*Albert Anthony Leon V & Teresa Maria Alexandra LoCascio
my children:
*Albert Anthony Leon VI
*Alexandra Maria Leon
A funny story Felix loves to tell, one of many you know, is when he went down to the Santa Barbara Mission to meet with
Father Maynard Geiger to research the name Romero. He had to wait a few weeks as the father only met with people on
certain days. He gets there and a secretary directs him to an archive office where he finds this little
old man sitting behind a huge desk. Felix introduces himself as Felix Romero Medina and asks him if he might be able to research Romeros
of Santa Barbara and if he's familiar with the name. At this point Father Geiger stands up waving his hands
in the air saying, "I'm surrounded by them - I'm surrounded by them!" After the levity passed, Felix had the opportunity
to study and was given a personal tour of the museum where he got to hold a cross and bible once owned by Father Junipero
Serra, founder of the first nine California Missions.
In August 2006, LP200 celebrated with the city of Santa Barbara as participants
in their Old Spanish Days Fiesta. One of the events of the annual, week-long festivites includes a parade where we
rented a carriage pulled by a mule team. We were all excited that it was televised for the local Cox Cable
channel, which meant exposure for us. Anthony and Alex also rode along and got a kick out of waving to noisy strangers
along the parade route. The Fiesta Historical Parade is one of the largest equestrian parades in the United States.
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| Anthony and Alex anticipate the parade |
Felix and I are also members of another heritage group, Los Californianos, which is an organization that
preserves the heritage of the early Hispanic Californians of Alta California. Please visit their web site.
http://www.loscalifornianos.com/
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