Name/Title
Don Vicente Martinez (Vincent)Description
There were many families and individuals who helped shape the beginnings of Pinole in the 19th century. The earliest of these newcomers was the family of Don Ygnacio Martinez, who settled in the valley in 1837. Don Ygnacio named his holdings Rancho El Pinole, and brought his wife, Maria Martina, and most of his 11 children to live in the large adobe home he had built there. They were called Californios, people of Spanish-speaking heritage but born in California. But the quiet pastoral life of the Californios was soon to end.
Vicente Martinez, the second son of Maria Martina Arellanes de Martinez, was born in 1818. He was the grandfather of Ramona Martinez. He built the first adobe home in Cañada del Hambre (Valley of Hunger), now the Alhambra Valley, in 1849. He lost it in 1852 to Edward Franklin, a land speculator from San Francisco, to pay a debt. The home still stands, part of the John Muir National Historic Site.Copyright
Copyright Holder
Pinole Historical Society