Place:San Gabriel, Los Angeles, California, United States

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NameSan Gabriel
TypeInhabited place
Coordinates34.083°N 118.1°W
Located inLos Angeles, California, United States
Contained Places
Cemetery
San Gabriel Cemetery
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog


the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

San Gabriel (Spanish for "St. Gabriel") is a city located in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County, California. At the 2010 census, the population was 39,718.

San Gabriel was founded by the Spanish in 1771, when Mission San Gabriel Arcángel was established by Saint Junípero Serra. Through the Spanish and Mexican periods, San Gabriel played an important role in the development of Los Angeles and Californio society. Owing to the prominence of Mission San Gabriel in the region's history, it is often called the "birthplace of the Los Angeles region".

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History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Prior to the arrival of the Spanish to Alta California, the area that is now San Gabriel was inhabited by the Tongva Native Americans, whom the Spanish called the Gabrieleño. The Tongva name for the San Gabriel region has been reconstructed as Shevaa.

Spanish period

Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, founded by Father Junípero Serra, is the fourth of twenty-one California Missions, and is known as the "Pride of the California Missions."

Mexican period

The Mission San Gabriel Arcángel served a pivotal role in the Californio society, with many of the area's first Mexican settlers being baptized at the mission, including future governor Pio Pico, who was born in 1801 at the mission and baptized there the same year. He was appointed as California's governor twice, serving briefly in 1832 and again from 1845 through the Mexican–American War. Later in life, he was elected as a Los Angeles City councilman. The city of Pico Rivera was named to honor him as the last governor of California to be born in Mexico.

American period

In 1853, a company of Army Engineers, which included the geologist William P. Blake, passed by the mission in search of the best route for an intercontinental railroad. Blake observed that the once great vineyards had fallen into wild disarray. Fences were in disrepair and animals roamed freely through the property. But the mission bells were ringing and the church was still in use. Blake predicted, "I believe that when the adaptation of that portion of California to the culture of the grape and the manufacture of wine becomes known and appreciated, the state will become celebrated not only for its gold and grain, but (also) for its fruits and wines."

In the first United States census made in California in 1860, 586 people lived in the San Gabriel township, an area encompassing the mission lands and several adjacent ranchos stretching north to what is now Pasadena. By 1870, the population had shrunk to 436.

San Gabriel incorporated as a city April 24, 1913, with a population of 1,500.[1]

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