José Antonio Yorba (July 20, 1743 – January 16, 1825), also known asDon José Antonio Yorba I, was a SpanishCalifornio soldier and an early settler ofSpanish California.^[1][2]

Born inSant Sadurní d'Anoia (San Saturnino) inCatalonia, Spain, Yorba was one ofFages' originalCatalan volunteers. In 1762, during theSeven Years' War, Yorba took part in theSpanish invasion of Portugal. He became a corporal underGaspar de Portolà during the Spanish expedition of 1769. He was inSan Francisco in 1777;Monterey in 1782; and inSan Diego in 1789. In 1797 he was retired as inválido sergeant; and in 1810 was grantee ofRancho Santiago de Santa Ana.

In 1810, José Antonio Yorba was awarded by theSpanish Empire the 63,414-acre (256.63 km²)Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana land grant. Covering some 15 Spanish leagues, Yorba's land comprised a significant portion of today'sOrange County including where the cities ofOlive,Orange,Villa Park,Santa Ana,Tustin,Costa Mesa andNewport Beach stand today.

Upon his death in 1825 he was buried at his request in an unmarked grave in the cemetery atMission San Juan Capistrano. Acenotaph was later placed in Yorba's honor.

He married his first wife, Maria Garcia Feliz, in 1773. After her death, he married Maria Josefa Grijalva, daughter of Juan Pablo Grijalva, in 1782.

Throughout the American and Mormon migration period, descendants of the Yorbas continued to marry into other prominent Spanish families, including the Cota, Grijalvas, Perralta, and Dominguez families. Many of today's recognizable American names in the Southern California area, including the Kraemers andIrvines, also married into these Spanish families. In the early twentieth century,Samuel Kraemer, who had married the last of the "grand" Yorbas, Angelina Yorba, tore down the historicYorba Hacienda after the city ofYorba Linda refused to accept it as a donation.

George S. Patton, World War II United States General was his great-great-great-grandson. His granddaughter Ramona Yorba was Patton's maternal grandmother.

The legacy of the Yorba family can be appreciated at the historic Yorba Cemetery, established in 1858, and currently surrounded by Woodgate Park.^[9]

• Yorba Linda History, archived fromthe original on 2009-03-22, retrieved2019-09-16
• Yorba Family, archived fromthe original on 2008-07-24, retrieved2019-09-16
• Jose Antonio Yorba I, archived fromthe original on 2008-10-12, retrieved2019-09-16
• Bancroft, Hubert Howe (1882). The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft. San Francisco: A.L. Bancroft & Co.OCLC 2539133
• Beers, Henry Putney, (1979). "Spanish & Mexican Records of the American Southwest : A Bibliographical Guide to Archive and Manuscript Sources", Tucson : University of Arizona Press
• Dominguez, Arnold O., (1985). "José Antonio Yorba I", 2nd Ed., Orange County Historical Society
• Pleasants, Adelene (1931). "History of Orange County, California. Vol. 1", Los Angeles, CA : J. R. Finnell & Sons Publishing Company
• Mildred Yorba MacArthur,A brief history of the Yorba family, Yorba Linda Public Library, May 1960.
• Newmark, Haris (1916)Sixty Years in Southern California: 1853-1913, Knickerbocker Press, New York.
• Northrop, Marie E. (1986).Spanish-Mexican Families of Early California: 1769-1850, Volumes I, II & III. Southern California Genealogical Society, Burbank, California.
• Pitt, Leonard; Ramón A. Gutiérrez (1999).Decline of the Californios: A Social History of the Spanish-Speaking Californians, 1846-1890. University of California Press.ISBN 978-0-520-21958-8.

• Cristobal Aguilar, last Hispanic mayor of Los Angeles until Antonio Villaraigosa, married Maria Dolores Yorba
• Californios

• 1743 births
• 1825 deaths
• People of Alta California
• People from Alt Penedès

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata