Luis María Peralta (1759 inSonora,New Spain – August 26, 1851) was aCalifornio ranchero and soldier in theSpanish Army. Peralta receivedRancho San Antonio, one of the largest of therancho grants in California, covering 44,800 acres (181 km2) that encompassed most of theEast Bay region of theBay Area inNorthern California.
The Peralta family (the 17-year-old Luis, his father, mother and three siblings) was part of the group of settlers that arrived inAlta California withJuan Bautista de Anza on his 1776 expedition. This group of settlers subsequently helped found thePresidio of San Francisco,Mission Santa Clara, and thePueblo of San José. When he reached the age of 21, Luis entered, as was traditional, into the military of theKing of Spain.
Upon his marriage to María Loreto Alviso in 1784, Luis transferred from theMonterey to theSan Francisco Company serving with theEscolta (guards) atMission Santa Clara,Mission San José and as corporal of the guard atMission Santa Cruz. Phyllis Filiberti Butler records in her book,The Valley of Santa Clara, Historic Buildings, 1792–1920, that after an attack on the priest and majordomo of Mission San José in 1805, "he led the full garrison from the fort atSan Francisco into theSan Joaquin Valley in pursuit of the Indians." Surprising the Indians in their village, Peralta won a swift victory, which enhanced his reputation. Then a sergeant, he was honored by appointment ascomisionado in charge of Pueblo San José in 1807, the highest military and civilian official. Peralta held this position until 1822, when the position ended withMexico's independence from Spain.[1]
In 1804, he moved into what is now known as thePeralta Adobe, the oldest building in San José. In 1820, he was rewarded for his long service with theRancho San Antonio land grant.[2] He never lived on the rancho, however, but his four sons,Hermenegildo Ignacio,José Domingo,Antonio María, andJosé Vicente, did. In 1842 he split the rancho among them, leaving his five daughters[a] hiscattle, hisadobe, and the land on which it sat. He died in 1851 in San José.
Peralta's most famous descendant is the Latin American revolutionaryChe Guevara.[3][4]
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