| Juana Briones de Miranda | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1802 Villa de Branciforte, now Santa Cruz, California |
| Died | 1889 Mayfield, in modern Palo Alto, California |
| Occupation | Businesswoman, Curandera, Landowner |
| Spouse | Apolinario Miranda (1820–) |
| Children | 7+ |
| Parents | Marcos Briones María Ysiadora Tapia[1] |
Juana Briones de Miranda (1802-1889) was born near the Santa Cruz Mission, in California. Her parents arrived with the earliest explorations of this then remote fringe of the Spanish empire, and her family members had accompanied both the Gaspar de Portolà and the Juan Bautista de Anza Expeditions. She was the daughter of a Marcos Briones, a soldier posted near Monterey, who later moved to the San Francisco Presidio. She married a soldier, Apolinario Miranda, in 1820[2] and raised seven children plus an orphaned Indian girl. She later gained a clerical separation from her husband. After establishing a farm near the Presidio of San Francisco, Juana became a pioneer settler at Yerba Buena, the area of San Francisco which is today known as North Beach. On early maps this area was designated as Playa de Juana Briones (Juana Briones Beach). The area of North Beach presently known as Washington Square, San Francisco was at that time under her cultivation. A natural entrepreneur, she marketed her milk and produce to the sailors from whaling ships or those who arrived in port for the hide and tallow trade. Her pioneer status is commemorated by an historical plaque on the square.
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In 1844, she used her revenues to purchase from two Indians the 4,400-acre (18 km2) Rancho La Purísima Concepción in Santa Clara County, south of San Francisco. Juana Briones managed to retain the title to her land in San Francisco and Santa Clara counties throughout the tumultuous American period that followed the Gold Rush. Briones excelled not only in business and farming: her reputation for hospitality and skills in medicine were widely recognized. She trained her nephew, Pablo—who was later known as the Doctor of Bolinas (California)--in medicinal arts, although she never received a formal education and could not read or write.
A remnant of her early rancho home is in the foothills above Palo Alto, California at 4155 Old Adobe Road, two blocks west of the intersection of Arastradero Road and Foothill Expressway. Although it contained a structure that dated from the early twentieth century, two walls that were in the oldest corner of the home exhibited the original rancho home's construction. These walls were historically significant, as they preserved a rare construction method: infilling a crib of horizontal redwood boards with adobe. This technique provided her dwelling with the excellent insulating characteristics of adobe, while protecting that building material from erosion problems during the rainy season, and destruction by earthquake, two problems with traditional adobe construction. Other than the unusual method of using materials, the original home exhibited the familiar layout of the traditional adobe: a strip of connected rooms with an external corridor. Current owners of the house, Jaim Nulman and Avelyn Welczer, seek to demolish the house and build a new one in its place. The Friends of Juana Briones oppose the demolition. As of 8 June 2007, the Santa Clara County Superior Court hadn't decided the issue.[3]
Juana Briones sold most of her rancho to the Murphy family, who came to California with Stephens-Townsend-Murphy Party in 1844. She died in 1889 in nearby Mayfield (now part of Palo Alto, California). She gave the remaining portions of her rancho to her children, who bore their father’s name, Miranda. Her footprints on the local landscape include the house, Juana Briones Elementary School, Juana Briones Park, and several street names incorporating either Miranda or first names of her children.
Juana Briones, like many early Hispanic women of California, has been overlooked by traditional histories, but she was mentioned in the following sources: