Anza - Little Known Facts
by Don Garate
Historian, Tumacacori National Historical Park
Four Yuma (Quechan) Indians, including Chief Palma, accompanied Juan Bautista de Anza to Mexico City to report the successful colonizing expedition to Alta California. They stayed there from November 1776 through February 1777. While there, the four Yumas attended catechism and were baptized in the national cathedral on February 13th. Word did not arrive in the new world at that time, but while they were there, King Carlos III appointed Anza governor of New Mexico. The appointment was handed down in Spain on February 9th and notice was sent to the viceroy of New Spain the next day. Mail service across the Atlantic was slow, however, and Anza did not learn of his appointment until July, long after he and the Yumas were back home.
But did you know that during the nearly four months that he and the four Indians were in Mexico City, they stayed with Anza’s nephew and his wife, Juan Jose Tato and Josefa Sirila Guero? Born at Basochuca, Sonora in 1749 to Anza’s oldest full sister, Margarita, and her husband, Manuel Tato, Juan Jose had recently completed his schooling to become a lawyer and had set up practice in Mexico City. He had married Josefa the previous June while Anza was returning from California. Now she was pregnant with their first child, but Uncle Juan would leave Mexico City before the birth of his great niece. Maria Josefa Ygnacia Eustacia Joachina Tato was born on March 31st, 1777 in Mexico City while Anza and the four Yumas were just one day out of Durango on their return trip to Sonora. Uncle Juan and Maria Josefa probably never met during his lifetime.