The stories of José de la Guerra’s family in Santa Barbara are told in a new book, The De La Guerras of Santa Barbara, by local author and historian Willard Thompson.
Santa Barbara was hardly more than a Franciscan mission and military outpost when José de la Guerra arrived in the first years of the 1800s.
“What a wonderful surprise is The De La Guerras of Santa Barbara,” Jerrell Jackman Ph.D., CEO emeritus, Santa BarbaraTrust for Historic Preservation, said. “It is full of biography and family history unfolded in the perspective of fascinating local events.”
An elite Spaniard, born in Novales, Spain, José de la Guerra went to Mexico City to learn a trade with his uncle. He joined the military and was sent to Alta California expecting to spend just a short time there before returning to the lavish life in Mexico City. Plans changed when he met and married Mariá Antonia Juliana Carrillo, the beautiful daughter of his commanding officer.
José remained in Alta California for the next 50 years, amassing a large fortune, building Casa de la Guerra in Santa Barbara, and siring twelve children.
“General readers will delight in novelist and historian Willard Thompson’s approachable style in his new book,” Michael Redmon, retired historian of the Santa Barbara Historical Museum, said. “In his telling of the history of Alta California, Thompson focuses on the stories of some of the major families of the era including some of the women who did so much to shape that history.”
The book includes family genealogy charts, as well as rare photos from private collections of family members. It brings the reader into the present time following the lives of the de la Guerra descendants who continue to live and contribute to the history of Santa Barbara.
Author Willard Thompson is an award-winning novelist and historian living in Montecito with his wife.
The De La Guerras of Santa Barbara is available at Chaucer’s Books. Tecolote Book Shop, the Santa Barbara Historical Museum, and Amazon.
