Ysabel del Valle (March 21, 1837 – March 28, 1905) was a philanthropist and rancho owner, and the matriarch of a large Californio family. She was a model for the rancho matron character "Señora Moreno" in Helen Hunt Jackson's novel Ramona (1884).

Ysabel del Valle in her later years, from a 1903 publication.
(Ysabel del Valle with child) (12911447415)

Early life

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Maria Eufemia Ysabel Varela was born in Los Angeles, California, Mexico, the daughter of Cerval Varela and Ascencion A. de Varela.

Marriage and charity work

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Ysabel Varela became the second wife of alcalde Ygnacio del Valle in 1851 when she was 15 years old and he was 44.[1] She was known to care for homeless children in Los Angeles, seeing to their food and health needs.[2] She provided quarters for the Daughters of Charity religious order, raised money for them, and donated almond trees for their orphanage.[3] She built and maintained a Roman Catholic chapel on the del Valles' Rancho Camulos[4] in the Santa Clarita Valley; the chapel was called "the Lost Mission" because it became a stop for mission tourists and traveling priests.[5]

Ygnacio died in 1880; Ysabel ran the rancho for twenty years as a widow, with help from three of her children.[5] Her mother lived with her at Rancho Camulos, until 1899. Ysabel del Valle was a known model for the rancho matron character "Señora Moreno" in the popular 1884 novel Ramona by Helen Hunt Jackson; the author visited Rancho Camulos in her research for the book.[6][7][8]

Death and legacy

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"Home of Ramona brand" label for Rancho Camulos products

Ysabel del Valle died in 1905, aged 68 years, at her daughter's home in Los Angeles.[9] Her gravesite is in Calvary Cemetery in Los Angeles. One of her sons, Reginaldo Francisco del Valle, became a California state senator. One of her granddaughters, Lucretia del Valle Grady, was a Democratic party official and a diplomat's wife.[10]

The del Valle Family Papers were donated to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County by Josefa del Valle Forster, Ysabel's daughter.[11] There are photographs of her and her children in the Reginaldo del Valle Papers at the California Historical Society.[12] A photograph album of the del Valle family at Rancho Camulos, assembled by Charles Fletcher Lummis, is in the collection of the Huntington Library.[13] Other items of the family's history are in the Rancho Camulos Museum in Piru, California.

A 2016 exhibit at the library of Loyola Marymount University focused Ysabel del Valle's religious devotion, including objects from the chapel at Rancho Camulos.[14][15] Her story was one of eleven biographies included in "History Keepers", a 2017 California Historical Society exhibit at El Tranquilo Gallery on Olvera Street in Los Angeles.[2]

References

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  1. ^ Margie Brown-Coronel, "Creating home, creating legacies: how the Del Valles built Camulos" O Say Can You See? blog (February 19, 2018).
  2. ^ a b "Coming to the Aid of Orphans: Ysabel Varela del Valle" California Historical Society blog (September 19, 2017).
  3. ^ Kristine Ashton Gunnell, "The Daughters of Charity as Cultural Intermediaries: Women, Religion, and Race in Early Twentieth-Century Los Angeles" in David J. Endres, ed., Remapping the History of Catholicism in the United States (CUA Press 2017): 103, note 20. ISBN 9780813229690
  4. ^ "Rancho Camulos, Piru, California" National Park Service.
  5. ^ a b Evie Ybarra, Legendary Locals of Fillmore (Arcadia Publishing 2015): 13. ISBN 9781439651827
  6. ^ Carlyle C. Davis, "Ramona: The Real and the Ideal" Out West (December 1903): 583-588.
  7. ^ Major W. H. Patton, "A Feast at the Home of Ramona" The Golden West (May 1, 1921): 5.
  8. ^ "What's the Big Deal about Ramona?" The Signal (June 1, 2007): 41. via Newspapers.com 
  9. ^ "Mistress at Camulos Dead" San Francisco Chronicle (March 30, 1905): 4. via Newspapers.com 
  10. ^ "Lucretia Grady, Democratic Party Aide; Twice Seconded FDR Nominations" The Washington Post and Times-Herald (May 25, 1972): B6. via ProQuest
  11. ^ Del Valle Family Papers, 1818-1920, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
  12. ^ Reginaldo del Valle Papers, California Historical Society Digital Library.
  13. ^ Photograph Album from Charles F. Lummis to Susanita Del Valle, Huntington Library.
  14. ^ "The Del Valle Vestments: The Devotion and Performance of a Matriarchy" William H. Hannon Library, Loyola Marymount University (February to May 2016).
  15. ^ Leon Worden, "The Del Valle Vestments: Relics of old SCV on Display at LMU" SCVTV (February 7, 2016).
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  • Margie Brown-Coronel, "Beyond the Rancho: Four Generations of Del Valle Women in Southern California" (doctoral dissertation, University of California at Irvine, 2011).
  • Casa Del Rancho Camulos, State Highway 12 (5164 East Telegraph Road), Piru, Ventura County, CA Drawings from Survey HABS CA-38, Library of Congress.