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Description
Born 1806, Martina Castro was the daughter of Jose Joaquin Castro and the granddaughter of Isidro Castro, a member of the De Anza expedition of 1775-76. She inherited the 1,668 acre Rancho Soquel from her father. In the years between 1833 and 1843 she applied for and received two land grants totaling 34,370 acres. The larger of the two grants was known as the Soquel Augmentacion. Both of the grants were located on the Soquel watershed and reached to the mountain top boundary of Santa Clara County. She increased her holdings, successfully managed her property for more than thirty years and in the process gained a reputation for good business sense. Martina Castro was married and widowed three times. Her first marriage was to Corporal Simon Cota. They had three daughters. Michael Lodge, a sailor from Dublin, Ireland, was her second husband. Together they had six children. Lodge disappeared in 1850 on his way back from the gold fields. In 1856, Castro married Frenchman Louis Depeaux. They were married until his death in 1882. This portrait was painted by Castro's granddaughter Anita, daughter of Maria del Carmen (Cota Lodge) Fallon and Captain Thomas Fallon. (Description taken from "Pioneer Women of Santa Clara County: Selections from The Permanent Collection," by Helen Kuesel and Milita Rios-Samaniego, San Jose Historical Museum, 1991)
Type
Image
Format
Oil on canvas
Identifier
A0E748C3-A559-41D2-A23C-044556756873 L1988-215-1
Subject
Women Hispanic Americans--California Portrait paintings Nineteenth century Castro, Martina Fallon, Anita
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