VERDUGO VIEWS:

Not only can Don Urquidez trace his lineage back to Glendale’s founder, Jose Maria Verdugo, but the house he lives in on La Crescenta Avenue has been in the hands of Verdugo descendants since the Verdugo land grant was executed in the 1780s.

After Jose Maria Verdugo’s death, the land was divided between his son, Julio and one of his daughters, Catalina.

In the great partition of 1871, much of the land was allotted to those with a legal claim against the Verdugos. Julio and Catalina each received a small portion.

Catalina, who had been blinded by smallpox when she was 17, never married. She lived with Julio’s son, Teodoro, in an adobe house that still stands on Bonita Drive.

Catalina and Teodoro traded a portion of land, which stretched from about Roselawn Avenue all the way up La Crescenta Avenue to Honolulu Avenue, to the daughter and son-in-law of Teodoro’s sister, Maria Antonia Lonjina Masimo Verdugo de Choboya, also known as “Nanita.” In return, they received several sheep and $500.

Nanita’s daughter, Rafaela Choboya, and her husband, Candelario Urquidez, thus became the owners of the property. Later, Rafaela deeded it to her children, Madrilena, Ramon, Frank, Richard, Jose and Maria Urquidez.

Frank Urquidez, grandfather to Don Urquidez, born in 1871, attended La Crescenta Elementary, the first school in the area. He and his brothers planted orchards and vineyards, and he had the first fruit peddler’s license in Los Angeles.

“The brothers also had a rock-crushing business and made a lot of houses out of rock,” Don Urquidez said. “Frank helped make the rock church, St. Luke’s of the Mountains Episcopal Church, at Foothill Boulevard.”

Frank and one of his brothers, Ramon, also built rock houses for themselves, Don Urquidez said.

“Ramon’s was at La Crescenta and Roselawn and was torn down while I was in elementary school when they sold that part of the land,” he said.

“Frank’s rock house was built on what is now 3620 La Crescenta Ave. in the early 1900s.”

Frank Urquidez married Isabel Flores, and they had 13 children. All were baptized at Holy Family Church, and six came to adulthood.

Their daughter, Mary, never finished school, her son said. Instead, she was sent to a convent, Sisters of Charity, a French order, in Boyle Heights.

She later acknowledged that her father was right to send her there, as she needed more discipline.

“Her older sister, my aunt, Carmen Saxton, was sent to keep an eye on her,” Don Urquidez said. “My mother was pretty obstinate.”

Mary married a distant cousin, another Urquidez named Louis, and they had David, Tom and Don.

Don Urquidez grew up on his grandfather’s property. The rock house was torn down when a portion of land was sold to a developer, Tom Condon, he said.

“My grandfather gave the rest to his children,” he said. “The barn was still there when I was growing up. It was used by La Crescenta Nursery. Later it burned down.”

As part of the agreement, Condon built a new house for Frank Urquidez. It was behind his daughter Loretta’s home. Urquidez Avenue came into being when the land was developed.

Now, three houses on La Crescenta Avenue remain in the family. Don Urquidez lives in one (along with his brother, Tom) during the week while he teaches in Reseda.

And, in a further tie to the past, some of the trees and vines planted by the Urquidez brothers still flourish in the neighborhood.

?KATHERINE YAMADA can be reached by calling features editor Joyce Rudolph at (818) 637-3241. For more information on Glendale’s history visit the Glendale Historical Society’s web page: www.glendalehistorical.org; call the reference desk at the Central Library at (818) 548-2027; or call (818) 548-2037 to make an appointment to visit the Special Collections Room at Central from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays.