Tonight's Chino Hills Historical Society Presentation on Don Antonio María Lugo

Thanks to great publicity, including two articles in the Chino/Chino Hills Champion, a good crowd of nearly 150 people came out tonight for a presentation for the Chino Hills Historical Society on Don Antonio María Lugo, grantee in 1841 of Rancho Santa Ana del Chino, previously a ranch under the auspices of Mission San Gabriel, and the western border of which extended into Carbon Canyon just east of Sleepy Hollow.

Approximately 150 people turned out tonight at the Chino Hills Community Center to hear the story of Don Antonio María Lugo, grantee in 1841 of Rancho Santa Ana del Chino, which extended west to near Sleepy Hollow within Carbon Canyon.

The talk covered the Lugo family's migration from the state of Sinaloa in Mexico to Baja California and then to Alta California, where Don Antonio was born in 1778.

From his birth at Mission San Antonio (hence his name?), the story followed his military career, settlement on Rancho San Antonio (that name again!) southeast of Los Angeles, political involvement in the puebelo, acquisition of other ranchos, including Chino, and more.

A lively crowd included descendants of the Lugo, Rowland, Workman and Temple families, as well as local residents interested in the history of the area.

Lugo, an unusually tall man at 6 feet and known as el viejo Lugo, because he lived a longer-than-typical life of 81 years, died the last day of January 1860, and impressed a great many people with his stature, bearing and personality.

A post on this blog from 2010 about Don Antonio can be accessed here, but there is also some other information that will be posted here in upcoming days, so check back for those.