Juana Briones - The Founding Mother of San Francisco FROM THE VAULT

Support Queens of the Mines with a tip! Venmo- @queensofthemines CashApp $queensofthemines Paypal [e-mail] Here is the story of a Mexican-American pioneer, healer, trailblazer, businesswoman and landowner. Her name is Doña Juana Briones de Miranda and she is the woman remembered as the ”Founding Mother of San Francisco”, for she was one of the first three settlers in Yerba Buena before it became San Francisco. Juana left an important legacy in California. She was an active and caring person who impacted the lives of many people — Hispanic, indigenous and Anglo-American. In 1769, Marcos Briones and his father Vicente arrived in Alta California from San Luis Potosí, New Spain - today’s Mexico. Marcos and Vicente were soldiers in the Portola expedition. In Alta California, Marcos met and married Isidora Tapia. Isidora and her family arrived later, her father Felipe, a soldier on the de Anza expedition in 1776. Star crossed lovers, whose families traveled over 1600 miles on a mission to colonize and explore the region and establish the Mission San Francisco de Asi.