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Possessed as he was of an unusual sense of rectitude, I esteemed Francisco Solano, father of Alfredo Solano, for his many good qualities. He was in the butcher business in Sonora Town, and was prosperous in the early fifties.
— Harris Newmark, Sixty Years in California, 78 Francisco Sales de Jesús Solano did well in California, as testified to by Harris Newmark. Sonora Town is that portion of old Los Angeles directly north of the Plaza, along Main Street, or Calle Principál. There is evidence that Francisco Solano owned a house lot and a corral on Main Street. [Loose manuscript, box 32, folder 22, Solano-Reeve Collection, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.] Life in California was not without tragedy for these families, however: Antonio Casanova died in March 1850 of bronchitis at age 50 [1850 U.S. Census Mortality Schedule]. His widow, Trinidad Pino Fuentes, is found in the census that year, along with her daughters, Agustina, Rosa, and María (Téodora). Interestingly, 10-year-old Rosa is found a second time in the same census, four pages later, in the household of George F. Burrill, who was the Los Angeles County Sheriff. It seems likely that she was working in Burrill's home, perhaps as a servant, and she was probably living there at the time the census was actually taken on 18 January 1851. Francisco Solano and Rosa Casanova were married by a Justice of the Peace ( juego de paz) on 27 May 1854 [Bound manuscript, box 32, folder 23, Solano-Reeve Collection]. Depending upon which year she was born (1839 or 1840), Rosa would have been either 13 or 14 years old; Francisco was 37. Three years later, on 22 May 1857, they were married again, this time in the Plaza Church [Our Lady Queen of Angels Church (Old Mission Plaza Church), Los Angeles; "Certified Copy of Certificate of Marriage: Francisco Solano and Rosa Casanova", (Marriage Register Book 1, Page 45, Number 432)]. There were six children born to Francisco and Rosa between 1855 and 1866: - Josefina, b. 22 June 1855, d. 22 December 1940, m. Dominic Larralde
- Alfredo, b. 02 May 1857, d. 14 November 1943, m. (1) Ella T. Brooks, (2) Mina Belle Classey, (3) Kathryn E. Hathaway
- Alejandro C., b. 19 February 1859, d. 08 January 1942, m. (1) Lugardia Mason, (2) Juanita L. [——]
- María Agustina, b. 23 May 1861, d. 25 September 1949, m. Guillermo Bouett
- Manuel, b. ca. 1863, d. after 1890
- Alonzo Francisco, b. June 1866, d. between 1900–1910
Within months after the birth of their sixth child in 1866, Francisco and Rosa embarked on a true, new beginning—one that had an effect that has lasted to the present day: the creation of the historic neighborhood called Solano Canyon. Return to the Genealogy page
This page was updated 19 June 2009
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