Inigo of Rancho Posolmi: The Life and Times of a Mission Indian (Formerly Ballena Press Anthropological Papers)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0879191430 ISBN 13: 9780879191436

Publisher: Malki-Ballena Press, 1999

An innovative biography of an Ohlone Indian, who was appointed an alcalde at Mission Santa Clara, was given a size-able land grant, and managed to retain over 800 acres of it until his death in 1864.

Review:

Inigo of Rancho Posolmi will appeal to anyone who is interested in the Ohlone Indians and the history of California under Spain and Mexico. The authors have reconstructed the life of Inigo, a Santa Clara Mission Indian, and the history of his land grant rancho. It is one of the rare works that charts the life of a single native Californian in the nineteenth century. --Albert L. Hurtado, Travis Professor of History, University of Oklahoma

Innovative in its approach and provocative in its conclusions, this book adds insight and controversy to the debate surrounding the purpose, function, and results of the Spanish Mission System in California. --George H. Phillips, author of Indians and Intruders

Deeply researched, rich in detail, and completely trustworthy in its conclusions, this groundbreaking book provides many valuable insights into the larger issues of Indian life in the Spanish/Mexican eras. Rarer yet, individuals come to life with amazing specificity, evoking a complexity of human drama of the clash of cultures out of which modern California has grown. --Malcolm Margolin, author of The Ohlone Way and publisher, Heyday Books