William Wolfskill

William Wolfskill was born in Boonesborough, Kentucky on March 20, 1798,(Died Oct. 3,1866 in Los Angeles, California), to Joseph Wolfskill, Jr and Sarah Reid. Around the age of 30 William went westward for a third time, finally settling in Los Angeles. In 1833 he entered into a common-law marriage with Los Angeles born Maria de la Luz Valencia, daughter of Ignacio Valencia and Maria Luisa Varela de Valencia. They had two children, Maria Susana ,born Nov. 18,1833 and Timoteo born just over a year later. ~ Photograph scanned from: "William Wolfskill 1798-1866 Frontier Trapper to California Ranchero" by Iris Higbie Wilson

A History of California and an Extended History of Los Angeles and Environs

Page 171
William Wolfskill, one of the earliest settlers in Los Angeles and the master of a far-famed domain which contained the first orange grove planted in Southern California outside of the ancient missions. The elder Wolfskill was of the same rugged manhood, whose example long survives, and the story of his own life is another chapter in the history of California, replete with adventure, daring manliness and generosity which were typical of the leaders of his day.

Page 177
William Wolfskill, the orange pioneer of California, had developed over one hundred acres in citrus fruit.


Page 407
his father was well known as a pioneer fruit raiser and important landowner in Los Angeles and an active worker in the interests of education, and his mother a member of a prominent Spanish California family, Joseph W. Wolfskill of Los Angeles may be called a native son of California, as well as for the reason that he himself was born in this city, where he is well known as a successful business man.

The pioneer spirit has always been strong in the Wolfskill family, its men having been public spirited and progressive, active not only in the upbuilding of their own fortunes but also in the promoting of the welfare of the communities where they have lived. The father of Mr. Wolfskill was William Wolfskill, a native of Kentucky and of German and Irish descent, who grew up in an unsettled section of Missouri which was harassed by Indians, in 1822 coming west to New Mexico, where he engaged in trapping for beaver and in buying herds of cattle which he sent to eastern markets. In 1831 William Wolfskill arrived in Los Angeles, where he built the first schooner in California, and later devoted himself to the cultivation of citrus fruits, grapes and nuts and the

Page 408
and the son, who is a retired horticulturist, obtained his first lessons from his father, who in 1841 planted the first orange grove in this section and in 1856 set out a grove of two thousand orange trees near where the Arcade Depot now stands, this being the largest orange orchard at that time in Southern California. From this ranch, which proved a great success, twenty- five thousand boxes of oranges and lemons were shipped in one year. The cultivation of nuts also claimed the attention of William Wolfskill, and he imported from Italy sweet almonds, which, however, did not prove the success in the California climate which other nuts did. Besides the pursuit of horticultural interests, William Wolfskill devoted much of his time and energy to the continuation of the private school established by himself in his home at the corner of Fourth and Alameda streets, Los Angeles, where his own children, as well as those of many other pioneers, received their education, under the instruction of H. D. Barrows, who married the eldest daughter of Mr. Wolfskill. The wife of William Wolfskill was one of an old Spanish family, Magdalena Lugo, the daughter of Don Jose Ygnacio Lugo and Dona Rafaela Romero Lugo of Santa Barbara, Cal.,

Page 429 pioneer, William Wolfskill, one of the very first Americans to settle in Los Angeles, having arrived here in February, 1831.

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William Wolfskill, 1798-1866: Frontier Trapper to California Ranchero

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William, the eldest, was the first to come to California. He arrive in the southwest in 1821 while the region was still held and administered by the Mexican government. He spent ten years trapping in the New Mexico area, where in 1828 he was made a Mexican citizen. Eventually, he moved west to Los Angeles, opening the Santa Fe Trail to California in the process.

William Wolfskill eventually turned away from trapping and from 1838 on devoted himself wholly to the vineyards in southern California which were to make him rich and famous. Vines and fruit trees were his primary interests. He relied on mission varieties initially an experimented with these and other types. In 1857, he became the first man to plant and grow oranges commercially in California.

Marrying into an influential Mexican family in 1841, he became prominent in southern California society and public life.