Wonder Woman of the Week: Eulalia Perez de Guillen Marine

Few people think about what California looked like before the United States wrestled control of it from Mexico during the 19th Century; but the region saw control by several Native American Peoples, The Spanish Empire, Independent Mexico, and the United States. And one woman above all others saw every moment of that history. Not only was she one of the first centenarians in US history, de Guillen Marine played vital roles in Californian history as a landlord, keyholder to a Catholic mission, social activist, and a ranch manager- over the course of three separate flags flying under what is today the US state of California.

Eulalia Perez de Guillen Marine was born in what is today Baja California sometime in the late 1700's (the exact date is a bit of a debate because Eulalia claimed she was born in the 1730's, making her age at the time of her death 140 years old). When she was fifteen, she married a Spanish army sergeant and moved with him north where the Spanish Empire was beginning to colonize the indigenous peoples there. Soon after their arrival, Eulalia's husband died (of unknown causes)- leaving Eulalia alone at the small Catholic mission as the widow of the person sent to enforce imperial law. Thus, the priests at the mission gave Eulalia the proverbial keys to the city (and literal keys to the mission) after she spent years as a cook and midwife. When Mexico declared independence from Spain, California fell under control of the newly independent Mexico- which was not as friendly as the misson's priests when it came to having women in charge.

Eulalia remarried- this time to a Mexican national and the local governor gifted the new couple a 14,000 acre ranch in what is today Pasadena, South Pasadena, and San Marino. While Mexican law prohibited women from owning property, Eulalia settled with managing the ranch until her husband and step-son gambled the property away. Eulalia managed to save a portion of the land however and built a small home on the dissected lot in what is today South Pasadena. During the Mexican-American War, California would become a United States territory and later a state all before Eulalia's death in 1878.