Gilroy
– Residents won’t soon forgot the man for whom the city was
named.
John Gilroy, the California pioneer who settled here, will be
fondly remembered at a plaque-dedication ceremony set for noon
Saturday at Anchorpoint School (formerly San Ysidro School) along
the Pacheco Pass Highway two miles east of downtown Gilroy. This is
near the location John Gilroy lived and died in his Rancho San
Ysidro adobe home during the golden days of California.
Gilroy – Residents won’t soon forgot the man for whom the city was named.
John Gilroy, the California pioneer who settled here, will be fondly remembered at a plaque-dedication ceremony set for noon Saturday at Anchorpoint School (formerly San Ysidro School) along the Pacheco Pass Highway two miles east of downtown Gilroy. This is near the location John Gilroy lived and died in his Rancho San Ysidro adobe home during the golden days of California.
“It really is important for our community to know where our beginnings were physically and why that area happened to be chosen and how we became what we are today,” said Connie Rogers, a member of the Gilroy Historical Society. “It was the beginning of our community. It’s the place that, unfortunately, hardly exists any more.”
Anchorpoint School, the Gilroy Historical Society, the Mountain Charley Chapter of the E. Clampus Vitas history-preservation group and the Native Sons of the Golden West sponsored the monument.
The plaque relates the history of John Gilroy and the village of San Ysidro.
Bill Clark, a member of the E. Clampus Vitas who helped create the monument, passionately described John Gilroy and his dynamic frontier spirit.
“It was a very romantic time,” Clark said. “That was a very exciting time.”
The Scottish-born Gilroy arrived in California in 1814 and, as a young man, became the first English-speaking settler in the entire region – then controlled by the Spanish crown.
Gilroy made his way to the settlement of Ignacio Ortega, the son of a scout of the Spanish explorer Portola who discovered Santa Clara Valley and the San Francisco Bay in the 1760s.
Gilroy lived through the high points of early California history, Clark said. He knew settlers such as the Martin Murphy family as well as survivors of the ill-fated Donner Party. He saw first hand the struggle between Mexico and America for control of California.
And he saw the effects of how the Gold Rush lured settlers from all around the world to this Promised Land.
“Gee! It was a sterling time,” Clark said. “Everyone was trying to get as much land as possible after the gold was discovered.”
Three descendants of local pioneering families are scheduled to speak at Saturday’s ceremony, he said. Robert Gilroy, a local veterinary assistant, will describe his great-great-great-great-great grandfather.
Edward Allegretti, a direct descendent of Ignacio Ortega, will talk about the Spanish family John Gilroy married into. And retired ranchers and historian Jack Sturla will describe the San Ysidro School where his father was a trustee for 38 years.
“I’m proud the town was named Gilroy,” Robert said.
He noted his father, Benjamin Gilroy Jr., and grandfather often felt elated by their blood connection to the esteemed pioneer.
“There’s a little bit of an ego thing,” Robert said with a laugh. “And I tell you, it goes through the family. I’m just getting to that stage now.”
He named his oldest son “Cameron” after John’s original last name. (John took his mother’s maiden name of ‘Gilroy’ soon after arriving in California.)
One reason he made his home in the South Valley area and works a ranch here is his pride in John Gilroy’s impact on the area, he said.
He sees his ancestor playing a major role in the settlement of the South Valley.
“He had his finger in everything,” he said. “He helped out with the tobacco and the mills. But basically, he was working making barrels.”
John Gilroy also served for three months as an interpreter between the Mexican and American armies during the Mexican-American War of the mid-1840s, he said.
His diplomatic skills helped ease the tension between the people who lived in California, known as Californios, and the Americans.
“He was well respected and well liked,” Robert said. “He knew everybody and helped out everybody.”
The California where John Gilroy made his home was a three-mile-an-hour world where people enjoyed the pleasantries of leisurely social visits and fiestas with mariachi music.
And Saturday’s plaque-dedication ceremony will attempt to recreate the spirit of that long-gone time. Mariachi music will be played by Las Cubancheros.
And, in honor of John Gilroy’s Scottish roots, bag piper Rob Boy will play traditional Highlander tunes.
As for the monument itself, visitors will be able to read about the vibrant story of John Gilroy and the village of San Ysidro.
