Eulalia Pérez de Guillén Mariné (c. 1766 – June 11, 1878) was a Californio woman who served as mayordoma (keeper of the keys) of Mission San Gabriel Arcángel and was the grantee of Rancho del Rincón de San Pascual in the San Rafael Hills, in present-day Los Angeles County, California. She claimed to have been born in 1766, which would have made her 112 years old at the time of her death, though this extreme age has not been independently verified.
Early Life
She was born Eulalia Pérez Cotes (also spelled Cota) in Loreto, on the Baja California Peninsula of the Las Californias Province in the Viceroyalty of New Spain (today Baja California Sur, Mexico). Her father, Diego Pérez, was a ship captain from Salamanca, Spain; her mother, Antonia Rosalia Cotes (or Cota), is thought to have been a mulatta. According to family tradition, Captain Pérez taught his daughter to read and write—a skill that later proved crucial to her survival and rise to prominence.
At age fifteen, she married Spanish army Sergeant Miguel Antonio Guillén, who was stationed at the Presidio of San Diego. Around 1800, the family moved on foot from Baja California to the garrison at the newly established Mission San Gabriel, accompanied by their children Petra, Rosaria, and Isidoro. Miguel later died while serving at the San Diego garrison, leaving Eulalia with several children.
Career at Mission San Gabriel
After her husband's death, Pérez obtained employment at Misión San Gabriel, initially working as a cook and midwife—attending, among others, Governor Pío Pico. Her literacy and competence led to her appointment as mayordoma ("keeper of the keys"), making her the highest-ranking woman at the mission. In this role, she oversaw all non-secular and non-military operations of the mission, including food preparation, textile production, and the management of supplies. Victoria Reid, an Indigenous Californian woman, worked as her assistant during this period.
Rancho del Rincón de San Pascual
Upon her retirement, Mexican Governor José Figueroa granted Pérez the 14,402-acre (58.28 km²) Rancho del Rincón de San Pascual. However, under Mexican law, women could not hold property in their own name. To secure the grant, she married retired Mexican artillery lieutenant Juan Mariné (d. 1836). The rancho encompassed the present-day cities of Pasadena, South Pasadena, and San Marino.
According to some accounts, Mariné and his sons lost the land through gambling. In another version, Mariné's son Fruto, an active soldier, could not manage the rancho and sold it to José Pérez and Enrique Sepúlveda in 1839. The new owners received a re-grant of title from Mexican Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado that same year.
Later Life and Death
In her later years, Pérez lived in the Adobe Flores (built 1839) on Rancho San Pascual, located on the southern slope of Raymond Hill in present-day South Pasadena. She also spent considerable time in the homes of her daughters, including that of María Rita de Guillén de la Ossa, wife of José Vicente de la Ossa, owner of Rancho de los Encinos (now Los Encinos State Historic Park in Encino, California).
Eulalia Pérez de Guillén Mariné died in the Los Angeles area on June 11, 1878. Her death certificate, located in the Santa Ana courthouse, records her age as 140. Descendants generally agree on more conservative figures of 110 or 112 years.
Legacy
She is one of only two non-clergy buried with the priests in the San Gabriel Mission courtyard cemetery—a highly unusual honor for a woman at that time. A marble bench inscribed with her name marks the burial site. Her numerous descendants married into other founding Spanish and Mexican families of pre-statehood California.
The Adobe Flores, her final home, was restored by architect Carleton Winslow Sr. in the early 20th century and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
