Juana Briones Narrative.m4v
Channel: teamOKAPI
Date: 2011-08-11

Juana de la Trinidad Briones y Tapia de Miranda (1802 - 1889) lived throughout the San Francisco area for most of her life and her legacy remains memorialized in parks, schools and other institutions throughout the area. Born in 1802 at the Villa de Branciforte in what is present day Santa Cruz, Juana Briones was a first generation Californiana (Voss p.163).  Her mother, Maria Ysadora Tapia, had travelled as a child to Alta California with the original Anza expedition to found El Presidio de San Francisco.  Her father, Marcos Briones, had arrived in Alta California as a young soldier with the expedition that established El Presidio de Monterey.  Juana, one of at least nine children, spent the first ten years of her life at the Villa de Branciforte.   Her father, a retired soldier, moved his family to El Polin after the death of his wife around 1812 (Kari Jones, personal communication). Juana spent her youth at El Polin Springs with her father and her sister Guadalupe's family. She and her family had at least two homes near the spring and they continued to maintain these residences until the early 1850's (Voss, p.165).  Juana married Apolinario Miranda in 1820, and whether owing to the mystical waters of El Polín springs or not, between 1821 and 1841, she did give birth to eleven children (Voss, p.165). Juana's older sister, Guadalupe, was locally recognized for her herbal healing and midwifery. It was during this time, living at El Polín and learning from Guadalupe, that Juana became known as a practicing midwife and healer, with knowledge of medicinal plants and herbs.

Microhistory written by Francesca Favila and Cheryl Guerrero for Anthro 136e, Digital Documentation and Representation of Cultural Heritage, a UC Berkeley course taught in partnership with the Presidio of San Francisco Archaeology Lab, Summer 2011.