Born on 2 April 1827 to Manuel José Urrutia y Quijano and Joaquina Ordóñez Balcázar in Popayán, during the period known as the Gran Colombia. On 14 April 1958 he married Dolores Olano Hurtado in Popayán, and out this union his son Francisco José was born. He was forced to leave Colombia with his family for Ecuador during the Colombian Civil War of 1876, where he remained afterwards.