Ventura’s Diverse Inhabitants

Ventura’s Diverse Inhabitants. Cemetery Memorial Park. , Below are some of the many prominent individuals interred at Cemetery Memorial Park who represent Ventura's cultural diversity and earliest residents: Native Americans who, along with Spanish missionaries, built the San Buenaventura Mission; Mexican settlers; European-American farmers; Italian, French and German immigrants; and Chinese railroad workers who established Ventura's Chinatown. , Concepción Ortega (1810-1909) , Concepción lived with her husband Emigdio in the Ortega Adobe. Emigdio's grandfather, Jose Francisco Ortega, captained the Portola Expedition in 1769 and founded the Santa Barbara and San Buenaventura Missions with Fr. Junípero Serra. Concepción's son, Emilio Carlos Ortega, created the Ortega Chile Packing Company in his mother's kitchen. The historic Ortega Adobe is located at 215 W. Main Street in downtown Ventura. , Jose Dolores Olivas (1838-1911) , Jose was one of 21 children of Teodora and Raymundo Olivas. Their Rancho San Miguel covered Ventura's southeastern area. The family home is open to the public at the Olivas Adobe Historical Park, 4200 Olivas Park Drive in Ventura. , Jacklin Willett (1838-1915) , Jacklin moved to Ventura from Ohio in 1873 to establish a flourmill. In 1874 he bought 51 acres on Ventura Avenue, today's Willet Ranch, to raise fruit, grain and beans. , Candelaria Valenzuela (1840-1915) , Candelaria was one of the last Ventureño Chumash in the Sespe area and a noted basket maker. She was the main Native American language and culture source for Smithsonian ethnographer George Henley. She and husband Jose worked and lived on the Peirano Ranch north of Ventura. , William Dewey Hobson (d. 1915) , William moved from Illinois to Ventura in the 1850s, and is called "the Father of Ventura County" for his leadership in creating the County when it separated from Santa Barbara County in 1873. The cattle rancher and meatpacker also built some of the town's earliest buildings, including the first Courthouse and Hill School.