José Antonio Estudillo (November 2, 1803[1] – July 20, 1852) was a Californio and an early settler of San Diego, California when California was part of New Spain. -- WikipediaSon of the Commandant of the Presidio of San Diego, Estudillo became a lieutenant in the Spanish army around 1824. Neutral in the Mexican American War, he became the first San Diego County assessor after California became part of the United States.
Estudillo's large U-shaped house in San Diego was the family home until 1887.
Businessman John Spreckels converted the run down Estudillo house into an early 20th century tourist trap, hiring architect Hazel Wood Waterman to reconstruct it and exploiting its tenuous connection to Helen Hunt Jackson's novel Ramona by advertising it as “Ramona's Marriage Place”
The state of California bought the house in 1968 and restored it as an historical museum. It is now part of Old Town San Diego State Historic Park.
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