Los Angeles
County
Biographies
PIERRE
LARRONDE and JEAN ETCHEMENDY
Numbered
among the pioneers of California we find that Jean Etchemendy and Pierre
Larronde arrived at San Francisco in the year 1847, and like all of the hardy
men of their day, outfitted for the mines and were very fortunate in securing
some of the precious metal everyone was digging for. After finding enough gold to satisfy him Mr.
Etchemendy tired of the hard life in the mining camps and decided to look about
for a place to make a home. In 1851 he
came to the Pueblo of Los Angeles and here found what he desired and became the
founder of one of the best known families of the southland.
Mr.
Etchemendy was born at Hasparren, Basses-Pyrenees, France, on November 11,
1830. There he spent his childhood and
attended school until he was sixteen.
Seeking adventure he sailed from his home port for South America, and
soon afterwards again set sail for San Francisco, where he arrived as above
stated. Upon his arrival in southern
California he found the population consisted chiefly of Mexicans, with a number
of fine old Spanish families, but very few French people. His first business venture was in the bakery
business at which he made money. Like
nearly all of his countrymen he was a sheep man and soon drifted into that
industry and for many years was among the large sheep raisers of the
state. He ran his sheep on the famous
Rancho San Pedro near Wilmington and continued the business until his death on
March 13, 1872.
Jean
Etchemendy was united in marriage in Los Angeles in 1865 with Juana Eguirala, who was born in Marquina,
Spain, on August 29, 1835, and who had come to California with her family in
her girlhood. After the death of Mr.
Etchemendy the widow married Pierre Larronde.
He was a native of France, born at St. Palais,
in the lower Pyrenees, October 9, 1826.
There he attended school and afterwards learned the carpenter
trade. In the early forties he sailed
for South America, landing at Buenos Aires, and remained there until the year
1847, when he secured passage on a ship bound for San Francisco,
California. He went to the mining
districts to try his luck, was successful and in 1851 he left the north and
came to Los Angeles County and began raising sheep on a part of the Dominguez
Rancho. He was very successful in his
work and operated on an extensive scale.
In 1889 he sold his sheep and thereafter gave his attention to the
management of his various interests in Los Angeles and the surrounding district
until his death on May 24, 1896. Mr.
Larronde owned some valuable real estate, some of which is still in the
possession of the family. As early as
1879 he bought the northwest corner at First and Spring
streets from Frank Carpenter, and this is now owned by his heirs.
He
and his wife had three children: Pierre
Domingo, who became connected with the Franco-American Banking Company;
Antoinette, now the widow of James Watson and a resident of Los Angeles; and
John M., who became identified with the Title Insurance Company. He is now president of the fire commission of
Los Angeles. Juana Larronde made her home
with her son John M. Larronde and her three daughters by her marriage with Jean
Etchemendy, Madeline, Marianne, and Caroline, at 237 North Hope Street, during
the latter part of her life. She died in
Los Angeles in July, 1924, at the advanced age of eighty-nine years. She was well known to the early Spanish and
French pioneers of Los Angeles County and was a liberal contributor to all
progressive movements for the upbuilding of the state of her adoption. Her three daughters are prominent in club and
social activities in Los Angeles, particularly in the Friday Morning Club and
the Catholic Women’s Club. From the time
Pierre Larronde made settlement in Los Angeles County to the present date the
Larronde family has been among the consistent upbuilders
of Los Angeles and active in all forward movements for good government and
educations activities.
Transcribed
by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South
Vol. V, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 473-474,
Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V.
Gerald Iaquinta.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES
BIOGRAPHIES