Don Pedro Carrillo

Don Pedro Carrillo was born in Santa Barbara, California in 1817 into one of the most distinguished and politically influential Californio families of Alta California. His father, Don Carlos Carrillo, served as a member of the Mexican Congress and provisional Governor of California, instilling in Pedro a deep respect for civic governance and land stewardship.

In 1846, Pedro Carrillo married Josefa Bandini, daughter of Don Juan Bandini, the prominent merchant and statesman of Old Town San Diego. On May 15, 1846, in honor of their marriage and in recognition of Carrillo’s loyal service to the departmental government, Mexican Governor Pío Pico issued an official land grant transferring ownership of the 4,185-acre Peninsula de San Diego (the two islands of Coronado) to Carrillo.

Aware of escalating military tensions during the Mexican-American War and the arrival of Commodore Stockton’s American naval forces in San Diego Bay, Carrillo held the remote, uninhabited land grant for only seven months. On December 23, 1846, Carrillo sold the entire peninsula to American merchant ship captain Bezer Simmons for $1,000 in silver coin, establishing the first legal commercial deed transfer of Coronado.

Following the American acquisition of California, Carrillo remained active in public affairs, serving as a respected member of the California State Assembly representing Santa Barbara from 1853 to 1854. His 1846 Mexican land grant remains the legal taproot of all modern real estate titles on the Coronado peninsula.