Ysabel del Valle
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María Eufemia Ysabel Varela del Valle (March 21, 1837 – March 28, 1905), more commonly known as Ysabel del Valle, was a Californio philanthropist, ranchera and the matriarch of a prominent Valle family. She was the inspiration for the rancho matron character "Señora Moreno" in Helen Hunt Jackson's novel Ramona (1884).
María Eufemia Ysabel Varela was born in Los Angeles, California, Mexico, the daughter of Cerval Varela and Ascencion A. de Varela.
Marriage and charity work
Ysabel Varela became the second wife of alcalde Ygnacio del Valle in 1851 when she was 15 years old and he was 44.[1] She was known to care for homeless children in Los Angeles, seeing to their food and health needs.[2] She provided quarters for the Daughters of Charity religious order, raised money for them, and donated almond trees for their orphanage.[3] She built and maintained a Roman Catholic chapel on the del Valles' Rancho Camulos[4] in the Santa Clarita Valley; the chapel was called "the Lost Mission" because it became a stop for mission tourists and traveling priests.[5]
Ygnacio died in 1880; Ysabel ran the rancho for twenty years as a widow, with help from three of her children.[5] Her mother lived with her at Rancho Camulos, until 1899. Ysabel del Valle was a known model for the rancho matron character "Señora Moreno" in the popular 1884 novel Ramona by Helen Hunt Jackson; the author visited Rancho Camulos in her research for the book.[6][7][8]
