Don Vicente Lugo was born on April 5, 1822. He was the son of Don Antonio Maria De Lugo and Maria Delores Dominga Ruiz Lugo. He married Maria Andrea del Carmen Ballesteros. He had two children: Belen Lugo and Blas Angel Lugo. He died on February 25, 1890. Don Antonio Maria De Lugo was the owner of large land grants in Southern California. His brother was
José del Carmen Lugo. José del Carmen Lugo, in a joint venture with his brothers José María and Don Vicente Lugo and cousin
Diego Sepúlveda, began colonizing the
San Bernardino Valley and adjacent
Yucaipa Valley. The land covered more than in the present day
Inland Empire. Their colony charter was approved by the Mexican government in 1839. The valley was plagued by robberies and frequent raids by
California Indians resisting loss of their homeland. Many would-be colonizers would stay for only short periods of time. The Lugo families became strong allies with the Mountain Band of
Cahuilla Indians led by Chief
Juan Antonio.
Harris Newmark remarked of Don Vicente that "the
Beau Brummel of Los Angeles" in the early 1850s was "Don Vicente Lugo, whose wardrobe was made up exclusively of the fanciest patterns of Mexican type; his home, one of the few two-story houses in the pueblo, was close to
Ygnacio del Valle's. Lugo, a brother of Don
José María, was one of the heavy taxpayers of his time; as late as 1860, he had herds of twenty-five hundred head of cattle, or half a thousand more than
Pío and
Andrés Pico together owned. María Ballestero, Lugo's mother-in-law, lived near him.". == Marker==