Maria Ruiz de Burton

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María Amparo Ruiz de Burton (1832–1895) is considered the first female Mexican-American author to write in English. In her career she published two very popular books: Who Would Have Thought It? (1872) and The Squatter and the Don (1885).

[edit] Biography

María Amparo Ruiz de Burton was born in La Paz, Baja California on July 3, 1832. Her grandfather Don Jose Manuel Ruiz was a Commander of the Mexican northern frontier in Baja California. Due to his oustanding work in the services, Don Jose Manuel received two sites of over 3,500 hectares of land in the Ensanada region. This land became very important for the Ruiz family for María's entire life. Then many years later, Francisco Ruiz, María's great-uncle, was a commandate in San Diego. When María's family moved to the United States, they settled in San Diego where they had the most family ties. While living in San Diego, María had an English tutor by the name of Mariano Vallejo who taught her the basics of being a writer(1).

In 1849, she married an American military officer named Henry Burton in Monterey, CA. In 1852, the couple bought a ranch, Rancho Jamul, where the couple made extensive renovations and lived for many years. While living in California the couple had two children named Nellie and Harry. By the beginning of the 1860s, Henry Burton was sent to Rhode Island in order to help the military with the struggle between North and South towards the end of the Civil War. María, and their two children accompanied Henry there, but in 1869 he contracted malarial fever and died.

After her husband Henry Burton died María spent many decades in lawsuits trying to keep the title to Rancho Jamul. While the Burtons bought Rancho Jamul in the 1850s, the deed of purchase did not come through until the 1870s. As a result of the long and extensive litigation process, squatters settled onto parts of the ranch. However, the ranch was never without the presence of a member of the Burton family even when they moved east with Henry. Finally, in 1875 María finally received the land grant, but after years fighting legally over the land it was very heavily mortgaged. María then had no choice but to apply for a homestead instead which granted her only 986.6 hectares of land. Even after this small victory for María in 1887, the government still fought with her over the land for the next two years, which ultimately remained in her name.

Towards the end of her life María moved east to Chicago in order to fight for claims to another family ranch,Rancho Ensenada de Todos Santos, that her grandfather had inherited. However, she was unsuccessful and died in 1895 trying to get the title for it. Due to all of the years she spent in lawsuits over lands, María died bankrupt but had spent her entire life pursuing her all of her work with energy and the hope to preserve her Latina roots.

[edit] Literary Works

Most of María works that she published was under the pen name C. Loyal. Maria chose C. Loyal for the meaning Loyal Citizen, which in spanish translates to Cuidadano Leal. The idea from her pen name came from the way government officials in Mexico would end their letters in the nineteenth century.

Who Would Have Thought It? does not actually have her name attached to it; however, in the Library of Congress the novel is under the names H. S. Burton and Mrs. Henry S. Burton. The story of this novel deals with the Civil War in a very sardonic manner. In Who Would Have Thought It? a Presbyterian minister and the wife of one of his friends engage in a love affair that in the context of the Civil War illuminates the hypocrisy and racism of this Northern abolitionist family.

The Squatter and the Don is her most famous literary piece. This work of fiction adopts the narrative perspective of a conquered Mexican population that felt exploited and inferior to Americans, despite the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hildago of 1848(2). This novel came after Maria and her two children moved back to California after her husband's death. The story of The Squatter and the Don fictionally documents the many Californio families that lost their land due to squatters and litigation, which is something that Maria had first hand experience with (3).

(1)http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/dept/mas/chicanohistory/chapter05/c05s07.html (2)http://www.cheapesttextbooks.com/reviews/review-The-Squatter-and-the-Don-Recovering-the-U.S.-Hispanic-Literary-Heritage-Maria-Amparo-Ruiz-De-Burton-1558851852-9781558851856.html (3)Ruiz de Burton, Maria Amparo. The Squatter and the Don. Houston: Arte Publico Press, 1997.