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Healer, midwife, cattle rancher, merchant, and landowner, Juana Briones
(1803-1889) refused to live within the limits set for women in her time. She
bore eight children before legally separating from her husband, and adopted
five more. Known for her compassion and skill as a medical woman, she was also
a successful businesswoman. As one of the first settlers of San Francisco (then
called Yerba Buena), Briones acquired 4,400 acres of land near San Francisco,
and, unlike many, managed to hold onto her property as California changed hands
from Spain to Mexico to the United States.
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