From Expedition to Home: The Anza Legacy in California & Cambria

Join us for an evening of living history. The featured speaker is Bobby Soto, an 8th-generation native Californian whose family history is closely tied to the Anza Expedition. His five-times great-grandfather, Ignacio de Soto, along with his wife Bárbara and their two young children, were selected by Anza for the 1775-1776 expedition and stationed at the newly established San Francisco Presidio. The Soto family’s story continued through Monterey, San José, Jolon, Adelaida, and the San Simeon coast, where family members worked as vaqueros for George Hearst.

Bobby worked for 35 years at Hearst Castle, retiring as Restoration Supervisor in 2003, while continuing his family’s long tradition of raising cattle on ranchland in Cambria. He is the author of a family history tracing the Soto lineage from the Basque region of Anguiano, Spain, to their eventual settlement in Cambria.

Doors open at 6:00 pm with light refreshments, followed by welcome remarks at 6:30 pm. The evening concludes with a moderated Q&A panel and time to explore the museum until 8:00 pm. Thank you to our co-hosts the Atascadero Historical Society.

At the conclusion of the event, participants will have the opportunity to stamp their National Parks Passport books with the official Anza stamp.

From Expedition to Home: The Anza Legacy in California & Cambria | AMWC