Vicente de la Osa

Vicente de la Osa (January 6, 1808 – July 20, 1861), baptized Jose Vicente de los Reyes de la Ossa, was a Californio city official, tavern owner, and cattle rancher who owned Rancho Providencia and Rancho Los Encinos in what is now the San Fernando Valley area of Southern California in the United States.

Biography De la Osa was born at the Presidio of San Diego, where his father was a corporal. After his mother died when he was a baby he moved to Mexico as a child, then back to Los Angeles where he became a Pueblo of Los Angeles official, serving as secretary, councilman and "syndic". He married Rita Guillen at Mission San Gabriel in 1832. In addition to serving as a public official he owned and operated a tavern. The residential adobe still stands at Los Encinos State Historic Park, but there was originally a second adobe, now long gone, "believed to have some fourteen rooms, housed the storage, work rooms and employee quarters". In 1856 and 1859 he held a relic political position called Judge of the Plains that adjudicated disputes between ranchers.