José Francisco Ortega (1734 – February 1798) was an indigenous Californio soldier and early settler of Alta California. He joined the military at the age of twenty-one and rose to the rank of sergeant by the time he joined the Portola expedition in 1769. At the end of his military duty he would be granted land which he named Rancho Nuestra Senora del Refugio near Santa Barbara. Early life Ortega was born in 1734 in Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico, where he worked as a warehouse clerk. He was of indigenous background, but little else is known about his youth. In October 1755 he enlisted in the military as a private soldier to serve at the Royal Presidio at Misión Nuestra Señora de Loreto in Baja California. He rose to the rank of Corporal on August 3, 1756, and on February 9, 1759 he rose to the rank of sergeant. In 1759 Ortega married María Antonia Victoria Carrillo (ca. 1742 - May 1803), daughter of another soldier, at Loreto. Ortega rejoined the army in 1768, having been recruited by California Governor Gaspar de Portolá to lead his expedition to explore and settle Alta California. Alta California Spain had a plan to use Alta California as a buffer zone starting in the 1760s. This move to populate Alta California came from a decree by King Carlos III who wanted to keep its control away from the Russians who were hunting seals off the coast of California. The overall goals of the Spanish Crown were to defend against the Russians, construct a mission north of San Diego, and to have more people living between San Diego and Monterey. The establishment of missions came under the guise of the viceroy of Mexico who had some objectives in mind: a native population, sufficient land for agriculture, and enough water for that agriculture. Professor Richard L. Carrillo stated that this practice is known as "uti posidetis" where they had the right to the land that they conquered while ignoring the indigenous and their social and legal systems. Pedro Fages, a Spanish soldier also present during the Portola expedition, noted that the native populations they encountered served as guides to tell them which roads to take, where to find water sources, and were even given food such as fish and nuts. The San Diego natives they encountered were also noted to have houses and lived in villages. After