Anthony Ubach

Who was Anthony Ubach?

Anthony Dominic Ubach was a Roman Catholic priest and long-time advocate for the education of Native Americans in San Diego, California during the late 19th century.

Ubach was the first American appointed to serve Mission San Diego de Alcalá after California's annexation by the United States. In 1862, President Lincoln had signed an order returning the mission lands to the Catholic Church. Presumably appointed by Bishop Thaddeus Amat—then the Bishop of the Diocese of Monterey-Los Angeles—Ubach arrived in 1866 to find that the mission had been used by the U.S. military for nearly twenty years, and was in a total state of disrepair.

As soon as he arrived, as well as the restoration of the church itself, Ubach sought ways to provide vocational training to the young Native Americans of the mission. At that time, there was no efforts made by the U.S. government for the education of Native Americans, and for nearly twenty years, he had to rely on private resources, mostly the Presbyterian mission office.