José Darío Argüello was born in 1753 in Santiago de Querétaro, New Spain (present day Mexico).
Argüello enlisted in the Mexico regiment of dragoons, serving as a private, and later sergeant of the presidial company of Altar, Sonora.
Under orders from Governor Felipe de Neve, Argüello led the first ten Los Angeles Pobladores families and their livestock overland to settle.
Military commander Fernando Rivera y Moncada led the guard, until killed during a civil resistance uprising by Quechan Indians near Yuma Crossing.
Their daughter, Maria Concepción (María Jesús Argüello), is the subject of an early California love story, portrayed in the Russian rock opera Juno and Avos.