Antonio García-Ramos y Vázquez in Veinte temas taurinos writes that Francisco Arjona Herrera, known as "Cúchares", stands out among them.
[3] Some writers are of the opinion that Martina García was born in Guillena near Seville, while others, like José María de Cossío in his work Los toros, states that her birthplace was Ciempozuelos; Pascual Millán in his work Los novillos mentions that García's point of origin was Colmenar de Oreja, near Madrid and Muriel Feiner in La mujer en el mundo del toro repeats Pascual Millán's assertion that Colmenar de Oreja was the bullfighter's birthplace.
[7] On 18 February 1838, García fought for the first time as a matadora against fighting bulls as a mojiganga (a pantomime representation which was done at the time before novilladas whose origin was in the 16th century)[8] accompanied by her own cuadrilla (team of banderilleras and picadoras) which was made up wholly of women such as Rosa Inard and Celedonia Marina,[9] and once again she earned two hundred reales for her efforts.
She appeared shortly thereafter in another novillada playing Dulcinea del Toboso in a representation of Don Quijote de la Mancha.
On 4 February 1849, she performed in Madrid clad in a suit of lights, sharing billing with the bullfighter María, "La Gitana Cantarina" ("The Gipsy Woman Singer").
Conserved at the Biblioteca Nacional de España is the document in which García sought permission to fight bulls.