 Following Mexican independence from Spain, Machado was a loyal officer of the Mexican army and administered the garrison rancho of the San Diego Presidio, later the Rancho de la Nación.For loyal service he was granted the Rancho El Rosario in 1827 on lands of the Misión El Descanso in Baja California.During the early 1830s he became a citizen of the new pueblo of San Diego where he built a one story adobe house for his family below the presidio, on what became 2724 Congress Street.