Rancho Pastoria de las Borregas

Rancho Pastoria de las Borregas was a 9,066-acre (36.69 km²) Mexican land grant in present day Santa Clara County, California, USA, given in 1842 by Governor Juan Alvarado to Francisco Estrada.^[1] The name means "pasture of the ewes (sheep)" in Spanish. The rancho lands encompassed the present day cities of Sunnyvale and Mountain View.^[2][3][4][5]

History

Francisco M. Estrada received the land grant in 1842. Estrada's wife Inez Castro Estrada, died in 1844 and Estrada died in 1845. His father, Jose Mariano Estrada, inherited the land and transferred it to Inez Castro Estrada's father, Mariano Castro (1784 - 1857). He was born in San Francisco and served in the Spanish army. He was made Alcalde of the San Jose Pueblo.^[6]

In 1849, Mariano Castro sold half the rancho to Martin Murphy, Jr.,^[7] (1807-1884), the son of Martin Murphy Sr., who brought his family to California with the Stephens-Townsend-Murphy Party in 1844.^[8][9]

With the cession of California to the United States following the Mexican-American War, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided that the land grants would be honored. As required by the Land Act of 1851, a claim for Rancho Pastoria de las Borregas was filed by Mariano Castro with the Public Land Commission in 1852,^[10] and the grant was patented for 4,172 acres (16.9 km²)in 1881.^[11]

A claim was filed by Murphy, Jr. with the Land Commission in 1852,^[12][13][14] and the grant was patented for 4,894 acres (19.8 km²) in 1865.^[15]

Murphy, Jr. died in 1884, and his wife, Mary Bolger Murphy, died in 1892. Their rancho was divided among their children and grandchildren; each received 820 acres (3.3 km²).^[16]

Historic sites of the Rancho

• Sunnyvale Heritage Park Museum

References

1. Ogden Hoffman, 1862, Reports of Land Cases Determined in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, Numa Hubert, San Francisco
2. Diseño del Rancho Pastoria de las Borregas
3. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Rancho Pastoria de las Borregas
4. Early Santa Clara Ranchos, Grants, Patents and Maps
5. Gates, Mary J (1895). Rancho Pastoria de las Borregas. Mountain View, California. Cottle & Murgotten.
6. Hoover, Mildred B.; Rensch, Hero; Rensch, Ethel; Abeloe, William N. (1966). Historic Spots in California. Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-4482-9.
7. Sunnyvale History
8. Martin Murphy
9. The Murphy Family
10. United States. District Court (California : Northern District) Land Case 97 ND
11. Report of the Surveyor General 1844 - 1886
12. United States. District Court (California : Northern District) Land Case 84 ND
13. Diseño del Rancho Pastoria de las Borregas
14. Map of land bought by Martin Murphy Jr. of Mariano Castro
15. Report of the Surveyor General 1844 - 1886
16. Santa Clara Historic Resource Inventory

• Ignoffo, Mary Jo (1994). Sunnyvale: From the City of Destiny to the Heart of the Silicon Valley. ISBN 0-935089-17-9.
• Ignoffo, Mary Jo (2002). Milestones: A History of Mountain View, California. ISBN 0-935089-28-4.
• Perry, Nicholas (2006). Mountain View. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7385-3136-6.
• 100th Birthday City of Mountain View

Coordinates: 37°22′48″N 122°00′36″W / 37.380°N 122.010°W