Rancho San Vicente y Santa Monica

Map of Rancho San Vicente y Santa Monica, 1875

Rancho San Vicente y Santa Monica was a 33,000-acre (130 km2) Mexican land grant in present-day Los Angeles County, California given by governor Juan Alvarado in 1839 to Francisco Sepulveda, a soldier and citizen of Los Angeles.[1] The rancho included what are now Santa Monica, Brentwood, Mandeville Canyon, and parts of West Los Angeles.[2][3]

History

In 1839, Governor Alvarado gave possession to Francisco Sepulveda of the lands known as San Vicente, with a piece of pasture (potrero) named Santa Monica. But the boundaries of the lands were not well defined and there was soon a dispute as to the territory included.[4] In 1839 Francisco Marquez and Ysidro Reyes had received the grant to Rancho Boca de Santa Monica which also included the "potrero" of Santa Monica. In 1840 Francisco Sepulveda petitioned governor Alvarado to place him in "...pacific possession of the property, as Francisco Marquez and Ysidro Reyes have given a bad example of disobedience and that under the strength of discordant documents they remain in possession of the place called Santa Monica".[5]

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 San Vicente y Santa Monica was filed with the Public Land Commission in 1852.[6] The dispute over the boundaries continued and was not settled until the question came into the United States courts.[7] After long litigation, the Rancho San Vicente y Santa Monica grant was patented to the Sepulveda heirs at 30,260 acres (122 km2) in 1881.[8]

In 1872, the Sepulveda's sold their Rancho San Vicente y Santa Monica property to Robert S. Baker. Baker sold a three quarter interest in the land to the Comstock millionaire John Percival Jones in 1874.[9]

Historic sites of the Rancho

The Sepulveda Adobe was the home of Jose Dolores Sepulveda, one of the sons of Francisco Sepulveda. It was probably located in the Sawtelle area, near the intersection of Bundy Drive and Wilshire Boulevard, close to springs discovered by Portola. The building no longer exists.

See also

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. ↑ 1900 USGS topographic map
  3. ↑ Map of old Spanish and Mexican ranchos in Los Angeles County
  4. ↑ Diseño del Rancho San Vicente y Santa Monica
  5. ↑ Ingersoll, Luther A (2008). Ingersoll's Century History, Santa Monica Bay Cities - Prefaced with a Brief History of the State of California, a Condensed History of Los Angeles County, 1542-1908; Supplemented with an Encyclopedia of Local Biography. ISBN 978-1-4086-2367-1.
  6. ↑ United States. District Court (California : Southern District) Land Case 143 SD
  7. ↑ Larrabee, Charles Hathaway (1870). Objections to the survey of the Rancho San Vicente y Santa Monica as made by Geo. H. Thompson, deputy U.S. surveyor, in June and July, 1868. Turnbull & Smith, Law Printers.
  8. ↑ Report of the Surveyor General 1844 - 1886
  9. ↑ Basten, Fred E. (1974). Santa Monica Bay: The First 100 Years, A pictorial history of Santa Monica, Venice, Ocean Park, Pacific Palisades, Topanga and Malibu. Douglas-West, Los Angeles, CA.

External links

Coordinates: 34°01′48″N 118°30′00″W / 34.030°N 118.500°W / 34.030; -118.500

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