Rancho Cañada de Capay was a

Mexican land grant The Spanish and Mexican governments made many concessions and land grants in Alta California (now known as California) and Baja California from 1775 to 1846. The Spanish Concessions of land were made to retired soldiers as an inducement for ...

in present day

Yolo County, California Yolo County (; Wintun: ''Yo-loy''), officially the County of Yolo, is a county located in the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 216,403. Its county seat is Woodland. Yolo County is incl ...

given in 1846 by Governor

Pío Pico Don Pío de Jesús Pico (May 5, 1801 – September 11, 1894) was a Californio politician, ranchero, and entrepreneur, famous for serving as the last governor of California (present-day U.S. state of California) under Mexican rule. A member of ...

to the three brothers Santiago, Nemicio, and Francisco Berreyesa. "Cañada de Capay" means "valley of the Capay" in Spanish. "Capay" comes from the Southern

Wintun The Wintun are members of several related Native American peoples of Northern California, including the Wintu (northern), Nomlaki (central), and Patwin (southern).Pritzker, 152 Capay Valley Capay Valley is a mostly rural valley northwest of Sacramento in Yolo County, California, United States. It lies east of Blue Ridge and west of the Capay Hills. Geography Cache Creek flows through the valley. California State Route 16 crosses ...

on both sides of Cache Creek.

History

Pío Pico granted nine square leagues to three Berreyesa brothers: José Catarino Santiago (1815–1856), Joseph Zenobia Nemicio (or Nemesio) (1819–1854), and Francisco Antonio (1824–1856) in 1846. Their father,

José de los Reyes Berreyesa José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...

, who was the grantee of Rancho San Vicente, was killed by

John C. Frémont John Charles Frémont or Fremont (January 21, 1813July 13, 1890) was an American explorer, military officer, and politician. He was a U.S. Senator from California and was the first Republican nominee for president of the United States in 1856 ...

's men in 1846. Francisco Berreyesa was also the grantee of Rancho Rincon de Musalacon in 1846. Jasper O'Farrell purchased seven and a half leagues (about ) from the Berreyesa brothers in 1847, and Charles Hoppe purchased one and a half leagues (later known as the Hoppe tract) from the Berreyesa brothers. Hoppe sold the land to Henry Lawrence, who in 1851 sold it to John D. Stephens and his brother George Dickson Stephens, in partnership with John S. Jury and John Q. Adams. In 1854, Nemicio Berreyesa was

lynched Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate people. It can also be an ex ...

by masked men while he was guarding the family lands at night, and in 1856, Francisco Berreyesa was murdered in his home in Santa Clara, now known as the Berryessa Adobe.FamilyTreeMaker.com
''Descendants of Luis Cayetano (Berrelleza) Berreyesa''
Retrieved on August 19, 2009. With the

cession The act of cession is the assignment of property to another entity. In international law it commonly refers to land transferred by treaty. Ballentine's Law Dictionary defines cession as "a surrender; a giving up; a relinquishment of jurisdictio ...

of California to the United States following the

Mexican-American War Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexicans, Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% ...

, the 1848

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ( es, Tratado de Guadalupe Hidalgo), officially the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Limits, and Settlement between the United States of America and the United Mexican States, is the peace treaty that was signed on 2 ...

provided that the land grants would be honored. As required by the Land Act of 1851, a claim for Rancho Cañada de Capay was filed with the

Public Land Commission The California Land Act of 1851 (), enacted following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the admission of California as a state in 1850, established a three-member Public Land Commission to determine the validity of prior Spanish and Mexican la ...

in 1852, and the grant was

patented A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

to O'Farrell, John S. Jury, and John D. Stephens in 1865. O'Farrell sold an undivided half of the seven and one-half leagues to banker John Milton Rhodes and his business partner, Francis W.Fratt, in 1853. In 1858, Sylvanus Arnold and John Gillig, both Sacramento merchants purchased the other half of the grant. Gillig planted grain, grapevines, and fruit trees and established Yolo County's first

winery A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, ...

in 1860. John Milton Rhodes
The Arnold and Gillig tract includes the town of Capay. The Hoppe tract includes the towns of

Esparto Esparto, halfah grass, or esparto grass is a fiber produced from two species of perennial grasses of north Africa, Spain and Portugal. It is used for crafts, such as cords, basketry, and espadrilles. ''Stipa tenacissima'' and ''Lygeum spartum ...

and

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rancho Canada de Capay Canada de Capay

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Cañada ''Cañada'' (, Spanish for droveway, drovers' road) may refer to: Places Argentina *Cañada de Gómez, a city in the province of Santa Fe *Cañada Rosquín, a small town (comuna) in the province of Santa Fe * La Cañada, a town in Santiago d ...

History

See also

References