Rancho El Cajón 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

San Diego County, California San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the fi ...

given in 1845 by Governor

Pio Pico Pio may refer to: Places * Pio Lake, Italy * Pio Island, Solomon Islands * Pio Point, Bird Island, south Atlantic Ocean People * Pio (given name) * Pio (surname) * Pio (footballer, born 1986), Brazilian footballer * Pio (footballer, born 1988), B ...

to María Antonia Estudillo de Pedrorena. The name means "the box" in Spanish, and refers to the valley between hills. The grant encompassed present day

El Cajon El Cajon ( , ; Spanish: El Cajón, meaning "the box") is a city in San Diego County, California, United States, east of downtown San Diego. The city takes its name from Rancho El Cajón, which was in turn named for the box-like shape of the va ...

, Bostonia,

Santee Santee may refer to: People * Santee Dakota, a subgroup of the Dakota people, of the U.S. Great Plains * Santee (South Carolina), a Native American people of South Carolina Places * Lake Santee, Indiana, a reservoir and census-designated place * ...

Lakeside Lakeside or Lake Side may refer to: Places Australia * Lakeside College, Pakenham, Victoria * Lakeside Joondalup Shopping City, Joondalup, Western Australia * Lakeside, near Reservoir, Victoria * Lakeside International Raceway, Pine Rivers, Quee ...

, Flinn Springs, and the eastern part of La Mesa. The grant contained the Rancho Cañada de los Coches grant.

History

Previously lands of the San Diego Mission, the eleven square league grant was received in 1845 by María Antonia Estudillo, wife of

Miguel Pedrorena Don Miguel de Pedrorena (c. 1808–March 21, 1850) was a Spanish-born Californio ranchero, merchant, and a signer of the Californian Constitution in 1849. He also served briefly as acting Alcalde of San Diego (mayor). Life Miguel Pedrorena was b ...

. The grant was originally called Rancho Santa Monica, and later renamed Rancho El Cajon. Miguel Pedrorena (1808–1850), a native of Madrid, Spain, who came to California from Peru in 1838, operated a trading business. He married María Antonia Estudillo, daughter of

José Antonio Estudillo José Antonio Estudillo (November 5, 1803 – July 20, 1852) was a Californio ranchero, politician, and soldier, who served as Alcalde of San Diego and as San Diego County Assessor. He was a member of the Estudillo family of California, a pro ...

alcalde Alcalde (; ) is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and administrative functions. An ''alcalde'' was, in the absence of a corregidor, the presiding officer of the Castilian '' cabildo'' (the municipal council) a ...

of San Diego. 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 El Cajon was filed by Thomas W. Sutherland, guardian of Pedrorena's heirs (his son, Miguel, and his three daughters, Victoria, Ysabel and Elenain) 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, confirmed by the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

, 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 ...

in 1876. In 1868, Los Angeles land developer

Isaac Lankershim Isaac Lankershim (April 8, 1818/19/20 – April 10, 1882) was a German-born American landowner and pioneer in California. He was the owner of 60,000 acres in Los Angeles County, California. Early life Sources from during his life vary on Lankersh ...

bought the bulk of the Pedrorena's Rancho El Cajon holdings, employing Major Levi Chase, a former Union Army officer, as his agent. Chase received from Lankershim known as the Chase Ranch. Lankershim hired Amaziah L. Knox, a New Englander whom he had met in San Francisco, to manage Rancho El Cajon.The Fiftieth Year
By Charles V. Birkett

References

{{California history, state=collapsed Cajon, El

El Cajon, California El Caj

History

See also

References