Rancho La Merced 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
Los Angeles County, California given in 1844 by Governor
Manuel Micheltorena to Casilda Soto de Lobo. The name means "Mercy of God". The northwest section of
Montebello and the southeastern part of
Monterey Park now occupy the area of what was Rancho La Merced.
History
Governor Micheltorena granted Rancho La Merced to Casilda Soto de Lobo in 1844. Casilda Soto de Lobo was the widow of a soldier assigned to the
San Gabriel Mission. In 1850,
William Workman purchased Rancho La Merced from Casilda Soto. In 1851, Workman gave his son-in-law,
Francisco P. Temple and former ranch foreman, Juan Matias Sanchez, each an undivided half interest in Rancho La Merced.
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
The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...
, 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 La Merced was filed with the
Public Land Commission in 1853, 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 Temple and Sanchez in 1872.
In 1876 the Temple and Workman Bank failed, and Temple and Sanchez, who had mortgaged the property to
Elias J. "Lucky" Baldwin, lost their land when Baldwin
foreclosed
Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the collateral for the loan.
Formally, a mortg ...
. Distraught and broke, William Workman shot himself in 1876. Temple suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed, and died penniless in 1880. Juan Matias Sanchez died in poverty in 1885. The rancho was acquired by Alessandro Repetto, an Italian sheep rancher. Businessman
Harris Newmark
Harris Newmark (July 5, 1834 – 1916) was a Jewish American businessman, philanthropist, and historian who was born in the West Prussian city of Löbau (now Lubawa, Poland). Newmark immigrated to the United States in 1853. He sailed from Europe ...
, along with four others, bought the ranch from Repetto in 1886.
Historic sites of the Rancho
* Juan Matias Sanchez Adobe. The Sanchez Adobe was partially constructed in 1845 by Casilda Soto de Lobo and her three sons. With William Workman's gift in 1851, Juan Matías Sanchez took possession and moved into the adobe house. Sanchez added a wing to the adobe, which was the center of his ranch. After the bank failure in 1876, Sanchez lived in the house and until his death in 1885. The Montebello Historical Society and the city of Montebello were given the deed to the Juan Matias Sanchez Adobe by Josephine Scott Crocker in 1972.
Juan Matias Sanchez Adobe
/ref>
See also
* Ranchos of California
*List of Ranchos of California
These California land grants were made by Spanish (1784–1821) and Mexican (1822–1846) authorities of Las Californias and Alta California to private individuals before California became part of the United States of America.Shumway, Burgess ...
References
External links
Map of old Spanish and Mexican ranchos in Los Angeles County
{{California history
Merced, La
Merced
Merced (; Spanish for "Mercy") is a city in, and the county seat of, Merced County, California, United States, in the San Joaquin Valley. As of the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 86,333, up from 78,958 in 2010. Incorporated on April 1 ...
San Gabriel Valley
1844 establishments in Alta California