Rancho Los Putos
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Rancho Los Putos also called Rancho Lihuaytos 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
Solano County, California Solano County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 453,491. The county seat is Fairfield. Solano County comprises the Vallejo–Fairfield, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is ...
given in 1843 by Governor
Manuel Micheltorena Joseph Manuel María Joaquin Micheltorena y Llano (8 June 1804 – 7 September 1853) was a brigadier general of the Mexican Army, adjutant-general of the same, governor, commandant-general and inspector of the department of Las Californias, then ...
to Juan Felipe Peña and Juan Manuel Vaca. The Los Putos name comes from the nearby
Putah Creek Putah Creek (Patwin: ''Liwaito'') is a major stream in Northern California, a tributary of the Yolo Bypass, and ultimately, the Sacramento River. The creek has its headwaters in the Mayacamas Mountains, a part of the Coast Range, and flows ...
(formerly Rio Los Putos). The grant encompassed present day
Vacaville Vacaville is a city located in Solano County in Northern California. Sitting approximately from Sacramento and from San Francisco, it is within the Sacramento Valley. As of the 2020 census, Vacaville had a population of 102,386, making it th ...
, all of Lagoon Valley and stretched into what is now,
Yolo County 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 ...
almost to
Davis Davis may refer to: Places Antarctica * Mount Davis (Antarctica) * Davis Island (Palmer Archipelago) * Davis Valley, Queen Elizabeth Land Canada * Davis, Saskatchewan, an unincorporated community * Davis Strait, between Nunavut and Gre ...
. It also reached into the
Vaca Mountains The Vaca Mountains are a mountain range in Napa and Solano Counties, California that is one of the California Coast Ranges. They represent the easternmost of the Inner Coast Ranges in north−central California, and divide the Suisun Valley on ...
.


History

Juan Felipe Peña (died 1863) and Juan Manuel Vaca (1782–1856) came from
New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...
to
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
with the Workman-Rowland Party in 1841. Peña came with his wife, Isabella Gonsalves and their six children. Vaca's wife died in 1839, but he was accompanied by their eight children. Vaca married Estefano Martinez in 1845. General Vallejo is credited with recommending the Lagoon Valley area to Vaca and Peña. The Los Putos grant of 10 square leagues was made in 1843 by Governor Micheltorena. The grant was originally called Rancho Lihuaytos - which was the name of Putah Creek at that time. The grant overlapped the Rancho Rio de los Putos grant of
William Wolfskill William Wolfskill (1798–1866) was an American-Mexican pioneer, cowboy, and agronomist in Los Angeles, California beginning in the 1830s. He had earned money for land in a decade as a fur trapper near Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he had become a ...
, and in 1845, 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 ...
made a correcting grant 10 square leagues. 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 Los Putos 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 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 Juan Felipe Peña and Juan Manuel Vaca in 1858. A second claim was filed by Ralph Lee Kilbourn in 1853 for 1,500 acres, but was rejected by the Board. The first sales of Rancho property began in 1849, when Vaca sold a half-league of land between Alamo Creek and Ulatis Creek to John Patton and Albert Lyon. In 1850 Peña sold a half-league to
Jacob David Hoppe Jacob David Hoppe (c. 1813 — 1853) was a 19th-century Californian newspaperman and politician. Jacob Hoppe was born in Maryland and came to California in 1846. He established a newspaper, which later became ''The Daily Alta California''. He w ...
and Zimri Hollingsworth. Then in 1850, came the history making sale, when Vaca sold one square league (about 9 square miles) of land to William McDaniel with the provision that one square mile (640 acres) would be used to create a township called
Vacaville Vacaville is a city located in Solano County in Northern California. Sitting approximately from Sacramento and from San Francisco, it is within the Sacramento Valley. As of the 2020 census, Vacaville had a population of 102,386, making it th ...
. Vaca received about half of subdivided lots in the town. McDaniel's partner was the
Benicia Benicia ( , ) is a waterside city in Solano County, California, located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. It served as the capital of California for nearly thirteen months from 1853 to 1854. The population was 26,997 at the ...
attorney Lansing B. Mizner. In exchange for laying out the town and tending to the legal paperwork, Mizner received half of the land in the deal with Vaca. Vaca could not speak, read, write English, but Mizner, fluent in both Spanish and English, was the interpreter for the transaction. It might be noted that McDaniel was a federal land agent and it was against the laws of the land for him to be involved in purchasing land. Peña was upset, and it was the cause of the major quarrel between Peña and Vaca. In response, Peña received two hundred lots in the town of Vacaville. Vaca was also upset about the McDaniel deal. He said he had believed he was signing over only one square mile. Vaca posted in the Benicia newspaper: “Caution. I hereby notify all persons not to purchase any lands from William McDaniel, which he claims to have purchased from me under a title which he obtained from me under false pretenses, and I shall institute suit against him to annul the title so fraudulently obtained by him. Manual Vaca”. McDaniel sued Vaca for libel and the loss of a land sale. The jury found Vaca guilty of libel, but the California Supreme Court overturned the decision, ruling that Vaca's newspaper warning was something that “every freeman and freeholder would be justified in making if the circumstances raised a strong presumption that the fraud had been attempted upon him to get possession of his estate”. After Vaca and Peña argued over the William McDaniel land sale, Vaca sold his adobe to John Wesley Hill. Juan Manual Vaca died in 1856. Peña died in 1863, leaving his land to his children and the adobe to his only daughter, Nestora Peña Rivera (who married Jesus Tapia Rivera), along with . His wife Isabella stayed at the adobe until she died in 1884. A survey correcting the boundaries of the William Wolfskill Rio de los Putos grant and the Vaca-Peña Rancho was made in 1858. Adjustments had to be made to the original boundary lines of the grant. The boundary lines were finally established as a twisted and elongated configuration. The legal fees for the years 1853 through to the official United States patent in 1858, were paid in land. They turned large parcels of land to pay taxes. By 1855, the tax rolls show only of the original Vaca-Peña grant remaining in the original owners’ hands. By 1880 most of the land grant was sold.


Historic sites of the Rancho

* Vaca-Peña Adobe. The Peña Adobe was erected in 1843. The Vaca adobe home was destroyed in the
1892 Vacaville–Winters earthquakes The 1892 Vacaville–Winters earthquakes occurred in northern California as a large doublet on April 19 and April 21. Measured on a seismic scale that is based on an isoseismal map or the event's felt area, the 6.4 and 6.2 events were assigne ...
.Vaca-Peña Adobe (No. 534)Peña Adobe (National Register #72000261)History of the Peña Adobe
/ref>


See also

*
Ranchos of California 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 ...
* Los Putos


References

{{California history Putos, Los Los Putos Los Putos Vaca Mountains Vacaville, California Los Putos Buildings and structures in Vacaville, California