Rancho Monserate 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 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 Ysidro María Alvarado. The grant extended south and east of the present day

Fallbrook Fallbrook is a CDP in northern San Diego County, California. Fallbrook had a population of 30,534 at the 2010 census, up from 29,100 at the 2000 census. Fallbrook's downtown is not on a major highway route. It is west of Interstate 15 or n ...

down to the

San Luis Rey River The San Luis Rey River is a river in northern San Diego County, California. The river's headwaters are in the Palomar Mountain Range and Cleveland National Forest, near Palomar Mountain and the Santa Rosa Mountains. The river mouth, on the Pacif ...

. The grant was bounded on the west by Pico's

Rancho Santa Margarita y Las Flores Rancho Santa Margarita y Las Flores was a Mexican land grant in present-day northwestern San Diego County, California given by governor Juan Alvarado in 1841 to Andrés Pico and Pio Pico. The grant was located along the Pacific coast, and en ...

History

Ysidro María Alvarado (1811–1863), son of Francisco Xavier Alvarado (1766–1831) and Maria Ygnacia Amador (1770–1851), married Maria Micaela Avila (1816–1845) in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. Shortly after bearing three children, Micaela died from unknown causes, and Alvarado married her sister Manuela Lorenzo Avila.Brackett, R. W.; Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration of Northern California. (1939) ''A History of the Ranchos of San Diego County, California''. Union Title Insurance and Trust Company. 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 Monserate 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 Ysidro María Alvarado on July 17, 1872.

Smallpox deaths

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

epidemic began in

Mission San Juan Capistrano Mission San Juan Capistrano ( es, Misión San Juan Capistrano) is a Spanish mission in San Juan Capistrano, Orange County, California. Founded November 1, 1776 in colonial ''Las Californias'' by Spanish Catholic missionaries of the Franciscan O ...

in 1862 and appeared to be spreading south toward San Diego. To keep them safe, Alvarado sent his children to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

to stay with their uncle, Francisco Avila. The disease raged through the rancho, killing Ysidro Alvarado and his wife in 1863 along with 21 ranch hands and domestic servants. After a number of smallpox victims were interred at

Mission San Luis Rey Mission San Luis Rey de Francia ( es, Misión San Luis Rey de Francia) is a former Spanish mission in San Luis Rey, a neighborhood of Oceanside, California. This Mission lent its name to the Luiseño tribe of Mission Indians. At its prime, ...

, Colonel Cave Johnson Couts of

Rancho Guajome Rancho Guajome was a Mexican land grant in present-day San Diego County, California given in 1845 by Governor Pío Pico to Andrés and José Manuel, Indians. The name comes from a Luiseño phrase involving the word "frog", likely ''wakhavumi'' " ...

, at that time owner of the mission grounds, made it known that he would not allow any further burials. However, on January 13, 1863, the family and friends of Ysidro Alvarado chose to honor his dying wish and bury him at the mission graveyard. Tomas Alvarado, present at the ceremony, wrote that, as dirt was being thrown on the casket of Ysidro Alvarado, Couts's brother William Blount Couts and two of his trusted men challenged the mourners from the wall of the graveyard, holding guns and shouting "''Como diputado del Sherif del condado, no es permitido que este Señor se entierra aqui''" ("As deputy of the sheriff of the county, sayit is not permitted to bury this man here.") William was aiming a double-barreled shotgun at them, and Leon Vasquez of the burial party picked up a shovel and ran toward the threat. William fired one barrel and missed Vasquez. As Vasquez jumped onto the wall, William shot him in the face and killed him. The rest of the unarmed burial party scattered in fear of their lives as more shots were fired at them, wounding two. Colonel Couts explained the incident the next day, saying "In avoiding the loathsome disease now infesting our community, we have had to resort to arms, resulting in the killing of one man." He defended his brother's actions, writing to his lawyer that Vasquez "is really not worth noticing ... He is known as a bad character."History of San Diego. Stranger Than Fiction: Vignettes of San Diego History
''The Smallpox Fear of 1862–1863.''
Archived on December 20, 2007. William Blount Couts was charged with murder but, despite depositions from eight eyewitnesses, succeeded in having the charges dropped because of paperwork technicalities.

Heirs

After the smallpox deaths in 1863 the rancho passed to Alvarado's minor heirs: Tomas Alvarado, Dolores Alvarado de Serrano and Lugarda Alvarado de Palomares. The U.S. Land Commission had not yet established ownership, so the home was rented to Simon Goldbaum, who used the building as a general store.The History of Rancho Monserate.
Fallbrook.org. 2005–2008. Retrieved on March 28, 2021 from archive.org. A number of settlers moved into the eastern portion of the rancho, and a school and post office were built. Following the award of the U.S. patent in 1872, the rancho was partitioned three ways in 1874; each section being approximately . Tomas Alvarado was born on Main Street in Los Angeles on December 21, 1841, and married María Ygnacia Morena, the widow of Lorenzo Soto, on June 4, 1864. He received the eastern third of Rancho Monserate in 1874 and built an

adobe Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for ''mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of e ...

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

and a

hacienda An ''hacienda'' ( or ; or ) is an estate (or ''finca''), similar to a Roman ''latifundium'', in Spain and the former Spanish Empire. With origins in Andalusia, ''haciendas'' were variously plantations (perhaps including animals or orchards), ...

on the south side of San Luis Rey River.''An Illustrated History of Southern California'', p. 243. Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890. There, the family raised six daughters and one son. Today, the adobe chapel is the only remaining structure from that time period.The History of Rancho Monserate.
Fallbrook.org. 2005–2008. Retrieved on March 28, 2021 from archive.org. It has been restored with the combined efforts of the Fallbrook Financial Corporation, the San Diego Historical Society, the County of San Diego and the Rancho Monserate Country Club. Dolores Alvarado de Serrano (born 1838) and her husband received the middle third of Rancho Monserate, and built an adobe home in the south part of what is now known as Live Oak Canyon east of

. In 1880, Henry Harrison Gird sold his

Rancho Las Cienegas Rancho or Ranchos may refer to: Settlements and communities *Rancho, Aruba, former fishing village and neighbourhood of Oranjestad * Ranchos of California, 19th century land grants in Alta California **List of California Ranchos * Ranchos, Buenos ...

holdings and purchased the Serrano ranch. The Gird family lived in the Serrano home until a flood in 1883 turned the long central hallway into a stream, after which they commissioned a wood-frame home to be built on a nearby knoll. Henry and Martha Gird lived there until their natural deaths in 1913 at the ages of 87 and 86.Rossi, Vincent Nicholas. ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'', April 27, 2008
"Today's Gird-named sites reflect prominence of pioneering family."
Retrieved on March 28, 2021 from archive.org. María Lugarda de Jesús Alvarado (born 1842) married Francisco Palomares (born 1840) of

Rancho San Jose Rancho or Ranchos may refer to: Settlements and communities *Rancho, Aruba, former fishing village and neighbourhood of Oranjestad *Ranchos of California, 19th century land grants in Alta California **List of California Ranchos *Ranchos, Buenos Ai ...

in 1866 in Los Angeles. She received the western third of Rancho Monserate, which is closest to Fallbrook. Rather than relocating, she leased the land to R. Turnbull. In 1885 Lugarda Alvarado de Palomares authorized her son-in-law Henry Avila, husband of her daughter Concepcion, to collect rents and profits from the Palomares Ranch so that he could establish a trust for her unmarried daughter and minor children. After a few years, Avila built a house on the northern boundary of the Palomares Ranch, next to Stage Coach Lane.

References

{{California history Monserate Monserate 1846 establishments in Alta California

History

Smallpox deaths

Heirs

See also

References