Rancho Pauma 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 Pauma Valley, in

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 1844 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 José Antonio Serrano, Blas Aguilar, and José Antonio Aguilar. The grant extended along 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 ...

west of the

Palomar Mountain Palomar Mountain ( ; es, Monte Palomar ) is a mountain ridge in the Peninsular Ranges in northern San Diego County. It is famous as the location of the Palomar Observatory and Hale Telescope, and known for the Palomar Mountain State Park. Hist ...

s and southeast of the

San Antonio de Pala Asistencia The San Antonio de Pala Asistencia, or the "Pala Mission", was founded on June 13, 1816 as an asistencia or "sub-mission" to Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, some twenty miles inland upstream from the latter mission on the San Luis Rey River. Pa ...

History

The three square league grant was made to three brothers-in-law. Jose Antonio Serrano was the son of Leandro Serrano, grantee of

Rancho Temescal Rancho Temescal was a Mexican land grant in present-day Ventura County and Los Angeles County, California given in 1843 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to Francisco Lopez and José Arellanes. The word “temescal” is Spanish for "sweat bath ...

. In 1838, José Serrano married Rafaela, daughter of

Rosario E. Aguilar Rosario E. Aguilar (ca. 1792 – 1847) was an early settler of San Diego, California. Life Aguilar was born around 1792 in Spain. He was corporal of the mission guard at San Diego, and had a house on site of the present town, in 1821. In 1827 ...

, majordomo of San Diego Mission. Blas Aguilar (1811-1885), son of Rosario E. Aguilar, was majordomo at Temecula in 1834, and

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 ...

San Juan Capistrano San Juan Capistrano (Spanish for "St. John of Capistrano") is a city in Orange County, California, located along the Orange Coast. The population was 34,593 at the 2010 census. San Juan Capistrano was founded by the Spanish in 1776, when St. ...

in 1848. 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 Pauma 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 José Antonio Serrano, Blas Aguilar and José Antonio Aguilar in 1871. Adelaida Serrano, daughter of José Antonio Serrano, married Judge Benjamin I. Hayes (1815-1877) in 1866. Over the next two decades, parts of the ranch were sold, with one-third of the acreage going to Hayes' son, J. Chauncey Hayes, and another to

Thaddeus Amat Thaddeus Amat y Brusi C.M., or in Spanish Tadeu Amat y Brusi ( ca, Tadeu Amat i Brusi; December 31, 1811 – May 12, 1878) was a Spanish Roman Catholic cleric who became the first Bishop of Los Angeles, in California. Early life Amat was born ...

, bishop of Los Angeles. In 1892, the ranch site was designated as part of the Pauma and Yuima Reservation.

Historic sites of the Rancho

*Serrano adobe. The ruins of the Serrano adobe are included in a federally designated historic site. The event known as the Pauma Massacre, in which Luiseño Indians captured 11 Mexican soldiers, occurred in January 1847 at the Serrano adobe.

References

{{California history Pauma Pauma North County (San Diego County) Pauma

History

Historic sites of the Rancho

See also

References