Rancho Potrero de San Francisco or Rancho Potrero Nuevo was approximately

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 the present day

Potrero Hill Potrero Hill is a residential neighborhood in San Francisco, California. It is known for its views of the San Francisco Bay and city skyline, its proximity to many destination spots, its sunny weather, and having two freeways and a Caltrain stat ...

neighborhood of

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. The rancho included the land from the bay at Point San Quentin, (later called

Potrero Point Potrero Point is an area in San Francisco, California, east of San Francisco's Potrero Hill neighborhood. Potrero Point was an early San Francisco industrial area. The Point started as small natural land feature that extends into Mission Bay ...

) between

Mission Creek Mission Creek (from Spanish: ''misión'') is a river in San Francisco, California. Once navigable from the Mission Bay inland to the vicinity of Mission Dolores, where several smaller creeks converged to form it, Mission Creek has long since bee ...

to the north and

Islais Creek Islais Creek or Islais Creek Channel (previously known as Du Vrees Creek, Islais Channel and Islais Swamp) is a small creek in San Francisco, California. The name of the creek is derived from a Salinan Native American word "''slay''" or "''islay' ...

and its tributary

Precita Creek Precita Creek is a small creek in the Bernal Heights and Mission District neighborhoods of San Francisco, California. Its course is mirrored by the current Precita Avenue, which ran along the creek when it was laid out sometime during the early 185 ...

to the south, including

and land sloping down to the west of it to its boundary with

Rancho Rincon de las Salinas y Potrero Viejo Rancho Rincón de las Salinas y Potrero Viejo was a Mexican land grant, largely within present day southeastern San Francisco, California, and extending to San Mateo County, California . It was given in 1839 by Governor pro tem Manuel Jimeno to J ...

between Mission and Precita Creeks.

History

The De Haro's claimed it was given in 1841 by Governor Juan Alvarado to Francisco and Ramón de Haro, sons of

Francisco de Haro Francisco de Haro (1792 – November 28, 1849) was a Californio politician, soldier, and ranchero, who served as the 1st and 5th Alcalde of San Francisco (initially known as Yerba Buena). He notably commissioned the first land survey of San ...

, the first

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 ...

Yerba Buena Yerba buena or hierba buena is the Spanish name for a number of aromatic plants, most of which belong to the mint family. ''Yerba buena'' translates as "good herb". The specific plant species regarded as ''yerba buena'' varies from region to regi ...

. Volume 381 ND, Potrero de San Francisco (also called "Potrero Nuevo"), San Francisco, BANC MSS Land Case Files 1852-1892; BANC MSS C-A 300 FILM; Finding Aid to the Documents Pertaining to the Adjudication of Private Land Claims in California, circa 1852-1892
/ref> Francisco and Ramon de Haro, along with their uncle

Jose de los Reyes Berreyesa Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. The name was popular during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods. *Jose ben Abin *Jose ben Akabya *Jose the Galilean ...

, were shot dead by

Kit Carson Christopher Houston Carson (December 24, 1809 – May 23, 1868) was an American frontiersman. He was a fur trapper, wilderness guide, Indian agent, and U.S. Army officer. He became a frontier legend in his own lifetime by biographies and n ...

in San Rafael at the order of U.S. Army Major John C. Fremont during 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 ...

in 1846. Ownership of the rancho went to their father who died in November 1849.Ptreroview.net: news
As early as mid 1849, John Townsend and Cornelius de Boom had lots surveyed on the de Haro's Potrero Nuevo ranch, on the Potrero Nuevo peninsula, on the south shore of Mission Bay. Despite the locations sloping ground, good water, and secure anchorage their attempt at settlement was unsuccessful due to the remoteness of the site from the city. Hubert Howe Bancroft, History of California, Volume VI, A.L. Bancroft and Co., San Francisco, 1888
/ref> Uncertainties involving the Haro family's claims to the land continued and squatters took up residence. The claim of the remaining de Haro family, was at first confirmed by the land commission but was subsequently rejected by the U.S. District Court on proof that the grants were fraudulent.United States. District Court (California : Southern District) Land Case 381 ND
/ref>There was a genuine license to occupy, the regular grant had been withheld because the mission

ejidos An ''ejido'' (, from Latin ''exitum'') is an area of communal land used for Agriculture in Mexico, agriculture in which community members have usufruct rights rather than ownership rights to land, which in Mexico is held by the Mexican state. P ...

might include this land, followed by occupation by the family. On that basis the Haro lawyers attempted to get their claim confirmed by the Supreme Court in 1866. It was not until 1867 that the claim of the de Haro's to Potrero Nuevo was finally denied, with the ruling that they held only a license to run cattle on the land but had no actual title to it. After this decision lessees under the Haro title refused to pay rent, claiming ownership as squatters or as settlers on government land, or city lands by the Van Ness Ordinance and acts of Congress. Owners under the Haro title claimed the land on the same grounds as their opponents, having been themselves the occupants, squatters, or settlers through their lessees. There followed a series of suits where those with the Haro title were defeated in 1878.

References

External links

Diseño del Potrero de San Francisco, Calif.
at

The Bancroft Library The Bancroft Library in the center of the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, is the university's primary special-collections library. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retai ...

1857 Coastal Survey Map showing Mission Bay and surroundsn including the Rancho Potrero Nuevo, with additions to 1852 map to up to 1857
About Mission Bay/Mission Creek from sfsailtours.com accessed March 29, 2015. {{San Francisco Rancho Potrero de San Francisco Potrero de San Francisco Potrero Hill, San Francisco Potrero de San Francisco 19th century in San Francisco

History

See also

References

External links