Rancho San Antonio 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

Santa Clara County, California Santa Clara County, officially the County of Santa Clara, is the sixth-most populous county in the U.S. state of California, with a population of 1,936,259, as of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Santa Clara County and neighboring Sa ...

given in 1839 by Governor Juan Alvarado to

Juan Prado Mesa Alférez Juan Prado Mesa was a prominent Californio military commander in Alta California. He was born a subject of the Spanish Empire, and performed his military duties as an officer of the Republic of Mexico, Career Mesa was a soldier stationed ...

. The grant was bounded by Adobe Creek to the north and Stevens Creek to the south, and included

Permanente Creek Permanente Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed February 3, 2013 stream originating on Black Mountain in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is the na ...

, and present-day

Los Altos Hills Los Altos Hills (; ''Los Altos'', Spanish language, Spanish for "The Heights") is an List of municipalities in California, incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 8,4 ...

History

(1806–1845) was born in Santa Clara, grandson of Corporal José Valerio Mesa who came to California with the

Anza Expedition Juan Bautista de Anza Bezerra Nieto (July 6 or 7, 1736 – December 19, 1788) was an expeditionary leader, military officer, and politician primarily in California and New Mexico under the Spanish Empire. He is credited as one of the founding fa ...

, and son of Jose Antonio Mesa, grantee of Rancho Los Medanos. Since 1828, Juan Prado Mesa had been a soldier at the

San Francisco Presidio The Presidio of San Francisco (originally, El Presidio Real de San Francisco or The Royal Fortress of Saint Francis) is a park and former U.S. Army post on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula in San Francisco, California, and is part o ...

. In 1835, when Vallejo moved his company to Sonoma, Alférez Juan Prado Mesa was left in charge of the San Francisco Presidio. Later Mesa served as the commander of the Santa Clara Mission guard. Juan Prado Mesa was wounded in an Indian fight in 1838, granted Rancho San Antonio in 1839, and died from his wounds in 1845. 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, claims for Rancho San Antonio were 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 ...

. Six claims were filed - two of which were

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 ...

. A claim was filed by the Mesa heirs (Encarnación Mesa et al.) with the Land Commission in 1852, and the grant patented at in 1866. A claim was filed by William A. Dana, Henry F. Dana, and James W. Weeks et al. with the Land Commission in 1853, and the grant patented at in 1857. A claim for filed by Henry C. Curtis with the Land Commission in 1853 was rejected. A claim for filed by William A. Dana and Henry F. Dana with the Land Commission in 1853 was rejected. A claim for filed by James W. Weeks with the Land Commission in 1853 was rejected. A claim for filed by William W. White with the Land Commission in 1853 was rejected.Southern half of Rancho San Antonio
/ref> Much of the land grant is now the

Rancho San Antonio County Park Rancho San Antonio County Park and Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve are a conjoined public recreational area in the Santa Cruz Mountains, in the northwest quadrant of Santa Clara County, California. The County Park is bordered by Los Altos ...

References

{{Santa Clara County, California

San Antonio de Padua San Antonio de Padua, or plainly Padua, is a city in the Greater Buenos Aires, in Argentina. It is located in Merlo Partido. The city has an area of and a population of around 38,000. The name commemorates the village founded by Francisco de Mer ...

Antonio de Padua Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...

Los Altos, California

History

See also

References