Rancho San Francisquito 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 census. Santa Clara County and neighboring San Benito County together for ...

given in 1839 by Governor Juan Alvarado to Antonio Buelna. The grant was located on the southwest side of

San Francisquito Creek San Francisquito Creek (Spanish for "Little San Francisco" - the "little" referring to size of the settlement compared to Mission San Francisco de Asís) is a creek that flows into southwest San Francisco Bay in California, United States. Histo ...

and encompasses present-day western Menlo Park and the northern part of the

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

campus.

History

Antonio Jose Buelna (1 September, 1790–14 November, 1842), son of José Antonio Buelna (1754–1821), married Maria Concepción Valencia (b.1798) in 1816. In 1836,

José Castro José Antonio Castro (1808 – February 1860) was a Californio politician, statesman, and general who served as interim Governor of Alta California and later Governor of Baja California. During the Bear Flag Revolt and the American Conquest of ...

, Juan Alvarado, Antonio Buelna, and José Antonio de la Guerra (son

José de la Guerra y Noriega José Antonio de la Guerra y Noriega (March 6, 1779 – February 18, 1858) was a Californio military officer, ranchero, and founder of the prominent Guerra family of California. He served as the Commandant of the Presidio of Santa Barbara and the ...

) signed a demand that Governor

Nicolás Gutiérrez Lieutenant Colonel Nicolás Gutiérrez was twice acting governor of the northern part of ''Las Californias'' (what had previously been Alta California) in 1836, from January to May and July to November. Gutiérrez served two short terms a ...

resign. Buelna was granted Rancho San Francisquito and

Rancho San Gregorio Rancho San Gregorio was a Mexican land grant in present day San Mateo County, California given in 1839 by Governor Juan Alvarado to Antonio Buelna. At the time, the grant was in Santa Cruz County; an 1868 boundary adjustment gave the land to ...

by Alvarado in 1839. When Antonio Buelna died in 1842, María Concepción Valencia married Francisco Rodriguez, a widower and grantee of

Rancho Arroyo del Rodeo 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 A ...

. 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 San Francisquito 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 María Concepción Valencia de Rodriquez in 1868. By the early 1850s squatters, including Mr. Julian, William J. Little, Thomas Bevins, Jerry Eastin, and Thomas “Sandy” Wilson, had settled on Rancho San Francisquito. A wealthy San Franciscan, George Gordon (d. 1869), bought out the squatters and Buelna heirs in 1863. George Gordon died in 1869, and his wife, Elizabeth, died in 1874, leaving the estate to her brother, John J. Clark. Clark died in 1876 and

Leland Stanford Amasa Leland Stanford (March 9, 1824June 21, 1893) was an American industrialist and politician. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 8th governor of California from 1862 to 1863 and represented California in the United States Se ...

bought , known as the Mayfield Grange Farm, from Clark's widow, Margret T. Clark. The same year, Stanford bought from D. Hoag. By 1891 Stanford had expanded his holdings to , including land from the adjacent

Rancho Rincon de San Francisquito Rancho Rincon de San Francisquito was a Mexican land grant in present-day Santa Clara County, California given in 1841 by Governor Juan Alvarado to José Peña. The name means "corner or bend of the San Francisquito" referring to San Francisqui ...

. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rancho_Rincon_de_San_Francisquito

Historic sites of the Rancho

* Antonio Buelna Adobe. Antonio Buelna Adobe

References

{{California history San Francisquito San Francisquito Menlo Park, California San Francisquito