Rancho San Leandro 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

Alameda County, California Alameda County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,682,353, making it the 7th-most populous county in the state and 21st most populous nationally. The county seat is Oakland. Al ...

given in 1842 by Governor Juan Alvarado to

José Joaquín Estudillo José Joaquín Estudillo (May 7, 1800 – June 7, 1852) was a Californio statesman and ranchero who served as the 2nd Alcalde of San Francisco (then known as Yerba Buena). A member of the prominent Estudillo family of California, he is also co ...

. The grant extended along the east

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...

from

San Leandro Creek San Leandro Creek ( es, Arroyo de San Leandro) is a year-round natural stream in the hills above Oakland in Alameda County and Contra Costa County of the East Bay in northern California.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-res ...

south to

San Lorenzo Creek San Lorenzo Creek ( es, Arroyo de San Lorenzo) is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed March 15, 2011 year-round natural stream flowing through Hayward, California and other ...

, and encompassed present-day

San Leandro San Leandro (Spanish for " St. Leander") is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area; between Oakland to the northwest, and Ashland, Castro Valley, and Hayward to the sout ...

History

(1800 – 1852), son of Spanish soldier

José María Estudillo José María Estudillo (died April 8, 1830) was a Spanish-born Californio military officer and early settler of San Diego. He is the founder of the Estudillo family of California and served as Commandant of the Presidio of San Diego. Life Comm ...

and brother of

José Antonio Estudillo José Antonio Estudillo (November 5, 1803 – July 20, 1852) was a Californio ranchero, politician, and soldier, who served as Alcalde of San Diego and as San Diego County Assessor. He was a member of the Estudillo family of California, a pro ...

, was born at the

Presidio of Monterey The Presidio of Monterey (POM), located in Monterey, California, is an active US Army installation with historic ties to the Spanish colonial era. Currently, it is the home of the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLI-FLC) ...

and joined the Spanish Army at the age of 15. In 1823, Estudillo married Juana del Carmen Martinez (daughter of

Ygnacio Martínez Ygnacio Nicanor Martínez (1774–1848) was a Californio politician, soldier, and ranchero, who served as the fourth Alcalde of San Francisco (then known as Yerba Buena). He was an important figure in the development of Contra Costa and the ci ...

, grantee of

Rancho El Pinole Rancho El Pinole was a Mexican land grant along Carquinez Strait in present-day Contra Costa County, California. It was given in 1842 by Governor Juan Alvarado to Ygnacio Martinez. Rancho El Pinole extended over land that today includes most of ...

). In 1835, Estudillo was the commissioner for the secularization of

Mission San Francisco de Asís Mission San Francisco de Asís ( es, Misión San Francisco de Asís), commonly known as Mission Dolores (as it was founded near the Dolores creek), is a Spanish Californian mission and the oldest surviving structure in San Francisco. Located i ...

. In 1835, he was elected

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 ...

. After his one-year term, Estudillo, his wife, and ten children moved across the San Francisco Bay, settling on San Leandro Creek just south of the Peraltas' Rancho San Antonio. 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 Mexican land grants would be honored. As required by the Land Act of 1851, a claim was filed for Rancho San Leandro 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 Joaquín Estudillo in 1863. The grant was for one square league ("more or less") and the official survey was larger than one square league. The vaguely defined eastern boundary of the grant caused problems with his

Rancho San Lorenzo Rancho San Lorenzo was a Mexican land grant given in 1841 by Governor Juan Alvarado to Guillermo Castro a career soldier posted to the Pueblo of San José. The land grant included present day Hayward, San Lorenzo, and Castro Valley, including ...

neighbor Guillermo Castro. Squatters encroached on the Estudillo land in 1851 such that their encampment became known as "Squatterville". José Joaquín Estudillo died in June 1852 in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, 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 List of Ca ...

. Through the efforts of two of Estudillo's sons-in-law,

John B. Ward John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

and

William Heath Davis William Heath "Kanaka" Davis, Jr. (1822 – 1909) was a merchant and trader in Alta California who helped to establish "New Town" (now Downtown San Diego) in San Diego, California. Life Davis was born in 1822 in Honolulu in the Kingdom of Hawaii ...

, the squatters were brought under control. Property was deeded to Clement Boyreau to bring the case to federal court.''Thomas W. Mulford v. Juana M. Estudillo et al.'', Reports of cases determined in the Supreme Court of the State of California, Volume 32, pp131-139, 1867, Bancroft-Whitney Company After the

US Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point of ...

ruled in favor of the Estudillo family, many of the squatters purchased the land.

References

{{Alameda County, California topics

San Leandro, California

Geography of San Leandro, California

History

See also

References