Rancho Santa Gertrudes was a 1834

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

Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the List of the most populous counties in the United States, most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, ...

, resulting from a partition of

Rancho Los Nietos Rancho Los Nietos was one of the first, and the largest, Spanish land concession in Alta California. Located in present-day Los Angeles County and Orange County, California. Rancho Los Nietos was awarded to Manuel Nieto in 1784. The rancho rem ...

. A former site of Nacaugna, the rancho lands included the present-day cities of

Downey Downey may refer to: People *Downey (surname) *Robert Downey Jr. Places *Downey, California, US *Downey, Idaho, US *Downey, Iowa, US Businesses *W. & D. Downey, photographic studio *Downey Studios, created out of a former Boeing plant Schools * ...

and

Santa Fe Springs Santa Fe Springs (''Santa Fe'', Spanish for "Holy Faith") is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is one of the Gateway Cities of southeast Los Angeles County. The population was 16,223 at the 2010 census, down from 17,43 ...

History

At the request of Manuel Nieto heirs, governor

José Figueroa José Figueroa (1792 – 29 September 1835), was a General and the Mexican Governor of Alta California from 1833 to 1835. He wrote the first book to be published in California. Background and governorship Figueroa was a Mestizo of Spanish a ...

in 1834, officially declared the

grant under

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

rule and ordered its partition into five smaller ranchos: Las Bolsas, Los Alamitos, Los Cerritos,

Los Coyotes Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeño Indians of the Los Coyotes Reservation is a federally recognized tribe of Cahuilla and Cupeño Indians, who were Mission Indians located in California.Lemuel Carpenter Lemuel Carpenter (c. 1808 in Kentucky – November 5, 1859 in California) was one of the first Anglo-American settlers of what is now the Los Angeles, California metropolitan area. Early life Lemuel Carpenter was born c. 1808 in Kentucky. He ...

(1808–1859), who had married Maria de Los Angeles Dominguez, a niece of Josefa Cota, bought the rancho in 1843 from Josefa Cota, his aunt by marriage. 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 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 ...

, 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 part of Rancho Santa Gertrudes was filed by Lemuel Carpenter 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. Carpenter, who was deeply in debt to John G. Downey, killed himself in 1859. In 1859 the rancho was sold at a sheriff's auction to John G. Downey and James P. McFarland. of 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 McFarland and Downey in 1870. A claim for part of Rancho Santa Gertrudes was filed by Thomas Sanchez Colima with the Public Land Commission in 1852, and of the grant was patented to Thomas Sanchez Colima in 1877. The southern border between Ranchos Santa Gertrudes and Los Coyotes exists today as Leffingwell Road. The street Santa Gertrudes Avenue, which runs from Los Angeles County Route N8 to

California State Route 72 State Route 72 (SR 72) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California. The route runs along Whittier Boulevard in the Los Angeles area from SR 39 in La Habra to Interstate 605 in Whittier. SR 72 forms part of El Camino Real. R ...

, is named after the rancho.

Historic sites of the Rancho

Hathaway Ranch Museum The Hathaway Ranch & Oil Museum in Santa Fe Springs, California is a museum of five generations of Hathaway family and Southern California history. The five-acre facility includes hundreds of artifacts and buildings showing the initial usage of th ...

Hathaway Ranch Museum
/ref> *Historical Railroad Exhibit

References

External links

USC Digital Library: Map of old Spanish and Mexican ranchos in Los Angeles County
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Santa Gertrudes Santa Gertrudes is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 2 ...

Downey, California Santa Fe Springs, California 1834 establishments in Alta California

History

Historic sites of the Rancho

See also

References

External links