Rancho Tulucay 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

Napa County, California Napa County () is a county north of San Pablo Bay located in the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 138,019. The county seat is the City of Napa. Napa County was one of the original co ...

given in 1841 by Governor pro tem Manuel Jimeno to

Cayetano Juarez Cayetano is a Spanish and sometimes Sephardic Jewish name related to the Italian name Gaetano (English: ''Cajetan''), both from Latin ''Caietanus'', meaning "from Gaeta". It is a common given name in Spain, Mexico, Argentina and the Philippines. As ...

. The Tulucay name originates with the names Tulkays and Ulucas that were applied to the inhabitants of a Patwin village in the area. The grant was on the east side of the Napa River, between Soscol Creek on the south, and Sarco Creek on the north.

History

Cayetano Juarez (1809 - 1883) was a soldier at

Presidio of San Francisco 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 ...

until 1836. Juarez married Maria de Jesus Higuerra (1815 - 1890), daughter of Francisco Higuerra, in 1835. In 1836 Juarez was made mayordomo at Sonoma. Under the leadership of General Mariano Vallejo, Juarez was assigned an active role in managing the land and associated native population in the Napa/Sonoma County region. For his decade of service to the Mexican government, Juarez was granted the two square league Rancho Tulocay. In 1840 (before the grant deed was finalized) Cayetano Juarez moved his family from Sonoma to Napa Valley. During the year 1840 he built his first adobe house, which is still standing. In 1844 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 ...

of Sonoma. In 1845 he built a second and larger adobe and was granted

Rancho Yokaya Rancho Yokaya privately owned by Sophia Charity Piceno of the Little Lake and Kon kow tribes to current date 2022, (also called "Llokaya") was a Mexican land grant in present day Mendocino County, California given in 1845 by Governor Pío Pico t ...

in Mendocino County. With the cession 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 Tulucay 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 1852, and the grant was patented to Cayetano Juarez in 1861. Although often away, Juarez resided on the Rancho lands until his death in 1883. Juarez was buried in the

Tulocay Cemetery Tulocay Cemetery is a cemetery located in Napa, California originally established in 1859 following Governor pro tem Manuel Jimeno to Cayetano Juárez's 1853 donation of approximately of land to the people of Napa. History The cemetery is locat ...

, the original lands of which he donated for use as a cemetery in 1853.

Historic sites of the Rancho

* The Cayetano Juarez Adobe. The 1840 Juarez adobe remains standing today and is used as a restaurant. *

. Cayetano Juarez donated approximately of land to the City of Napa for Tulocay (sic) Cemetery in 1859. * Napa State Asylum for the Insane. In 1872, Juarez sold of his Rancho Tulucay land to the State of California for the purpose of constructing a new State hospital that could accommodate the overcrowded facilities at the Stockton Asylum. Napa State Hospital
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References

{{California history Tulucay Tulucay

History

Historic sites of the Rancho

See also

References