Rancho Tzabaco 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

Sonoma County, California Sonoma County () is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 488,863. Its county seat and largest city is Santa Rosa, California, Santa Rosa. It is to the n ...

given in 1843 by Governor

Manuel Micheltorena Joseph Manuel María Joaquin Micheltorena y Llano (8 June 1804 – 7 September 1853) was a brigadier general of the Mexican Army, adjutant-general of the same, governor, commandant-general and inspector of the department of Las Californias, then ...

to José German Piña (often misspelled as "Pena" in historical documents). The grant extended along Dry Creek, a tributary of the Russian River, north west of present-day

Healdsburg Healdsburg is a city located in Sonoma County, in California's Wine Country. At the 2010 census, the city had a population of 11,254. Owing to its three most important wine-producing regions (the Russian River, Dry Creek, and Alexander Valle ...

and encompassed present-day Geyserville and the

Dry Creek Valley AVA The Dry Creek Valley AVA is an American Viticultural Area in Sonoma County, California, located northwest of the town of Healdsburg. The valley is formed by Dry Creek, a tributary of the Russian River, and is approximately long and wide. The ...

. The grant was immediately north of Henry D. Fitch's

Rancho Sotoyome Rancho Sotoyome was a Mexican land grant given to Henry D. Fitch. Sotoyome or "Satiyomes" was the name of a Wappo tribe. The grant, in present-day Sonoma County, California, extended along the Russian River encompassing the Alexander Valley and p ...

History

José German Piña (1829–1847), son of Lázaro Piña (died 1847), a soldier who had come to California in 1819 and grantee of Rancho Agua Caliente, received the four square league Rancho Tzabaco grant in 1843. By 1846 German Pina and his brothers were running the rancho. José German Pina died in 1847, leaving an undivided one fifth share to each of his four surviving brothers (José de Jesús (born 1826), Francisco (born 1831), Antonio (1831–1853), and Luis (born 1834)) and a sister Clara (born 1836). 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 Tzabaco 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 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 de Jesús Piña et al., heirs of José German Pina, in 1859. From 1850 onward the Piña family fell into increasing debt. Led by Elisha Ely in 1851, American squatters began to settle on the grant. In 1853, Antonio Piña was murdered by squatters. General Vallejo was named executor of the estate. Several months after the murder of their brother, two of the Piña brothers signed over their entire interest in Rancho Tzabaco to John B. Frisbie, an American lawyer and real estate speculator who was also acting as their attorney. Frisbie was also the son-in-law of General Vallejo. The deal was that the Piñas were to maintain possession for five years. There were squatter uprisings when Frisbie took possession in 1858. For many years afterwards the surviving Pina family members made court appeals to regain their land. Antonio Piña's daughter, Maria Antonia Piña, filed a claim to her murdered father's estate in 1862. The courts denied the claim because she was illegitimate. German's sister, Clara Piña married Guillermo (William) Fitch, whose relatives owned the adjacent Rancho Sotoyome. Duvall Drake Phillips with a partner, Sam Heaton, purchased of Rancho Tzabaco in 1856. Tzbasco Rancho Vineyards
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tzabaco California ranchos Ranchos of Sonoma County, California