Rancho Corte Madera de Novato 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 Marin County, California given in 1839 by Governor Juan Alvarado to John Martin. The name means the "lumber mill of Novato". The grant extended along Hicks Valley north west of present day

Novato Novato ( Spanish for "Novatus") is a city in Marin County, California, in the North Bay region of the Bay Area. At the 2020 census, Novato had a population of 53,225. History What is now Novato was originally the site of several Coast Miwok ...

History

Englishman John (Juan) Martin (1787–1860) came to

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 ...

in 1822, on the "Orion" (which also brought William A. Richardson). In 1826, Martin married Maria Tomasa Antonia Dominga Cantua, and settled at the Presidio of San Francisco. By 1832, he was farming near Sonoma. In 1837 he moved to Corte Madera de Novato where he was granted two square leagues in 1840. He lived there with his wife and the families of his children. 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 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 Corte Madera de Novato was filed with the Public Land Commission 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 John Martin in 1863. Report of the Surveyor General 1844 - 1886
In 1852, Martin sold one square mile of the rancho to their daughter, Loretta and her husband, George Brewer. At the same time they granted another square mile to Loretta alone. In 1853, George Brewer, tried to have John Martin declared mentally incompetent, but lost the court case, and Martin began to divest himself of his land holdings. Brewer died in 1853, and Martin and Tomasa lived with Loretta. John Martin was dead by 1860, and Tomasa married Manuel Barra. In 1855, William ("Uncle Billy") Hicks (1817–1884), who came to California with the Chiles-Walker party in 1843, bought of Rancho Corte Madera de Novato. He was an absentee landlord, living on Rancho Sanjon de los Moquelumnes, but Hicks Valley, and Hicks Mountain are named for him.

References

{{California history Corte Madera de Novato Corte Madera de Novato

History

See also

References