Rancho Azusa de Dalton, (originally the Rancho El Susa), 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

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, ...

, given in 1841 by Governor Juan Alvarado to

Luis Arenas Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...

. Arenas sold his

Rancho Azusa de Duarte Rancho Azusa de Duarte was a Mexican land grant in present day Los Angeles County, California given in 1841 by Governor Juan Alvarado to Andres Duarte, a former Mexican corporal. Cities that have been established on the Rancho lands originally ...

holdings three years later to Henry Dalton (1803–1884), a wealthy merchant from

Pueblo of Los Angeles In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spai ...

. Dalton named his holding Rancho Azusa de Dalton. Henry Dalton was also called Don Enrique Dalton. Cities that have been established on the Rancho lands originally granted to Henry Dalton include

Azusa Azusa may refer to: Relating to California From a Native American language, likely Tongva language, Tongva ''Asuksagna:'' *Azusa, California, a city in the United States *Azusa Pacific University, a Christian-based institution in Azusa, California ...

Arcadia Arcadia may refer to: Places Australia * Arcadia, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney * Arcadia, Queensland * Arcadia, Victoria Greece * Arcadia (region), a region in the central Peloponnese * Arcadia (regional unit), a modern administrative un ...

Monrovia Monrovia () is the capital city of the West African country of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic coast and as of the 2008 census had 1,010,970 residents, home to 29% of Liberia’s total population. As the ...

Irwindale Irwindale is a city in the San Gabriel Valley, in Los Angeles County, California. The population was 1,422 at the 2010 census, down from 1,446 at the 2000 census. The ZIP Codes serving the area are 91010, which is shared with Duarte, 91702, w ...

and

Baldwin Park Baldwin Park may refer to: * Baldwin Park, California ** Baldwin Park (Metrolink station) in Baldwin Park, California * Baldwin Park, Florida, a neighborhood in Orlando, Florida * Baldwin Park, Missouri * A public park in Baldwin, Nassau County, ...

History

Luis Arenas received the Rancho El Susa land grant from Governor (pro-tem) Manuel Jimeno in 1841. In 1844 Henry Dalton purchased El Susa from Arenas, and also Arenas one third interest in

Rancho San Jose Rancho or Ranchos may refer to: Settlements and communities *Rancho, Aruba, former fishing village and neighbourhood of Oranjestad *Ranchos of California, 19th century land grants in Alta California **List of California Ranchos *Ranchos, Buenos Ai ...

Henry Dalton was born in England, and in 1820 sailed to Lima, Peru, and became a merchant eventually commanding a small fleet of merchant vessels. By 1841 he had become a prominent figure in California coastal trade. Dalton chose Rancho El Susa as his home renaming it Azusa de Dalton. Dalton built a house here on a place known as Dalton Hill, near 6th Street and Cerritos Avenue in Azusa. The Rancho Azusa Dalton lay east across the San Gabriel River from the

. The first was often called El Susa, and the latter Susita. Dalton further increased his holdings to include the

Rancho San Francisquito Rancho San Francisquito was a Mexican land grant in present-day Santa Clara County, California given in 1839 by Governor Juan Alvarado to Antonio Buelna. The grant was located on the southwest side of San Francisquito Creek and encompasses pre ...

and

Rancho Santa Anita Rancho Santa Anita was a land grant in present-day Los Angeles County, California given to naturalized Scottish immigrant Hugo Reid and his Kizh people wife. Reid built an adobe residence there in 1839, and the land grant was formally recognized ...

. In the end Dalton owned an unbroken expanse of land from the present day San Dimas to the eastern edge of

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. ...

. 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. After filing his claim for Rancho Azusa de Dalton 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 ...

, as required by the Land Act of 1851, Dalton disagreed with the 1860 US survey by

Henry Hancock Henry Hancock (April 11, 1822January 9, 1883) was a Harvard trained lawyer and a land surveyor working in California in the 1850s. He was the owner of Rancho La Brea, which included the La Brea Tar Pits. Early life Henry Hancock was born in Ba ...

, and borrowed money from J. S. Slauson to fight the case through the courts. The courts decided against him after 24 years of litigation. Consequently, in 1885, Dalton turned Rancho Azusa over to Slauson, who deeded a homestead to Dalton. Henry Dalton received a US patent for Rancho Azusa in 1876. When he died in 1884, Dalton had lost most of his property and was living in poverty. In 1885 Slauson acquired Henry Dalton's Rancho Azusa de Dalton, organized the Azusa Land and Water Company, and developed the town of Azusa. Rancho Azusa, with the exception of some , was sold to

John Dustin Bicknell John D. Bicknell (June 25, 1838 – July 7, 1911) was an American real estate attorney and investor. He studied law in Wisconsin, later being admitted to the bar in the supreme court of that state. From 1872 to 1907 he participated in the Los ...

, I. W. Hellman and others. The lots in the town of Azusa were put on the market in 1887, and the following year the Santa Fe Railroad was completed. On December 29, 1898, Azusa was incorporated as a city of the sixth class. Henry Dalton was born in London on October 8, 1804 to Winnall Thomas Dalton and Ann Woolfe. He had 9 brothers & sisters. daltondatabank.org Henry Dalton
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References

{{Los Angeles County, California Azusa de Dalton Azusa de Dalton San Gabriel Valley Arcadia, California Azusa, California Baldwin Park, California Irwindale, California Monrovia, California 1841 establishments in Alta California

History

See also

References