Rancho Sanjon de los Moquelumnes 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

Sacramento County Sacramento County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,585,055. Its county seat is Sacramento, which has been the state capital of California since 1854. Sacramento County is the ...

and

San Joaquin County, California San Joaquin County (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''San Joaquín'', meaning "Joachim, St. Joachim"), officially the County of San Joaquin, is a county (United States), county in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 20 ...

given in 1844 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to Anastasio Chaboya. Sanjon is Spanish for ditch or deep slough. The grant stretched from the

Cosumnes River The Cosumnes River is a river in northern California in the United States. It rises on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada and flows approximately into the Central Valley, emptying into the Mokelumne River in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Del ...

on the north to the

Mokelumne River The Mokelumne River ( or ; ''Mokelumne'', Miwok for "People of the Fish Net") is a -long river in northern California in the United States. The river flows west from a rugged portion of the central Sierra Nevada into the Central Valley and ul ...

on the south, and encompassed present-day

Galt Galt or GALT may refer to: Biology and biochemistry * Galactose-1-phosphate uridylyltransferase, an enzyme * Gut-associated lymphoid tissue, a subset of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue People and fictional characters * Galt (surname), a list o ...

History

Anastasio de Jesus Chaboya (1805–1852), son of

De Anza Expedition Juan Bautista de Anza Bezerra Nieto (July 6 or 7, 1736 – December 19, 1788) was an expeditionary leader, military officer, and politician primarily in California and New Mexico under the Spanish Empire. He is credited as one of the founding fa ...

soldier Marcos Chaboya, and brother of Antonio Chaboya grantee of Rancho Yerba Buena. Anastasio was a soldier of the San Francisco Company, and married Maria Josefa Higuera in 1829. He was granted the eight square league Rancho San Juan de los Moquelumnes in 1844. 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 Sanjon de los Moquelumnes was filed with the Public Land Commission in 1852, and the grant was patented to Anastasio Chaboya in 1865. Anastasio Chaboya was present at the murder of Edward Pyle, and a warrant was issued for Chaboya’s arrest, but he was at the mines at the time. In 1852, Anastacio Chaboya was found hanging from a tree. No one ever confessed to the lynching of Chaboya. Chaboya died leaving 7 children - Angel Maria, Jose Antonio, Jose Fernando, Jose Fecundo, Maria Ygnacia, Maria Juana and Maria Micaela Policarpia. Eventually all the children sold their interests in the grant except for Policarpia. William Hicks (1817–1884), was a native of

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

who came to California with the Chiles-Walker party in 1843. Known by most as "Uncle Billy", Hicks became friends with

John Sutter John Augustus Sutter (February 23, 1803 – June 18, 1880), born Johann August Sutter and known in Spanish as Don Juan Sutter, was a Swiss immigrant of Mexican and American citizenship, known for establishing Sutter's Fort in the area th ...

. Hicks married Susannah Patterson at Sutter’s Fort in 1848. He later married Sarah Davis Wilson, widow of sheriff Wilson. Hicks amassed a land empire, in Sacramento, San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Sonoma Counties, plus Marin County, where in 1855 he bought plus of Rancho Corte Madera de Novato. "Uncle Billy" Hicks died in 1884 at his home in Hicksville, Sacramento County, a town no longer in existence. There was a post office named Hicksville, 1860-1889. Hicksville dissolved in 1889 when the Central Pacific Railroad made Galt its headquarters between Lodi and

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

. Hicks acquired Rancho Sanjon de los Moquelumnes in 1861, but lost in mortgage foreclosure to John F. McCauley in 1867. John F. McCauley married Caroline Wilson, William Hicks step daughter. John F. McCauley later acquired a great deal of the Hick's estate. John F. McCauley Reed, G. Walter, 1923, ''History of Sacramento County, California'', Pages 297-299. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA.
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References

{{California history

External links

Diseño del Rancho Sanjon de los Moquelumnes- 1865
at

The Bancroft Library The Bancroft Library in the center of the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, is the university's primary special-collections library. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retai ...

Sanjon de los Moquelumnes Ranchos of Sacramento County, California History of San Joaquin County, California