Rancho Cañada de Capay was a

Mexican land grant In Alta California (now known as California) and Baja California, ranchos were concessions and land grants made by the Spanish and Mexican governments from 1775 to 1846. The Spanish concessions of land were made to retired soldiers as an indu ...

in present-day

Yolo County, California Yolo County (; Wintuan languages, Wintun: ''Yo-loy''), officially the County of Yolo, is a County (United States), county located in the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Yolo County was one of the original counties of Californi ...

given in 1846 by Governor

Pío Pico Don (honorific), Don Pío de Jesús Pico IV (May 5, 1801 – September 11, 1894) was a California politician, ranchero, and entrepreneur, famous for serving as the List of governors of California before 1850, last governor of Alta California und ...

to the three brothers Santiago, Nemicio, and Francisco Berreyesa. "Cañada de Capay" means "valley of the Capay" in Spanish. "Capay" comes from the Southern

Wintun The Wintun are members of several related Native American peoples of Northern California, including the Wintu (northern), Nomlaki (central), and Patwin (southern).Pritzker, 152 Capay Valley Capay Valley is a mostly rural valley northwest of Sacramento in Yolo County, California, United States. It lies east of Blue Ridge and west of the Capay Hills. Geography Cache Creek flows through the valley. California State Route 16 crosse ...

on both sides of Cache Creek.

History

Pío Pico granted nine square leagues to three Berreyesa brothers: José Catarino Santiago (1815–1856), Joseph Zenobia Nemicio (or Nemesio) (1819–1854), and Francisco Antonio (1824–1856) in 1846. Their father, José de los Reyes Berreyesa, who was the grantee of Rancho San Vicente, was killed by

John C. Frémont Major general (United States), Major-General John Charles Frémont (January 21, 1813July 13, 1890) was a United States Army officer, explorer, and politician. He was a United States senator from California and was the first History of the Repub ...

's men in 1846. Francisco Berreyesa was also the grantee of Rancho Rincon de Musalacon in 1846.

Jasper O'Farrell Jasper O'Farrell (1817–1875) was an Irish-American politician who served as the first surveyor for San Francisco. He designed the "grand promenade" that became today's Market Street. O'Farrell Street in San Francisco is named after him. Early ...

purchased seven and a half leagues (about ) from the Berreyesa brothers in 1847, and Charles Hoppe purchased one and a half leagues (later known as the Hoppe tract) from the Berreyesa brothers. Hoppe sold the land to Henry Lawrence, who in 1851 sold it to John D. Stephens and his brother George Dickson Stephens, in partnership with John S. Jury and John Q. Adams. In 1854, Nemicio Berreyesa was

lynched Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged or convicted transgressor or to intimidate others. It can also be an extreme form of in ...

by masked men while he was guarding the family lands at night, and in 1856, Francisco Berreyesa was murdered in his home in Santa Clara, now known as the Berryessa Adobe.FamilyTreeMaker.com
''Descendants of Luis Cayetano (Berrelleza) Berreyesa''
Retrieved on August 19, 2009. 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 jurisdicti ...

of California to the United States following the

Mexican-American War Mexican Americans are Americans of full or partial Mexican descent. In 2022, Mexican Americans comprised 11.2% of the US population and 58.9% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexican Americans were born in the United State ...

, the 1848

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo officially ended the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). It was signed on 2 February 1848 in the town of Villa de Guadalupe, Mexico City, Guadalupe Hidalgo. After the defeat of its army and the fall of the cap ...

provided that the land grants would be honored. As required by the Land Act of 1851, a claim for Rancho Cañada de Capay 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 the California State Lands Commission to determine the validity of prior Spanish and Mexican l ...

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 ...

to O'Farrell, John S. Jury, and John D. Stephens in 1865. O'Farrell sold an undivided half of the seven and one-half leagues to banker John Milton Rhodes and his business partner, Francis W.Fratt, in 1853. In 1858, Sylvanus Arnold and John Gillig, both Sacramento merchants purchased the other half of the grant. Gillig planted grain, grapevines, and fruit trees and established Yolo County's first

winery A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the cultivation and production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feat ...

in 1860. John Milton Rhodes
The Arnold and Gillig tract includes the town of Capay. The Hoppe tract includes the towns of

Esparto Esparto, halfah grass, or esparto grass is a fiber produced from two species of perennial grasses of north Africa, Spain and Portugal. It is used for crafts, such as cords, basketry, and espadrilles. '' Stipa tenacissima'' and '' Lygeum spar ...

and Madison.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rancho Canada de Capay

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Cañada Cañada may refer to: Places Argentina *Cañada de Gómez, Santa Fe province *Cañada Rosquín, Santa Fe province * La Cañada, Santiago del Estero Mexico * Cañada, Alaquines, San Luis Potosí * Cañadas de Obregón, Jalisco * Cañada de la ...

History

See also

References