Rancho Punta de los Piños 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

Monterey County, California Monterey County ( ), officially the County of Monterey, is a county (United States), county located on the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 439,035. The count ...

given in 1833 by Governor

José Figueroa José María Figueroa (1792 – 29 September 1835) was a Californio politician and military leader. He was a General and the Mexican Governor of Alta California from 1833 to 1835. His ''Manifesto'' (1835) was the first book published in Calif ...

to José María Armenta, and regranted to José Abrego in 1844 by Governor

Manuel Micheltorena Joseph Manuel María Joaquin Micheltorena y Llano (8 June 1804 – 7 September 1853) was a brigadier general and adjutant-general of the Mexican Army, List_of_governors_of_California_before_1850#Mexican_governors_of_California_(1837–47), gover ...

. The name means "Point of the Pines". The grant extended along the

Pacific coast Pacific coast may be used to reference any coastline that borders the Pacific Ocean. Geography Americas North America Countries on the western side of North America have a Pacific coast as their western or south-western border. One of th ...

from Point Piños near Pacific Grove south to Rancho Pescadero.

History

José María Armenta, was born in Mexico in 1761 and was granted the half square league Rancho Punta de Piños in 1833. In 1844 the land was regranted to José Abrego by Governor

. José Abrego (1803–1878) came to California in 1834 with the Hijar-Padres Colony. In 1836, Abrego married Maria Josefa Estrada (1814–1897), daughter of José Raimundo Estrada (1784–) and half sister of Juan B. Alvarado. José Abrego was administrator of Mission San Antonio in 1833 and 1834, customs officer, member of the Assembly. In 1841 under somewhat mysterious circumstances his wife Maria Josefa Abrego bought

Rancho San Jose y Sur Chiquito 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 ...

. José Abrego bought Rancho San Francisquito in 1853. José Abrego sold Rancho Punta de Piños to Thomas O Larkin and three other associates ( Jacob P. Leese, Milton Little, and James H. Gleason) in 1850. By the time of the patent,

county sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is commonly ...

Henry DeGraw had acquired the share of Leese; and Charles Brown had acquired the share of Gleason. 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 Punta de Piños was filed by Leese, Little, and Gleason 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 Henry DeGraw and Charles Brown in 1880. A claim filed by L. E. Pogue and Pacificus Ord with the Land Commission in 1853 was rejected. The rancho was later acquired by David Jacks. He sold part of the rancho to the Pacific Grove Retreat Association in 1878 and later sold it to the

Pacific Improvement Company The Pacific Improvement Company (PIC) was a large holding company in California and an affiliate of the Southern Pacific Railroad. It was formed in 1878, by the Big Four (Central Pacific Railroad), Big Four, who were influential businessmen, phi ...

in 1880. In 1850, the United States Congress appropriated money to build lighthouses on the west coast. One of these was to be constructed at Point Piños, because of the danger to mariners attempting to enter Monterey Bay from the south. The government bought of the Rancho Punta de los Piños. They later purchased another . Construction began in 1853, but difficulties with the delivery of the Fresnel lens from France delayed the opening of the lighthouse until 1855.

Historic sites of the Rancho

* Point Pinos Light. Point Piños Light was built in 1855 to guide ships on the Pacific coast.

References

{{California history

Punta Punta is an Afro-Indigenous dance and cultural music deeply rooted in the cultural traditions of the Garifuna of Honduras. It heavily incorporates West African/Central African drumming, the dance primarily of Angola and Congo origins. The musi ...

History

Historic sites of the Rancho

See also

References