Rancho San Pedro
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Rancho San Pedro was one of the first California land grants, and the first to win a patent from the United States. The land grant was validated by the Mexican government at 48,000 acres (190 km2) in 1828, and a US patent validating 43,119 acres (174.50 km2) was issued in 1858. The original Spanish land grant included what today consists of the Pacific coast cities of Los Angeles harbor, San Pedro, the Palos Verdes peninsula, Torrance, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, and Manhattan Beach, and east to the Los Angeles River including; the cities of Lomita, Gardena, Harbor City, Wilmington, Carson, Compton, and western portions of Long Beach and Paramount.[1][2]
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[edit] History
[edit] Spanish grant
Juan Jose Dominguez (1736 - 1809), a Spanish soldier, arrived in San Diego, California in 1769 with Fernando Rivera y Moncada and served with the Gaspar de Portolà expedition, and along with Juniperro Serra, traveled to San Juan Capistrano, San Gabriel and Monterey. In 1784, Dominguez was granted a concession of seventeen Spanish leagues or 75,000 acres (300 km2) from the Spanish Empire.
[edit] Mexican grant
Dominguez’s original grazing permission stretched from present-day Compton to the Palos Verdes Peninsula, but did not become a title to land until it was “re-granted” in 1822 in the Mexican era to Juan Jose’s nephew and heir, Cristobal Dominguez. Cristobal died soon afterward, but his three sons settled on the ranch, building adobe homes. The following year Manuel Dominguez, eldest son of Cristobal Dominguez, married Engracia Cota and commenced a successful career raising cattle and serving in a variety of elected and appointed offices in Los Angeles.
[edit] Rancho de los Palos Verdes
For many years, a portion of the Rancho San Pedro land grant was contested between the Dominguez and Sepulveda families through various appeals to Spanish Governors and law suits from 1817 - 1882, and was eventually partitioned into seventeen parcels in 1882. The Sepulveda family was awarded 31,629 acres (128 km2) known as Rancho de los Palos Verdes, that later became the cities of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, as well as portions of Torrance and San Pedro.
[edit] Battle of Dominguez Rancho
In 1846 during the Mexican-American war, the Battle of Dominguez Rancho was fought on the rancho site.
[edit] U.S. land patent
Upon the settlement of the Mexican-American war and the annexation of California by the United States in 1848, a patent was granted to Manuel Dominguez and signed by President James Buchanan on December 18, 1858, more than 7 years after it was first requested and nearly 75 years after the original Spanish land grant.[3] This was the first U.S. land patent granted in California. However, throughout the years of political turmoil in California, prolonged court battles over ownership of the Rancho, numerous surveys of the land, and the sale of some parcels, the United States land patent stated that Rancho San Pedro now encompassed 43,119 acres (170 km2),[4] far fewer than the 75,000 acres (300 km2) included in the original land grant.
[edit] Historic sites of the Rancho
- Dominguez Rancho Adobe. The adobe of Manuel Dominguez, completed in 1826, is a national historic site.[5][6]
[edit] References
- ^ Map of old Spanish and Mexican ranchos in Los Angeles County
- ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographical Names Information System: Rancho San Pedro
- ^ United States. District Court (California : Southern District) Land Case 273 SD
- ^ Report of the Surveyor General 1844 - 1886
- ^ Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum
- ^ The Historic Dominguez Rancho Adobe
- Robert Cameron Gillingham, 1961, The Rancho San Pedro, Cole Holinquist
- The Rancho San Pedro Collection
- History of the South Bay of Los Angeles
