Rancho Bolsa del Pajaro 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 Santa Cruz County, California given in 1837 by Governor Juan B. Alvarado to Sebastian Rodríguez. The name means "pocket of the Pajaro". Pocket usually refers to land surrounded by sloughin this case the Watsonville Slough. The grant extended from

Monterey Bay Monterey Bay is a bay of the Pacific Ocean located on the coast of the U.S. state of California, south of the San Francisco Bay Area. San Francisco itself is further north along the coast, by about 75 miles (120 km), accessible via California S ...

to present-day

Watsonville Watsonville is a city in Santa Cruz County, California, in the Monterey Bay Area of the Central Coast of California. The population was 52,590 at the 2020 census. Predominantly Latino and Democratic, Watsonville is a self-designated sanctua ...

with the

Pajaro River The Pajaro River (''pájaro'' is ''bird'' in Spanish language, Spanish) is a U.S. river in the Central Coast (California), Central Coast region of California, forming part of the border between San Benito County, California, San Benito and Sant ...

as its southern boundary.

History

The two square league grant was made to Sebastian Rodriguez, a soldier at the

Presidio of Monterey The Presidio of Monterey (POM), located in Monterey, California, is an active US Army installation with historic ties to the Spanish colonial era. Currently, it is the home of the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLI-FLC). ...

. Sebastian Rodriguez was commissioner for the

Mission Santa Cruz Mission Santa Cruz (Spanish: ''La Misión de la Exaltación de la Santa Cruz'', lit. The Mission of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross) is a replica Spanish Californian mission in Santa Cruz, California. Located on the San Lorenzo River floodp ...

. 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 Bolsa del Pajaro 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 Sebastian Rodríguez in 1860. In 1852, Judge John H. Watson (–1882) and D.S. Gregory, an attorney, claimed Rancho Bolsa del Pajaro through a sale by the brother of Sebastian Rodríguez, Alejandro Rodríguez (1791–1848). Watson came from

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

as a district judge, but after a year resigned from the bench of the third district court but remained in the area as a lawyer. Watson and Gregory had secured interests from Alejandro Rodriguez and claimed the original grant was made to Alejandro Rodríguez and Sebastian Rodríguez. A claim for a half interest in Rancho Bolsa del Pajaro filed by John H. Watson and D. S. Gregory with the Land Commission in 1853 was rejected. Watson was elected to the

California State Senate The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature (the lower house being the California State Assembly). The state senate convenes, along with the state assembly, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. ...

in 1859, and died in

Elko, Nevada Elko is a city in and the county seat of Elko County, Nevada, United States. As of the official 2020 U.S. Census, the city has a population of 20,564. Elko serves as the center of the Ruby Valley, a region with a population of over 55,000. Elko ...

in 1882. Considerable litigation ensued between the heirs of Sebastian Rodriguez and heirs of Alejandro Rodriguez, claimants to Rancho Bolsa del Pajaro. It was finally settled in favor of Sebastian Rodriguez.Edward Martin, 1911,''History Of Santa Cruz County California'', Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California When Sebastian Rodriguez died his children ( Jacinto Rodriguez, Jose Rodriguez, Maria Antonia Rodriguez, Rafaela Rodriguez, Pedro Rodriguez, Desiderio Rodriguez and Francisco Solano Rodriguez) inherited the rancho.

References

{{California history Bolsa Watsonville, California Bolsa del Pajaro

History

See also

References