Rancho Caymus was a Mexican land grant in present-day

Napa County, California Napa County () is a County (United States), county north of San Pablo Bay located in the Northern California, northern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 138,019. The county seat i ...

granted in 1836 by acting Governor

Nicolás Gutiérrez Lieutenant Colonel Nicolás Gutiérrez was twice acting governor of the northern part of ''Las Californias'' (what had previously been Alta California) in 1836, from January to May and July to November. Gutiérrez served two short terms as ...

to George C. Yount. Caymus was the name of a subgroup of Mishewal-Wappo Indians. The rancho was in the

Napa Valley Napa Valley is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) in Napa County, California. The area was established by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) on February 27, 1981, after a 1978 petition submitted by the Napa Valley Vin ...

, and included present-day Yountville, Oakville and Rutherford, and the Napa Valley AVA wine region.

History

Through the influence of Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, George C. Yount received the two league Rancho Caymus in 1836, and became the first permanent Euro-American settler in the

. In 1843 he received the one league Rancho La Jota on Howell Mountain to the north of Rancho Caymus. With the cession 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 Caymus was filed with the Public Land Commission in 1852, and the Rancho Caymus 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 George C. Yount in 1863. A town known as Sebastopol was laid out on the property in 1855. However, the town of Sebastopol in nearby

Sonoma County Sonoma County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 488,863. Its seat of government and largest city is Santa Rosa. Sonoma County comprises the Santa Rosa-Petaluma ...

had already laid claim to this name, and the town was renamed Yountville in 1867 after George Yount’s death. After George Yount’s death in 1865, the courts stepped in to sell the remaining portions of his property. Judge Serranus Hastings bought a large portion of the original Rancho Caymus. He later sold part of his property to Captain

Gustave Niebaum Gustave Ferdinand Niebaum (born Gustaf Ferdinand Nybom; 31 August 1842 – 5 August 1908) was a Finnish-American sea captain and winemaker. Niebaum acquired his maritime schooling in Helsinki, Finland. By the end of 1860s, he had become one of th ...

and California State Senator Seneca Ewer.

Historic sites of the Rancho

* George Yount Blockhouse. In 1836 George C.Yount built a blockhouse and in 1837 erected an adobe home. * Grave of George C. Yount. Skilled hunter, frontiersman, craftsman, and farmer, George Calvert Yount (1794–1865) received the first Mexican land grant in Napa Valley.Grave of George C. Yount (California State Historical Landmark No. 693)

References

{{Napa County, California Caymus Napa Valley Yountville, California Caym

History

Historic sites of the Rancho

See also

References