Rancho Janal was a Mexican land grant in present day

San Diego County, California San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county (United States), county in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of California, north to its Mexico-United States border, border with Mexico. As of the 2020 United States Cen ...

, given in 1829 by Governor José María de Echeandía to

José Antonio Estudillo José Antonio Estudillo (November 5, 1803 – July 20, 1852) was a Californio ranchero, politician, and soldier, who served as Alcalde of San Diego and as San Diego County Assessor. He was a member of the Estudillo family of California, a prom ...

. The grant was located near present day Otay Mesa. A large portion of the grant is now covered by the waters of the Upper and Lower Otay Reservoirs. Rancho Janal and the adjoining Rancho Otay were granted to members of the Estudillo family, and they are often considered as one rancho.

History

José Antonio Estudillo (1805 – 1852), the son of

José María Estudillo José María Estudillo (died April 8, 1830) was a Spanish-born Californio military officer and early settler of San Diego. He is the founder of the Estudillo family of California and served as Commandant of the Presidio of San Diego. Life List o ...

, was born at

Monterey Monterey ( ; ) is a city situated on the southern edge of Monterey Bay, on the Central Coast of California. Located in Monterey County, the city occupies a land area of and recorded a population of 30,218 in the 2020 census. The city was fou ...

and became prominent in political affairs. In 1825 Estudillo married María Victoria Dominguez, daughter of Sergeant Cristobal Dominguez, who was the grantee of

Rancho San Pedro Rancho San Pedro was one of the first California land grants and the first to win a patent from the United States. The Spanish Crown granted the of land to soldier Juan José Domínguez in 1784, with his descendants validating their legal clai ...

. The Estudillos were absentee ranchers, living in Pueblo de San Diego. He was

alcalde ''Alcalde'' (; ) is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and Administration (government), administrative functions. An ''alcalde'' was, in the absence of a corregidor (position), corregidor, the presiding officer o ...

of San Diego in 1836-1838 and was elected as the inaugural San Diego County treasurer in 1850, although he refused the office and Philip Crosthwaite was appointed to fill the office in his place. 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 Janal 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 Victoria Dominguez et al. in 1872. Report of the Surveyor General 1844 - 1886
Elisha Spurr Babcock, Jr., who also built

Hotel del Coronado The Hotel del Coronado, also known as The Del and Hotel Del, is a historic beachfront hotel in Coronado, California, just across San Diego Bay from San Diego. A rare surviving example of an American architectural genre—the wooden Victorian be ...

, purchased Rancho Janal in 1883, and built lower Otay Dam for the Southern California Water Company in 1900. Henry G. Fenton, a subcontractor of Babcock, bought of Rancho Janal in 1926.

References

{{California history Janal Chula Vista, California Janal

History

See also

References