Rancho Pauma was a
Mexican land grant in present-day
Pauma Valley, in
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 1844 by Governor
Manuel Micheltorena
Joseph Manuel MarÃa 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 ...
to José Antonio Serrano, Blas Aguilar, and José Antonio Aguilar. The grant extended along the
San Luis Rey River west of the
Palomar Mountain
Palomar Mountain ( ; ) is a mountain ridge in the Peninsular Ranges in northern San Diego County, California. It is known as the location of Palomar Observatory and Hale Telescope, and known for Palomar Mountain State Park.
History
The Luiseà ...
s and southeast of the
San Antonio de Pala Asistencia.
History
The three square league grant was made to three brothers-in-law. Jose Antonio Serrano was the son of Leandro Serrano, grantee of
Rancho Temescal. In 1838, José Serrano married Rafaela, daughter of
Rosario E. Aguilar, majordomo of San Diego Mission. Blas Aguilar (1811-1885), son of Rosario E. Aguilar, was majordomo at Temecula in 1834, and
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 Juan Capistrano in 1848.
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 Pauma 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 José Antonio Serrano, Blas Aguilar and José Antonio Aguilar in 1871.
Adelaida Serrano, daughter of José Antonio Serrano, married Judge
Benjamin I. Hayes (1815-1877) in 1866. Over the next two decades, parts of the ranch were sold, with one-third of the acreage going to Hayes' son, J. Chauncey Hayes, and another to
Thaddeus Amat, bishop of Los Angeles. In 1892, the ranch site was designated as part of the
Pauma and Yuima Reservation.
Historic sites of the Rancho
*Serrano adobe. The ruins of the Serrano adobe are included in a federally designated historic site.
The event known as the
Pauma Massacre, in which Luiseño Indians captured 11 Mexican soldiers, occurred in January 1847 at the Serrano adobe.
See also
*
Ranchos of California
In Alta California (now known as California) and Baja California, ranchos were concessions and land grants made by the Viceroyalty of New Spain, Spanish and History of Mexico, Mexican governments from 1775 to 1846. The Spanish concessions of l ...
*
List of Ranchos of California
References
{{California history
Pauma
North County (San Diego County)
Pauma