Rancho San Francisquito 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

Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the List of United States counties and county equivalents, most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 202 ...

given in 1845 by Governor

Pio Pico Pio or PIO may refer to: Places * Pio Lake, Italy * Pio Island, Solomon Islands * Pio Point, Bird Island, south Atlantic Ocean People * Pio (given name) * Pio (surname) * Pio (footballer, born 1986), Brazilian footballer * Pio (footballer, ...

to Henry Dalton. The grant included present day cities of El Monte,

Irwindale } Irwindale is a city in the San Gabriel Valley, in Los Angeles County, California. The population was 1,472 at the 2020 census, 1,422 at the 2010 census. The ZIP Codes serving the area are 91010, which is shared with Duarte, 91702, which i ...

, and

Temple City Temple City is a city in Los Angeles County, California located northeast of downtown Los Angeles and at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. Temple City is part of a cluster of cities, along with Pasadena, Arcadia, Alhambra, San Marino, and ...

History

Henry Dalton (1803-1884), was born in England, and in 1820 sailed to

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

and became a merchant; eventually commanding a small fleet of merchant vessels. By 1841 he had become a prominent figure in California coastal trade. Dalton was granted the two square league Rancho San Francisquito in 1845. Dalton's holdings also included

Rancho Azusa de Dalton Rancho Azusa de Dalton, (originally the Rancho El Susa), was a Ranchos of California, Mexican land grant in present-day Los Angeles County, California, given in 1841 by Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado, Juan Alvarado to Luis Arenas. Arenas sold hi ...

purchased in 1844, and

Rancho Santa Anita Rancho Santa Anita was a land grant in present-day Los Angeles County, California given to naturalized Scottish immigrant Hugo Reid and his Kizh people wife. Reid built an adobe residence there in 1839, and the land grant was formally recognized ...

purchased in 1847. At one time, Dalton owned an unbroken expanse of land from the present day San Dimas to the eastern edge of

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial d ...

. 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 San Francisquito 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, confirmed by the Commission in 1853, but rejected by the US District Court in 1855, on the grounds that Henry Dalton was not, at the time of the grant, a citizen of Mexico. The decree was reversed by the

US Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

, 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 Henry Dalton in 1867. Between 1867 and 1873, Dalton sold parts of Rancho San Francisquito in small tracts. In 1873, Dalton sold the westerly two-thirds portion of the Rancho San Francisquito, , to the Wolfskills who sold it to Elias Jackson (“Lucky”) Baldwin.''Lummer v. Unruh'', 1914, California appellate decisions, Volume 19, California. District Courts of Appeal, Recorder Printing and Publishing, San Francisco

References

External links

Map of old Spanish and Mexican ranchos in Los Angeles County
{{Los Angeles County, California San Gabriel Valley 1845 establishments in Alta California El Monte, California Irwindale, California Ranchos of Los Angeles County, California

History

See also

References

External links