Rancho San Jacinto Sobrante was a Mexican land grant in present-day

Riverside County, California Riverside County is a County (United States), county located in the Southern California, southern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, its population was 2,418,185, making it the fourth-most ...

given in 1846 by Governor

Pío Pico Don (honorific), Don Pío de Jesús Pico IV (May 5, 1801 – September 11, 1894) was a California politician, ranchero, and entrepreneur, famous for serving as the List of governors of California before 1850, last governor of Alta California und ...

to María del Rosario Estudillo de Aguirre. The Rancho San Jacinto Sobrante grant was of the surplus or "sobrante" of Jose Antonio Estudillo's

Rancho San Jacinto Viejo Rancho San Jacinto Viejo was a Mexican land grant in present-day Riverside County, California given in 1842 by Governor Pro-tem Manuel Jimeno to José Antonio Estudillo. At the time of the US Patent, Rancho San Jacinto Viejo was a part of San D ...

and Miguel Pedrorena's

Rancho San Jacinto Nuevo y Potrero Rancho San Jacinto Nuevo y Potrero was a Ranchos of California, Mexican land grant in present-day Riverside County, California given in 1846 by Governor Pío Pico to Miguel Pedrorena. At the time of the US Patent, Rancho San Jacinto Nuevo y Pot ...

. The grant encompassed present day Lake Mathews. At the time of the

US patent Under United States law, a patent is a right granted to the inventor of a (1) process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, (2) that is new, useful, and non-obvious. A patent is the right to exclude others, for a limit ...

, Rancho San Jacinto Sobrante was a part of

San Bernardino County San Bernardino County ( ), officially the County of San Bernardino and sometimes abbreviated as S.B. County, is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is located within the Inland Empire area. As of th ...

. The County of Riverside was created by the California Legislature in 1893 by taking land from both

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

and San Bernardino Counties.

History

María del Rosario Estudillo was the daughter of

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 ...

, grantee of

. José Antonio Estudillo was appointed administrator and majordomo at Mission San Luis Rey in 1840. Three grants, comprising over of the former Mission San Luis Rey lands in the San Jacinto area were made to the Estudillo family: Rancho San Jacinto Viejo to José Antonio Estudillo in 1842;

to his son-in-law,

Miguel Pedrorena Don Miguel de Pedrorena (c. 1808–March 21, 1850) was a Spanish-born Californio ranchero, merchant, and a signer of the California Constitution in 1849. He also served briefly as acting List of pre-statehood mayors of San Diego, Alcalde of San Di ...

, in 1846; and the five square league Rancho San Jacinto Sobrante to his daughter, María del Rosario Estudillo, in 1846. María del Rosario Estudillo was married to José Antonio Aguirre (1799–1860). Before she died, Aguirre had been married to María del Rosario's sister, Francisca Estudillo, eldest daughter of José Antonio Estudillo. José Antonio Aguirre owned one-half of Rancho El Tejon. In 1853, José Antonio Aguirre bought Rancho San Jacinto Nuevo y Potrero from the estate of Aguirre's brother-in-law Miguel Pedrorena. 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 Jacinto Sobrante 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. In 1854, the Commission found that María del Rosario Estudillo de Aguirre was entitled to five square leagues of land. The US District Court in 1855, however, held that the claimant was entitled to eleven square leagues, if so much should be found within the sobrante, and to all that was found therein if it were less than that amount. An appeal taken to 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 ...

in 1863, affirmed the eleven square leagues, and the grant was patented to María del Rosario Estudillo de Aguirre in 1867. Soon after the 1855 District Court decision, the grant was purchased by a group mostly connected with the US Land Office - including Upson, the Surveyor General, Edward Conway, the chief clerk in his office, and Thompson, the deputy who was directed to make the survey, and Joseph H. Wilson, the Commissioner of the

United States General Land Office The General Land Office (GLO) was an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the United States government responsible for Public domain (land), public domain lands in the United States. It was created in 1812 ...

at Washington. It was alleged that the location of the grant was moved to make it contain valuable

tin Tin is a chemical element; it has symbol Sn () and atomic number 50. A silvery-colored metal, tin is soft enough to be cut with little force, and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, a bar of tin makes a sound, the ...

ores not within its limits if fairly surveyed. In 1888, the United States unsuccessfully sought to have the US Supreme Court declare the patent void based upon the grounds of a fraudulent survey by persons who the beneficiaries thereof. ''United States v. San Jacinto Tin Company'', U.S. Supreme Court, 125 U.S. 273 (1888)
/ref>

References

{{California history, state=collapsed San Jacinto Sobrante San Jacinto Mountains 1846 establishments in Alta California

History

See also

References