Rancho San Lorenzo 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 ...

given in 1841 by Governor Juan Alvarado to Guillermo Castro a career soldier posted to the Pueblo of San José. The land grant included present day Hayward, San Lorenzo, and

Castro Valley Castro Valley is a census-designated place (CDP) in Alameda County, California, United States. At the 2020 census, it was the fourth most populous unincorporated area in California. The population was 66,441 at the 2020 census. Castro Valley is ...

, including Crow Canyon, Cull Canyon, and Palomares Canyons. Hayward City Hall 1 commemorative plaque

History

The grant was located on the route of

El Camino Viejo El Camino Viejo a Los Ángeles (), also known as El Camino Viejo and the Old Los Angeles Trail, was the oldest north-south trail in the interior of Spanish colonial Las Californias (1769–1822) and Mexican Alta California (1822–1848), present 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 Lorenzo 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 Guillermo Castro in 1865. Soon after, Castro began to sell off his land to pay debts. The last of his holding was sold in a sheriff's sale in 1864 to Faxon Atherton. Atherton in turn began selling off his portion in smaller parcels.Lorge, L, Phelps, R, Weston, D. "Castro Valley" Arcadia Publishing, 2005. 128 pp.

Rancho San Lorenzo (Sota)

Guillermo and Maria Louisa Peralta Castro owned Rancho San Lorenzo Alta. Francisco and Barbara Soto owned an adjacent rancho called Rancho San Lorenzo Baja - sometimes called San Lorenzito, or Little San Lorenzo. Barbara Soto was Guillermo Castro's sister. Rancho San Lorenzo Alta and Rancho San Lorenzo Baja
Soto's grant was patented at in 1877.

References

External links

Ranchos San Lorenzo (Castro y Soto)
at

The Bancroft Library The Bancroft Library is the primary special-collections library of the University of California, Berkeley. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retain the name Bancroft Library in perpetuity. ...

{{Alameda County, California topics San Lorenzo Hayward, California El Camino Viejo San Lorenzo

History

Rancho San Lorenzo (Sota)

See also

References

External links