Rancho Sanjon de Santa Rita 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 ...

mostly in present-day

Merced County, California Merced County ( ) is a County (United States), county located in the northern San Joaquin Valley section of the Central Valley (California), Central Valley, in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the ...

and also a small part in

Fresno County, California Fresno County (), officially the County of Fresno, is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 1,008,654. The county seat is Fresno, the fifth-most popu ...

given in 1841 by Governor Juan Alvarado to Francisco Maria Soberanes. Sanjon is an alternate spelling of , Spanish for ditch or deep slough. The grant was west of the

San Joaquin River The San Joaquin River ( ; ) is the longest river of Central California. The long river starts in the high Sierra Nevada and flows through the rich agricultural region of the northern San Joaquin Valley before reaching Suisun Bay, San Francis ...

and encompassed present-day Santa Rita Park and Dos Palos Y.

History

The Soberanes family patriarch, José Maria Soberanes (1753-1803) accompanied the

Portola expedition Portola may refer to: * Portola (album), ''Portola'' (album), a 1998 album by Rose Melberg * Portola, California * Portola, San Francisco, California * Portola Music Festival People with the surname * Gaspar de Portolá (ca. 1717-aft.1784), Spanish ...

to San Francisco Bay in 1769. Soberanes married Maria Josefa Castro (1759-1822) and received Rancho Buena Vista. His sons, Feliciano Soberanes (1788-1868) and Mariano Soberanes (1794-1859), were granted

Rancho El Alisal Rancho El Alisal was a Mexican land grant in present-day Monterey County, California, given in 1833 by Governor José Figueroa to the brothers Feliciano and Mariano Soberanes and to William Edward Petty Hartnell. Alisal means Alder tree (sycamor ...

in 1833. Feliciano Soberanes married Maria Antonia Rodriguez (1795-1883) in 1810. He was also the grantee of Rancho San Lorenzo in 1841 and

Rancho Ex-Mission Soledad Rancho Ex-Mission Soledad was a Mexican land grant in the Salinas Valley, in present-day Monterey County, California. It was given in 1845 by Governor Pío Pico to Feliciano Soberanes. The grant derives its name from the secularized Mission Nue ...

in 1845. Feliciano's daughter, Maria Josefa Soberanes, was granted

Rancho Los Coches Rancho Los Coches was a Mexican land grant in present-day Santa Clara County, California given in 1844 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to Roberto Balemino, an Indian. The name means Ranch of the Pigs. The grant was located on the west bank o ...

in 1841. Feliciano's son, Francisco Maria Soberanes (1818-1887), was granted the eleven square league Rancho Sanjon de Santa Rita in 1841. Francisco Soberanes married Ysabel Boronda, daughter of José Manuel Boronda, grantee of

Rancho Los Laureles Rancho Los Laureles was a Ranchos of California, Mexican land grant in present-day Monterey County, California given in 1839 by Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado, Juan Alvarado to José Manuel Boronda and Vicente Blas Martínez. Los Laureles refe ...

. 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 Sanjon de Santa Rita 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 1853, 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 Francisco Soberanes in 1862. Francisco Soberanes sold nine square leagues to Manuel Castro in 1853, who sold two square leagues to Salisbury Haly in 1858. In 1866

Henry Miller Henry Valentine Miller (December 26, 1891 – June 7, 1980) was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist. He broke with existing literary forms and developed a new type of semi-autobiographical novel that blended character study, so ...

purchased the entire rancho. The Lux & Miller headquarters was located on the rancho, near present-day Santa Rita Park. The Nickel family, heirs of Henry Miller, continue to own some of the land from the ranch.https://oac.cdlib.org/view?docId=kt238nb0f4&&doc.view=entire_text

References

{{California history, state=collapsed Sanjon de Santa Rita Sanjon de Santa Rita Sanjon de Santa Rita History of the San Joaquin Valley Sanjon de Santa Rita