Rancho Santa Ana 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

Ventura County, California Ventura County () is a County (United States), county located in Southern California, the southern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 843,843. The largest city is Oxnard, Ca ...

given in 1837 by Governor Juan Alvarado to Crisogono Ayala and Cosme Vanegas. Rancho Santa Ana was located inland in the Ventura River Valley on the west side of the

Ventura River The Ventura River, in western Ventura County in southern California, United States, flows from its headwaters to the Pacific Ocean. The smallest of the three major rivers in Ventura County, it flows through the steeply sloped, narrow Ventura ...

across from

Rancho Ojai Rancho Ojai was a Mexican land grant in present-day Ventura County, California Ventura County () is a County (United States), county located in Southern California, the southern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United Stat ...

which was granted in the same year. Rancho Santa Ana encompassed present day

Lake Casitas Lake Casitas is a reservoir in Ventura County, California, built by the United States Bureau of Reclamation and completed in 1959. The project provides drinking water and water for irrigation. A secondary benefit is flood control. It was the ven ...

and Oak View.

History

The four square league Rancho Santa Ana was granted to Crisógono Ayala and his father-in-law Cosme Vanegas was part of the lands of

Mission San Buenaventura Mission San Buenaventura (, Ventureño language, Ventureño: ), formally known as the Mission Basilica of San Buenaventura, is a parish (Catholic Church), Catholic parish and basilica in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Archdiocese ...

. Cosme Damien Vanegas (1780–), was the son of Los Angeles Pobladores Jose Maria Vanegas (1753–) and Maria Bonifacia Maxima Aguilar(–1801). Jose Maria Vanegas was alcalde (mayor) of Los Angeles from about 1786 to 1788 and again in 1796. Jose Crisógono Dolores Ayala (1793–1866) married Bárbara Bernidina Vanegas (1800–). 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 The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...

, 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 Santa Ana 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 Crisogono Ayala and Cosme Vanegas in 1870. José de Arnaz (1820–1895), grantee of Rancho Ex-Mission San Buenaventura, bought a one sixth share of Rancho Santa Ana in 1854. In 1874, Arnaz sold the land to sea captain Richard Robinson, Judge Eugene Fawcett, Jr., and H.C. Dean, who subdivided the land and started the development of the

Valley.

Historic sites of the Rancho

* Santa Ana Rancho Adobe. Adobe house, two-story, built in the late 1850s by José de Arnaz.www.laokay.com: Historic Ventura Adobes
accessed 8/28/20109 miles north of the City of Ventura, just east of Highway 33 on Old Creek Road

Notes

References

{{Ventura River Santa Ana Santa Ana Santa Ana