Rancho Sotoyome was a Mexican land grant given to

Henry D. Fitch Henry Delano Fitch (1799 – 1849), later known by his Spanish language, Spanish name Don Enrique Domingo Fitch, was a Californian trader, ranchero, and politician. Born in Massachusetts, Fitch became a merchant sailor in South America in 1815, ...

. Sotoyome or "Satiyomes" was the name of a

Wappo The Wappo (endonym: ''Micewal'') are an Indigenous people of northern California. Their traditional homelands are in Napa Valley, the south shore of Clear Lake, Alexander Valley, and Russian River valley. They are distantly related to the Yu ...

tribe. The grant, in present-day

Sonoma County, California Sonoma County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 488,863. Its seat of government and largest city is Santa Rosa. Sonoma County comprises the Santa Rosa-Petaluma ...

, extended along the Russian River encompassing the

Alexander Valley The Alexander Valley (Wappo language, Wappo: Unutsawaholmanoma, "Toyon Bush Berry Place") is a Californian (wine), Californian American Viticultural Area (AVA) just north of Healdsburg, California, Healdsburg in Sonoma County (wine), Sonoma County ...

and present-day Healdsburg.

History

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 ...

sea captain Henry Delano Fitch had married Josefa Carrillo, which made him the brother-in-law of General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo (who was married to Josefa's sister Francisca Benicia Carrillo). General Vallejo was a critical factor in obtaining the Rancho Sotoyome grant. Fitch hired Cyrus Alexander as ranch manager under a four-year agreement, after which Alexander was to receive two square leagues of land and part of the ranch stock. Fitch petitioned for his grant in 1840, and was officially granted the eight square leagues (approximately ) by Governor Juan Alvarado in 1841. In 1844, Fitch received a three square league addition from Governor Manuel Micheltorena. After Alexander's contract ended in 1845, Mose Carson, brother of Kit Carson, took over as manager of Rancho Sotoyome. Alexander settled on his tract in what is now Alexander Valley. Captain Fitch continued trading up and down the coast, with Rancho Sotoyome as one of the many business enterprises directed from his San Diego base. After the discovery of gold, Fitch planned to move his family north to Rancho Sotoyome, but had not done so before he died in 1849. Following his death, his widow Josefa and their children moved to Rancho Sotoyome. Their third son, Guillermo (William) married Clara Piña, whose relatives owned the adjacent Rancho Tzabaco. With the cession 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 Sotoyome was filed with the Public Land Commission 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 Josefa Carrillo de Fitch in 1858. Alexander filed a claim in 1853 for his two square leagues (part of the 1841 grant by Governor Alvarado to Fitch), but it was rejected by the Land Commission. In 1856, Josefa Carrillo de Fitch auctioned part of the Rancho to pay taxes. Harmon Heald, an Ohio businessman who had been squatting on Rancho Sotoyome since 1850, purchased . Heald's small town of Healdsburg was incorporated in 1867.

References

{{California history Healdsburg, California Sotoyome

History

See also

References