Manuel Dominguez (1804 – 1882), born at the Mission San Juan Capistrano in Alta California, Viceroyalty of New Spain, and was the heir to the vast Rancho San Pedro land grant.
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Juan Jose Dominguez (1736 - 1809), a Spanish soldier, arrived at and founded the Presidio of San Diego, California in 1769 with Fernando Rivera y Moncada. Dominguez served with Gaspar de Portolà and Juniperro Serra on the first European land exploration of California, the Portola expedition. It traveled north to the San Gabriel Valley, Los Angeles Basin, San Fernando Valley, Monterey Bay, and the first European sighting of the San Francisco Bay.
In 1784, Juan Jose Dominguez received a land grant grazing concession, 75,000 acres (300 km2) of land and one of the first in California, by the upper Las Californias military Governor Pedro Fages on behalf of Spanish King Carlos III named Rancho San Pedro. It included what today is the entire Port of Los Angeles, San Pedro, Harbor City, Wilmington, Carson, Compton, Dominguez Hills, Lomita, the Palos Verdes Peninsula, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, and Torrance.
Juan Jose Dominguez died in 1809, and left the rancho to his nephew Cristobal Dominguez. Cristobal died in 1822, but his three sons (including his eldest son, Manuel Dominguez) settled on the ranch, building adobe homes.[1]
Manuel Domínguez (1804 - 1882), eldest son of Cristobal Dominguez, is credited with the solidification of the Rancho San Pedro with a new Mexican land grant and with the development of the rancho, and erecting the Dominguez Rancho Adobe as rancho headquarters above the Los Angeles River floodplain in the Dominguez Hills, preserved in present day Carson .[2] In 1828 Manuel Domínguez was elected to the Pueblo de Los Angeles Cabildo (City Council) under Mexican rule. Four years later, at the age of 29, he was elected Alcalde (Mayor) of the Pueblo de Los Angeles. From 1833 to 1834, Manuel served as a representative from Los Angeles pueblo to the Mexican Provincial Legislature in Alta California's capitol of Monterey. At this same time, he was appointed by the Governor as the Third Prefect of the Southern District of Alta California, which gave Manuel authority over all of present day Los Angeles and Orange Counties.[3]
Manuel Domínguez was married to María Engracia Cota, daughter of Rancho Los Cerritos owner Guillermo Cota. Upon Manuel Domínguez’s death in 1882, and the passing of his wife one year later, the Rancho San Pedro lands were partitioned among his six surviving children, all daughters.
| Name | Birth/Death | Married | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ana Josefa Juliana Domínguez | 1829 - 1907 | William Dryden (1868), Charles E. Guyer (1884) | |
| María Guadalupe Marcelina Domínguez | 1830 - 1913 | never married | |
| María Dolores Simona Domínguez | 1838 - 1924 | James A. Watson | Watson Land Company |
| Maria Victoria Dominguez | 1842 - 1916 | George Henry Carson | Carson, California |
| Maria Susana Delfina Dominguez | 1844 - 1931 | Gregorio Del Amo y Gonzalez | Del Amo Boulevard, Del Amo Square |
| Maria de los Reyes Dominguez | 1847 - 1933 | John Fillmore Francis |