Rancho Rincon de Los Esteros was a 6,353-acre (25.71 km2) Mexican land grant in present day Santa Clara County, California given by Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado in 1838 to Ignacio Alviso.[1] The name means Estuaries Corner or Estuaries Bend. The rancho was located within the present day Santa Clara County[2], on the southern shore of San Francisco Bay between the Guadalupe River and Coyote Creek outflows into the Bay.
Ignacio Alviso (1772 - 1848), the son of Domingo Alviso, one of the members of the De Anza Expedition, was a soldier at the San Francisco Presidio, and retired in 1838. The city of Alviso was named for Ignacio.[3][4]
Three claims for three separate parts of Rancho Rincon de Los Esteros were filed with the Public Land Commission. A claim by Rafael Nicanor Alviso (1840–1904)[5] was filed with the Commission in 1852 and a patent for 2,200 acres (8.9 km2) awarded in 1872.[6][7]
The second claim was filed by Francisco Berreyesa et al with the Commission in 1852 and a patent for 1,844 acres (7.5 km2) awarded in 1873.[8] Francisco Berreyesa was the son of Guadalupe Berreyesa (1816–1850)[9] and Maria Dolores Alviso (1817–1850), who was daughter of Ignacio Alviso and Margarita Bernal.[10]
The third claim was filed by Ellen E. White with the Commission in 1852 and a patent for 2,308 acres (9.3 km2) awarded in 1862.[11] Charles White (1823–1853), a native of Ireland who came overland from Missouri in 1846 with his wife, Ellen E. White, and two children, was one of San Jose's leading and wealthiest citizens in the half-dozen years before and after statehood. He was alcalde of the Pueblo of San José in 1848. White also owned Rancho Cholame and Rancho Pala. Charles White was killed in the explosion of the steamboat "Jenny Lind" en route from Alviso to San Francisco on April 11, 1853.
Originally the Mexican rancho extended between Arroyo Penitencia in the east to Rio Guadaloupe in the west.[12] By the time the US courts confirmed the grant, the portion east of Coyote Creek had been lost to settlers in Milpitas.[13]
The marshy land, only a few feet above sea level in most places, was used for cattle grazing for a long period of time after the original grant. Numerous orchards existed on the land in the early 1900s, and, in addition, lettuce was grown here more recently in the 1970s. In contemporary times the name Rincon de Los Esteros is also the name of a redevelopment project in the city of San Jose, California.
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