Rancho San Benito

Rancho San Benito was a 6,671-acre (27.00 km2) Mexican land grant in present day Monterey County, California given in 1842 by Governor Juan B. Alvarado to Francisco Garcia.[1] The grant extended along the Salinas River south of Rancho San Bernardo. Present day San Lucas is within the boundaries of the grant.[2][3]

History

Francisco Garcia received one and half square leagues, and built an adobe house.[4]

James Watson (1800-1863), born in England, arrived by ship in Santa Barbara in 1824, and went to Monterey . He established a hide and tallow business, and married Mariana Escamilla (1805-1871) in 1830. In 1850, Garcia sold Rancho San Benito to James Watson.[5]

With the cession of California to the United States following the Mexican-American War, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided that the land grants would be honored. As required by the Land Act of 1851, a claim for Rancho San Benito was filed with the Public Land Commission in 1853,[6] and the grant was patented to James Watson in 1869.[7]

Watson sold Rancho San Benito to Alberto Trescony of the adjacent Rancho San Lucas.

See also

References

  1. ^ Ogden Hoffman, 1862, Reports of Land Cases Determined in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, Numa Hubert, San Francisco
  2. ^ Diseño del Rancho San Benito
  3. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Rancho San Benito
  4. ^ Hoover, Mildred B.; Hero & Ethel Rensch, and William N. Abeloe (1966). Historic Spots in California. Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0804744829. 
  5. ^ A Memorial and biographical history of the coast counties of central California, Lewis Publishing Co. 1893
  6. ^ United States. District Court (California : Southern District) Land Case 68 SD
  7. ^ Report of the Surveyor General 1844 - 1886


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