Manuel Dominguez

Manuel Dominguez
Born	1803 Alta California
Died	1882 (aged 77–78)

Manuel Dominguez (1803–1882) was born at Mission San Juan Capistrano, in the colonial Las Californias province of the Spanish Viceroyalty of New Spain (colonial México). He was the heir to the vast Rancho San Pedro land grant in the Los Angeles Basin.^[1]

Juan José Domínguez

Juan José Domínguez (1736-1809) was a Spanish soldier in New Spain. In 1769, with Fernando Rivera y Moncada, he was in the first group that arrived at the site of and founded the Presidio of San Diego in Alta California. Domínguez served with Gaspar de Portolà and Junípero Serra on the Portolà expedition, the first European land exploration of present day California. It traveled north from San Diego to the San Gabriel Valley, Los Angeles Basin, San Fernando Valley, Monterey Bay, and San Francisco Bay.

In 1784, Juan José Domínguez received a land grant grazing concession named Rancho San Pedro, 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 King Charles III of Spain. It included what is today the entire Port of Los Angeles; San Pedro, Los Angeles; Harbor City, Los Angeles; Wilmington, Los Angeles; Carson; Compton; the Dominguez Hills; Lomita; the Palos Verdes Peninsula; Redondo Beach; Hermosa Beach; Manhattan Beach; and Torrance.

Cristóbal Domínguez

Juan José Domínguez died in 1809, and left the rancho to his nephew Cristóbal Domínguez, who died in 1822. His three sons (including his eldest son, Manuel Domínguez) settled on the ranch, building adobe homes.^[2]

Manuel Domínguez

Manuel Domínguez (1803–1882), 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. 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]

Heirs of Manuel Domínguez

Luis Gonzaga Policarpo Manuel Antonio Fernando Dominguez y Reyes was married to María Engracia de Cota y Nieto, 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.

See also

• Battle of Dominguez Rancho
• Rancho Dominguez, California
• California State University, Dominguez Hills

References

External links

• Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum website