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Joe and Ramona Miller California Land Grant Collection
2006_06  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Descriptive Summary
  • Access
  • Publication Rights
  • Preferred Citation
  • Acquisition Information
  • Biography/Administrative History
  • Scope and Content of Collection
  • Indexing Terms
  • Additional collection guides

  • Descriptive Summary

    Title: Joe and Ramona Miller California Land Grant Collection
    Dates: 1810-1957
    Collection Number: 2006_06
    Creator/Collector:
    Extent: 1 box.
    Repository: Sherman Library and Gardens
    Abstract: The collection consists of materials concerning the review of several Mexican and Spanish land grant claims in California in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The three ranchos represented in the collection are: Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana (Orange County, Calif.), Rancho Lomas de Santiago (Orange County, Calif.), and Rancho Arroyo Seco (Sacramento County, Calif.).
    Language of Material: English

    Access

    Collection is open for research.

    Preferred Citation

    Joe and Ramona Miller California Land Grant Collection. Sherman Library and Gardens

    Acquisition Information

    The collection was donated to the Sherman Library by Joe and Ramona Miller on March 31, 2001.

    Biography/Administrative History

    Following the end of the U.S.-Mexico War, the signing of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, and the entry of California into the union in 1850, the United States Land Commission proceeded to evaluate and review all extant land ownership titles in the state. Because many California ranchos had been granted to individuals before 1850, the Land Commission found itself reviewing over eight hundred Mexican-era land grant claims concerning private ownership of the ranchos in California to determine their boundaries and title under the United States government.

    Scope and Content of Collection

    The collection consists of legal documents, correspondence, affidavits, petitions, maps and related materials concerning the review of several Mexican and Spanish land grant claims in California in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The three ranchos represented in the collection are: Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana (Orange County, Calif.), Rancho Lomas de Santiago (Orange County, Calif.), and Rancho Arroyo Seco (Sacramento County, Calif.). Many of the documents in the collection are photostatic copies of materials from the General Land Office of the U.S. Department of the Interior, and the originals are likely in the holdings of the National Archives and Records Administration. The portion of the collection related to Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana concerns the rancho’s boundary bordering Rancho las Bolsas to the north due to the change in the course of the Santa Ana River and includes copies of testimonies concerning the property’s history. The materials related to Andres Pico’s Rancho Arroyo Seco concern a portion of the property awarded as a bounty land grant by the United States government to Hezekiah H. Gear, who later sold it to De Witt C. Cowan. The collection also contains a small group of ephemera related to land ownership in California (deeds and other printed materials) and also scattered receipts, checks, and a stock certificate.

    Indexing Terms

    Land grants - California - Orange County.
    Land grants - California - Sacramento County.
    Land titles - California - Orange County.
    Land titles - California - Sacramento County.
    Ranchos - California - History.
    Cowan, De Witt C.
    Gear, Hezekiah H.
    Peralta, Juan Pablo.
    Pico, Andres, 1810-1876.
    Riley, Portia A.
    Riley, Spurgeon V.
    Yorba, José Antonio, 1746-1825.
    Yorba, Theodosio.
    United States. General Land Office.
    United States. Commission for Ascertaining and Settling Private Land Claims in California.
    Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana (Calif.)
    Rancho las Bolsas (Calif.)
    Rancho Lomas de Santiago (Calif.)
    Rancho Arroyo Seco (Sacramento County, Calif.)

    Additional collection guides