Background
Warner’s Ranch refers to a tract of land totaling 45,000 acres in the Valle de San Jose in San Diego County, also sometimes
called Valle de Val. It was settled by Jonathon Trumbull Warner originally of Connecticut. Warner traveled west in 1830 and
became a Mexican citizen in 1836 when he married Anita Gale and changed his name to Juan Jose Warner. He was granted to rights
to Warner’s Ranch by the Mexican Governor in 1844. In 1851, the United States Government issued a patent confirming Warner’s
ownership of the ranch. That same year Warner and his family left the Ranch and moved to Los Angeles due to his wife’s illness.
At that time, he sold all but a few tracts of land to John Raines. Raines died in 1862 and the land entered probate. The ranch
was sold off piecemeal until John G, Downey began buying all of the land, a process that took over 10 years. John Downey subsequently
died in 1894 and all but two tracts of land were left in the hands of his heirs; John Downey Harvey, Eleanor Martin, Walter
Vail, Peter Martin, Walter Martin and Genevieve Riley. The remaining two tracts were owned by Henry Gage.