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Finding aid for the Rancho La Ballona Property Records
MS123
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Title: Rancho La Ballona Property records
Dates: 1868-1926
Collection number: MS123
Collection Size:
0.25 linear feet
Repository:
Loyola Marymount University. Library. Department of Archives and Special Collections.
Los Angeles, California 90045-2659
Abstract: This collection contains legal documents related to the ownership, transfer of title, and division of the property known as
Rancho La Ballona.
Physical location: Section H, Aisle 67, Row B, Bay 1, Shelf 6
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Collection is open to research under the terms of use of the Department of Archives and Special Collections, Loyola Marymount
University.
Materials in the Department of Archives and Special Collections may be subject to copyright. Unless explicitly stated otherwise,
Loyola Marymount University does not claim ownership of the copyright of any materials in its collections. The user or publisher
must secure permission to publish from the copyright owner. Loyola Marymount University does not assume any responsibility
for infringement of copyright or of publication rights held by the original author or artists or his/her heirs, assigns, or
executors.
[Identification of item], Series number, Box and Folder number, Rancho La Ballona Property records, MS123, Department of Archives
and Special Collections, William H. Hannon Library, Loyola Marymount University.
Gift of Albert V. Vela, P.h.D. Accession number: 2016.35.
Biography / Administrative History
Rancho La Ballona was a 13,920-acre Mexican land grant in present day Los Angeles County confirmed by Governor Juan Alvarado
in 1839 to Ygnacio and Agustín Machado and Felipe and Tomas Talamantes. The Machados and Talamantes had already been given
a specific Spanish concession to graze their cattle on this land in 1819.
The cession of California to the United States following the Mexican-American War and the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
promised that the land grants would be honored. In 1854 the Machados and Talamantes registered their claim for Rancho La Ballona
with the Board of California Land Commissioners and it was approved in 1857. In 1873, after the death of Agustín Machado,
Rancho La Ballona was patented at 13,920 acres to the original four claimants.
In 1857, Benjamin D. Wilson received title to one fourth of Rancho La Ballona on foreclosure of a loan he made to Tomas Talamantes
in 1854. Wilson sold his undivided fourth to George A. Sanford and John D. Young, who in 1863 petitioned for the division
of the lower Ballona Valley land. In 1868 a decree was issued that divided the land in question into 23 sections, with the
largest allotment of the former rancho belonging to the Estate of Agustín Machado. This parcel was later further divided among
the Machado’s heirs.
Scope and Content of Collection
This collection consists of legal documents related to John D. Young’s petition for the division of the rancho and subsequent
ownership issues of his parcel leading up to the mid 1920s.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Land tenure--California--History.
Rancho La Ballona
Machado, José Agustín Antonio, 1794-1865
Ranches -- California -- Los Angeles County.
Rancho La Ballona Map (CSLA-11)