Rancho San Pablo
A brief history of Rancho San Pablo (Rancho Los Cuchigunes)
NOTE: This excerpt from a 1930s WPA Guide is incorrect. The Alvarado Adobe was built in 1842 by Jesús María Castro (second youngest son of Don Francisco María Castro) for his mother, Dona Gabriéla Berryessa de Castro.
The Partition of Rancho San Pablo
The original grantee of Rancho San Pablo, Francisco María Castro, died in 1831. When he died, one half of Rancho San Pablo went to his wife, María Gabriela Berreyesa de Castro, and the other half went to his eleven children. (Alvino Antonio de Gracia, María Francisca, Pablo Antonio María, Juan José, Vincente, Antonio Gabriel Vincente, Joaquin Ysidro, Albino Antonio Timoteo Pablo, María Gregoria Gertrudis, María Martina, Victor Ramon, María Luisa de Jesús, José María Miguel de Jesús, and Alvino Antonio Mauricio each received a 1/22 share.)
Unfortunately, the heirs each received undivided shares, which meant that no boundaries were drawn to clearly define what each heir owned. Instead, each heir owned either a 1/22nd interest (each the children) or an 11/22nds interest (María Gabriela Berreyesa de Castro) in each square inch of the entire Rancho. Some sold land, some mortgaged land, and in general no one told anyone else what they were doing.
Three of the couple’s children died without heirs, so their interests in Rancho San Pablo reverted back to their mother. When she in died in 1851 she left her interest in the Rancho to her daughter Martina, who was the wife of Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado. This meant that Martina then owned a 15/22nds interest in the Rancho. At one point the other heirs tried to have the will of their mother thrown out. Poorly documented sale and mortgage transactions entered into by the various heirs made the situation almost irresolvable.
The whole mess ended up in the courts in what is said to have been one of the most drawn-out land cases in American history. For a period of about 40 years no one knew what he or she owned. Judge J. C. B. Hebbard released his final decree of partition in March of 1894, thus ending decades of uncertainty about titles to the property in Rancho San Pablo. His decree divided the Rancho among 148 owners.
See also: Rancho San Pablo by The Honorable A. F. Bray, Contra Costa County - December 12, 1936. Original papers of A. F. Bray in the Contra Costa County History Center archives. [https://www.cocohistory.org/bray-36-12-12.html]
The Evolution of Rancho San Pablo
Shown on the following maps
Title: Plano del territorio de la alta California construido por las megores noticias y observaciones proprias del capitan de fragata Don José Mariá Narvaez. Año de 1830.
Plan of the territory of Alta California built by the best reports and own observations of the frigate captain Don José Mariá Narvaez. Year of 1830.
Early map of Alta California (1830) shows the location of Castro at Rancho San Pablo.
Ana Dominguez has kindly translated the captions into English, providing a remarkable look into how Rancho San Pablo and its original landforms were viewed in those days. See the translated version of this map here: http://www.elcerritohistoricalsociety.org/images/forbesmap.jpg
Cover: Diseño del Rancho de San Pablo : [Calif.] / [James Alexander Forbes]
Pen-and-ink and pencil on tracing paper. From: U.S. District Court. California, Northern District. Land case 320 ND, page 595; land case map D-636 (Bancroft Library). Joaquin Ysidro Castro, claimant. From: U.S. District Court. California, Northern District. Land case 100 ND, page 2213; land case map D-216 (Bancroft Library). Domingo & Vicente Peralta, claimants. Shows drainage, buildings, roads, etc. Relief shown pictorially and by hachures. Oriented with north toward the upper left. Date: [184-?]
Filed in office July 16th, 1852, Geo. Fisher, scy. "Pen-and-ink on tracing paper. From: U.S. District Court. California, Northern District. Land case 403 ND, page 343; land case map D-857 (Bancroft Library).
Title: Diseño del rancho ocupado por S[eñ]or. Dn. Francisco Castro y llamado San Pablo : [Calif.] H, map annexed to the Castro Grant.
Map of the ranch occupied by Don Francisco Castro named San Pablo.
Note: this map has been enchanced for optimal viewing as the original is very dark.
Gray's Map [Nicholas Gray] 1856.
The property owners of Rancho San Pablo are believed to have commissioned this map to help understand exactly who owned which pieces of land in Rancho San Pablo. Nicholas Gray was a U.S. Deputy Surveyor. A James Forbes was also associated with the project and sometimes this map is referred to as "Forbes's Map." There was also one other person who is listed as having participated in this project but his name is unknown.
Title: Plat of the Rancho San Pablo [Calif.] : finally confirmed to Joaquin Isidro Castro / surveyed under the instructions of the U. S. Surveyor General by John La Croze, Dep. Surv., May 1858. Containing 19,394-403/1000 Acres. Scale 40 chains to 1 (one) Inch.
"I certify this to be a full true and correct copy of the original plat on file in this affair of the official survey of the "Rancho San Pablo" finally confirmed to Joaquin Isidro Castro. In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name, and caused the Seal of this Office to be affixed this 31st day of December 1859. J. W. Mandeville, U. S. Surveyor General, California. [https://oac.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/hb1t1nb0h3/?order=2&brand=oac4]
Title: Map of the Country and 40 Miles Around San Francisco and Plats of all the Ranchos finally surveyed. Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1860, by Leander Ransom in the Clerks office of the District Court for the Northern District of California.
Note the spelling of Rancho El Pinole as "El Penole" at upper right.
[https://neatlinemaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/NL-00046_r.jpg]
Title: Map Of The Region Adjacent To The Bay Of San Francisco, 1873. State Geological Survey Of California. J.D. Whitney, State Geologist. The Coast, Rancho, Township and Section Lines from Materials furnished by the U.S. Coast Survey and the U.S. Surveyor General's Office, the Topography chiefly from Original Surveys by C.F. Hoffman ... Julius Bien, Lith. [https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~203543~3001694]
Map of the San Pablo Rancho, accompanying and forming a part of the Final Report of the Referees in Partition
Dated September 1, 1893. G. F. Allardt, C. E. Surveyor (Chief Engineer of the Tide Land Survey)
Title: Map showing portions of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, City and County of San Francisco, California. Britton & Rey, 1894.
[https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4363a.la000011/?r=0.17,0.182,0.288,0.131,0]
Title: San Francisco Quadrangle. U.S. Geological Survey. 1913.
Geologic Atlas of the United States, San Francisco Folio. Tamalpais, San Francisco, Concord, San Mateo, and Haywards Quadrangles, California. By Andrew C. Lawson. Washington D.C. Published 1914.
[https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~261648~5523540]
Final Partition of Rancho San Pablo.
This 58 page document contains: i) A straightforward list of the Landholders in the Final Partition of Rancho San Pablo along with their respective allocations of acreage, and ii) George Collier’s extraordinary hand-typed transcription of the court order clarifying the order, each landowner and their respective grant, along with any additional information the Court included in its decree of partition.
[http://www.elcerritohistoricalsociety.org/landholdersranchosanpablo.pdf]
Recommended Reading/Resources:
From a Rancho to a Town Called San Pablo, by San Pablo Historical Society, edited by Beth Hansen; 1999; 147 pages. This book is available for purchase. See link at the bottom of this page.
The Long Road to Rancho San Pablo by Frances Conley**; 1989; 34 pages; Contra Costa County Library. The story of Francisco Castro, whose herds of cattle once roamed the entire northeast shore of San Francisco Bay. It begins with the family’s departure from Sinaloa, Mexico as part of the Anza expedition and continues forward to the eventual establishment of Rancho San Pablo.
First Lady of Rancho San Pablo, Martina Castro de Alvarado by Frances Conley**; 1999; 63 pages; reference pamphlets filed at the El Cerrito Library. The story of Martina Castro de Alvarado (the sister of Victor Castro), who became the wife of Juan Bautista Alvarado, a Governor of Mexican California and after that became the most prominent woman in western Contra Costa County into the modern era. It includes an excellent bibliography/reading list.
First Settlers: The Castros of Rancho San Pablo by Frances Conley**; 1980; 27 pages; Contra Costa County Library. This book tells the story of the Castro family, the first Spanish settlers in Rancho San Pablo.
Mexican Land Grant Cases in Contra Costa County by George C. Collier; 1977; 103 pages; Contra Costa County Library. “This book is a good source of information on the various Mexican land grants in Contra Costa County and the litigation pertaining to them. It can also be found here (5M).” [http://www.elcerritohistoricalsociety.org/ecprintfiles/collierbook.pdf]
Additional resources: http://www.elcerritohistoricalsociety.org/ecinprint.html
**Frances & Earl Conley are an authoritative source of information on the Castro family. They have developed a deep and comprehensive knowledge of the history of the Castro family through their translations of a number of Spanish works into English and their multiple trips to Mexico to research the Castro family.
Our book, which is only available here, tells the history of the San Pablo community which dates back to the early 1800’s when the Castro Family received almost 20,000 acres in a Spanish land grant, up to when the city was incorporated on April 27, 1948, and through the construction of Alvarado Square. It tells the story of the Alvarado Adobe which was once the home of Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado, the first native-born governor of the State of California who had married one of the daughters of Don Francisco Maria Castro. This one of a kind 147 page book is full of San Pablo's history and includes numerous vintage photos.
We have other books for sale on the history of San Pablo, the Castro family, and more. Call or email for more info. Phone: (510) 255-7488 ; email: sanpablomuseums@gmail.com
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