Rancho La Jota was a 4454 acres (18 km²) Mexican land grant

Ranchos of California

The Spanish, and later the Méxican government encouraged settlement of territory now known as California by the establishment of large land grants called ranchos, from which the English ranch is derived. Devoted to raising cattle and sheep, the owners of the ranchos attempted to pattern themselves...

 in present day Napa County, California

Napa County, California

Napa County is a county located north of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is coterminous with the Napa, California, Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2010 the population is 136,484. The county seat is Napa....

 given in 1843 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena

Manuel Micheltorena

Manuel Micheltorena was a Brigadier General of the Mexican Army, Adjutant-General of the same, Governor, Commandant-General and Inspector of the Department of the California...

 to George C. Yount

George C. Yount

George Calvert Yount was a trapper in William Wolfskill's party from New Mexico and came to California in 1831. He was the first Euro-American permanent settler in the Napa Valley, where he was the grantee of two Mexican land grants. Yountville, California is named for him.-Biography:George C...

. La Jota literally means “the letter J” in Spanish, but the meaning of the name has been a cause of speculation.

History

Through the influence of Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo

Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo

Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo was a Californian military commander, politician, and rancher. He was born a subject of Spain, performed his military duties as an officer of Mexico, and shaped the transition of California from a Mexican district to an American state...

, George C. Yount received the two square league Rancho Caymus

Rancho Caymus

Rancho Caymus was a Mexican land grant in present day Napa County, California given in 1836 by acting Governor Nicolás Gutiérrez to George C. Yount. Caymus was the name of a subgroup of Mishewal-Wappo Indians. The rancho included present day Yountville, Oakville and Rutherford all within the...

 in 1836, and became the first permanent Euro-American settler in the Napa Valley

Napa Valley AVA

Napa Valley AVA is an American Viticultural Area located in Napa County, California, United States. Napa Valley is considered one of the top wine regions in the United States...

. In 1843 he received the one square league Rancho La Jota on Howell Mountain

Howell Mountain AVA

The Howell Mountain AVA is an American Viticultural Area located within Napa Valley AVA. Howell Mountain is located in the Vaca Mountains on the northeast side of Napa Valley around the town of Angwin, and overlooks the town of St. Helena, California....

 to the north of Rancho Caymus. Yount planned to construct a sawmill

Sawmill

A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....

 on the mountain top land.

With the cession

Mexican Cession

The Mexican Cession of 1848 is a historical name in the United States for the region of the present day southwestern United States that Mexico ceded to the U.S...

 of California to the United States following the Mexican-American War, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is the peace treaty, largely dictated by the United States to the interim government of a militarily occupied Mexico City, that ended the Mexican-American War on February 2, 1848...

 provided that the land grants would be honored. As required by the Land Act of 1851, a claim for Rancho La Jota was filed with the Public Land Commission

Public Land Commission

The Public Land Commission, a former agency of the United States government, was created following the admission of California as a state in 1850 . The Commission's purpose was to determine the validity of prior Spanish and Mexican land grants in California.California Senator William M...

 in 1852. The Land Commission rejected Yount’s claim, but the United States District Court reversed the decision. The Rancho La Jota grant was patented

Land patent

A land patent is a land grant made patent by the sovereign lord over the land in question. To make a such a grant “patent”, such a sovereign lord must document the land grant, securely sign and seal the document and openly publish the same to the public for all to see...

 to George C. Yount in 1857.

Edwin Angwin in 1875 purchased 200 acre (0.809372 km²) and established the Angwin Resort. By the 1900s Edwin owned almost 1600 acres (6.5 km²). The community of Angwin

Angwin, California

Angwin is a census-designated place in Napa County, United States. California. It is part of the northern San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 3,051 at the 2010 census. Its area code is 707. Its two zip codes are 94508 and 94576. It is in the Pacific time zone.The town was named in 1874 for...

 is named after him. In 1909, Angwin sold the property to the Seventh-day Adventist Church

Seventh-day Adventist Church

The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...

 who established Pacific Union College

Pacific Union College

Pacific Union College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in Angwin, California, United States. It is the only four-year college in Napa County, California....

on the site.

Historic sites of the Rancho

• La Jota Vineyard. A winery built in 1898 from the local volcanic rock by Frederick Hess. Hess, the publisher of the German language California Demokrat in San Francisco, purchased 327 acres (1.3 km²) of Rancho La Jota.