Rancho Las Uvas was a 11080 acres (44.8 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 Santa Clara County, California

Santa Clara County, California

Santa Clara County is a county located at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 it had a population of 1,781,642. The county seat is San Jose. The highly urbanized Santa Clara Valley within Santa Clara County is also known as Silicon Valley...

 given in 1842 by Governor Juan Alvarado to Lorenzo Pinedo (often spelt Pineda). The name means "ranch of the grapes" and is derived from an abundance of wild grapes (Vitis californica

Vitis californica

Vitis californica is a wild grape species native to most of California and southwestern Oregon. It is a deciduous vine which can grow to over 10 m in length. It climbs on other plants or covers the ground with twisted, woody ropes of vine covered in green leaves...

) along the area's main watercourses. The grant was 3 miles west of present day Morgan Hill

Morgan Hill, California

Morgan Hill is a city located in the southern part of Santa Clara County, California, United States. Founded on November 10, 1906, the city was named after Hiram Morgan Hill, a San Franciscan who built a country retreat home there in 1884...

, and covered the hilly area drained by the Uvas Creek

Uvas Creek

Uvas Creek is a mainly southward-flowing stream originating on Loma Prieta peak of the Santa Cruz Mountains, in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The creek descends through Uvas Canyon County Park into Uvas Reservoir, and upon passing U.S...

 and Llagas Creek, and is the site of present day Uvas Reservoir

Uvas Reservoir

Uvas Reservoir is a reservoir in Santa Clara County, California, U.S.A., created in 1957 by the construction of Uvas Dam across Uvas Creek.-See also:*List of lakes in California*List of lakes in the San Francisco Bay Area...

.

History

Lorenzo Pinedo, arrived in California from Ecuador

Ecuador

Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

, the sole survivor of a shipwreck off the coast at Monterey

Monterey, California

The City of Monterey in Monterey County is located on Monterey Bay along the Pacific coast in Central California. Monterey lies at an elevation of 26 feet above sea level. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 27,810. Monterey is of historical importance because it was the capital of...

. Lorenzo Pinedo married Maria del Carmen Berreyesa, the daughter of José de los Reyes Berreyesa

José de los Reyes Berreyesa

José de los Reyes Berrelleza was born at Mission Santa Clara de Asís in Las Californias on January 6, 1785, the third child and first son in the family of María Gertrudis Peralta and Nicholas Antonio Berrelleza. He served as an army sergeant at El Presidio Real de San Francisco. In 1805, he...

, in 1839, and received the three square league grant in 1842. Lorenzo Pinedo died in 1852.

Martin Murphy had brought his family to California with the Stephens-Townsend-Murphy Party

Stephens-Townsend-Murphy Party

The Stephens-Townsend-Murphy Party consisted of ten families who migrated from Iowa to California prior to the Mexican-American War or the California Gold Rush. The Stephens Party is significant in California history because they were the first wagon train to cross the Sierra Nevada during the...

 in 1844. Martin Murphy purchased Rancho Ojo del Agua de la Coche

Rancho Ojo del Agua de la Coche

Rancho Ojo de Agua de la Coche was a Mexican land grant in present day Santa Clara County, California given in 1835 by Governor José Figueroa to Juan María Hernandez. The name means "pig's spring"...

. Martin Murphy's son, Bernard Murphy, purchased Rancho La Polka on the east boundary of Rancho San Francisco de las Llagas

Rancho San Francisco de las Llagas

Rancho San Francisco de las Llagas was a Mexican land grant in present day Santa Clara County, California given in 1834 by Governor José Figueroa to Carlos Antonio Castro...

 and Rancho Las Uvas on the western boundary of Rancho Ojo de Agua de la Coche. Bernard Murphy was killed in the explosion of the steamboat "Jenny Lind" en route from Alviso to San Francisco on April 11, 1853.

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 Las Uvas was filed by Bernard Murphy 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, and the 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 Martin J. C. Murphy (1853-1872), son of Bernard Murphy, in 1860.