Rancho Pauma was a 13310 acres (53.9 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 San Diego County, California given in 1844 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 José Antonio Serrano, Blas Aguilar, and José Antonio Aguilar. The grant extended along the San Luis Rey River

San Luis Rey River

The San Luis Rey River is a river in northern San Diego County, California. The river's headwaters are in the Cleveland National Forest near Palomar Mountain. The river drains into the Pacific Ocean on the northern end of the city of Oceanside. The river is over long and drains...

 west of the Palomar Mountain

Palomar Mountain

Palomar Mountain is a mountain in the Peninsular Ranges in northern San Diego County. It is famous as the location of the Palomar Observatory and Hale Telescope, and known for the Palomar Mountain State Park.-History:...

s and southeast of the San Antonio de Pala Asistencia.

History

The three square league grant was made to three brothers-in-law. Jose Antonio Serrano was the son of Leandro Serrano, grantee of Rancho Temescal

Rancho Temescal (Serrano)

Rancho Temescal was a Mexican land grant in present day Riverside County, California given by Governor José María de Echeandía to Leandro Serrano. The word Temescal is Spanish for "sweat bath" or "sweat lodge." The grant extended along the Temescal Valley south of present day Corona and...

. In 1838, José Serrano married Rafaela, daughter of Rosario E. Aguilar

Rosario E. Aguilar

Rosario E. Aguilar was an early settler of San Diego, California.-Life:Aguilar was born around 1792 in Spain.He was corporal of the mission guard at San Diego, and had a house on site of the pres­ent town, in 1821. In 1827, Aguilar built the Jolly Boy saloon on the town square...

, majordomo of San Diego Mission. Blas Aguilar (1811-1885), son of Rosario E. Aguilar, was majordomo at Temecula in 1834, and alcalde

Alcalde

Alcalde , or Alcalde ordinario, is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and administrative functions. An alcalde was, in the absence of a corregidor, the presiding officer of the Castilian cabildo and judge of first instance of a town...

 of San Juan Capistrano

San Juan Capistrano, California

San Juan Capistrano is a city in southern Orange County, California, located approximately southeast of Downtown Santa Ana. The current OMB metropolitan designation for San Juan Capistrano and the Orange County Area is “Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, CA.” The population was 34,593 at the 2010 census,...

  in 1848.

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 Pauma 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, 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 José Antonio Serrano, Blas Aguilar and José Antonio Aguilar in 1871.

Adelaida Serrano, daughter of José Antonio Serrano, married Judge Benjamin I. Hayes

Benjamin Ignatius Hayes

Benjamin Ignatius Hayes , lawyer, first Judge of the Southern District of California from 1852-1864. Writer and collector of historical information about early California....

 (1815-1877) in 1866. Over the next two decades, parts of the ranch were sold, with one-third of the acreage going to Hayes' son, J. Chauncey Hayes, and another to Thaddeus Amat

Thaddeus Amat y Brusi

Thaddeus Amat y Brusi, C.M. was a Roman Catholic cleric who eventually became Bishop of Los Angeles, California.- Birth and Early Career:Amat was born in the Catalan capital of Barcelona, Spain on December 31, 1810. He was ordained a priest of the religious order of the Congregation of the...

, bishop of Los Angeles. In 1892, the ranch site was designated as part of the Pauma and Yuima Reservation.

Historic sites of the Rancho

• Serrano adobe. The ruins of the Serrano adobe are included in a federally designated historic site. The event known as the Pauma Massacre
  Pauma Massacre
  The Pauma Massacre occurred in December 1846, north of Escondido, California. Luiseño Indians killed eleven Mexicans, Californio lancers who had stolen horses from them...
  
  , in which Luiseño Indians captured 11 Mexican soldiers, occurred in January 1847 at the Serrano adobe.