Rancho Sespe
Encyclopedia
Rancho Sespe was a 8881 acres (35.9 km²) Mexican land grant
in present day Ventura County, California
given in 1833 by Governor José Figueroa
to Carlos Antonio Carrillo
. The grant encompassed the Santa Clara River Valley
between Piru Creek
on the east and Santa Paula Creek on the west, and was bounded to the north and south by the mountains, and included present day Fillmore
.
of the prominent Santa Barbara
family, had been elected to the assembly and was later Governor of Alta California from 1837-1838. Carrillo claimed the Sespe grant was for six square leagues (approximately 26000 acres (105 km²)). Carrillo took possession of the grant in 1842 and as required, built an adobe house; although the Carrillo family remained in Santa Barbara. Carrillo died in 1852 and his wife Josefa died in 1853. Thomas Wallace More and his brothers, Andrew and Henry, purchased the entire rancho in 1854 from the estate of Josefa Carrillo.
With the cession
of California to the United States following the Mexican-American War, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
provided that the land grants would be honored. As required by the Land Act of 1851, a claim for Rancho Sespe was filed by Carrillo with the Public Land Commission
in 1852, and six square leagues confirmed in 1856. But the U.S. government appealed the confirmation based on evidence that the Expediente had been altered from two square leagues to read six square leagues. Complicating the dispute, More’s attorney, Hinchman, agreed to the government’s much smaller description of Rancho Sespe without the More’s approval.
By 1860, the More brothers were the largest landowner in Santa Barbara County (which at the time included all of present day Ventura County). Besides Rancho Sespe, the More brothers owned the neighboring Rancho Santa Paula y Saticoy
, and also owned Santa Rosa Island
, Rancho Lompoc
and Rancho Mission Vieja de la Purisma
. The drought of 1863 and 1864 forced the More brothers to dissolve their partnership and divide up their lands. T.W. More took control of Rancho Sespe and inherited the difficulties surrounding its legal boundaries.
In 1865, the US Supreme Court dismissed More's appeal of the decision. Two surveys of Rancho Sespe were made by Charles F. Hoffmann
. The first survey in 1868 was 25361 acres (102.6 km²) (approximately six square leagues) and included 5780 acres (23.4 km²) of the river bed. This survey was submitted and rejected. The second survey with 8881 acres (35.9 km²) (approximately two square leagues) in two tracts on either side of the Santa Clara River, with a wide tract of river bed between was accepted and patented
to T.W. More in 1872.
Settlers, or squatters as they were also called, began to arrive in the Santa Clara River Valley seeking public lands during the mid to late 1860s, following the American Civil War
. Rancho Santa Paula y Saticoy to the west was subdivided in 1867, and many settlers purchased land in the area west of Santa Paula
. Settlers hoping to avail themselves of free land offered by the Homestead Act
had to locate available public lands. It was often difficult for homesteaders to know if they were settling on public or private lands.
T.W. More continued to fight for the rest of his six square leagues, angering the Sespe Settlers League, who had banded together to protect their homesteads. More filed an application in 1875 to buy the remaining four square leagues from the government under the "pre-emption" laws of 1866. This application was denied by the U.S. Land Office in 1875. When, during the drought of 1876-1877, More began to trench an irrigation ditch on his land, the settlers believed that More was seeking to deprive them of water rights from the Sespe Creek and Santa Clara River, further angering the settlers. On March 24, 1877, T.W. More was shot and killed while attempting to extinguish a barn fire on his ranch. Following More’s death in 1877, the U.S. Land Office overturned the 1875 ruling, allowing More’s heirs to buy the disputed lands. This decision was overturned on appeal, in 1878. With the exception of settlers who purchased land from the heirs of T.W. More, when they began to subdivide their property during the 1880s, the majority of residents who finally settled in the Rancho Sespe area, had homesteaded their land.
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 Ventura County, California
Ventura County, California
Ventura County is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of California. It is located on California's Pacific coast. It is often referred to as the Gold Coast, and has a reputation of being one of the safest populated places and one of the most affluent places in the country...
given in 1833 by Governor José Figueroa
José Figueroa
General José Figueroa , was a General and the Mexican territorial Governor of Alta California from 1833 to 1835.Figueroa oversaw the initial secularization of the missions of upper California, which included the expulsion of the Spanish Franciscan mission officials.This also involved the issuing of...
to Carlos Antonio Carrillo
Carlos Antonio Carrillo
Carlos Antonio Carrillo , Governor of Alta California from 1837 to 1838. He took his oath as governon in Pueblo de Los Angeles, present day Los Angeles, on December 6, 1836. aCarlos Antonio Carrillo was the son of a prominent California family...
. The grant encompassed the Santa Clara River Valley
Santa Clara River Valley
The Santa Clara River Valley is a valley that runs from east to west through Ventura County and northwest Los Angeles County, California...
between Piru Creek
Piru Creek
Piru Creek is a large stream in northern Los Angeles County and eastern Ventura County, California. It is a tributary of the Santa Clara River, the largest stream system in Southern California that is still relatively natural. It drains an area of about and is about long. The creek is the Santa...
on the east and Santa Paula Creek on the west, and was bounded to the north and south by the mountains, and included present day Fillmore
Fillmore, California
Fillmore is a city in Ventura County, California, United States. The population was 15,002 at the 2010 census, up from 13,643 at the 2000 census.- History :...
.
History
Carlos Antonio Carrillo (17831852), the son of José Raimundo CarrilloJosé Raimundo Carrillo
Captain José Raimundo Carrillo was an early Spanish settler of San Diego, California and founder of the Carrillo family in Spanish California.-Biography:Carrillo was born in 1749 in New Spain at Loreto, Baja California...
of the prominent Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
family, had been elected to the assembly and was later Governor of Alta California from 1837-1838. Carrillo claimed the Sespe grant was for six square leagues (approximately 26000 acres (105 km²)). Carrillo took possession of the grant in 1842 and as required, built an adobe house; although the Carrillo family remained in Santa Barbara. Carrillo died in 1852 and his wife Josefa died in 1853. Thomas Wallace More and his brothers, Andrew and Henry, purchased the entire rancho in 1854 from the estate of Josefa Carrillo.
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 Sespe was filed by Carrillo 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 six square leagues confirmed in 1856. But the U.S. government appealed the confirmation based on evidence that the Expediente had been altered from two square leagues to read six square leagues. Complicating the dispute, More’s attorney, Hinchman, agreed to the government’s much smaller description of Rancho Sespe without the More’s approval.
By 1860, the More brothers were the largest landowner in Santa Barbara County (which at the time included all of present day Ventura County). Besides Rancho Sespe, the More brothers owned the neighboring Rancho Santa Paula y Saticoy
Rancho Santa Paula y Saticoy
Rancho Santa Paula y Saticoy was a Mexican land grant in the Santa Clara River Valley, in present day Ventura County, California, and granted in 1843 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to Manuel Jimeno Casarin. The rancho lands include the present day cities of Saticoy and Santa Paula along the...
, and also owned Santa Rosa Island
Santa Rosa Island, California
Santa Rosa Island is the second largest of the Channel Islands of California at 53,195 acres . Defined by the United States Census Bureau as Block 3009, Block Group 3, Census Tract 29.10 of Santa Barbara County, California, the 2000 census showed an official population of 2 persons. It is part of...
, Rancho Lompoc
Rancho Lompoc
Rancho Lompoc was a Mexican land grant in present day Santa Barbara County, California given in 1837 by Governor Juan B. Alvarado to Joaquín Carrillo and José Antonio Carrillo...
and Rancho Mission Vieja de la Purisma
Rancho Mission Vieja de la Purisma
Rancho Mission Vieja de la Purisma was a Mexican land grant in present day northern Santa Barbara County, California given in 1845 by Governor Pío Pico to Joaquín Carrillo and José Antonio Carrillo...
. The drought of 1863 and 1864 forced the More brothers to dissolve their partnership and divide up their lands. T.W. More took control of Rancho Sespe and inherited the difficulties surrounding its legal boundaries.
In 1865, the US Supreme Court dismissed More's appeal of the decision. Two surveys of Rancho Sespe were made by Charles F. Hoffmann
Charles F. Hoffmann
Charles Frederick Hoffmann was a German-American topographer working in California U.S. from 1860 to 1880.-Life:Hoffmann was born in Frankfurt, Germany, 1838. After receiving an education in engineering, he emigrated to America. In 1857 he was topographer for Frederick Lander’s survey to the Rocky...
. The first survey in 1868 was 25361 acres (102.6 km²) (approximately six square leagues) and included 5780 acres (23.4 km²) of the river bed. This survey was submitted and rejected. The second survey with 8881 acres (35.9 km²) (approximately two square leagues) in two tracts on either side of the Santa Clara River, with a wide tract of river bed between was accepted and 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 T.W. More in 1872.
Settlers, or squatters as they were also called, began to arrive in the Santa Clara River Valley seeking public lands during the mid to late 1860s, following the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. Rancho Santa Paula y Saticoy to the west was subdivided in 1867, and many settlers purchased land in the area west of Santa Paula
Santa Paula, California
Santa Paula is a city within Ventura County, California, United States. The population was 29,321 at the 2010 census, up from 28,598 at the 2000 census...
. Settlers hoping to avail themselves of free land offered by the Homestead Act
Homestead Act
A homestead act is one of three United States federal laws that gave an applicant freehold title to an area called a "homestead" – typically 160 acres of undeveloped federal land west of the Mississippi River....
had to locate available public lands. It was often difficult for homesteaders to know if they were settling on public or private lands.
T.W. More continued to fight for the rest of his six square leagues, angering the Sespe Settlers League, who had banded together to protect their homesteads. More filed an application in 1875 to buy the remaining four square leagues from the government under the "pre-emption" laws of 1866. This application was denied by the U.S. Land Office in 1875. When, during the drought of 1876-1877, More began to trench an irrigation ditch on his land, the settlers believed that More was seeking to deprive them of water rights from the Sespe Creek and Santa Clara River, further angering the settlers. On March 24, 1877, T.W. More was shot and killed while attempting to extinguish a barn fire on his ranch. Following More’s death in 1877, the U.S. Land Office overturned the 1875 ruling, allowing More’s heirs to buy the disputed lands. This decision was overturned on appeal, in 1878. With the exception of settlers who purchased land from the heirs of T.W. More, when they began to subdivide their property during the 1880s, the majority of residents who finally settled in the Rancho Sespe area, had homesteaded their land.