Rancho Tularcitos was a 26581 acres (107.6 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 Monterey County, California

Monterey County, California

Monterey County is a county located on the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California, its northwestern section forming the southern half of Monterey Bay. The northern half of the bay is in Santa Cruz County. As of 2010, the population was 415,057. The county seat and largest city is Salinas...

 given in 1834 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 Rafael Gomez. Tularcitos means "place of the little Tule

Tule

Schoenoplectus acutus , called tule , common tule, hardstem tule, tule rush, hardstem bulrush, or viscid bulrush, is a giant species of sedge in the plant family Cyperaceae, native to freshwater marshes all over North America...

 thickets". The grant was in the upper Carmel Valley, along Tularcitos Creek, and was bounded on the west by Rancho Los Laureles

Rancho Los Laureles

Rancho Los Laureles was a Mexican land grant in present day Monterey County, California given in 1839 by Governor Juan Alvarado to José M. Boronda and Vicente Blas Martínez. Los Laureles refers to the California Bay Laurel tree...

.

History

Rafael Gomez (1784-1838), born in Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, came to California in 1830 as a legal advisor to Governor Manuel Victoria

Manuel Victoria

Manuel Victoria was Governor of the Mexican territory of Alta California from January 1831 to 6 December 1831.The revolt leading to his twelve month abbreviated tenure and subsequent exile were due to his nullifying the order of his predecessor, José María de Echeandía, to secularize the missions...

. In 1831, he married Joséfa Antonia Estrada (1813-1890), a daughter of José Mariano Estrada, grantee of Rancho Buena Vista

Rancho Buena Vista (Soberanes)

Rancho Buena Vista was a Spanish land concession in the Salinas Valley, in present day Monterey County, California given in 1795 to Jose Maria Soberanes and Joaquin Castro. The grant was just south of Spreckels.-History:...

. Gomez was a supporter of Figueroa, but resigned his position, and was granted the six square league Rancho Tularcitos in 1834. He held public offices in 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...

 in 1835-36. Rafael Gomez died in an accident on Rancho Tularcitos in 1838.

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 Tularcitos 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 Joséfa Antonia Estrada de Gomez in 1866.

After Rafael Gomez died in 1838, Joséfa Antonia Gomez married Charles Wolter, a German captain of a Mexican ship, who settled in Monterey in 1833. Joséfa Antonia Gomez sold Rancho Tularcitos to Andrew J. Ogletree. Ogletree lost the rancho to Alberto Trescony, owner of Rancho San Lucas

Rancho San Lucas

Rancho San Lucas was a Mexican land grant in the Salinas Valley, in present day Monterey County, California given in 1842 by Governor Juan B. Alvarado to Rafael Estrada...

, in a mortgage foreclosure in 1880. Trescony gradually sold off the land, except for 2000 acres (8.1 km²). Andrius Blomquist was born in Sweden in 1846 and emigrated to the United States in 1867 to start a new life. He eventually settled in upper Carmel Valley in 1885 and acquired nearly 8000 acres (32.4 km²) of Rancho Tularcitos. A large part of Rancho Tularcitos was sold to John and Robert Marble in 1924.