Rancho Bodega
Encyclopedia
Rancho Bodega was a 35487 acres (143.6 km²) Mexican land grant
in present day Sonoma County, California
given in 1844 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena
to Stephen Smith. Bodega takes its name from the Peru
vian explorer Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra
who discovered Bodega Bay
in 1775. The grant extended along the Pacific coast
from the Russian River
to the north and Estero Americano to the south, and included present day Bodega Bay
. Only a small part of Bodega
is within the grant (most of Bodega in on Rancho Estero Americano
).
n presence at Fort Ross, was happy to see them leave in 1841, but less pleased when the Russian-American Company
sold it to John Sutter
. The position of the Mexican government had been that neither land nor improvements had ever belonged to the Russians and hence they could not legally be transferred to anyone else. Within two years after the purchase of Fort Ross, everything Sutter considered salvageable had been removed to his Rancho New Helvetia
. In 1844 Sutter leased the land to William (Wilhelm) Benitz, from Baden
, Germany
, manager of Sutter's Fort Ross holdings and a partner, Ernest Rufus, from Württemberg
. That transaction again brought into question the validity of Sutter's title to the property, and Governor Manuel Micheltorena granted Rancho Bodega in part of the southern half of the former Russian claim to Captain Stephen Smith in 1844, and Governor Pío Pico
granted Rancho Muniz
in the northern half of the former Russian claim to Manuel Torres in 1845.
Captain Stephen Smith (1782-1855), a sea captain from Massachusetts
, sailed along the Pacific Coast, north of San Francisco in 1841. Local settlers had been shipping their lumber for houses from Hawaii
, and Smith saw the timber growing along the shoreline as a business opportunity - particularly with the Russians leaving Fort Ross. Captain Smith returned to California in 1843, with sawmill machinery from Baltimore and built the first steam-powered saw mill in California in the redwoods east of the town of Bodega, on Salmon Creek
. On the voyage to California in 1843, Smith married Manuela Torres (1827-1908), a Peru
vian. It was her brother Manuel Torres, who joined them, who was granted Rancho Muniz, directly north of Rancho Bodega in 1845. Bodega Bay was Smith's shipping port, and he helped develop the area into a commercial port. Captain Smith owned a small vessel called the Fayaway, which he sailed between the Port of Bodega and San Francisco. In 1844 Smith successfully petitioned the Mexican Governor of California, Manuel Micheltorena, to grant him 8 square leagues. Smith purchased the buildings on the land from John Sutter, who had claimed them under his purchase of Fort Ross from the Russians. Stephen Smith bought Rancho Blucher
directly to the south from Jean Jacques Vioget
in 1847.
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 Bodega was filed with the Public Land Commission
in 1853 by Victor Prudon (-1868), who claimed that he was granted the property by Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo
in 1841. Lieutenant Colonel Victor Prudon, a Frenchman, was secretary to General Vallejo
. The claim was rejected by the Land Commission in 1854.
When Captain Smith died in San Francisco in 1855, and he owned the 8 square league Rancho Bodega, and with his wife, Manuela Torres, and the 6 league Rancho Blucher. Smith left a life interest in one third of Rancho Bodega to his wife and two thirds to his three children (Stephen M. Smith, Manuella Smith, and James B. Smith) by Manuela Torres. Smith's widow, Manuela Torres, married Tyler Curtis in 1856. A claim was filed with the Public Land Commission in 1852, and the grant was patented
to Manuela Torres Curtis in 1859.
When Tyler Curtis received the patent for Rancho Bodega in 1859, he tried to oust settlers who were farming parcels of the rancho. Many of these settlers had rented their land from Captain Smith, and had continued to pay rent. Others were squatters who were holding on to their claims until the property would be put upon the market. Failing to get the settlers to leave by peaceful means, Curtis went to San Francisco and hired militia of about forty men. However, in an event known as the "Bodega War" or the "Tyler Curtis War", two hundred settlers with farm tools and shotguns, confronted Curtis and the hired militia, and he was defeated in his effort to evict them.
Tyler Curtis succeeded in getting the California State Legislature to passed an act in 1861, giving him the right as guardian to sell the three children's interest in the rancho. Curtis sold the grant in parcels of mostly 150 to 500 acres (2 km²) each on through the early 1860s. Curtis did not manage to keep his fortune and the rancho passed into other hands. In 1877 James B. Smith, the youngest son, sued to recover the rancho, but the California Supreme Court ruled the sales by Curtis to be legal.
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 Sonoma County, California
Sonoma County, California
Sonoma County, located on the northern coast of the U.S. state of California, is the largest and northernmost of the nine San Francisco Bay Area counties. Its population at the 2010 census was 483,878. Its largest city and county seat is Santa Rosa....
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 Stephen Smith. Bodega takes its name from the Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
vian explorer Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra
Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra
Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra was a Spanish naval officer born in Lima, Peru. Assigned to the Pacific coast Spanish Naval Department base at San Blas, in the Viceroyalty of New Spain , this navigator explored the Northwest Coast of North America as far north as present day Alaska.Juan...
who discovered Bodega Bay
Bodega Bay
Bodega Bay is a shallow, rocky inlet of the Pacific Ocean on the coast of northern California in the United States. It is approximately across and is located approximately northwest of San Francisco and west of Santa Rosa...
in 1775. The grant extended along the Pacific coast
Pacific Coast
A country's Pacific coast is the part of its coast bordering the Pacific Ocean.-The Americas:Countries on the western side of the Americas have a Pacific coast as their western border.* Geography of Canada* Geography of Chile* Geography of Colombia...
from the Russian River
Russian River (California)
The Russian River, a southward-flowing river, drains of Sonoma and Mendocino counties in Northern California. With an annual average discharge of approximately , it is the second largest river flowing through the nine county Greater San Francisco Bay Area with a mainstem 110 miles ...
to the north and Estero Americano to the south, and included present day Bodega Bay
Bodega Bay, California
Bodega Bay is a town and census-designated place in Sonoma County, California, United States. The population was 1,077 at the 2010 census. The town is on the eastern side of Bodega Harbor, an inlet of Bodega Bay on the Pacific coast....
. Only a small part of Bodega
Bodega, California
Bodega is an unincorporated town and census-designated place in Sonoma County in the U.S. state of California. The town had a population of 220 as of the 2010 Census.Bodega is located on Bodega Highway, about west of Freestone, California...
is within the grant (most of Bodega in on Rancho Estero Americano
Rancho Estero Americano
Rancho Estero Americano was a Mexican land grant in present day Sonoma County, California given in 1839 by Governor Pro-tem Manuel Jimeno to Edward Manuel McIntosh...
).
History
The Mexican government, which had been concerned about the RussiaRussia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n presence at Fort Ross, was happy to see them leave in 1841, but less pleased when the Russian-American Company
Russian-American Company
The Russian-American Company was a state-sponsored chartered company formed largely on the basis of the so-called Shelekhov-Golikov Company of Grigory Shelekhov and Ivan Larionovich Golikov The Russian-American Company (officially: Under His Imperial Majesty's Highest Protection (patronage)...
sold it to John Sutter
John Sutter
Johann Augus Sutter was a Swiss pioneer of California known for his association with the California Gold Rush by the discovery of gold by James W. Marshall and the mill making team at Sutter's Mill, and for establishing Sutter's Fort in the area that would eventually become Sacramento, the...
. The position of the Mexican government had been that neither land nor improvements had ever belonged to the Russians and hence they could not legally be transferred to anyone else. Within two years after the purchase of Fort Ross, everything Sutter considered salvageable had been removed to his Rancho New Helvetia
Rancho New Helvetia
Rancho New Helvetia was a Mexican land grant in present day Sacramento County, Sutter County and Yuba County, California given in 1841 by Governor Juan Alvarado to John Sutter. The name means "new Switzerland" after Sutter's home country...
. In 1844 Sutter leased the land to William (Wilhelm) Benitz, from Baden
Baden
Baden is a historical state on the east bank of the Rhine in the southwest of Germany, now the western part of the Baden-Württemberg of Germany....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, manager of Sutter's Fort Ross holdings and a partner, Ernest Rufus, from Württemberg
Württemberg
Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
. That transaction again brought into question the validity of Sutter's title to the property, and Governor Manuel Micheltorena granted Rancho Bodega in part of the southern half of the former Russian claim to Captain Stephen Smith in 1844, and Governor Pío Pico
Pío Pico
Pío de Jesús Pico was the last Governor of Alta California under Mexican rule.-Origins:...
granted Rancho Muniz
Rancho Muniz
Rancho Muniz was a Mexican land grant in present day Sonoma County, California given in 1845 by Governor Pío Pico to Manuel Torres. The grant extended along the Pacific coast from Salt Point State Park on the north to the Russian River on the south...
in the northern half of the former Russian claim to Manuel Torres in 1845.
Captain Stephen Smith (1782-1855), a sea captain from Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, sailed along the Pacific Coast, north of San Francisco in 1841. Local settlers had been shipping their lumber for houses from Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, and Smith saw the timber growing along the shoreline as a business opportunity - particularly with the Russians leaving Fort Ross. Captain Smith returned to California in 1843, with sawmill machinery from Baltimore and built the first steam-powered saw mill in California in the redwoods east of the town of Bodega, on Salmon Creek
Salmon Creek (Sonoma County, California)
Salmon Creek is an stream in western Sonoma County, California that springs from coastal hills west of the town of Occidental and empties into the Pacific Ocean north of Bodega Head.-Course:...
. On the voyage to California in 1843, Smith married Manuela Torres (1827-1908), a Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
vian. It was her brother Manuel Torres, who joined them, who was granted Rancho Muniz, directly north of Rancho Bodega in 1845. Bodega Bay was Smith's shipping port, and he helped develop the area into a commercial port. Captain Smith owned a small vessel called the Fayaway, which he sailed between the Port of Bodega and San Francisco. In 1844 Smith successfully petitioned the Mexican Governor of California, Manuel Micheltorena, to grant him 8 square leagues. Smith purchased the buildings on the land from John Sutter, who had claimed them under his purchase of Fort Ross from the Russians. Stephen Smith bought Rancho Blucher
Rancho Blucher
Rancho Blucher was a Mexican land grant in present day Marin and Sonoma County, California given in 1844 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to Jean Jacques Vioget. The rancho is named for the Prussian field marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher...
directly to the south from Jean Jacques Vioget
Jean Jacques Vioget
Jean Jacques Vioget , originally from Switzerland, was a surveyor and sea captain, who came to California in 1837. He made the first survey and map of Yerba Buena in 1839. He worked for John Sutter and later moved to San Jose...
in 1847.
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 Bodega 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 1853 by Victor Prudon (-1868), who claimed that he was granted the property by 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...
in 1841. Lieutenant Colonel Victor Prudon, a Frenchman, was secretary to General 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...
. The claim was rejected by the Land Commission in 1854.
When Captain Smith died in San Francisco in 1855, and he owned the 8 square league Rancho Bodega, and with his wife, Manuela Torres, and the 6 league Rancho Blucher. Smith left a life interest in one third of Rancho Bodega to his wife and two thirds to his three children (Stephen M. Smith, Manuella Smith, and James B. Smith) by Manuela Torres. Smith's widow, Manuela Torres, married Tyler Curtis in 1856. A claim was filed with the Public Land Commission 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 Manuela Torres Curtis in 1859.
When Tyler Curtis received the patent for Rancho Bodega in 1859, he tried to oust settlers who were farming parcels of the rancho. Many of these settlers had rented their land from Captain Smith, and had continued to pay rent. Others were squatters who were holding on to their claims until the property would be put upon the market. Failing to get the settlers to leave by peaceful means, Curtis went to San Francisco and hired militia of about forty men. However, in an event known as the "Bodega War" or the "Tyler Curtis War", two hundred settlers with farm tools and shotguns, confronted Curtis and the hired militia, and he was defeated in his effort to evict them.
Tyler Curtis succeeded in getting the California State Legislature to passed an act in 1861, giving him the right as guardian to sell the three children's interest in the rancho. Curtis sold the grant in parcels of mostly 150 to 500 acres (2 km²) each on through the early 1860s. Curtis did not manage to keep his fortune and the rancho passed into other hands. In 1877 James B. Smith, the youngest son, sued to recover the rancho, but the California Supreme Court ruled the sales by Curtis to be legal.