Rancho Cañada de Jonive was a 10787 acres (43.7 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 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 1845 by Governor Pío Pico

Pío Pico

Pío de Jesús Pico was the last Governor of Alta California under Mexican rule.-Origins:...

 to James Black. The grant encompassed the town of Freestone

Freestone, California

Freestone is a small, unincorporated community in Sonoma County, California, USA located at the intersection of Bohemian Highway and Bodega Highway. It's west of Sebastopol along Salmon Creek on the U.S...

.

History

At the direction of 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...

 in 1835, 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...

 began construction of the Presidio of Sonoma

Presidio of Sonoma

El Presidio de Sonoma, or Sonoma Barracks, was a military outpost established in Alta California in 1836. It was built to house troops under General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, the Commandant of the Northern Frontier, as part of Mexico's strategy to subdue the Native Americans of the Sonoma Valley...

 to counter the Russia

Russia

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. To extend the settlements in the direction of Fort Ross, Vallejo sent three men, Edward McIntosh, James Black (1810–1870), and James Dawson (–1843), in that direction. These three men came to California as sailors with Captain John B.R. Cooper

John B.R. Cooper

John Bautista Rogers Cooper was born in England and raised in Massachusetts. He came to California as master of the ship Rover, and was a pre-gold rush pioneer of Monterey, California...

, brother-in-law of General Vallejo. The Russian-American Company left Fort Ross and 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...

 in 1841. Black settled upon what would become Rancho Cañada de Jonive, while Dawson and McIntosh settled upon 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...

. They formed a partnership to build a saw-mill 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:...

, near the town of Freestone. The mill on Rancho Cañada de Jonive operated until 1849, when they sold all the lumber they had and left for the gold mines.

James Black (1810–1870) was born in Inverness

Inverness

Inverness is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for the Highland council area, and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands of Scotland...

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. He went sea at an early age, and came to 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 1832. In 1842, when the Russians pulled out of California, Black had already left this frontier outpost to cut timber for John Cooper on his Rancho Punta de Quentin

Rancho Punta de Quentin

Rancho Punta de Quentin was a Mexican land grant in present day Marin County, California given in 1840 by Governor Juan B. Alvarado to John B.R. Cooper...

. In 1844, Black married Maria Agustina Sais (1828–1864), sister of Domingo Sais (1806–1853), grantee of Rancho Cañada de Herrera

Rancho Cañada de Herrera

Rancho Cañada de Herrera was a Mexican land grant in present day Marin County, California given in 1839 by Governor Protem Manuel Jimeno to Domingo Sais...

. Black moved back to Rancho Cañada de Jonive, where he received the two square league grant in 1845. Black traded holdings with Jasper O’Farrell in 1848; Black ending up with O’Farrell’s Rancho Nicasio

Rancho Nicasio

Rancho Nicasio was a Mexican land grant of granted to the Coast Miwok indigenous people in 1835, located in the present-day Marin County, California, a tract of land that stretched from San Geronimo to Tomales Bay...

 holding and O’Farrell with Rancho Cañada de Jonive.

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 Cañada de Jonive 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 Jasper O'Farrell in 1858.

O'Farrell married Mary McChristian in 1849 and they moved to Rancho Cañada de Jonive, and resided there until his death in 1875.