Rancho Cañón de Santa Ana was a 13328 acres (53.9 km²) 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 Orange County, California

Orange County, California

Orange County is a county in the U.S. state of California. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,010,232, up from 2,846,293 at the 2000 census, making it the third most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and San Diego County...

 given by Mexican 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 1834 to Bernardo Yorba

Bernardo Yorba

Bernardo Yorba , was a native of Nueva California and the son of Spanish soldier, José Antonio Yorba. Bernardo became one of the most successful ranchers in Alta California with thousands of cattle and horses grazing on land grants totaling more than 35,000 acres...

. The name means "Canyon of Santa Ana". The grant included present day Yorba Linda

Yorba Linda, California

Yorba Linda is a suburban city in northeastern Orange County, California, approximately northeast of Downtown Santa Ana, and southeast of Downtown Los Angeles....

.

History

Bernardo Yorba (1800–1858) was the son of José Antonio Yorba

José Antonio Yorba

José Antonio Yorba , also known as Don José Antonio Yorba I, was a Spanish soldier and early settler of Spanish California.-Spanish Soldier:...

, the grantee of Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana

Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana

Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana was a Spanish land concession in present day Orange County, California given by Governor José Joaquín de Arrillaga in 1810 to Jose Antonio Yorba and his nephew Pablo Peralta...

. For years Bernardo and his brothers pastured animals on lands east of their father's rancho, and in 1834 Bernardo requested, and was granted, Rancho Cañón de Santa Ana. Yorba continued to pasture lands even further east, and in 1846, Bernardo was granted Rancho La Sierra

Rancho La Sierra (Yorba)

Rancho La Sierra was a Mexican land grant in present day Riverside County, California, United States. In 1846 governor Pio Pico issued the grant to Bernardo Yorba...

.

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 Cañón de Santa Ana 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 Bernardo Yorba in 1866.

In the early 1860's, Leonardo Cota

Leonardo Cota

Leonardo Cota was a Captain with the Californios in the Mexican-American War; and later a Los Angeles County Supervisor.-Leonardo Cota:...

, who was married to Maria Ynez Yorba, a daughter of Bernardo Yorba, borrowed money from Abel Stearns, using his share of the rancho as collateral. When Cota defaulted in 1866, Stearns filed a lawsuit to demand a partition of the land, so that Stearns could claim Cota's section. Two Los Angeles lawyers involved in the lawsuit were Alfred Chapman

Alfred Chapman

Alfred Beck Chapman was a Los Angeles real estate attorney and investor. He may be best known as one of the founders of the city of Orange, California.-Life:Chapman was born on September 6, 1829, in Greensboro, Alabama...

 and Andrew Glassell

Andrew Glassell

Andrew Glassell was a Los Angeles real estate attorney and investor. He may be best known as one of the founders of the city of Orange, California.-Early life and career:...

, who took some of their fees in land.