Rancho Cienega de los Paicines was a 8918 acres (36.1 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 San Benito County, California

San Benito County, California

San Benito County is a county located in the Coast Range Mountains of the U.S. state of California, south of San Jose. As of 2010 the population was 55,269. The county seat is Hollister, which includes nearly two-thirds of the county's population. El Camino Real passes through the county and...

 given in 1842 by Governor Juan B. Alvarado  to Angel María Castro and José Antonio Rodriguez. The name means "marsh lands of the Paicines" in Spanish. The grant extended along the San Benito River

San Benito River

The San Benito River is a river on the Central Coast of California. From its headwaters near San Benito Mountain in the Diablo Range, it flows northwest between the Diablo Range and the Gabilan Range, traveling for about before its confluence with the Pajaro River, about upstream from the river's...

 with Tres Pinos Creek on the east and the Cienega Valley on the west, and encompassed present day Paicines

Paicines, California

The unincorporated community of Paicines is located at above mean sea level in San Benito County, California along State Route 25. Guide signs along SR25 say the community is south of Hollister. The community is at the intersection of Panoche Road and SR25...

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History

The two square league Rancho Cienega de los Paicines grant was given to Angel María Castro and his son-in-law José Antonio Rodriguez. Angel María Dolores Castro (1794–??), son of Josef Macario Castro, was a soldier at San Jose

San Jose, California

San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...

 and Branciforte

Branciforte

Branciforte or as it was named originally, Villa de Branciforte, was a secular pueblo established by the Spanish in the of Las Californias Province of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, in 1797 on the eastern bluff overlooking the San Lorenzo River...

 and married María Ysabel Butron (daughter of Manuel Josef Butron and Maria Ygnacia Emigdia Higuera)(1796–1848) in 1812. José Antonio Rodriguez (–1853), son of Sebastian Rodriguez (grantee of Rancho Bolsa del Pajaro

Rancho Bolsa del Pajaro

Rancho Bolsa del Pajaro was a Mexican land grant in present day Santa Cruz County, California given in 1837 by Governor Juan B. Alvarado to Sebastian Rodríguez. The name means "pocket of the Pajaro". Pocket usually refers to land surrounded by slough - in this case the Watsonville Slough...

) and Maria Pacheco, was a guard Mission San Miguel

Mission San Miguel Arcángel

Mission San Miguel Arcángel was founded on July 25, 1797 by the Franciscan order, on a site chosen specifically due to the large number of Salinan Indians that inhabited the area, whom the Spanish priests wanted to evangelize. It is located at 775 Mission Street, San Miguel, in San Luis Obispo...

 and married Hilaria (Elisaria) Castro (1817–), the daughter of Angel Delores Castro and Maria Ysabel Butron 1835.

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 Cienega de los Paicines 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, 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 Angel María Castro and José Antonio Rodriguez in 1869.

In 1867 Francisco Villegas sold the rancho to Alexander B. Grogan (-1886), a San Francisco land speculator and financier. Grogan had been Faxon Atherton

Faxon Atherton

Faxon Dean Atherton was an American businessman and landowner, and was a prominent citizen of San Mateo County, California. He is the namesake of Atherton, California.-Early life:...

's California business agent and later the executor of Atherton's estate. At one time nearby Paicines was named Groganville. In 1906, the ranch was purchased by A. Kingsley Macomber

A. Kingsley Macomber

Abraham Kingsley Macomber was an American adventurer, businessman, philanthropist, Thoroughbred-racehorse owner and breeder...

.