Rancho Collayomi was a 8242 acres (33.4 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 Lake County, California

Lake County, California

Lake County is a county located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of California, north of the San Francisco Bay Area. It takes its name from Clear Lake, the dominant geographic feature in the county and the largest natural lake wholly within California...

 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 Robert T. Ridley. Rancho Collayomi was one of three land grants (along with Rancho Lupyomi

Rancho Lupyomi

Rancho Lupyomi was a Mexican land grant in present day Lake County, California given in 1844 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to Salvador Vallejo and his brother Juan Antonio Vallejo. Rancho Lupyomi encompassed present day Clearlake. Rancho Lupyomi was one of three land grants in Lake County...

 and Rancho Guenoc

Rancho Guenoc

Rancho Guenoc was a Mexican land grant in present day Lake County, California given in 1845 by Governor Pio Pico to George Rock. Rancho Guenoc was one of three land grants in Lake County...

) in Lake County. Lake County was formed in 1861 of land taken mainly from Napa County

Napa County, California

Napa County is a county located north of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is coterminous with the Napa, California, Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2010 the population is 136,484. The county seat is Napa....

 and the northwest portion taken from Mendocino County

Mendocino County, California

Mendocino County is a county located on the north coast of the U.S. state of California, north of the greater San Francisco Bay Area and west of the Central Valley. As of the 2010 census, the population was 87,841, up from 86,265 at the 2000 census...

.

History

Rancho Collayomi encompassed three square leagues in the Loconoma Valley. Robert T. Ridley (1818 - 1851) was an English sailor who was captain of the Port of San Francisco

Port of San Francisco

The Port of San Francisco lies on the western edge of the San Francisco Bay near the Golden Gate. It has been called one of the three great natural harbors in the world, but it took two long centuries for navigators from Spain and England to find the anchorage originally called Yerba Buena...

. In 1843, Ridley traded his three league Rancho Collayomi grant to Jacob P. Leese

Jacob P. Leese

Jacob Primer Leese was a San Francisco pioneer, who built the first permanent house in San Francisco...

 for the two league Rancho Canada de Guadalupe la Visitacion y Rodeo Viejo

Rancho Cañada de Guadalupe la Visitación y Rodeo Viejo

Rancho Cañada de Guadalupe la Visitación y Rodeo Viejo was a Mexican land grant in present day San Mateo County, California and San Francisco County, California given in 1841 by Governor Juan Alvarado to Jacob P. Leese. The rancho included three separate valleys: Cañada de Guadalupe, La...

 near San Francisco

San Francisco, California

San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

. Jacob Primer Leese (1809 - 1892), was a trader from Ohio who had married María Rosalia Vallejo sister of 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...

, and was the owner of the adjacent Rancho Guenoc

Rancho Guenoc

Rancho Guenoc was a Mexican land grant in present day Lake County, California given in 1845 by Governor Pio Pico to George Rock. Rancho Guenoc was one of three land grants in Lake County...

.

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 Collayomi 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 Archibald A. Ritchie and Paul.S. Forbes in 1863.

Ritchie was killed in an accident in 1856. Paul Forbes sold his share of both Rancho Guenoc and Rancho Collayomi to one of Ritchie's sons-in-law, Gen. M.D.L. Simpson, in 1867. The following year, Simpson deeded half the lands to Ritchie's wife, Martha and children. The heirs began selling portions of the properties in the early 1870s.