Rancho Corral de Tierra (Vasquez)
Encyclopedia
Rancho Corral de Tierra was a 4436 acres (18 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 Mateo County, California
San Mateo County, California
San Mateo County is a county located in the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. It covers most of the San Francisco Peninsula just south of San Francisco, and north of Santa Clara County. San Francisco International Airport is located at the northern end of the county, and...

 given in 1839 by Governor Pro-Tem Manuel Jimeno to José Tiburcio Vásquez. The name means “earthen corral” in Spanish. Jimeno granted Vasquez the smaller southern part of Rancho Corral de Tierra and Francisco Guerrero
Francisco Guerrero (politician)
Francisco Guerrero was the Alcalde of Yerba Buena in 1836 and 1839.-Life:Guerrero was born in Tepic, Mexico. He came to California with the Hijar-Padres Colony in 1834, and settled in San Francisco. He was married to Josefa De Haro and had five sons...

 the northern part
Rancho Corral de Tierra (Palomares)
Rancho Corral de Tierra was a Mexican land grant in present day San Mateo County, California given in 1839 by Governor Pro-Tem Manuel Jimeno to Francisco Guerrero y Palomares. The name means earthen corral in Spanish. Jimeno granted Francisco Guerrero the larger northern part of Rancho Corral de...

. The dividing line between the two grants was the Arroyo de en Medio
Arroyo de en Medio
Arroyo de en Medio is a coastal stream in western San Mateo County, California. Arroyo de en Medio rises on the western slopes of Montara Mountain and discharges to the Pacific Ocean at Half Moon Bay at the location of the unincorporated community of Miramar at Miramar Beach...

 just south of El Granada
El Granada, California
El Granada is a census-designated place in the coastal area of northern San Mateo County, California, United States. The population was 5,467 at the 2010 census.-Geography:...

. The Vasquez portion extended along the Pacific coast south from El Granada
El Granada, California
El Granada is a census-designated place in the coastal area of northern San Mateo County, California, United States. The population was 5,467 at the 2010 census.-Geography:...

 to Pilarcitos Creek
Pilarcitos Creek
Pilarcitos Creek is a coastal stream in San Mateo County, California, USA, that rises on the western slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains and descends through Pilarcitos Canyon to discharge into the Pacific Ocean at Pilarcitos Creek Beach, a unit of Half Moon Bay State Beach.-History:The Portolà...

, and encompassed what is now the northern section of Half Moon Bay
Half Moon Bay, California
Half Moon Bay is a coastal city in San Mateo County, California, USA. Its population was 11,324 as of the 2010 census. Immediately at the north of Half Moon Bay is the Pillar Point Harbor and the unincorporated community of Princeton-by-the-Sea....

.

History

José Tiburcio Vásquez (1795–1862), son of Jose Tiburcio Vásquez and Maria Antonia Bojorquez was born in San Jose, California
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...

. He served as a soldier at San Francisco and was administrator and major domo of Mission Dolores. His brother, José Felipe Vásquez, was the grantee of Rancho Chamisal
Rancho Chamisal
Rancho Chamisal was a Mexican land grant in the Salinas Valley, in present day Monterey County, California given in 1835 by Governor José Castro to Felipe Vasquez. The grant was located east of Monterey and extended along Pilarcitos Canyon, south of the Salinas River...

. The bandit Tiburcio Vásquez
Tiburcio Vasquez
Tiburcio Vásquez was a Californio bandit who was active in California from 1854 to 1874. The Vasquez Rocks, 40 miles north of Los Angeles, were one of his many hideouts and are named for him.-Early life:...

 was a nephew. He married Maria Alvina Hernandez (1796–) in 1822.

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 Corral de Tierra 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 Tiburcio Vasquez in 1873.

In 1862, Vásquez was shot while sitting in a saloon, and his killer never apprehended. Guerrero was murdered in San Francisco in 1851; and the two killings may have been related. Guerrero was scheduled to be a witness in the Santillan land fraud case, which Vasquez also served as a witness. A land grant of three square leagues at the Mission Dolores, was said to have been made in 1846 by Governor Pío Pico
Pío Pico
Pío de Jesús Pico was the last Governor of Alta California under Mexican rule.-Origins:...

 to Prudencio Santillan, a priest at the Mission. The Land Commission and the United States District Court confirmed the grant. But on appeal to the US Supreme Court in 1860, the Santillan grant was pronounced a fraud and rejected.
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