Rancho Las Animas was a 26519 acres (107.3 km²) Spanish land concession

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 Santa Clara County

Santa Clara County, California

Santa Clara County is a county located at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 it had a population of 1,781,642. The county seat is San Jose. The highly urbanized Santa Clara Valley within Santa Clara County is also known as Silicon Valley...

 given in 1802 by Viceroy Félix Berenguer de Marquina

Félix Berenguer de Marquina

Félix Berenguer de Marquina was a Spanish naval officer, colonial official and, from April 30, 1800 to January 4, 1803, viceroy of New Spain.-Origins and early career:...

 to José Mariano Castro. The rancho was regranted in 1835 to Castro's widow Josefa Romero de Castro 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...

. The present day city of Gilroy

Gilroy, California

Gilroy is the southernmost city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 48,821 at the 2010 census. Gilroy is well-known for its garlic crop and for the annual Gilroy Garlic Festival, featuring various garlicky foods, including garlic ice cream. Gilroy also produces...

 is within the grant.

History

In 1803, Feliz Beranceur, then Viceroy and Governor of New Spain, made a conditional grant of the Las Animas Ranch to José Mariano Castro (1765–1828). Castro, the son of Joaquin Ysidro de Castro and Maria Marina Botiller, was a soldier in the Monterey garrison

Presidio of Monterey, California

The Presidio of Monterey, located in Monterey, California, is an active US Army installation with historic ties to the Spanish colonial era. Currently it is the home of the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center .-Spanish fort:...

.

Mariano Castro died in 1828, leaving a widow, Josefa Romero de Castro, and eight children. The property descended to his heirs in the following proportions: To the widow, one-half, and to the children each one-sixteenth. Governor Figueroa confirnmed the grant to Josefa Romero de Castro in 1835. In 1835, Josefa Romero de Castro and four of the children sold their interest in the rancho to Jose Maria Sanchez (1804 - 1852), thus giving Sanchez a title to three-fourths of the property. The remaining fourth continuing to be the property of the other four Castro children. Sanchez was also the owner of Rancho Llano de Tesquisquita

Rancho Llano de Tesquisquita

Rancho Llano de Tesquisquita was a Mexican land grant in present day San Benito County and Santa Clara County, California given in 1835 by Governor José Castro to José María Sanchez. The name means "flats of Tesquisquita"...

 and Rancho Lomerias Muertas

Rancho Lomerias Muertas

Rancho Lomerias Muertas was a Mexican land grant in present day San Benito County, California given in 1842 by Governor Juan B. Alvarado to José Antonio Castro. The name means "barren hills"...

.

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, José Maria Sanchez filed his petition for Rancho Las Animas 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. Shortly after, Sanchez drowned in the Pajaro River on Christmas Eve, 1852 leaving his widow, Maria Encarnacion Ortega Sanchez, and five children (sisters: Vicenta; Refugia; Candelaria; Guadalupe and one brother, José Gregorio). In 1873, a patent

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...

 for 26842 acres (109 km²) was issued to the heirs of Jose Maria Sanchez.

Josefa Castro sold her one sixteenth interest to Martin Murphy, who sold it Johanna Fitzgerald. Vicente Castro sold his sixteenth interest to Alexander Godey, who sold it to Thomas Rea. Encarnacion Castro and Maria Lugardo Castro sold their sixteenth interests to Henry Miller

Henry Miller (rancher)

Henry Miller was a German-American rancher who at one point in the late 19th century was one of the largest land-owners in the United States.-Biography:...

. When the land commission issued its patent in 1871, Johanna Fitzgerald, Thomas Rea and Henry Miller owned over 80% of the 26518 acres (107 km²) rancho.