Rancho Los Gatos or Santa Rita was a 4424 acres (17.9 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 Monterey County, California

Monterey County, California

Monterey County is a county located on the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California, its northwestern section forming the southern half of Monterey Bay. The northern half of the bay is in Santa Cruz County. As of 2010, the population was 415,057. The county seat and largest city is Salinas...

 given in 1837 by Governor Juan B. Alvarado to José Trinidad Espinoza. The grant was northwest of present day Salinas

Salinas, California

Salinas is the county seat and the largest municipality of Monterey County, California. Salinas is located east-southeast of the mouth of the Salinas River, at an elevation of about 52 feet above sea level. The population was 150,441 at the 2010 census...

, bounded on the north by Espinosa Lake and Rancho Bolsa de las Escorpinas

Rancho Bolsa de las Escorpinas

Rancho Bolsa de las Escorpinas was a Mexican land grant in present day Monterey County, California given in 1837 by Governor Juan B. Alvarado to Salvador Espinoza . The grant was northwest of present day Salinas, bounded on the south by Espinosa Lake and Rancho Los Gatos or Santa Rita of his...

 of his brother Salvador Espinoza, and encompassed present day Santa Rita

Santa Rita, Monterey County, California

Santa Rita was an unincorporated community in Monterey County, California. It was located north of Salinas, at an elevation of 79 feet ....

.

History

Jose Trinidad Espinoza (1794–1854), the son of Jose Cayetano Espinosa and Maria Rosa Tapia, married Maria Jacinta Archuleta (1796–) in 1815. Espinoza was granted the one square league Rancho Los Gatos in 1837. His daughter, Fermina Espinoza, married Domingo Perez (1809–).

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 Los Gatos or Santa Rita 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 Fermina Espinoza de Perez and Domingo Perez in 1870.

Jose Manuel Soto (1832–), born in Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

, came to California in 1849. Soto married Maria Perez. Jose Manuel Soto established a town (known as Penacart, New Republic, Sotoville, and finally as Santa Rita) on part of Rancho Santa Rita in 1867.