Rancho Los Tularcitos was a 4394 acres (17.8 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, California

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 1821 to José Loreto Higuera by the last Spanish governor of Alta California, Pablo Vicente de Solá

Pablo Vicente de Solá

Pablo Vicente de Solá , the last Spanish governor of Alta California from 1815-1822....

. The land grant was confirmed by Mexican Governor Juan Alvarado in 1839. The name means "place of the little Tule

Tule

Schoenoplectus acutus , called tule , common tule, hardstem tule, tule rush, hardstem bulrush, or viscid bulrush, is a giant species of sedge in the plant family Cyperaceae, native to freshwater marshes all over North America...

 thickets". The rancho, in what is today central and northern Milpitas

Milpitas, California

Milpitas is a city in Santa Clara County, California. It is a suburb of the major city of San Jose, California. It is located with San Jose to its south and Fremont to its north, at the eastern end of State Route 237 and generally between Interstates 680 and 880 which run roughly north/south...

, extended from the confluence of Calera and Pennitencia creeks in the northwest to a large live oak tree that marked its southeastern corner. South of Rancho Los Tularcitos was the land of the Pueblo of San José.

History

Ygnacio Anastacio Higuera (1753–1805) came to California with the De Anza Expedition of 1776. Along the way, Ygnacio Higuera married Maria Micaela Bojorquez (1762–1794). Ygnacio Higuera was a soldier at the Presidio of San Francisco

Presidio of San Francisco

The Presidio of San Francisco is a park on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula in San Francisco, California, within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area...

. He moved to the Pueblo of San José, and was killed in 1805. Ygnacio's son, Jose Loreto Higuera (1778–1845), married Maria Pilar Sanchez (1778–1811) in 1794. After she died, José Higuera married Romona Bernal (1794–1831) in 1813.

Between 1817 and 1822, Spanish Governor Sola made several land grants, and José Loreto Higuera was awarded Rancho Los Tularcitos in 1821. José Higuera married Romona Garcia (1812 - ) in 1832. In 1836 José Loreto Higuera's son, Fulgencio Higuera, was the grantee of Rancho Agua Caliente

Rancho Agua Caliente (Higuera)

Rancho Agua Caliente was a Mexican land grant in present day Alameda County, California given in 1836 by Governor Nicolás Gutiérrez to Antonio Suñol and Fulgencio Higuera, and confirmed in 1839 by Governor Juan Alvarado to Fulgencio Higuera. The name means "warm water" and refers to the warm...

. In 1843, his son Valentin Higuera was the grantee of Rancho Pescadero

Rancho Pescadero (Grimes)

Rancho Pescadero was a Mexican land grant in present day Stanislaus County and San Joaquin County, California given in 1843 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to Valentin Higuera and Rafael Feliz. Pescadero means "fishing place" in Spanish...

. The Rancho Los Tularcitos land grant to Jose Higuera was confirmed by Mexican Governor Alvarado in 1839.

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 Tularcitos 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 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 Antonia Higuera et al., the heirs of Jose Higuera in 1870.

The beginning of the break-up of the rancho is said to have begun with the land given to José Loreto Higuera's grand daughter, daughter of Valentin Higuera, Maria Margarita Higuera, when she married Nicolas Chavarria. Henry Curtner (1830–1917) purchased Rancho Tularcitos in 1868.

Historic sites of the Rancho

• José Higuera Adobe. Soon after being given the land, José Higuera built a one story adobe for what would be, his fourteen children from three marriages.