Rancho Potrero de los Cerritos was a 10610 acres (42.9 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 Alameda County, California

Alameda County, California

Alameda County is a county in the U.S. state of California. It occupies most of the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 1,510,271, making it the 7th most populous county in the state...

 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 Augustin Alviso and Tomás Pacheco. The name means "pasture of the little hills" and included the Coyote Hills

Coyote Hills (Alameda County)

.The Coyote Hills are a low mountain range in Alameda County, California.Coyote Hills Regional Park is located in and named for these hills....

. The three square league grant, part of former Mission San José lands, encompassed present day Fremont

Fremont, California

Fremont is a city in Alameda County, California. It was incorporated on January 23, 1956, from the merger of five smaller communities: Centerville, Niles, Irvington, Mission San Jose, and Warm Springs...

, Alvarado

Alvarado, California

Alvarado is a former settlement in and former county seat of Alameda County, California, now annexed to Union City. It was located north-northwest of downtown Newark....

, Centerville and Irvington.

History

Augustin Alviso (1809–1880), son of Josè Ygnacio Alviso

Ignacio Alviso

Juan Ignacio Alviso was an early Spanish settler of what is today the U.S. state of California and grantee of Rancho Rincon de Los Esteros...

, married Maria Josefa Antonia Pacheco (1812–1870) in 1830. Maria Pacheco was the daughter of Bartolome Pacheco, grantee of Rancho San Ramon

Rancho San Ramon (Pacheco-Castro)

Rancho San Ramon was a Mexican land grant in present day Contra Costa County, California given in 1833 by Governor Jose Figueroa to Mariano Castro and Bartolome Pacheco. Governor Figueroa granted Castro and Pacheco two square leagues of San Ramon Valley from the crest of the western ridge to the...

. Her sister, Maria Antonia de Jesus Pacheco (1796–1852) married in 1816 Augustin Alviso's brother, Josef Antonio Alviso (1796–1880). Augustin Alviso was mayor domo of Mission San José in 1840. In 1853, Augustin Alviso bought Rancho Santa Rita

Rancho Santa Rita (Pacheco)

Rancho Santa Rita was a Mexican land grant in present day Alameda County, California given in 1839 by Governor Juan Alvarado to Jose Dolores Pacheco...

. Tomás Pacheco was a soldier of the San Francisco Company from 1826 to 1832, and later held various offices in the Pueblo of San José from 1834 to 1843.

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 Potrero de los Cerritos 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 Tomás Pacheco and Agustín Alviso in 1886.

After the California Gold Rush

California Gold Rush

The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...

, the rancho lands were sold to American ranchers, such as George Patterson, John M. Horner, and Henry C. Smith (who laid out the town of New Haven).