Rancho San Bernabe was a 13297 acres (53.8 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...

. The three square league grant consisted of one square league granted in 1841 to Jesus Molina, and two square leagues granted in 1842 to Petronilo Ríos by Governor Juan Alvarado. The grant extended along the Salinas River

Salinas River (California)

The Salinas River is the largest river of the central coast of California, running and draining 4,160 square miles. It flows north-northwest and drains the Salinas Valley that slices through the Coast Range south from Monterey Bay...

 south of present day King City, California

King City, California

King City is a city in Monterey County, California, United States. King City is located on the Salinas River southeast of Salinas, at an elevation of 335 feet . It lies along U.S. Route 101 in the Salinas Valley of the Central Coast of California. King City is a member of the Association of...

.

History

The Rancho San Bernabe land grants were given to Jesus Molina in 1841 and to Petronilo Ríos in 1842. Petronilo Ríos (1806–1870) was a Mexican soldier who came to California in the mid 1820s. He married Catarina Avila (1812–1889) in 1832. In the 1830s Ríos was shuttling between Monterey

Monterey, California

The City of Monterey in Monterey County is located on Monterey Bay along the Pacific coast in Central California. Monterey lies at an elevation of 26 feet above sea level. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 27,810. Monterey is of historical importance because it was the capital of...

 and Mission San Miguel Arcángel

Mission San Miguel Arcángel

Mission San Miguel Arcángel was founded on July 25, 1797 by the Franciscan order, on a site chosen specifically due to the large number of Salinan Indians that inhabited the area, whom the Spanish priests wanted to evangelize. It is located at 775 Mission Street, San Miguel, in San Luis Obispo...

, where he was corporal commanding the mission guard. In 1839, he was promoted to commander of artillery at the presidio in Monterey

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:...

, and retired from the military in 1840. In 1842 Ríos bought the Molina land grant and moved his family to Rancho San Bernabe. The Ríos family began raising cattle and crops on this land and producing wine from their own grapes. In 1845 Petronilo Ríos bought Rancho Paso de Robles

Rancho Paso de Robles

Rancho Paso de Robles was a Mexican land grant in present day San Luis Obispo County, California given in 1844 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to José Pedro Narváez. The name means "Pass of the Oaks"...

 near Mission San Miguel and moved there with his family.

Henry Cocks, an English marine on the USS Dale, settled in Monterey after 1848 and married a daughter of Francisco Garcia grantee of Rancho San Benito

Rancho San Benito

Rancho San Benito was a Mexican land grant in present day Monterey County, California given in 1842 by Governor Juan B. Alvarado to Francisco Garcia. The grant extended along the Salinas River south of Rancho San Bernardo...

, directly south of Rancho San Bernabe. Cocks moved to Rancho San Bernabe in 1853.

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 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 Henry Cocks in 1873.

After the droughts of 1863-64, Henry Cocks sold the rancho in 1866.