Rancho Tulucay was a 8866 acres (35.9 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 Napa County, California

Napa County, California

Napa County is a county located north of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is coterminous with the Napa, California, Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2010 the population is 136,484. The county seat is Napa....

 given in 1841 by Governor pro tem Manuel Jimeno to Cayetano Juarez. The Tulucay name originates with the names Tulkays and Ulucas that were applied to the inhabitants of a Patwin village in the area. The grant was on the east side of the Napa River

Napa River

The Napa River, approximately 55 miles long, is a river in the U.S. state of California. It drains a famous wine-growing region, called the Napa Valley, in the mountains northeast of San Francisco. Milliken Creek is a tributary of the Napa River....

, between Soscol Creek on the south, and Clarks Creek on the north.

History

Cayetano Juarez (1809 - 1883) was a soldier at 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...

 until 1836. Juarez married Maria de Jesus Higuerra (1815 - 1890 ), daughter of Francisco Higuerra in 1835. In 1836 Juarez was made mayordomo at Sonoma

Sonoma, California

Sonoma is a historically significant city in Sonoma Valley, Sonoma County, California, USA, surrounding its historic town plaza, a remnant of the town's Mexican colonial past. It was the capital of the short-lived California Republic...

. Under the leadership of General Mariano Vallejo

Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo

Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo was a Californian military commander, politician, and rancher. He was born a subject of Spain, performed his military duties as an officer of Mexico, and shaped the transition of California from a Mexican district to an American state...

, Juarez was assigned an active role in managing the land and associated native population in the Napa/Sonoma County region. For his decade of service to the Mexican government, Juarez was granted the two square league Rancho Tulocay. In 1840 (before the grant deed was finalized) Cayetano Juarez moved his family from Sonoma to Napa Valley. During the year 1840 he built his first adobe house. In 1844 he was elected alcalde

Alcalde

Alcalde , or Alcalde ordinario, is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and administrative functions. An alcalde was, in the absence of a corregidor, the presiding officer of the Castilian cabildo and judge of first instance of a town...

 of Sonoma. In 1845 he built his second and larger adobe, which is also still standing. In 1845 he was granted Rancho Yokaya

Rancho Yokaya

Rancho Yokaya was a Mexican land grant in present day Mendocino County, California given in 1845 by Governor Pío Pico to Cayetano Juarez. The name Yokaya means "south valley" in the language of the Pomo people...

 in Mendocino County

Mendocino County, California

Mendocino County is a county located on the north coast of the U.S. state of California, north of the greater San Francisco Bay Area and west of the Central Valley. As of the 2010 census, the population was 87,841, up from 86,265 at the 2000 census...

.

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 Tulucay 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 Cayetano Juarez in 1861.

Although often away, Juarez resided on the Rancho lands until his death in 1883. Juarez was buried in the Tulocay Cemetery, the original lands of which he donated for use as a cemetery in 1853.

Historic sites of the Rancho

• The Juarez Adobe. The 1845 Juarez adobe remains standing today and is used as a restaurant.
• Tulocay Cemetery. The land for Tulocay (sic) Cemetery was donated in 1859 by Cayetano Juarez.
• Napa State Asylum for the Insane. In 1872, Juarez sold 192 acre (0.77699712 km²) of his Rancho Tulucay land to the State of California for the purpose of constructing a new State hospital that could accommodate the overcrowded facilities at the Stockton Asylum.