Nicasio (Nicasia) Rancho
Size: 56,621.04 acres
Original Grantee: Pablo de la Guerra & Juan (John) Cooper
Governor: Manuel Micheltorena
Date of the grant: August 18, 1844
Reference: Hoffman 270
PABLO DE LA GUERRA
b. November 29, 1819 in Santa Barbara, Alta California
d. February 5, 1875 in Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara County, California
Pablo de la Guerra was born in Santa Barbara, where his father was the commandant at the local presidio. Although he was educated at a Catholic school in Monterey, he spent most of his life in Southern California, where he was a state senator and magistrate. During his long career, he was mayor of Santa Barbara, president of the California Senate, Lieutenant Governor, and Judge of the 1st—and, after 1863, the 2nd—Judicial District. In 1845, Governor Pico, wishing to reward de la Guerra for his public service, granted him a portion of Rancho Nicasio. (The remainder went to John Cooper.) After the Bear Flag Revolt in 1846, de la Guerra resisted U.S. rule, refusing to lower the Mexican flag at the customhouse which he oversaw. However, he later became friendlier to the U.S., serving as a delegate at the California Constitutional Convention in Monterey and rallying Southern California behind the Union during the Civil War. Over two thousand mourners attended his funeral at Mission Santa Barbara in 1875.
JOHN COOPER
b. September ?, 1791 in England
d. June 2, 1872 in San Francisco, San Francisco County, California
John Cooper injured the nerves in his left arm in a knife fight. From then on, he was known as One-Armed John or, in the towns that he frequented in California, Don Juan El Manco. After moving to Boston with his mother, he traveled extensively, first attending school in Charleston and then serving as second mate on a missionary trip to the Sandwich Islands. He was captain of the Rover, an 84-ton ship that set sail from Boston, when he arrived in San Francisco on May 28, 1823. Upon his arrival, he made arrangements with Governor Luis Arguello to sail to China on a trade mission. After coming back with Chinese silk, though, he and Arguello quarreled over what he should receive for his work. He eventually won the money that he asked for, but not without first losing his ship, the Rover.
In 1826, he opened a general merchandise store in Monterey, the beginning of his long association with that town which culminated in his appointment in 1851 to the post of Monterey Harbormaster. In 1839, he agreed to work for the California government a second time as the captain of the Californian, which carried mail, prisoners, and government officials from Monterey to San Blas, Mexico. While serving as captain of the Californian, a U.S. commodore entered Monterey Bay, seized the ship, and unsuccessfully tried to annex California. Having established his loyalty to Mexico—he married Encarnacion Vallejo in 1827 and became a naturalized Mexican in 1830—he applied to the Mexican government for a tract of land.
In 1840, Governor Alvarado granted him Rancho Punta de Quentin, named after an Indian chief in the area. This ranch comprised not only the San Quentin peninsula, but also modern day Kentfield, Ross, and a part of San Anselmo. Cooper built a mansion out at the point but didn’t spend much time there. He also established a business selling timber, which he contracted others to run, and, in 1847, leased a section of the point to the U.S. government for a sawmill. His vast land holdings in Marin also included Rancho Nicasio, which he and Pablo de la Guerra were granted in 1844. He sold his interests in both Marin County ranchos to Benjamin Buckelew in 1850. He died in San Francisco on June 2, 1872 at the age of 80.
Rancho Nicasio
In the mid 1830s, 80,000 acres, in the area known as Nicasio, was promised by General Mariano Vallejo to the San Rafael Indians, whose land had been co-opted by the mission. Over the course of the next decade, however, through connivances by Vallejo and his nephew, Alvarado, the promised 80,000 acres was never relinquished, and indeed, Alvarado ended up claiming title to the land. (For a complete account of this complicated swindle, see Mason, Early Marin, pp.70-76). Governor Micheltorena’s secretary of state, Manuel Jimeno, saw through Alvarado’s shady dealings, and produced evidence that Micheltorena had already granted this same Rancho Nicasio to Pablo de la Guerra and Juan Cooper, in 1844. Alvarado’s claim was eventually rejected.
By 1849, there were three owners of Rancho Nicasio—John Cooper, Pablo de la Guerra, and Jasper O’ Farrell—but that was soon to change. In 1850, Cooper sold his share of the ranch to Benjamin Buckelew, a publisher and shopkeeper. The same year, Henry W. Halleck paid $15,000 for Pablo de la Guerra’s share of Rancho Nicasio, with the understanding that he would pay a second $15,000 installment to de la Guerra later. In 1851, O’Farrell sold his share to James Black and moved to Rancho Jonive in Sonoma. When the U.S. Land Commission was set up in early 1851, it was James Black and Henry W. Halleck who defended the original land grant. In 1855, the U.S. Land Commission confirmed Rancho Nicasio, but by then there were additional owners. William Reynolds and Daniel Frink bought a tract of land from Buckelew in 1852. Meanwhile, de la Guerra had not yet received a second payment from Halleck, who had had second thoughts about the deal after Marin real estate values plummeted in 1850. Halleck eventually settled with de la Guerra over the land, which totaled 30,848 acres. Over the next decade or so, Halleck sold off most of his portion of Rancho Nicasio, piecemeal, netting him a good profit.
References:
1.) Dickinson, A. Bray. Tomales Townships: A History. Tomales: Tomales History Center, 1993.
2.) Gates, Paul W. “Carpetbaggers Rush for Land.” California Historical Quarterly (Summer 1977): 115.
3.) Mason, Jack. Early Marin. Petaluma: House of Printing, 1971.
4.) West, Albert, and Thomas Thompson, eds. History of Santa Barbara & Ventura Counties, California. Berkeley: Howell-North Books, 1961.
5.) California Room Clipping Files: Nicasio Diseño: “Land Grants – Pamphlets I”. (Anne T. Kent California Room Collection)
COPYRIGHT 2003, Anne T. Kent California Room, Marin County Free Library
