Rancho Santa Gertrudes was a 1834 Mexican land grant, in present-day Los Angeles County, California, resulting from a partition of Rancho Los Nietos. A former site of Nacaugna, the rancho lands included the present-day cities of Downey, Santa Fe Springs and the northern part of Norwalk.
History At the request of Manuel Nieto heirs, governor José Figueroa in 1834, officially declared the Rancho Los Nietos grant under Mexican rule and ordered its partition into five smaller ranchos: Las Bolsas, Los Alamitos, Los Cerritos, Los Coyotes, and Santa Gertrudes.Spanish and Mexican Ranchos of Orange County
Josefa Cota (widow of Antonio Maria Nieto, son of Manuel Nieto) received the Rancho Santa Gertrudes grant.Ogden Hoffman, 1862, Reports of Land Cases Determined in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, Numa Hubert, San Francisco Lemuel Carpenter (1808–1859), who had married Maria de Los Angeles Dominguez, a niece of Josefa Cota, bought the rancho in 1843 from Josefa Cota, his aunt by marriage.Lemuel Carpenter
With the cession of California to the United States following the Mexican–American War, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided that the land grants would be honored. As required by the Land Act of 1851, a claim for part of Rancho Santa Gertrudes was filed by Lemuel Carpenter with the Public Land Commission in 1852.United States. District Court (California : Southern District) Land Case 194 SDFinding Aid to the Documents Pertaining to the Adjudication of Private Land Claims in California, circa 1852-1892Plat of the Rancho Santa Gertrudes "Samuel" Carpenter, claimant Carpenter, who was deeply in debt to John G. Downey, killed himself in 1859. In 1859 the rancho was sold at a sheriff's auction to Downey and James P. McFarland. of the grant was patented to McFarland and Downey in 1870.Report of the Surveyor General 1844 - 1886
A claim for part of Rancho Santa Gertrudes was filed by Thomas Sanchez Colima with the Public Land Commission in 1852,Diseño del Rancho Santa Gertrudes Tomas Sanchez Colima, claimantUnited States. District Court (California : Southern District) Land Case 272 SD and of the grant was patented to Thomas Sanchez Colima in 1877.Report of the Surveyor General 1844 - 1886 Another claim was filed by Concepción Nieto, but was rejected.United States. District Court (California : Southern District) Land Case 193 SD
The southern border between Ranchos Santa Gertrudes and Los Coyotes exists today as Leffingwell Road. The street Santa Gertrudes Avenue, which runs from Los Angeles County Route N8 to California State Route 72, is named after the rancho.
Historic sites of the Rancho Hathaway Ranch MuseumHathaway Ranch Museum Historical Railroad Exhibit
See also
List of Ranchos of California Ranchos of California
References
External links USC Digital Library: Map of old Spanish and Mexican ranchos in Los Angeles County