Rancho La Merced

History

Governor Micheltorena granted Rancho La Merced to Casilda Soto de Lobo in 1844. Casilda Soto de Lobo was the widow of a soldier assigned to the San Gabriel Mission. In 1850, William Workman foreclosed on the $2500 loan he had made to Casilda Soto, who had put up Rancho La Merced as collateral. In 1851, Workman gave his son-in-law, Francisco P. Temple and former ranch foreman, Juan Matias Sanchez, each an undivided half interest in Rancho La Merced.

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 Rancho La Merced was filed with the Public Land Commission in 1853, and the grant was patented to Temple and Sanchez in 1872.

In 1876 the Temple and Workman Bank failed, and Temple and Sanchez, who had mortgaged the property to Elias J. "Lucky" Baldwin, lost their land when Baldwin foreclosed. Distraught and broke, William Workman shot himself in 1876. Temple suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed, and died penniless in 1880. Juan Matias Sanchez died in poverty in 1885. The rancho was acquired by Alessandro Repetto, an Italian sheep rancher. Businessman Harris Newmark, along with four others, bought the ranch from Repetto in 1886.

Historic sites of the Rancho

• Juan Matias Sanchez Adobe. The Sanchez Adobe was partially constructed in 1845 by Casilda Soto de Lobo and her three sons. With William Workman's gift in 1851, Juan Matías Sanchez took possession and moved into the adobe house. Sanchez added a wing to the adobe, which was the center of his ranch. After the bank failure in 1876, Sanchez lived in the house and 200 acre until his death in 1885. The Montebello Historical Society and the city of Montebello were given the deed to the Juan Matias Sanchez Adobe by Josephine Scott Crocker in 1972.

References

References

1. Ogden Hoffman, 1862, ''Reports of Land Cases Determined in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California'', Numa Hubert, San Francisco
2. [http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/hb8b69p16h/?&brand=oac Diseño Rancho La Merced]
3. "Map of old Spanish and Mexican ranchos in Los Angeles County".
4. {{gnis
5. [http://www.juanmatiassanchez.com/ Juan Matias Sanchez]
6. [http://digicoll.lib.berkeley.edu/record/267560 United States. District Court (California : Southern District) Land Case 217 SD]
7. [http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/hb109nb422/ Finding Aid to the Documents Pertaining to the Adjudication of Private Land Claims in California, circa 1852-1892]
8. [http://www.slc.ca.gov/Misc_Pages/Historical/Surveyors_General/reports/Willey_1884_1886.pdf Report of the Surveyor General 1844 - 1886] {{webarchive. link. (2013-03-20)
9. ''Baldwin v Temple'', 1894, Reports of Cases Determined in the Supreme Court of the State of California, Vol. 101, pp. 396–404, Bancroft-Whitney Company
10. [http://www.laokay.com/halac/JuanMatiasSanchezAdobe.htm Juan Matias Sanchez Adobe]