Alta California – Colleen & Jeff's Roots

Rancho Los Nietos Map, National Park Service — The Nieto land grant and 1834 divisions, in parts of present day Los Angeles and Orange Counties. Courtesy of the National Park Service. Click image to view a larger copy.

My 8th entry in Amy Johnson Crow’s “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” family history blogging challenge for 2015.

The challenge: have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor.

Amy’s 2015 version of this challenge focuses on a different theme each week.

The theme for week 8 is — Good Deeds. Does this mean a generous ancestor or one you found through land records?

My 8th ancestor is a group of people, rather than a single person. I’m not even sure they are ancestors…. or even relatives. My father’s extended Nieto family is just hoping so very much. This ancestor group is the four heirs of Don Jose Manuel Perez-Nieto (1734-1804), whom I am researching as part of my Manuel Nieto Project.

This week, the focus has been on the history of the Spanish and Mexican land grants.

The Original Nieto Land Grant

If you recall from a post I did last month (see: King’s Soldier and Alta California Ranchero Manuel Nieto), in November of 1784 retired Spanish Army soldier and 1769 Portolà expedition member Manuel Nieto was awarded the largest, and one of very few, Spanish land grants in Alta California — what would become Rancho Los Nietos, located in present day Los Angeles and Orange Counties. According to Baker, Los Nietos is the second oldest land grant in California, with San Rafael (often called La Zanja) being the oldest.

Milestones in California History claims the original Spanish grant was for 300,000 acres, but was later reduced to 158,000 acres (Wikipedia states 167,000 acres) after the Mission San Gabriel contested the proximity of the rancho boundaries to its own property. According to the Orange County Archives, “It took in all the land between the San Gabriel and Santa Ana rivers, from the foothills to the sea.” Baker says that a total of 158,363 acres was patented when the Mexican regime took over Alta California.

The rancho included all or parts or present-day Anaheim, Artesia, Buena Park, Bolsa Chica, Cerritos, Cypress, Downey, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Lakewood, Long Beach, Los Alamitos, Naples, Norwalk, Santa Fe Springs, Seal Beach, Sunset Beach, and Whittier.

Nieto Rancho - Nieto Manuel - California Spanish Archives - Ancestry — Manuel Nieto in the California, Spanish Archive Records, 1784-1868. (Index page 15). Ancestry.com. Click image for a larger view.

According to Milestones in California History and Engstrand, Manuel Nieto’s heirs inherited the rancho upon his death in 1804. In 1833, these heirs requested that the Mexican Governor divide up the land among them, which was done in 1834 when the land was regranted by the Mexican government.

Baker states that when the U.S. acquired California following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, “Seven patents were issued to the Nieto heirs or their assigns for potions of the old rancho, known as Los Cerritos, Los Coyotes, Las Bolsas, Los Alamitos and Santa Gertrudis.”

Children and Heirs

Don Manuel married Maria Teresa Morillo (1756-1816) about 1778 in Loreto, Baja California, Mexico. Northrup’s authoritative work identifies six children together, and provides these life event details from the mission records.

The land heirs are noted in italics. The two youngest children died at too young of an age.

The “Alta California” designation is my own. I use that place name in my research notes to refer to present-day California during the eras it was still under Spanish and Mexican rule. I begin using the place name of California to refer to the United States era.

1) Juan Jose Maria Nieto (male):

Born: 03 February 1781.
Baptized: 26 February 1781 at Mission San Diego, Alta California.
Married: 28 November 1806 at Mission San Gabriel, Alta California.
Buried: 03 August 1850at Mission San Gabriel, Alta California.

Spouse: Maria Tomasa Tapia.

1834 Disposition: Los Alamitos (“Little Cottonwoods”, 28,612 acres), and Los Coyotes (48,806 acres). The Spanish Archive Records indicate that Juan Jose was also awarded two other pieces of the original land grant (Nieto and Romulo), and Wikipedia claims he also received what was called Rancho Palo Alto. I have no information on these three mystery spots yet.

Nieto Rancho - Nieto Juan Jose - California Spanish Archives - Ancestry — Juan Jose Maria Nieto awarded Las Alamitos, Los Nietos, Los Romulo, and Los Coyotes.
Juan Jose Nieto in the California, Spanish Archive Records, 1784-1868. (Index page 15). Ancestry.com. Click image for a larger view.

2) Jose Antonio Maria Nieto (male):

Born: 1785.
Baptized: 14 August 1785 at Mission San Gabriel, Alta California.
Married: 12 August 1804 at Mission San Gabriel, Alta California.
Buried: 02 December 1832 at Mission San Gabriel, Alta California.

Spouse: Maria Catarina Ruiz.

1834 Disposition: Las Bolsas (33,460 acres) to widow Maria Catarina Ruiz.

Nieto Rancho - Ruiz Catarina - California Spanish Archives - Ancestry - Web — Maria Catarina Ruiz, awarded Las Bolsas.
Catarina Ruiz in the California, Spanish Archive Records, 1784-1868. (Index page 38). Ancestry.com. Click image for a larger view.

3) Antonio Maria de los Santos Nieto (male):

Baptized: 02 November 1788 at Mission San Gabriel, Alta California.
Married: 25 January 1815 at Mission San Gabriel, Alta California.
Buried: 07 December 1832 at Mission San Gabriel, Alta California.

Spouse: Maria Josefa Alvina Cota.

1834 Disposition: Santa Gertrudes (21,298 acres) to widow Maria Josefa Alvina Cota.

Nieto Rancho - Cota Josefa - California Spanish Archives - Ancestry — Maria Josefa Alvina Cota, awarded Santa Gertrudes.
Josefa Coto De Nieto in the California, Spanish Archive Records, 1784-1868. (Index page 15). Ancestry.com. Click image for a larger view.

4) Maria Manuela Antonia Nieto (female):

Born: 04 August 1791.
Baptized: 05 August 1791 at Mission San Gabriel, Alta California.
Married: 14 July 1805 at Mission San Gabriel, Alta California.

Spouse: Guillermo Cota.

1834 Disposition: Los Cerritos (“Little Hills”, 27,054 acres) to Maria Manuela and husband Guillero Cota.

Nieto Rancho - Nieto Manuela - California Spanish Archives - Ancestry — Maria Manuela Antonia Nieto in the California, Spanish Archive Records, 1784-1868. (Index page 15). Ancestry.com. Click image for a larger view.

Nieto Rancho - Cota Guillermo - California Spanish Archives - Ancestry — Guillermo Cota, awarded Los Cerritos.
Guillermo Cota in the California, Spanish Archive Records, 1784-1868. (Index page 31). Ancestry.com. Click image for a larger view.

5) Maria de los Santos Nieto (female):

Born: About 1795 at San Gabriel, Alta California.
Buried: 28 May 1796 at Mission San Gabriel, Alta California.

6) Antonio Maria Nieto (male):

Born: 13 July 1796.
Baptized: 14 July 1796 at Mission San Gabriel, Alta California.
Buried: 13 December 1804 at Mission San Gabriel, Alta California.

Mystery Heir (Maria Chefas Nieto)

The Spanish Archives Records index lists an additional heir — Maria Chefas Nieto, identified with Bolsa Chiquita. This name does not yet show up in my research database, so she is now on my research radar.

Nieto Rancho - Nieto Maria Chefas - California Spanish Archives - Ancestry — Mystery heir Maria Chefas Nieto, awarded mystery disposition piece Bolsa Chiquita. Maria Chefas Nieto in the California, Spanish Archive Records, 1784-1868. (Index page 15). Ancestry.com. Click image for a larger view.

California Ranchos Timeline

Key dates in the history of Alta California and California Ranchos.

1769-1821: Spanish rule of Mexico and Alta California.
- 1769-1770: Portolá expedition.
- 1781: Founding of the peublo of Los Angeles.
- 1784: Three earliest Spanish land grants awarded.
1821-1848: Mexican rule of Alta California.
- 1821: Mexican Independence.
- 1824: General Colonization Law (allowed foreigners to petition for land).
- 1828: Mexican Reglamento (codified rules for establishing land grants).
- 1835: Secularization of the missions.
- 1846-1848: Mexican-American War.
U.S. Possession of California (1848- ).
- 1848: Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (February 2).
- 1850: Statehood (September 9).
- 1851: California Land Act of 1851: (ranchos had to reestablish their claims).

Sources

Ancestry.com. California, Spanish Archive Records, 1784-1868 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. This collection was indexed by Ancestry World Archives Project contributors.

Baker, C. C. (1914). Mexican Land Grants in California. Annual Publication of the Historical Society of Southern California, 9(3), 236–243. doi:10.2307/41168710

County of Orange. (n.d.). Spanish and Mexican Ranchos of Orange County. County of Orange. Retrieved from http://ocarchives.com/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?BlobID=4322

Engstrand, I. H. W. (1985). California Ranchos: Their Hispanic Heritage. Southern California Quarterly, 67(3), 281–290. doi:10.2307/41171160

Milestones in California History. (1988). California History, 67(2). Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/25177242

Northrop, M. E. (1976). Spanish-Mexican families of early California, 1769-1850. New Orleans: Polyanthos.

Rancho Los Nietos. (2012, June 16). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 14:19, February 26, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rancho_Los_Nietos&oldid=497920500

Drawing of a soldado de cuero. Cavalry Uniform Design Drawn by Ramón Murillo, August 26, 1804. Public domain image via Wikimedia. Drawing details via the New Mexico History Museum. — Drawing of a soldado de cuero. Cavalry uniform design drawn by Ramón Murillo, August 26, 1804. Public domain image via Wikimedia. Drawing details via the New Mexico History Museum.

My 2nd entry in Amy Johnson Crow’s “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” family history blogging challenge for 2015.

The challenge: have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor.

Amy’s 2015 version of this challenge focuses on a different theme each week.

The theme for week 2 is King — January 8 is Elvis’ birthday. January 15 is the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. Do either of these “Kings” remind you of an ancestor? Or, taken another way, do you have a connection to royalty? Did you ancestor flee from an oppressive king?

My 2nd ancestor is someone whom I am not sure is even related to my family at all — Jose Manuel Nieto (1734-1804). Nieto was part of the Gaspar de Portolà expedition of 1769 into Alta California, which was the first recorded Spanish land entry into and exploration of present day California. In 1784, Nieto was awarded one of the largest Spanish land grants in Alta California — what would become Rancho Los Nietos, located in present day Los Angeles and Orange counties.

The king reference? Nieto was a soldier (soldado de cuera, “leather jacket soldier”) in the Royal Army of Spain. His efforts in the 1769 expedition helped expand the Spanish Empire. And his name is revered almost like royalty among Southern Californians who descend from these Spanish/Mexican founding Alta California families.

Nieto Family Claims

My father is a Nieto, through his paternal grandmother Maria Nieto (1887-1974). My entire life, I have heard his family claim that we are descended from THE Manuel Nieto, this Manuel Nieto. There is still a huge population of Nietos — including many of our cousins — living in Southern California. The obituary for my 2nd great grandmother — Maria Aurelia Compean (1858-1963), the mother of Maria Nieto — makes claim to this heritage through marriage to my 2nd great grandfather Rafael Nieto. There is a big Nieto reunion in Long Beach, California every year (I have not yet attended), where I am told everyone there claims this same heritage. Any time I talk about family history with my grand aunt (married to Maria Nieto’s last living child), she is adamant that we are descended from Manuel Nieto, and she always seems a bit annoyed (rare for her, she has the sweetest more cheerful disposition) that I don’t just accept this “fact”. I have to gently explain that as a historian and librarian, while this connection may be true, I cannot accept things as historical facts until I can verify through actual documented evidence. We repeat this conversation every year at our family’s big annual Christmas tamale party.

So, after this past December’s conversation with my grand aunt, I decided that I am going to try to prove or disprove our connection to the famous Manuel Nieto — to once and for all verify if we are directly descended from or related to, via a common ancestor, Manuel Nieto.

Robledo-Nieto Christmas 2014 — Christmas 2014 wine tasting with my grand aunt and grand uncle. Left to right: My sister-in-law and brother, my grand uncle and aunt, me and my husband, my parents. The Nietos are my grand uncle, my dad, me, and my brother.

Proving Famous Lineage

If you are a regular reader of Colleen & Jeff’s Roots, you will recall that I did this last year with my husband’s family’s “cousin claim” to Revolutionary War hero Major General Nathanael Greene — I was able to verify through documented evidence that my husband is a 3rd cousins7x removed of the hero. The Nathanael Greene project was a laborious one, but was fairly quick and easy due to how heavily documented Nathanael’s own family history is in various print and online publications. This saved me from having to research and create Nathanael’s family lines myself. I “only” had to continue my existing work of researching and building my husband’s Greene genealogy, then find concrete matching connections with Nathanael’s genealogy. Once I found those key matches, I was able to easily trace back to a shared common ancestor.

I am starting from scratch with Manuel Nieto. I have not yet found a published documented family history for this famous Nieto, only references to the names of his wife, their children, and the spouses of those children. So in all of my “spare time” I now have to build Manuel Nieto’s family tree as a starting point for my investigation into a shared connection with my Nieto family. I have created a new Manuel Nieto tree in my main Family Tree Maker and on Ancestry, on to which I am adding his relations as I discover them. When and if I do find a shared ancestor, I can them merge that Manuel Nieto tree into my own main family tree.

To make matters more complicated on this new Manuel Nieto Project, much of the records and publications are in Spanish, whereas the Nathanael Greene Project files were all in English. I don’t speak, read, or write Spanish — my 2 years of high school and 2 years of college Spanish were so long ago that I can now only ask where the bathroom is located or order a drink at a bar in Mexico. This is where my Spanish-fluent father, who is now retired and has the time to help, will need to be of big time assistance to me.

My hope is to complete the Manuel Nieto Project while my sweet wonderful grand aunt is still alive. And I do hope that my investigations uncover confirmation that my aunt and the family are correct…that we are indeed descended from our related to Manuel Nieto. Because they have believed and been proud of this “fact” for generations. If my investigations prove otherwise, I think it will make me a bit less popular at Nieto family gatherings.

The Manuel Nieto Project

I plan to write about my efforts and discoveries on this blog, under the title “Manuel Nieto Project”. Who knows, maybe I’ll even get a journal article out of this work.

If you are a Nieto who has proven this documented connection to your own family, are a historian who is aware of an already published documented family history for Manuel Nieto, know of any leads for me to trace Manuel Nieto’s family history, or are just an expert in Spanish/Mexican records from the Alta California period, please let me know. I welcome any and all help!

Tag: Alta California

Manuel Nieto Project #52Ancestors: The 1834 Breakup of Rancho Los Nietos in Alta California