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questionable document was signed only "Pacheco", and in a finer hand than his. Three of the
Berreyesa sons battled with the squatters, trying to dislodge them from the mining works. Their mother, the widow MarĂa ZacarĂas Bernal de Berreyesa, fought for the land by filing suit in court against the New Almaden Mining Company. Castillero filed suit to prove his claim on the mine, and the United States worked to prove the mining land was public, not part of any grant, so that the government could seize the mine. The case dragged on for years as witnesses were called from Mexico. In July 1854, her ninth son, JosĂ© de la EncarnaciĂłn RamĂłn Antonio Berreyesa, was grabbed by a posse, tied with rope around the neck and questioned, but was set free. Several days later, her fifth son, Joseph Zenobia Nemesio Berreyesa, was guarding the New Almaden mine at night when he was seized by masked men and hanged. In 1856, men broke into the home of her seventh son, Francisco Antonio Berreyesa, and killed him. Aftering leaving for the relative safety of
308:(also spelled Berreyesa) was born November 26, 1780, and christened the same day at Mission Santa Clara. She was the first child of the family. On February 16, 1795, she married 22-year-old Francisco MarĂa Castro, third son of JoaquĂn de Castro, one of the founding settlers of San JosĂ© and a corporal in the artillery company of San Francisco. The two made their home in San JosĂ© and produced thirteen offspring during 1796–1824. Castro was made an elector in 1822 after which he served as alcalde and on a civil board that heard disputes.
611:
out four new plots to build dwellings and establish their claim on the land. Jake quickly moved into the empty
Berreyesa adobe and claimed the whole grant. Berreyesa lost $ 500 in paying for a failed court battle to regain his rancho. Another Anglo settler laid out Alviso's claim using measurements that included a sizable piece of the Berreyesa claim, including crops and buildings. Berreyesa sued, but his lawyers dropped out of sight while supposedly covering his case in
188:. This son, JosĂ© de JesĂşs (Cayetano) Berrelleza, married 10-year-old MarĂa Nicolasa Micaela Leyba (or Leyva) in Sinaloa in 1735. In 1754, MarĂa and JosĂ© Berrelleza welcomed a daughter, Ana Ysabel (also spelled Isabel), and in 1761 they produced a son, Nicolás Antonio. The children's mother died, and their father took a new wife that the children were very unhappy with.
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sixteen months later, in 1835. In 1852, Anglo squatters were living on the Alviso and
Berreyesa grants in numbers too great for the Californios to eject. A man named James Jake described to Nicolás Antonio Berreyesa a scheme wherein Berreyesa and three of his sons would emulate the squatters and mark
431:
An 1863 court decision in the
Berreyesa's favor allowed them to sell the rights to work the mine for $ 1,700,000 in 1864. Eventually, the United States was able to prove that the two adjoining land grants did not include the rocky hills and the mine, and the mining operation was nationalized. The
160:
A report to the
Superintendent of Indian Affairs for California in 1854 described finding 150 Native Americans in conditions of slavery in Berryessa Valley. The Berryessa family was said to have numerous slave labor gangs which they had violently acquired from the nearby Stony Creek Mountain and
297:.). Nicolás Berrelleza remarried November 19, 1803, at Mission Santa Clara, to 13-year-old MarĂa Ignacio Amador, and produced a son, Francisco, in May 1804. Berrelleza died in October 1804 at the age of 43, and was buried at Mission Santa Clara. His widow bore him a daughter seven months later.
565:
Nazario
Antonio Berrelleza (also spelled Nasario Berreyesa, nicknamed José) was born at Mission Santa Clara on July 28, 1787, the fourth child and second son in the family. He served as an army corporal at Presidio San Francisco, 1819–1824. As payment for his government service, he accepted a
419:
The New
Almaden mine was taken in possession by Robert Walkinshaw of the New Almaden Mining Company in April 1847 by means of a forged grant document supposedly bearing the signature of the alcalde of Presidio San José, José Dolores Pacheco, who always signed documents "Dolores Pacheco"—the
412:, and Frémont refused to assist José de los Santos Berreyesa in retrieving it as a final token of their father to give to their mother. The three brothers resorted to buying the serape from the soldier for the extortionate price of $ 25 ($ 848 today.) Later, Carson told
439:
1876 was the year that the greatest amount of mercury was removed from the New
Almaden mine: 3,610,341 pounds (1,637,623 kg) of the liquid metal. By 1880, $ 16 million worth of mercury had been mined, about $ 505 million in current value.
408:, and they were stripped of their belongings. When asked by prisoner José de los Santos Berreyesa whether their father had been killed, Frémont said it might have been a man named Castro. A soldier of Frémont's was seen wearing the elder Berreyesa's
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In 1777, Ana Isabel
Berrelleza married Juan JosĂ© Peralta, another member of the Anza colonist party, but they did not have children. At the age of 18, Nicolás Antonio Berrelleza married Peralta's sister, MarĂa Gertrudis Peralta, October 10, 1779, at
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ore was found in 1844–1845, and the discovery was made public. Mercury was an important part of gold- and silver-mining operations, and was in demand the world over, and especially in the
California gold fields after 1848. The neighboring grant,
578:
which ran through it. Nazario raised 5,000 cattle, 20,000 horses and grew grain crops throughout the fertile valley that became known as Berryessa Valley. The livestock holdings extended northward over some rocky hills to a neighboring valley,
428:. The vigilantes, a group called the El Monte Rangers who were frustrated at the recent escape of Flores, saw the rope scars around Berreyesa's neck and assumed he had somehow foiled a prior attempt at execution, so they hanged him until dead.
369:, was now held by Andrés Castillero, who claimed the mercury mine was part of his land. Robert Walkinshaw and some other men squatted on the land in February 1845 and began to take lumber and limestone away for sale in August. The
591:
Nicolás Tolentino Antonio Berrelleza (also known as Nicolás Antonio Berreyesa II) was born at Mission Santa Clara on July 12, 1789, the fifth child and third son in the family. He served as a leather-armored soldier
198:
formed a party of 200 colonists including soldiers for protection. Ana Ysabel, 21, and Nicolás Antonio Berrelleza, 14, joined the group, traveling with the Gabriel Peralta family. The party arrived at
683:
The destruction of California Indians. A collection of documents from the period 1847 to 1865 in which are described some of the things that happened to some of the Indians of California
153:. In the 1850s, Anglo settlers of California killed eight Berreyesa men, and some Berreyesas chose to leave Northern California to save their lives. Antonio Berreyesa once said that his
164:
The name Berreyesa comes from the Basque name Berreiarza or Berreyarza, and was changed in California to several alternate spellings including Berelleza, Berrellesa and Berryessa.
615:, losing irreplaceable documents. Berreyesa burned the rest of his real estate documents in a mad rage. The Alviso claim won out in 1871. Nicolás Antonio Berreyesa died in 1873.
341:. In 1805, he married MarĂa ZacarĂas Bernal at Mission Santa Clara. The couple had 13 children during 1807–1833, with 10 living past infancy. They moved in 1834 to hold land in
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142:. The members of the family lost nearly all of their real estate holdings to English settlers, debts and legal battles in the decades following the formation of the
337:(also spelled Berreyesa) was born at Mission Santa Clara on January 6, 1785, the third child and first son in the family. He served as an army sergeant at
424:, José de la Encarnación Ramón Antonio Berreyesa was caught on February 5, 1857, by a band of vigilantes that had been told he consorted with the bandit
356:, near the Santa Teresa Hills and at the south end of Almaden Valley. The grant included a large section of the rocky hills upon which a rich source of
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In 1775, the Spanish government indicated its desire to settle Alta California against further encroachment by Russian fur trappers, so in October, the
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602:, an area equal to one square league, or 4,458 acres (18 km), by the alcalde of San José, Pedro Chaboya. The governor of Alta California,
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family was the "one which most justly complained of the bad faith of the adventurers and squatters and of the treachery of American lawyers."
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stating that the arable land of the rancho was theirs, but not the rocky hills containing the mines. Doña MarĂa died in 1869 in San Rafael.
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José Antonio Melquiades Berreyesa (1826–?). Son of Nicolas Tolantino Antonio Berreyesa (1789–1863); struggled with his father to keep
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598:) at Presidio San Francisco, and married MarĂa de Gracia Padilla in 1811 at Mission Dolores. In 1834, he was granted
934:
The United States: Facts and Figures Illustrating the Physical Geography of the Country, and Its Material Resources,
17:
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that he regretted killing the Californios, but that the act was only one such that Frémont ordered him to commit.
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a grant giving him one square league, or 4,438 acres (18 km), of the land he had been cultivating, called
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Valley. They were also found to engage in the illegal selling of young male and female Native American slaves.
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José Martin Berreyesa (1821–1864). Son of Nasario Antonio Berreyesa (1787–?); served as soldier at the
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28:
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José Catarino Berreyesa (1815–?). Third son of José de los Reyes Berreyesa (1785–1846). Held grant
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812:
The United States vs. Andres Castillero: "New Almaden" : transcript of the record, Volume 1.
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290:
970:
The Decline of the Californios: A Social History of the Spanish-Speaking Californians, 1846–1890
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In the early 18th century, a married couple from the Berrelleza and Cayetano families left the
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319:. He and his family moved to the rancho some time after 1824. He died in 1831 at San Pablo.
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in 1851—though pre-existing land grants of Mexican-era landowners had been continued by the
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during 18th and 19th centuries. Numerous places are named after the family, including the
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José Jesus Berreyesa (1844–?), son of José de Jesus Berreyesa (1815–1874); tried to hold
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Castro explored land at the northeast edge of San Francisco Bay in 1823, and was granted
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later became a powerful landowner, with holdings in San José as well as the extensive
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Bancroft, Hubert Howe; Henry Lebbeus Oak; William Nemos; Mrs. Frances Fuller Victor.
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José de Jesus Berreyesa (1815–1874). Son of Nasario Antonio Berreyesa (1787–?). Held
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MarĂa Gertrudis Peralta Berrelleza died at age 36 in December 1802 and was buried at
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Berreyesa family was finally rewarded on June 24, 1868, with a patent issued by the
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326:, known as Mission Dolores. Rancho San Pablo was patented to her children in 1852.
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224:. His new wife was five years younger and also a native of New Spain, born at the
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35,516-acre (143.73 km) grant of land contained in a river valley east of
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MarĂa and Nicolás Berrelleza produced nine children from 1780 to 1797, born in
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MarĂa Gabriela Berreyesa Castro died on December 21, 1851, and was buried at
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404:, the three men were shot and killed by three of Frémont's men, including
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José de la Encarnacion Ramon Antonio Berreyesa (1828–1857). Ninth son of
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796:"The Story of San Jose, 1777–1869, California's First Pueblo, Part I."
681:
Heizer, Robert Fleming, ed. (1974). "2 : Conditions of Indians".
380:, three of the sons of José de los Reyes Berreyesa were imprisoned by
989:
Claire Martin's "Early Santa Clara Ranchos, Grants, Patents and Maps"
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Berreyesa: The Rape of the Mexican Land Grant, Rancho Cañada de Capay
471:
José Ygnacio Marianio Berreyesa (1807–1841). Born the first son of
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99:
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United States District Court, California, Northern District. 1859.
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For the full list of things named after the Berryessa family, see
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393:
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mercury mine began producing a small amount of rich ore in 1846.
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185:
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274:, married into the Castro family; she and her husband settled
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José Guadalupe Fernando Berreyesa (1826–1873). Eighth son of
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for himself and his sons, and Nicolás Antonio II was granted
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In 1842, José de los Reyes Berreyesa received from Governor
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José Domingo Bonifacio Berreyesa (1830–1844). Tenth son of
168:
is the largest geographical feature named for the family.
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mine, Nazario Antonio raised great herds of livestock on
835:"Appendix D: The Murder of Berreyesa and the De Haros."
899:, Read Books, 2008, pp. 49, 65–69, 282, 304, 339–342.
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912:
844:
Hosted at SFGenealogy. Retrieved on August 16, 2009.
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Hosted at SFGenealogy. Retrieved on August 16, 2009.
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Hosted at SFGenealogy. Retrieved on August 16, 2009.
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American slave owners in nominally free territories
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Descendants of Luis Cayetano (Berrelleza) Berreyesa
859:, Duke University Press, 2006, pp. 4–5, 191, 239.
742:"California Spanish Genealogy: Directory De Anza."
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243:. Three of their four sons went on to hold large
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972:, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1966
652:The Mexican American Experience: an Encyclopedia
27:"Berryessa" redirects here. For other uses, see
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872:
586:
464:, jailed by John C. Frémont in 1846 during the
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545:José Santos Berreyesa III (1854–1922), son of
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202:in January 1776, then continued on to land at
918:UC Berkeley. Earth Sciences and Map Library.
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654:, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003, p. 44.
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396:. Accompanied by two cousins, twin sons of
538:José Santos Berreyesa II (1851–?), son of
801:
531:José Santos Berreyesa I (1848–?), son of
126:The Berreyesa were a substantial clan of
920:Mexican Land Grants: Santa Clara County.
818:
641:
1033:People of the Spanish colonial Americas
138:who held extensive land in the greater
94:. Members of the family held extensive
14:
1043:People from the San Francisco Bay Area
1000:
680:
1018:Basque-American culture in California
517:(1785–1846). Hanged by vigilantes in
685:. Santa Barbara: Smith. p. 20.
896:The Diary of Edward Bates 1859–1866
24:
367:Rancho Cañada de los Capitancillos
209:
73:Rancho Cañada de los Capitancillos
25:
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1038:American people of Basque descent
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938:Little, Brown, and company, 1889.
650:Meier, Matt S.; Margo Gutiérrez.
606:, granted a neighboring tract to
339:El Presidio Real de San Francisco
184:, and in 1717 they bore a son in
583:, ranched by Berreyesa cousins.
979:, Mission Bell Marketing, 1994.
950:
941:
925:
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856:Lynching in the West, 1850–1935
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831:The Beginnings of San Francisco
781:. Retrieved on August 14, 2009.
301:MarĂa Gabriela Berreyesa Castro
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37:Berreyesa family of California
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1:
922:Retrieved on August 16, 2009.
731:Retrieved on August 16, 2009.
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324:Mission San Francisco de AsĂs
180:region of Spain to travel to
1028:People of Mexican California
587:Nicolás Antonio Berreyesa II
547:José de los Santos Berreyesa
540:José de los Santos Berreyesa
533:José de los Santos Berreyesa
510:(1785–1846). Shot in a duel.
450:José de los Santos Berreyesa
390:José de los Santos Berreyesa
335:José de los Reyes Berrelleza
200:Mission San Gabriel Arcángel
171:
134:-speaking settlers in early
7:
792:California History Magazine
526:José de los Reyes Berreyesa
515:José de los Reyes Berreyesa
508:José de los Reyes Berreyesa
473:José de los Reyes Berreyesa
454:José de los Reyes Berreyesa
434:United States Supreme Court
330:José de los Reyes Berreyesa
222:Mission Santa Clara de AsĂs
151:Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
10:
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625:Berryessa (disambiguation)
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561:Nazario Antonio Berrelleza
215:Nicolás Antonio Berrelleza
29:Berryessa (disambiguation)
26:
1023:People of the Californias
829:Eldredge, Zoeth Skinner.
618:
468:. Held Rancho Mallacomes.
388:, where one of the sons,
306:MarĂa Gabriela Berrelleza
121:
51:
41:
36:
1008:Families from California
931:Whitney, Josiah Dwight.
993:Berreyesa family photos
790:Winther, Oscar Osburn.
519:Los Angeles, California
456:(1785-1846). Served as
270:. The eldest daughter,
581:Rancho Cañada de Capay
480:Rancho Canada de Capay
392:, had been serving as
350:Juan Bautista Alvarado
278:in what is now called
147:Public Land Commission
140:San Francisco Bay Area
68:Rancho Cañada de Capay
975:Salonites, Eftimeos.
881:History of California
768:FamilyTreeMaker.com.
729:The Berryessa Family.
317:LuĂs Antonio ArgĂĽello
196:Juan Bautista de Anza
452:(1817–1864), son of
376:In 1846, during the
204:Monterey, California
956:Pitt, 1966, p. 102.
947:Pitt, 1966, p. 101.
853:Gonzalez-Day, Ken.
794:, Volume 14, 1935.
671:Pitt, 1966, p. 103.
280:Contra Costa County
255:including the rich
245:Mexican land grants
136:Northern California
92:Northern California
840:2016-03-03 at the
777:2011-06-06 at the
494:Presidio of Sonoma
462:Sonoma, California
386:Sonoma, California
354:Rancho San Vicente
295:Rancho San Antonio
291:LuĂs MarĂa Peralta
193:Lieutenant Colonel
104:Berryessa district
968:Pitt, Leonard M.
936:Volume 2, p. 340.
893:Beale, Howard K.
692:978-0-87905-009-2
608:JosĂ© MarĂa Alviso
489:with his brother.
398:Francisco de Haro
249:José de los Reyes
226:Presidio de Tubac
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487:Rancho Las Putas
466:Bear Flag Revolt
414:Jasper O'Farrell
378:Bear Flag Revolt
313:Rancho San Pablo
287:Mission San José
276:Rancho San Pablo
264:Rancho Las Putas
241:Santa Clara area
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58:Rancho Las Putas
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144:United States
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96:rancho grants
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574:, named for
564:
549:(1817–1864).
542:(1817–1864).
535:(1817–1864).
528:(1785–1846).
475:(1785–1846).
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315:by Governor
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125:
83:
81:
1013:Californios
604:José Castro
576:Putah Creek
444:Descendants
426:Juan Flores
371:New Almaden
260:quicksilver
257:New Almaden
232:) in 1766.
116:Napa County
98:across the
1002:Categories
631:References
406:Kit Carson
402:San Rafael
360:-carrying
206:in March.
155:Californio
130:-heritage
90:family of
88:Californio
46:California
570:, called
182:New Spain
172:New Spain
52:Estate(s)
838:Archived
833:, 1912.
775:Archived
482:in 1846.
362:cinnabar
253:San José
239:and the
108:San Jose
100:Bay Area
884:, 1884.
458:alcalde
422:Ventura
394:Alcalde
358:mercury
230:Arizona
186:Sinaloa
132:Spanish
903:
863:
689:
658:
619:Legacy
410:serape
178:Basque
128:Basque
122:Family
636:Notes
901:ISBN
861:ISBN
687:ISBN
656:ISBN
110:and
82:The
460:of
384:in
114:in
106:of
1004::
911:^
871:^
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