RANCHO MONTE DEL DIABLO

THE PACHECO GRANT

Mount Diablo - Contra Costa County

ABSTRACT OF TITLE and Related Documents

MANUSCRIPT & PRINTED

Bound in THREE VOLUMES

1859-1920

THREE BOUND VOLUMES of ABSTRACT OF TITLE to large sections of LAND in RANCHO MONTE DEL DIABLO / SANTA CLARA COUNTY, known as THE PACHECO GRANT. The abstract of title and related documents are both manuscript and typed.

(1) ABSTRACT of TITLE to LANDS of MANUEL WILLIAMS - Described as PORTION OF RANCHO MONTE DEL DIABLO / County of Contra Costa, State of California. Made by Contra Costa Abstract and Title Company, Martinez, California. Hardbound, leather spine and corners, string bound, 9x14 inches. 

The first 50 pages are MANUSCRIPT, with writing on only the front side of each page. The subsequent pages, numbered 51 to 90 are a mixture of typed and mimeographed abstracts, deeds, and official Contra Costa certifications.

The manuscript abstract includes discussion of wills, grant rights, etc. The first page of this manuscript abstract of title begins: "Abstract of Title of Heirs of John Johnston, Deceased, to 210 Acres in the Racho Monte Del Diablo of PACHECO GRANT, Contra Costa, County, California. By C. S. Cousins / Searcher of Records for Contra Costa County, California."

There are many names of claimants, defendants, and Official County officers in this manuscript abstract of title, including; Salvio Pacheco, Salvador Pacheco, Manuel Williams, John Galindo, Mariana Amador de Galindo, Conception Pacheco de Soto, Ygnacio Amador, Samuel Dwinelle (District Judge), and many others. This manuscript abstract covers a period 1859-1896, with the last manuscript page (page 50) being a certification for Contra Costa County, signed by J.S. Cousins, and dated May 24th, 1896.

Bound in following the manuscript abstract of title are a number of printed documents dated 1904 to 1916, including: "Continuation of Abstract of Title to the lands of HELEN GREENLEAF, described as Portion of the Rancho Monte del Diablo", "Continuation of Abstract of Title to the lands of MANUEL WILLIAMS", various Deed documents, Wills, and Agreements.

A fold-open blueprint map is tipped onto the inside rear cover, titled: "Map of a portion of Division N of the Fernando Pacheco Estate..."

Laid into the rear of this abstract is a folded "Agreement / Johnson Blois with Manuel Williams" dated October 1916.

(2) ABSTRACT OF TITLE to the lands of MARIETTA J. BACON, being a portion of the RANCHO MONTE DEL DIABLO, containing 79.53 acres of land situated in CONTRA COSTA COUNTY. Filled with printed documents relating to distribution of property, including attestations of ownership, complaints, settlements, court documents, agreements, etc. Documents dated 1858 to 1906. Tipped onto the inside rear cover is a handwritten statement on "The Bank of Concord" letterhead, dated Oct. 24, 1901: "I have examined the title to the lands described in the abstract herein and find...there is no lien or encumbrance excluding taxes for 1901". Bound in hardcovers, string bound at the top, 8.5x13 inches, 66 pages.

(3) ABSTRACT OF TITLE to LOTS 3 and 8 / GOVERNMENT or GWIN RANCH / RANCHO MONTE DEL DIABLO - As Shown by the Various Records of the County of Contra Costa, State of California. Compiled by the Martinez Abstract & Title Company, Searchers of Records, Martinez, Contra Costa County, California. Dated August 3, 1917.

A compilation of Abstract of Title and supporting documents, compiled "At the Request of Mr. MANUEL WILLIAMS". Documents are all reprints of documents from 1859 to 1917, all reprinted by the Martinez Abstract and Title Company. Bound in hardcovers, string bound at the top, 8.5x13 inches, 77 pages printed on one side only. 

A signed Certification by the Martinez Abstract and Title Company dated 1917 is at the end: "This is to certify that the foregoing 77 pages...are a full, true and correct Unlimited Abstract of Title, showing all instruments and documents of record...affecting the title hereinafter described property, to the date hereof."

CONDITION: All three volumes are in GOOD condition, the covers are worn at the edges and corners (especially the first volume) but are solid and doing their job well; internally, there is a smudge here and there, but overall the pages are very nice, bright, clean and clear. A solid, nice, fully legible set. 

RARE HISTORIC DOCUMENTS related to titles and the transfer of lands in RANCHO MONTE DEL DIABLO, The Spanish Pacheco Grant.

About RANCHO MONTE DEL DIABLO (from Wikipedia):

******Rancho Monte del Diablo was granted in 1834 to Salvio Pacheco, a noted California ranchero. Rancho Monte del Diablo was a Mexican land grant in present day Contra Costa County, California given in 1834 by Governor José Figueroa to Salvio Pacheco. The name was later incorrectly translated as Mount Diablo. The grant covered the area from the Walnut Creek channel east to the hills, and generally from the Mount Diablo foothills north along Lime Ridge to Avon on the Carquinez Strait of the Sacramento River, and included present day Concord and parts of Pleasant Hill. 

Juan Salvio Pacheco II (1793-1876) was the grandson of Juan Salvio Pacheco (1729-1777) and Maria Carmen del Valle, who came to California with the Anza Expedition in 1776. Salvio Pacheco II, son of Ygnacio Bernardino Pacheco, was born in San Jose and enlisted in the military, serving at the Presidio of Monterey and the Presidio of San Francisco. In 1827, Pacheco was serving as a senior civil servant at the Pueblo of San José. When Pacheo received the grant in 1834, his son, Fernando Pacheco, was sent to occupy the grant and begin cattle operations. Salvio Pacheco did not move the rest of his family to the rancho until 1846.

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 Monte del Diablo was filed with the Public Land Commission in 1852, and the grant was patented to Salvio Pacheco in 1859.

Salvio Pacheco married Maria Juana Flores in 1817 and had a family of five children - Fernando Pacheco, Maria Dolores Manuela Galindo, Sarah Amador, Salvador Pacheco, and Maria Concepcion Soto. Pacheco, California was named for Salvio Pacheco.******