View source for Rancho Guajome

{{Short description|Mexican land grant in California}}
{{infobox historic site
|name = Rancho Guajome
| image = Sheep wash place at Guajome Ranch, ca.1890-1901 (CHS-750).jpg
| location = Near [[Vista, California]]
| coordinates = {{coord|33.260|-117.270|region:US-CA_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
| designation1 = California
| designation1_date =1981<ref name=CHL/>
| designation1_number =940
}}
'''Rancho Guajome''' was a {{convert|2219|acre|km2|adj=on}} [[Ranchos of California|Mexican land grant]] in present-day [[San Diego County, California]], given in 1845 by Governor [[Pío Pico]] to [[Native Americans in the United States|Indian]] brothers Andrés and José Manuel.<ref>Ogden Hoffman, 1862, ''Reports of Land Cases Determined in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California'', Numa Hubert, San Francisco</ref> The name comes from a [[Luiseño language|Luiseño]] phrase involving the word "frog", likely ''wakhavumi'' "frog pond"<ref name="journal" /> or ''waxáawu-may'' "little frog".<ref>Fetzer, Leland. ''San Diego County Place Names A to Z.'' San Diego: Sunbird, 2005.</ref> The grant was south of the [[San Luis Rey River]] and [[Rancho Monserate]] and north of present-day [[Vista, California|Vista]].<ref>{{gnis| id = 243067|name = Rancho Guajome}}</ref> The site is now registered as [[California Historical Landmark]] #940.<ref name=CHL>{{cite ohp|940|Rancho Guajome|2012-10-13}}</ref>

==History==
Formerly a part of [[Mission San Luis Rey de Francia|Mission San Luis Rey]] lands, the half square league grant was made to Andrés and José Manuel, two mission Indians.

The brothers sold the land to [[Abel Stearns]]. Stearns held onto the land for a few years before giving it to his sister-in-law, Ysidora Bandini, as a wedding gift when she married Lieutenant Cave Johnson Couts in 1851. Stearns was married to Ysidora Bandini's sister [[Arcadia Bandini de Stearns Baker|Arcadia]].<ref>R.W. Brackett, 1939,''A History of the Ranchos of San Diego County, California'', Union Title Insurance and Trust Company.</ref>

[[Cave Johnson Couts]] (pron. "cow-ts", 1821–1874) was a native of Tennessee and was a nephew of [[Cave Johnson]]. Couts graduated from [[West Point]] in 1843 and came to California in 1849 as a U.S Army lieutenant in the forces occupying California following the [[Mexican–American War]]. Couts left the Army, and settled in the [[San Diego, California|San Diego]] area. In 1849 he was commissioned to survey and map the [[Pueblo de San Diego|pueblo]] lands of San Diego. He married Ysidora Bandini, the daughter of [[Juan Bandini]], in 1851. Couts began buying property and developing political influence in the area. Couts also owned [[Rancho Buena Vista (Felipe)|Rancho Buena Vista]] and [[Rancho Vallecitos de San Marcos]]. Having been appointed sub-agent for the San Luis Rey Indians in 1853, Couts employed Indian labor to improve the properties.<ref>[http://www.newsreview.com/chico/content?oid=602737 Slavery in the Golden State]</ref><ref>Michael Magliari, 2004, ''Free Soil, Unfree Labor: Cave Johnson Couts and the Binding of Indian Workers in California, 1850–1867'',August 2004, Pacific Historical Review</ref>

With the [[Mexican Cession|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 Guajome was filed with the [[Public Land Commission]] in 1852,<ref>[http://digicoll.lib.berkeley.edu/record/267527 United States. District Court (California : Southern District) Land Case 145 SD]</ref><ref>[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]</ref> and the grant was [[Land patent|patented]] to Andres Solme and Catarina in 1871.<ref>[http://www.slc.ca.gov/Misc_Pages/Historical/Surveyors_General/reports/Willey_1884_1886.pdf Report of the Surveyor General 1844 - 1886] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130320000647/http://www.slc.ca.gov/Misc_Pages/Historical/Surveyors_General/reports/Willey_1884_1886.pdf |date=2013-03-20}}</ref>

By the time the Couts family settled on Rancho Guajome in 1853, Cave was prospering by supplying beef and leather to the Bay Area during the gold rush era.<ref name="journal">[http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/95fall/guajome.htm Rancho Guajome An Architectural Legacy Preserved] by Iris H. W. Engstrand and Mary F. Ward</ref> After Couts's death in 1874, the Rancho was managed by his son, Cave Couts, Jr. (1856–1943). 
Cave Couts, Jr. left the Rancho to his children. San Diego County acquired the rancho adobe from Earl Richardson, Couts' youngest son, in 1973.<ref>https://sandiegohistory.org/journal/1974/january/guajome/</ref>

==Historic sites of the Rancho==
*[[Rancho Guajome Adobe]]. Adobe built by [[Cave Johnson Couts]].<ref>[http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/parks/ranchoguajomeadobe.html  Rancho Guajome Adobe]</ref>

==References==
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{{California history}}

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[[Category:Ranchos of San Diego County, California]]
[[Category:1845 establishments in Alta California]]