Las Animas Partition Suit
a Prolonged process
Written By Elizabeth Barratt
A
JUDGE BELDEN
72
fter California attained statehood,
Congress appointed a Board of
Land Commissioners to reconfirm
old grant titles. To obtain a patent
on their property, owners had to prove the
land belonged to them. The ensuing process
dragged on, often holding up claimants
and their heirs for years. When inheritors
of those who purchased the original grants
tried to sell off portions of their lands,
further boundary and title questions
sometimes arose.
During the Spanish and Mexican
eras in Alta California, land grants had
been awarded to colonists who followed
an application process to receive acreage
parcels. After the individual submitted a
petition, an official investigation would
determine the claim. If findings were satis-
factory, to include proof of the applicant’s
good moral character, he received the grant,
confirmed by the Viceroy through the local
magistrate. A symbolic final gesture of own-
ership followed, such as throwing stones,
breaking twigs or pulling up grass over the
property. This act included declaring loyalty,
at first to the King of Spain, then following
independence, to the President of Mexico.
In the Gilroy area, the 21,377-acre
Rancho las Animas was granted to early
arrival Jose Mariano Castro in 1802. The
property extended from the Pajaro River in
the south, across the site of the present City
of Gilroy and up to Mt. Madonna.
After Castro died in 1822, his widow,
Josefa Romero Castro, was regranted the
land in 1835. She inherited half the rancho,
with the remainder divided between their
eight children, who each received 1/16th of
the property. In 1850, Josefa, along with
four of her children, sold her interest to
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2016
Jose Maria Sanchez. This made Sanchez the
owner of about 3/4 of the former rancho.
When Sanchez drowned in the Pajaro River
three years later, his widow, Encarnación
Ortega Sanchez and their five children
inherited the property, but not before legal
squabbles tied up the case for
21 years.
In 1852, Josefa Castro’s son, Vicente, sold
his share to Alexander Godey. A year later
Godey resold it to Thomas Rea. In 1858
her daughter, also named Josefa Castro,
sold her portion to Martin Murphy, who
in 1860 sold the interest to his daughter,
Johanna Murphy Fitzgerald. Josefa Castro’s
other children sold off their portions to
cattle baron Henry Miller, as did the heirs
of Jose Maria Sanchez, after their title was
established. Miller’s enormous 12,335-acre
portion covered land which by that time was
laid out as the city of Gilroy.
In the new town, it was discovered that
boundaries on certain lots were not well
determined, and in some cases this meant
that property lines overrode one another.
Additionally, several portions were uninten-
tionally sold to more than one buyer.
To resolve the dilemma, over a thousand
litigants entered the Las Animas Partition
Suit, which lasted from 1879 until 1887.
Later called the largest land title suit in the
state’s history, the claim was filed in San
Jose on January 3, 1879 at the 20th District
Court of Santa Clara County.
In the case, Henry Miller, Thomas Rea
and Johanna Fitzgerald, plaintiffs, filed
against defendants Massey Thomas and
268 landowners living in Gilroy. The case
was meant to authenticate the claims of the
plaintiffs, who wanted clear titles to their
land, as well as to establish title for the legal
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