History
The grant stretched inland from the ocean into what is now Mar Vista, Westside Village, Palms, and Culver City and north to Pico Boulevard in Santa Monica, and south to Playa Del Rey.
Augustin Machado and Felipe Talamantes, in 1819 were given a land permit for the Rancho de Los Quintos in Santa Barbara but it was not a good venture for them. So, in 1821 they applied again, this time with Augustin and his brother, Ygnacio, and Felipe and son Tomas. The four received permission from the military commander José de la Guerra y Noriega to graze cattle on Rancho La Ballona, while still living at the Pueblo de Los Angeles.
In 1839, the land grant was confirmed to the Machado and Talamantes families by Mexican Governor Alvarado.
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, the Machados’ and Talamantes’ filed their claim for Rancho La Ballona with the Board of California Land Commissioners in 1852, which was approved in 1854. The US District Court upheld the decision on appeal in 1873 (8 years after Agustín Machado's death), and Rancho La Ballona was patented at 13,920 acres (56 km2) to the original four claimants.
In 1857, Benjamin D. Wilson received title to one fourth of Rancho La Ballona on foreclosure of a loan he had made to Tomas Talamantes in 1854. Wilson sold his undivided fourth of Rancho La Ballona to George A. Sanford and John D. Young, who in 1863 petitioned for a partition of the rancho. A partition decree amongst 23 parcels was issued in 1868. Each parcel got three types of land: "pasture", "irrigable"; and "bay". The largest allotment was to the "Estate of Augustin Machado" and by a later partition in 1875, this allotment was re-divided among the heirs of Augustin.
Read more about this topic: Rancho La Ballona
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