Rancho Sausal Redondo - History

History

Antonio Ygnacio Avila (1781 - 1858), son of Cornelio Avila, married Rosa Maria Ruiz (1789 - 1866) in 1804.

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 Sausal Redondo was filed with the Public Land Commission in 1852, and the grant was patented to Antonio Ygnacio Avila in 1855.

Antonio Avila died in 1858, and in 1868 Avila's heirs were forced to sell the rancho to pay the probate costs. The Rancho was sold to Robert Burnett who used the land for sheep and cattle raising. Having previously acquired Rancho Aguaje de la Centinela, Burnett combined the total area into the Centinela Ranch, thus reuniting the major area of the original land grant. Clear title to the land did not occur until 1873, when a U.S. District Court upheld Burnett's purchase against a suit filed by Avila heir Tomas Avila Sanchez.

In 1873, Robert Burnett leased the land to Daniel Freeman and returned to his native Scotland. Freeman moved to the ranch with his family, increased the stock, and planted citrus trees. When the 1875 drought ruined the livestock industry, Freeman turned to dry farming. In 1885, Freeman purchased the remainder of Rancho Sausal Redondo. Daniel Freeman was the last person to own all of Rancho Sausal Redondo.