Ranchos
Antonio died in 1841 without leaving a will. On his deathbed, he decided he wanted to reconcile with his son and, in a letter, offered Ygnacio several properties, including the 48,612-acre (197 km2) Rancho San Francisco land grant he had received. Unfortunately, he died before the letter was delivered to Ygnacio, but the son returned to the family homestead to administer the ranch anyway. Without a will specifying how the estate was to be divided, Jacoba Feliz, Antonio's second wife who remarried after his death, filed a lawsuit to claim part of the land, which was the site the first recorded discovery of gold in California, sparking a minor gold rush in 1842, six years before the more famous California Gold Rush. Eventually, the lawsuit was decided and the land was split, with Ygnacio receiving the 13,599-acre (55 km2) Rancho Camulos.
However, del Valle did not live on this land initially, instead residing in the Olvera Street area of Los Angeles, where he was active in local politics. In the 1840s, he served on the junta (the equivalent of a city council) as a member and its secretary, as well as treasurer of civil government under Governor Pío Pico. In 1850, he was elected alcalde of Los Angeles and served only a short time before the city was incorporated as an American city, but during his tenure he established the Los Angeles Rangers, an early law enforcement group. After California achieved statehood later that year, del Valle served in the California State Assembly for a short period.
He was elected to a one-year term in the Los Angeles Common Council in 1852. and was elected again in May 1856 but resigned in December of that year.
Read more about this topic: Ygnacio Del Valle