What's New
In honor of Women's History Month for the month of March
we profile María Gabriela Berryessa de Castro
mother of Juan José (1803–1869) and Victor Ramón (1817–1897)
grantees of Rancho El Sobrante.
Imagine marrying at age 14 and having that same number of children! María Gabriéla Berryessa was the daughter and first born of Nicolás Antonio Berryessa and María Gertrudis Peralta. Her parents came from two pioneer families of Alta California, Nueva España. Her father, Nicholas came north with the De Anza Expedition in 1776, at the age of fourteen, as did his wife, Gertrudis as a nine-year-old child.
Illustration from a daguerreotype of Señora Gabríela Berryessa de Castro c1849 from an article in the San Francisco Examiner dated 1892
On 16 February 1795, at Misión de Santa Clara, 14-year-old Gabriéla married Don Francisco María Castro, grantee of Rancho San Pablo, then known as “Rancho de los Cuchiyunes” situated along San Pablo Bay extending out to San Francisco Bay. Don Francisco and Gabriéla initially made their home in San José and had fourteen children between 1796 to 1824. When he retired from public life, the family moved to an existing Rancho Cuchiyunes adobe on his property at San Pablo.
​
Don Francisco died in 1831. and ownership of the Rancho was divided half to his wife, Gabriéla and the remainder to their surviving children. Gabriéla was now a widow at fifty-one years old and continued to live in the old adobe with all seven of her surviving sons, three daughters, two daughters-in-law, and seven little grandchildren. The adobe was very small for so large a family even with a few additions added on later. For Gabriéla, food for her family was plentiful but unsophisticated. She had tough beef, beans, onions, peppers, eggs, poultry and local wines with fruits in season added. The women’s lives revolved around church celebrations, baptisms, marriages and other events.
​
Gabriéla and her family continued to live together for another five years after Don Francisco’s death. The sons eventually started to build their own homes and the rancho was filled with building activity for the ten years that followed. Sometime later in 1843 her youngest son, Jesús María Castro became engaged and hired carpenters to build a small adobe that had 3 rooms for his future bride. He married Josefa Alviso in November 1845, and a year later moved into his unfinished adobe at Rancho San Pablo with his new wife, his mother, Gabriéla and a younger brother, Alvino.
​
By 1850 most of Gabriéla’s children had died, so their portion of the inheritance reverted back to her. In August of 1851 lawyers were quietly called in and Gabriéla signed a deed giving her entire share to her daughter Martina. It would be sometime before the brothers became aware of this transaction. Late in November of 1851, Gabriéla was attending a birthday celebration of her son, Joaquin when she had a stroke and fell to the ground unconscious. Joaquin hurried by boat to San Francisco to bring Dr. Jacob Tewksbury to attend to her. About three weeks after, Gabriéla died in December of that year just before Christmas. She was buried a few weeks later alongside her husband at Mission San José in Fremont. The cost of her medical expenses and funeral were a substantial amount, perhaps indicating a very elaborate funeral. Certainly, it was appropriate that her Mass was said in the chapel of the mission which was built by the settlers who came with the Anza expedition in 1776.
If you have any comments, we'd love to hear from you.
Post your feedback on our Facebook page at the following link:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ElSobranteHistoricalSociety/posts/1725296325071176/
The Great Big Rancho Project
LeighAnn Davis, Contra Costa County Historical Society executive director, along with Carol Jensen, a member of the Contra Costa County Historical Society and Rancho Project researcher, has gathered a group of local historians and museum directors and staff to work on what has been called the "Great Big Rancho Project." It will consist of 3 parts: Community Engagement, a Website and a Rancho Project Book.
The El Sobrante Historical Society will be a part of this project, and as a board member and director of historical research, Roxy will represent on our behalf as the participating researcher to submit all the information concerning the history of Rancho El Sobrante. In compiling all the information into a Power Point document, it will include news clippings, photos and more. There may be parts of El Sobrante history that you never knew about! This will eventually be added to and shared here on our website.
There were 16 ranchos deeded in Contra Costa County to the original settlers in the 1800s as seen in the map at left. The dates represent the year the petition for land was granted (which is different than the “Patent” date). For many years ranchos defined the early Californio lifestyle. The term Californio (historical, regional Spanish for 'Californian') was originally applied by and to the Spanish-speaking residents of Las Californias during the periods of Spanish California and Mexican California, between 1683 and 1848. Leighann points out, “There are so many things tied back to these first families — the names of our towns are named after the ranchos. There are streets named after these individuals. Parts of our culture, the way we celebrate rodeos and farming are directly tied to rancho culture.”
Spanish California and Mexican California, between 1683 and 1848. Leighann points out, “There are so many things tied back to these first families — the names of our towns are named after the ranchos. There are streets named after these individuals. Parts of our culture, the way we celebrate rodeos and farming are directly tied to rancho culture.”
​
LeighAnn Davis and Carol Jensen will provide a presentation on this research project in New York City in January 2025 at the national convention of the American Historical Association.
The Contra Costa Rancho project is meant to be a Digital Community Engagement Project. This means that it has a digital element, and the research connects information from the past to community members in the present. The goal is to produce a digital exhibit that has a map of the county and when you click on a specific rancho, the history/timeline pops up. With the collaboration of everyone on the project, eventually, all the work to produce a digital exhibit will hopefully create an official book on Contra Costa County ranchos. The book will be a collection of essays about each Rancho, with an introduction and conclusion that includes the experiences creating a Rancho website and the interaction with their descendants. Davis urges possible rancho descendants to come forward and share their stories for inclusion in the project.
​
*If you or someone you know is a descendant of a rancho grantee, please contact LeighAnn Davis in order to document your family's rancho history.*
Email: director@cocohistory.org
You can also join our Facebook Group and post your comments there.
Rock Wall Site
With the cooperation of EBMUD, work is continuing on the Rock Wall "Observation Point" constructed along the San Pablo Reservoir in 1935. With the help of volunteers, we have managed to stabilize most of the site, including the stone stairs that extend down the hill from the wall. We also are continuing to find surprises as we excavate, such as this concrete structure, purpose unknown, which was apparently added some time after the original wall was constructed. We eventually will add an interpretive exhibit within the site, serving to make known what is largely ignored by passersby at present.
UPDATE!
Rancho Markers Installed. Read about the ceremony on our "Events" page.
The Interpretive Signs are installed! See details on our Events Page.
Search: