José Ramón Estrada (1811–1845), son of José Mariano Estrada, grantee of
Rancho Buena Vista, was born in
Monterey. Ramón Estrada was administrator of
Mission Santa Clara in 1835 and grantee of
Rancho El Toro in 1835. He married Maria Gregoria Castro. He was
alcalde at Monterey in 1836 and prefect of the first district at Monterey 1841–1843. His brother Julian Estrada was granted
Rancho Santa Rosa. Originally part of the
Mission San Miguel coastal grazing land, the one square league Rancho San Simeon was granted to Estrada in 1842. Shortly before his death in 1845, Estrada sold Rancho San Simeon to José Miguel Gomez, a Mexican priest. 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 San Simeon was filed with the
Public Land Commission in 1852, and the grant was
patented to José Miguel Gomez in 1865. In 1865,
George Hearst (1820–1891), a successful miner during the
California Gold Rush era and later a US senator, started to acquire land in the area. His first step was to buy most of
Rancho Piedra Blanca and part of
Rancho Santa Rosa. In 1867, Hearst bought Rancho San Simeon. The property later passed on to his son
William Randolph Hearst. It remains part of the
Hearst Ranch. ==See also==