.
As I tell you this story you will recognize some of our
street names with origins in our founding families.
The 1st settler was Don Jose Joaquin and this wife Dona Juana. Don
Joaquin, as he was referred to, was friends with the new governor, Don Juan
Alvarado. Alvarado was put to the task of was dividing up grazing lands between
friends. Some of the Estudillo land was redistributed
to Guillermo Castro, who was
related to the governor by marriage. The
hills of Castro Valley to Eastern Hayward was appropriated and Estudillo was
left with all the grazing land below that.
Estudillo Home Corner of W. Estudillo & Carpentier Now San Leanders Church |
Castro Valley was part of the original 28,000 acre (110 km²)
land grant given to Castro, called Rancho San Lorenzo. This land grant included
Hayward, San Lorenzo, and Castro Valley, including Crow Canyon, Cull Canyon,
and Palomares Canyons. Castro had a gambling habit and had to sell off portions
of his land to pay gambling debts. The last of his holding was sold in a
sheriff's sale in 1864 to Faxon Atherton for $400,000 (yes, the Atherton of the
City of Atherton). But I digress…back to
San Leandro
Estudillo Ave |
Don Joaquin had 4 daughters, Magdalena, Dolores and Concepcion who were married to a real movers and
shakers, John B. Ward (now W.
Estudillo) & daughter Maria de Jesus
married Heath Davis. Ward and Davis managed Estudillo business
after his Estudillo’s death and contributed to the general plan for San
Leandro.
So, last week I covered the Peraltas and this week the
Estudillos. Both were our First Families. Here is a link to more in-depth history of
last week’s topic of the great land divide of the east bay. http://historyofberkeley.org/chapter01.html
By the way, those of us who are lucky enough to have made
San Leandro home for generations, like myself, do slaughter the pronunciation
of Estudillo to “Esta-Dillo”. If you
pronounce it the correct way of “Estudee-yo” we know you don’t live here yet! If you want to...contact me Your "Joy" in Real Estate...4th generation San Leandran.
Next week
Squatters in San Leandro????
Sources: Garden Grows in Eden, Gudde,
Erwin Gustav. "California Place Names: The Origin and Etymology of Current
Geographical Names" University of California Press 2004. 495 pp
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