Chronology of Events .
DATE EVENT
1759 Luis Maria Peralta born in Sonora, New Spain (Mexico)
1769 Mission San Diego founded - First mission in Alta California
1775 Anza expedition to colonize Alta California bringing Gabriel Peralta and his wife, Francisca Valenzuela, with their 4 children, including 17-year-old Luis Maria to California
1776 Mission San Francisco de Asis and Presidio founded
1777 Mission Santa Clara founded
1777 Pueblo de San Jose de Guadalupe founded
1777 Gabriel Peralta family one of founding families of Pueblo de San Jose
1781 Luis Maria Peralta enlists as soldier at Monterey Presidio
1783 Luis Maria Peralta transfers to the San Francisco Presidio
2/23/1784 Luis Maria Peralta marries 13-year-old Maria Loreto Alviso at Mission Santa Clara. They go on to have 17 children, nine of whom live to adulthood (Only those children living to adulthood will be included in rest of chronology)
1786 Maria Teodora Peralta, first child of Luis and Maria Peralta born, baptized Mission Dolores (San Francisco)
1789 Maria Trinidad Peralta born, bap. Mission Santa Clara
1791 Hermenegildo Ignacio Peralta born, bap. Mission Dolores
1793 Maria Josefa Peralta born, bap. Mission Santa Clara
1795 Jose Domingo Peralta born, bap. Mission Santa Clara
1797 Maria Guadalupe Peralta born, San Jose pueblo
1797 Mission San Jose founded
8/16/1801 Antonio Maria Peralta born, bap. Mission Santa Clara
1807-1822 Luis Maria Peralta becomes comisionado at Pueblo of San Jose
1808 Luis Maria Peralta builds adobe in San Jose pueblo, still standing today
1812 Jose Vicente Peralta born, San Jose pueblo
8/20/1820 Rancho San Antonio granted to Luis Maria Peralta for services rendered to the Crown of Spain, consists of 11 leagues or about 44,800 acres, first crude structure of logs and dirt erected near Peralta Creek to house vaqueros during first winter
1821 Cattle driven to rancho and first 42 x 18 ft. adobe structure built. This structure survives earthquakes in 1856 and 1868 and stands until 1897 when it was razed by developers. Antonio is mayordomo of rancho
1822 Mexico gains independence from Spain and Alta California comes under its jurisdiction
6/30/1823 Mexico confirms grant of rancho to Luis Maria Peralta.
12/19/1827 Luis Maria Peralta visits rancho and writes report giving description of rancho at governor's request. Rancho now has 1,300 head of cattle
6/30/1823 Mexico confirms grant of rancho to Luis Maria Peralta
5/22/1828 Antonio Peralta marries Maria Antonia Galindo at Mission Santa Clara. Now living permanently on rancho
1828 Census of San Jose indicates fourteen people residing at Rancho San Antonio
1834 Both Vicente and Domingo Peralta now living on rancho with Antonio
1834 Decree of secularization of the missions by Mexico
1835 Ignacio Peralta builds his first adobe, 42 x 18 ft. in southern portion of rancho. He lives in it only a few years before giving it to his son Francisco Peralta and moving either back to San Jose or into the 1821 adobe with Antonio.
1836 Maria Alviso Peralta dies, buried at Mission Santa Clara
1836 Vicente Peralta builds first adobe (40 x 40 ft.) at Temescal portion of the rancho and he and Domingo move in. This house was removed in the latter part of the 1880s.
1840 Antonio Peralta builds a larger adobe 40 x 60 ft. near first adobe. He also builds a 6 to 8 foot tall adobe wall enclosing approximately 2 ½ acres around his garden and a number of one-story lean-to houses along the inside of the wall to accommodate visitors and laborers
1840-1842 First foreigners start cutting redwood trees in the hills above Rancho San Antonio
1841 or 1842 Domingo builds own adobe (30 x 18 ft.) on Codornices Creek in present-day Berkeley, this structure removed as a result of 1868 earthquake
1842 83-year-old Luis Maria Peralta divides the Rancho San Antonio between his four sons as follows: 9,416 acres from San Leandro Creek to approximately Seminary Avenue to Hermenegildo Ignacio Peralta (1791-1874);
15,206 acres from Seminary Avenue to Lake Merritt and including the peninsula of Alameda to Antonio Maria Peralta (1801-1879);
North and west of Lake Merritt to approximately Alcatraz Avenue to Jose Vicente Peralta (1812-1871);
Northwestern portion including present Berkeley and Albany to El Cerrito Creek to Jose Domingo Peralta (1795-1865); Combined acreage of Vicente and Domingo is 18,848
1842 Ignacio Peralta builds second larger adobe (80 x 40 ft.) facing San Leandro Creek and begins his permanent residency on the rancho, adobe removed sometime between 1874 and 1878
1846 U.S. War with Mexico - U.S. annexes California
1846 First commercial sawmills set up in the San Antonio redwoods, (price of redwood went from $30 per 1000 board feet in 1847 to $350 to $650 per 1000 board feet in 1849)
1847-1848 Last adobe dwelling built by Vicente Peralta in Temescal. Eventually had three wings and a chapel that served all the Peraltas. Building burned in 1866, removed in 1880s.
1/24/1848 Gold discovered at Sutter's Mill
2/2/1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo signed
9/9/1850 California becomes 31st state
1849-1850 Moses Chase pitches tent east side of Lake Merritt, first known squatter on Rancho San Antonio
1850 Robert, William, and Edward Patten come to Oakland (These men, along with Moses Chase, lease and then purchase 600 acres of land from Antonio Peralta and found the town of Clinton on the eastern side of Lake Merritt to Thirteenth Avenue)
2/18/1850 California divided into 27 counties, Rancho San Antonio included in Contra Costa County
5/1850 Horace W. Carpentier, Andrew Moon, and Edson Adams arrive in Oakland
1850 Carpentier and partners lease land from Vicente Peralta, each claim 160 acres and begin selling lots
1855 Antonio Peralta builds more lean-to houses, bringing the total to about twenty-seven and plants Spanish Pine tree
10/1851 Antonio Peralta sells Alameda peninsula for $14,000
1851 Domingo builds first Peralta frame house. House is moved to Schmidt Tract in 1872, torn down in 1933
1851 U.S. Federal Land Act calling for a land commission to decide the fate of Spanish and Mexican land grants in California
8/26/1851 Luis Maria Peralta dies in San Jose
1851 Town of San Antonio grows up around foot of Thirteenth Ave.
1852 Claims filed with U.S. Land Commission by all the Peralta brothers
5/4/1852 Town of Oakland incorporated
3/25/1852 Alameda County incorporated, Rancho San Antonio becomes part of Alameda County
1852-1853 Vicente Peralta sells all but 700 acres for $110,000
1853 Domingo Peralta sells all but 300 acres for $82,000
1853-1854 Fire and police services established in Oakland;first newspaper published in Oakland, Alameda County Express est. March, 1854 and Contra Costa and Oakland Herald est. Sept. 1854
1854 City of Oakland incorporated
1854 Oakland passes ordinance prohibiting bull fights
2/8/1854 Land Commission confirms a portion of Rancho San Antonio to Domingo and Vicente Peralta. Commission confirms all of the claims of Antonio and Ignacio Peralta
1/30/1855 U.S. District Court confirms whole portion of Rancho San Antonio claimed by Vicente & Domingo Peralta
1856 Towns of Clinton and San Antonio consolidated under name of Brooklyn
12/1856 U.S. Supreme Court confirms title to entire claim made by Vicente & Domingo Peralta, overruling the U.S. Land Commission's decision to confirm only a portion of rancho
3/30/1857 U.S. Supreme Court dismisses the government's appeal of the land commission's decision on Antonio Peralta's claim
1860 Ignacio moves into brick house built by son-in-law William P. Toler. This house still stands today in San Leandro and is known as the Alta Mira Club
1862-1864 Major drought in California, severely damages cattle industry
4/3/1865 Domingo Peralta dies in Berkeley
1867 Vicente builds frame house because adobe burned in 1866. This house was moved in 1892 and burned in 1932
1867 Town of Lynn established northeast of Clinton
10/1868 Earthquake on the Hayward fault destroys Antonio's 1840 adobe, family moves back into 1821 adobe
1868-1869 Oakland establishes commission to settle land title confusion, has all land deeded to city as trustee and then re-deeds it to the owners
11/8/1869 First Central Pacific train arrives in Oakland
1868-1879 Severe, prolonged economic depression in California
1870 Antonio Peralta builds Italianate Victorian farmhouse
1870 Brooklyn and Lynn incorporated into town of Brooklyn
6/30/1871 Vicente Peralta dies in Fruitvale
1872 Brooklyn annexed by city of Oakland
1872 Domingo's widow, Maria Eduviges Garcia, and family move out of the frame house because they can no longer afford it. House sold to J.C. Schmidt in 1876, who has the house moved. House sold in 1924 to University of California
5/9/1874 Ignacio Peralta dies in San Leandro
6/17/1874 Patent issued to Antonio Peralta for his portion of the Rancho San Antonio (16,067 acres)
2/10/1877 Domingo & Vicente Peralta heirs receive patent for land from U.S.
2/22/1879 Antonio Maria Peralta dies at Fruitvale.
1880 Population of Oakland, 34,555
