Rancho Los Coches was a 2219acres Mexican land grant in present-day Santa Clara County, California given in 1844 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to Roberto Balemino, an Indian.[1] The name means Ranch of the Pigs. The grant was located on the west bank of Los Gatos Creek, south of San Jose, near the present-day Burbank.[2] [3] The historic Roberto Adobe & Suñol House is located within the former rancho.
Roberto Balemino held a responsible position at Mission Santa Clara. In 1844 he was granted the half square league Rancho Los Coches and was issued a "Certificate of Emancipation", giving him full citizenship. Antonio Suñol obtained the Rancho Los Coches in 1847 from Roberto as payment on a debt.[4]
Antonio Suñol (1796-1865), born in Spain, was a seaman on a French merchant ship and arrived in the Pueblo of San José in 1818. He married María Dolores Bernal and held several public offices including Postmaster (1826-1829), and Alcalde (mayor) in 1841. He was a grantee of Rancho Valle de San Jose with his three brothers-in-law. Sunol, California is named for him. In 1849, Suñol divided Los Coches into thirds; one-third went to his eldest daughter, Paula and her husband Pierre Sainsevain, grantee of Rancho Cañada del Rincon en el Rio San Lorenzo, and one-third was sold to Henry Morris Naglee.
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 Los Coches was filed with the Public Land Commission in 1852,[5] [6] and the grant was patented to Antonio Suñol, Paula Sainsevain, and Henry Morris Naglee in 1857.[7]