Rancho San Lorenzo was a 48286acres Mexican land grant in present day San Benito and Monterey County, California given in 1846 by Governor Pío Pico to Rafael Sanchez.[1] The grant was east of Soberanes Rancho San Lorenzo, and bounded on the north by Topo Creek.[2]
Rafael Sanchez came from Mexico to California in 1842 as secretary to Governor Manuel Micheltorena. He married Maria Antonia Castro (1826-), daughter of Jose Simeon Castro, grantee of Rancho Punta del Año Nuevo and Maria Antonia Pico grantee of Rancho Bolsa Nueva y Moro Cojo. Sanchez was granted the eleven square league Rancho San Lorenzo by Governor Pío Pico.
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 was filed with the Public Land Commission in 1853,[3] [4] and the grant was patented to Rafael Sanchez in 1870.[5]