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In 1867, Redwood City became the first town in San Mateo County to incorporate. Prior to this, however, Redwood City was known as Mezesville due to the legal efforts made by Simon Monserrate Mezes.
Mezes, an attorney, was hired by the Arguello family to secure clear title to the large property granted to them by the government of Mexico under the authority of the King of Spain.
It was known as Rancho de las Pulgas. The totality of the land granted to the Arguello family stretched from San Mateo Creek in the north to San Francisquito Creek in the south, including the shoreline of San Francisco Bay.
The rancho’s actual size was just over 35,000 square acres, and it was located entirely in present-day San Mateo County.
After the Mexican-American War, which lasted from 1846 to 1847, the Arguello family thought their ownership of the land that had been granted to them was not in dispute. They were wrong.
Squatters had settled on the ranchero, and the only way to resolve the matter was to go to court.
In 1851, a three-man commission was established under the Gwin Act, which canceled the legal ownership the Arguellos assumed they had and placed the burden of proof squarely on them. This forced them to settle each of the squatters’ cases separately.
Thus, Simon Mezes’s services became necessary to secure a clear title for the Arguello family. This was accomplished after roughly three years of court battles with the U.S. Land Commission.
To be continued…..
Everything else is just history
I like the tails you tell Dan!