Sonoma there were on the peninsula and contra costa a few gente de razon, perhaps nearly 200 in all, whose civil needs required attention. Accordingly the governor, after some preliminary correspondence with Comandante Vallejo and the taking of a census, gave orders in November 1834 for the election of an ayuntamiento to govern the pueblo of San Francisco and the adjoining region down to Llagas Creek or the Pulgas rancho on the peninsula and the ranchos across the bay eastward. The town council was duly elected, and installed in January 1835, being regularly renewed at the beginning of each year until 1839. The successive alcaldes were Francisco de Haro, José Joaquin Estudillo, Ignacio Martinez, and Haro again for a second and third term. The records of ayuntamiento meetings are not extant, and not all the members in all years can be named; but we have sufficient original documents to show the existence of the municipal government and the nature of proceedings, a summary of which is as for other towns appended in a note.[1] Meetings and elections — the former not
- ↑ In connection with later litigation on the S. F. pueblo lands, each of the many documents in the archives pertaining in any way to municipal affairs in 1834-36 was cited, translated, and commented on over and over again by lawyers and judges in briefs and decisions, which also contain in various combinations testimony from other sources, All this matter is extant in print in many forms; and there are several general treatises that are quite satisfactory. For this reason, and because my space does not permit the minute chronologic summary and analysis that would be in a sense desirable, and as the comparatively few items of evidence brought to light by my researches do not radically modify the conclusions previously reached, I shall attempt only a brief outline of the leading points. For more details I refer the reader to Dwinelle's Colonial Hist. S. F.; Halleck's Land Titles in San Francisco, Decisions, etc., with Votes and Comments, etc., S. F., 1860; Randolph's Argument in Hart v. Burnett, S. F., 1850; Jones' Pueblo Question Solved, S. F., 1860; Wheeler's Land Titles; and Cal. Supreme Court Reports.
1834. Feb.-June, preliminary corresp. between Gov. Figueroa and Comandante Vallejo on the limits of S. F. jurisdiction, census of population, and desirability of an ayuntamiento. The limits were defined temporarily by the gov. as including the S. F. mission lands to the Sta Cruz line on the coast, the Pulgas rancho, and across the bay the ranchos of Peralta and Castro and all north and east to the gentilidad. St. Pap., M. & C., MS., ii. 217-20; Dept. St. Pap., MS., ii. 141. Nov. 3d, action of the diputacion, sent by gov. to Vallejo on the 4th, ordering the election of an ayunt., of alcalde, two regidores, and síndico, to reside at the presidio, and assume the political and judicial functions formerly pertaining to the mil. comandante. Dwinelle, add. 35-6. Nov. 4th, gov. to Vallejo, authorizing him to establish municipal govt, and approving a line fixed by him from Pt Lobos to Rincon Pt as the pueblo
