38 Facts About Manuel Dominguez

Don Manuel Dominguez e Ybanez was a Californio ranchero, politician, and a signer of the California Constitution in 1849.

Manuel Dominguez served as two terms as Alcalde of Los Angeles.

Manuel Dominguez was one of the largest landowners in Southern California, having inherited Rancho San Pedro in 1825, one of the largest ranchos in California.

Manuel Dominguez was one of the founders of the cities of Carson and Compton and of the fishing village of San Pedro.

Manuel Dominguez, addressed as Don Manuel, was born January 26,1803, in the colonial Las Californias province of the Spanish Viceroyalty of New Spain.

Manuel Dominguez was born into a prominent Alta California family.

Manuel Dominguez was baptized Luis Gonzaga Policarpo Manuel Antonio y Fernando Dominguez.

Manuel Dominguez was described as tall, handsome, intelligent and personable.

Manuel Dominguez was a faithful Roman Catholic and insisted his family observe the rituals.

Manuel Dominguez learned to read and write Spanish in a time when most people were illiterate.

Manuel Dominguez continued to educate himself through reading throughout his life.

Manuel Dominguez was a master of the Spanish language and he learned to speak English.

Manuel Dominguez became a proficient public speaker capable of using both diplomacy and profanity as warranted.

Manuel Dominguez's life spanned the Spanish, Mexican, and American eras in California.

Manuel Dominguez was an heir to the vast Rancho San Pedro land grant in the Los Angeles Basin.

Manuel Dominguez met the beautiful and talented Maria Engracia de Cota.

Manuel Dominguez inherited the Rancho San Pedro in 1825 from his father, Cristobal Dominguez.

Manuel Dominguez served with Gaspar de Portola and Junipero Serra on the Portola expedition, the first European land exploration of present-day California.

In 1784, Juan Jose Manuel Dominguez received a land grant grazing concession named Rancho San Pedro, 75,000 acres of land and one of the first in California, by the upper Las Californias military Governor Pedro Fages on behalf of King Charles III of Spain.

On May 25,1869 Manuel Dominguez made a grant to the Los Angeles and San Pedro Railroad of a 100-foot right of way through the Rancho San Pedro.

When Juan Jose Manuel Dominguez died in 1809 and left half of his estate to Cristobal Manuel Dominguez his nephew, Cristobal did not aggressively defend his claim.

The executor of the estate, Manuel Dominguez Gutierrez, paid off the debts of Juan Jose and moved in, assuming rights of ownership.

Manuel Dominguez gave Jose Dolores Sepulveda permission to run cattle on part of the land known as los Palos Verdes.

Governor Sola issued a decree that the Rancho was the property of Juan Jose Manuel Dominguez and ordering Sepulveda to leave.

Manuel Dominguez's heirs were children and Manuel Gutierrez assumed control of operations in their behalf.

In 1825 Cristobal Dominguez died and Manuel Dominguez moved onto the Rancho with his brothers Nasario and Pedro.

California had become part of Mexico in 1822, Manuel Dominguez sought and received two decrees from Mexican Governor Echeandia for removal of the herds of Machado and Sepulveda, but Governor Echeandia confused matters by at the same time issuing Sepulveda a conflicting provisional grant of Rancho de los Palos Verdes.

In 1839 Manuel Dominguez submitted and was granted a petition for los Palos Verdes and the Sepulvedas were ordered to vacate.

In June 1841 an agreement was signed by the Manuel Dominguez family transferring all rights to los Palos Verdes to the Supelvedas.

In November 1828 Manuel Dominguez was elected to the Pueblo de Los Angeles El Ilustre Ayuntamento under Mexican rule.

From 1833 to 1834, Manuel Dominguez served as a representative from Los Angeles pueblo to the Mexican Provincial Legislature in Alta California's capital of Monterey.

In 1848, from September 3 to October 13, during the transition from Mexican to American rule, Manuel Dominguez was one of the eight Californio delegates sent to the constitutional convention in Monterey at which a constitution was drafted preparatory to California's admission to the Union as a state.

Manuel Dominguez was a signer of the first constitution of California.

In 1852, Manuel Dominguez was elected to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

Manuel Dominguez passed away after a short illness on October 11,1882, at the age of 79.

Manuel Dominguez was buried at the old Calvary Cemetery which is abandoned.

Manuel Dominguez is best remembered for keeping the Rancho San Pedro intact, while most of the other large ranchos were quickly broken up following the end of the Mexican era and the violation of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

The adobe Manuel built is both a state and national landmark and is operated as a museum, the Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum.