Rancho La Natividad was two leagues in size and granted to Manuel Butrón and Nicolás Alviso on May 30, 1823, and on November 16, 1837. Butrón had been occupying Rancho La Natividad for a long time at the time of the grant.
Butrón was the son of Manuel Butrón, a Spanish soldier who came to with the first settlers. He married Margarita María Dominguez, an Ohlone neophyte from the village of Tucutnut, located in the Carmel Valley just east of Carmel Mission (Mission San Carlos marriage no. 180, May 20, 1773). Margarita had been baptized on January 7, 1773 (baptism no. 32), and was estimated to be 15 years of age.
According to one source, Butrón received the first land grant in California, consisting of a plot near Carmel Mission. He served as corporal of the guard at the Presidio of Monterey.
Their son, Manuel Josef Butrón y Dominguez was born at the Presidio on April 9, 1776 (baptism no. 407). He married María Ygnacia Higuera y Redonda.
Alviso was the son of Francisco Javier Alviso. He served as suplente de diputación, 1827-1828, major domo and alcalde at Mission Soledad in 1835, and married Bárbara Butrón.
The 8,642 acre rancho was patented on October 1, 1874 to the descendants of Butrón and Alviso.
Sources:
- Breschini, Gary S., Trudy Haversat, and Mona Gudgel, 10,000 Years on the Salinas Plain: An Illustrated History of Salinas City, California (Heritage Media Corp., Carlsbad, 2000).
- Clark, Donald T., Monterey County Place Names (Kestrel Press, Carmel Valley, 1991).