Elam Brown
Rancho Acalanes was a 3,329-acre (13.47 km2) Mexican land grant in present-day Contra Costa County, California.
It was given in 1834 by Governor José Figueroa to Candelario Valencia. The name Acalanes seems to have come from Ahala-n, the name of a Costanoan native village in the area.
The rancho included present-day Lafayette and northern Orinda.
Candelario Valencia was the son of Jose Manuel Valencia, one of Anza's soldiers. Candelario had himself been a soldier in the San Francisco company from 1823 to 1833, where he continued to serve in minor official posts until 1846. Candelario Valencia was married to Paula Sánchez who was the sister of Francisco Sanchez and José de la Cruz Sánchez. Candalario's sister, Maria Manuela Valencia, received Rancho Boca de la Canada del Pinole, a grant located between Martinez and Lafayette in 1842.
Valencia was involved in a boundary dispute with his Rancho Laguna de los Palos Colorados neighbor to the south, Joaquin Moraga. The conflict was temporarily resolved in 1844 by Governor Micheltorena, who set the boundary line by decree, but the dispute was not finally resolved until there had been a survey in 1860, and a re-survey in 1875. Valencia lived on Rancho Acalanes, near present-day Lafayette, for five years. Valencia returned to his other property near Mission Dolores in San Francisco, complaining of harassment by Indians (his sister Maria Manuela's husband, Felipé Briones, was killed by Indians in 1839). Most records indicate that Valencia Street in San Francisco was named either for him or for the family. Valencia sold Rancho Acalanes to William Leidesdorff, who may never have seen the rancho before he resold it to Elam Brown.
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