Rancho German
Rancho German (also called "Rancho de Hermann" or "Rancho de Ross") was a 17,580-acre (71.1 km2) Mexican land grant in present day Sonoma County, California given in 1846 by Governor Pío Pico to Ernest Rufus. Rufus named the ranch after Hermann, the German hero who defeated the Roman legions in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest at the time of the Emperor Augustus. Herman, in Spanish, would be written "German". The name "Rancho de Hermann" appears on the diseno, but the expediente has "German". The grant extended along the Pacific coast from the Gualala River on the north to Salt Point State Park on the south, and included present day Gualala and Sea Ranch.
The Mexican government, which had been concerned about the Russian presence at Fort Ross, was happy to see them leave in 1841, but less pleased when the Russian-American Company sold it to John Sutter. The position of the Mexican government had been that neither land nor improvements had ever belonged to the Russians and hence they could not legally be transferred to anyone else. Within two years after the purchase of Fort Ross, everything Sutter considered salvageable had been removed to his Rancho New Helvetia. In 1843, William Benitz, from Baden, Germany, became manager of Sutter's Fort Ross holdings. In 1844 Sutter leased the land to Benitz and a partner, Ernest Rufus, from Württemberg. Both Benitz and Rufus had been officers in Sutter's militia. That transaction again brought into question the validity of Sutter's title to the property.
In 1845 Wilhelm Benitz and Ernest Rufus petitioned the Mexican governor Pío Pico for a grant of five square leagues. Before the award of the land grant, Rufus invited German immigrants Frederick Hügal and Henry Haeger to assist him in developing the grant. Rufus, a naturalized Mexican citizen, went to Los Angeles to petition for the land, which in 1846 was granted to Rufus in his name alone. At that time, the Mexican authorities did not like making grants to multiple owners. Rufus gave one and a quarter square leagues each to Hügal and Haeger, leaving one and a quarter square leagues each to Benitz and Rufus.
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