Rancho San Agustin
Rancho San Agustin was a 4,437-acre (17.96 km2) Mexican land grant in present-day Santa Cruz County, California given in 1833 by Governor José Figueroa to José Antonio Bolcoff. The grant was bounded by the San Lorenzo River on the west and Rancho Carbonera on the south, and encompassed present-day Scotts Valley.
José Antonio Bolcoff (1794–1866) was born Osip Volkov in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Siberia. Working for the Russian-American Company, Bolcoff was captured on shore by the Spanish in 1815. He quickly assimilated into the Spanish culture, and was given the name José Antonio Bolcof. Bolcoff traveled with Governor Pablo Vicente de Solá, acting as an interpreter. In 1822, Bolcoff settled in Branciforte and married María Candida Castro, grantee of Rancho Refugio. Bolcoff was alcade of Branciforte in 1833. In 1833, Bolcoff was granted the one square league Rancho San Augustin, and moved his family to the rancho and built an adobe. In 1839, Bolcoff replaced Francisco Soto as administrator of Mission Santa Cruz. In 1839, Bolcoff sold Rancho San Augustin to Joseph Ladd Majors.
Joseph Ladd Majors (1806–1868), a trapper from Tennessee, came to California over the Santa Fe Trail with Isaac Graham in 1834. In 1838, Majors became a naturalized Mexican citizen and was baptized as Juan José Crisostomo Mayor. In 1839, Majors married María de los Angeles Castro (1818–1903), daughter José Joaquín Castro of Rancho San Andrés and a sister-in-law of Bolcoff. Over the next decade, Majors would use his naturalized status as the middleman for a series of land deals, obtaining land holdings in his name, and then leasing or selling the land back to his American partners. In 1841, Governor Alvarado granted Rancho San Agustin along with the abandoned Rancho Zayante to Mayor / Majors.
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