Additional details on the search for

land owned by members of the Jacob Anderson Family

in the second half of the 1800’s

in southern Napa County, California.

 

In the book, The Sloopers, the author Rosdail states, that Jacob, Serena and their family,

settled at a locality called Soscol in Napa County, just to the north of San Francisco Bay.  Here they acquired '555 71/100' acres of 'swamp and overflowed' land, and 50 acres, the Ranch of Soscol -- in 1857; also, from D. C. Oakes, 80 acres of 'swamp land' in 1861.  These 'Tule Lands', in spite of their unsavory description on the land records, were fruitful, and Jacob prospered at raising grain and live-stock.  About this time Jacob saw to it that his sons, Andrew J. and Jacob J. were set up with Tule lands.  Andrew received 160 acres for $1000 and paid $320 down” (p. 425).

 

Rosdail stated that after Jacob’s death, Serena and son Andrew,

“ran a road house called Soscol House.  It was the only building ever erected at their crossroads, a place where teamsters stopped for their meals” (p. 426, emphasis added). 

 

Many Anderson descendants understood these statements to mean that the Soscol House had belonged to the Anderson family and that their farm land must have been close by.  There are even some family stories about how the Anderson family sold the Soscol House to Elijah True.

 

Now, with the help of Floyd Stone of the Napa County Historical Society, we are learning more accurately what Napa County lands were acquired by members of this early pioneer family.  We are learning that this is not a simple matter.  This is what we know currently as deciphered from Napa County records (new information, changes or corrections will be added as they might be discovered) [Numbers in the far left column reference the yellow color coded sections shown on the Map.]:

  NOTE: New information on Anderson land ownership has been received from Floyd Stone of the Napa County Historical Society (Dec. 23, 2003).  These changes, additions & map modifications are in the process of being added (See bottom of table below).

#

Deed Ref:

Grantor to Grantee

Consideration/Description/Comments

1

NAPA: D-313

15 Aug. 1857

John B. Frisbie* to

  Jacob Anderson

 

Signatures witnessed by David C. Oaks (Jacob’s son-in-law)

 

*NOTE:  John Frisbie was the son-in-law of the famous Mexican governor General M. G. Vallejo.

$600 for 50 acres +/-

“… commencing at a point on the Northern boundary of the thousand acre reserve in said Suscol Rancho, thirty-six and fifty-four hundredths statute chains (36 54/100) east of the north west corner thereof, and running thence west  Eleven and forty three hundredth Statute Chains (11 43/100) to a point, thence north Forty three and eighty one hundredths (43 81/100) Statute Chains to the southern boundary of a tract of land known as the Jones tract, thence easterly along the said boundary to a point north of the point of beginning, and thence South forty-four and Eleven hundredths Statute Chains  (44 11/100) to the point of beginning and Containing Fifty Statute acres of land a little more or less, the above bearing having reference to the [True??] Meridian.”

     This early property purchase apparently was in the northern part of the very controversial huge (thousands of acres) Soscol Land Grant and clear title was probably never initially obtained. It is now believed that this 50 acre parcel could have been located, at least in part, in Section 36, T5N, R4W, east of the Soscol House. < for more history & background on this area, see 26 May 1866 Agreement with Sheehy below, links below & ____>

2

NAPA: G-469, 

 9 Apr 1861

David C. Oaks (Jacob’s son-in-law) to

  Jacob Anderson

$1,000 for 80 acres of "Swamp and Overflowed Land more particularly described in Survey No. 31 of the County Surveyor of Solano County, said tract of land is that generally known by the name of  Green Island.”

3

County Surveys

Book B, p. 251,

23 Sep 1861

Survey for

  Jacob Anderson by Napa County Surveyor

Survey of 475 71/100 acres of “Swamp & Overflowed Lands / Survey No. 96½”

T 4 N, R 4 W, “Sections 15 & 16 being the S ½ of NW ¼ of 15 - & fractional part of the N.E.¼ of 15, & N½ of SW¼ of 15, fraction of N½ of S.E.¼ of 15. S½ of N.E.¼ of 16, N½ of S.E.¼ of 16. fraction of N½ of S.W.¼ of 16, & fractional S½ of N.W.¼ of 16. – Base and Meridian of Mt. Diablo.”

4

County Surveys

Book B, p. 252,

23 Sep 1861

Survey for

  Jacob Anderson by Napa County Surveyor

Survey of “295 60/100  230 40/100 ? acres” of “Swamp & Overflowed Lands / Survey No. 97”

T 4 N, R 4 W, “Sections 9, 10, 15 & 16 being the N½ of the N.E.¼ of Sec 16 & fractional parts of N½ of NW¼ of 16, of N½ N.W.¼ of 15 – of S½ of SW¼ of 10 & S½ of S.E.¼ of 9. Base & Meridian of Mt Diablo.”

(Contain the “Green Island” 80 acres cited in #2 above.)

 

5

County Surveys

Book B, p. 253,

23 Sep 1861

Survey for

  Jacob Anderson by Napa County Surveyor

Survey of 286 84/100 acres of “Swamp & Overflowed Lands / Survey No. 98”

T 4 N, R 4 W, “Sections 9 & 10 being the S½ of NW ¼ of Sec 10 & fractional parts of the N½ of S.W.¼ of 10 - of N½ of SE¼ of 10 - of S½ of N.E.¼ of 10. of S½ of N.W.¼ of 9 - and of N½ of S.E.¼ of 9. – Base and Meridian of Mt. Diablo.” (Dutton Landing would be in the northwest corner of this parcel.)

6

NAPA: G-465

3 May 1862

 

Jacob Anderson to

  Andrew J. Anderson (his son) & signed by both “Jacob Anderson” & “Sarena Anderson”

$1,000 for 160 acres +/-

“… the North East quarter of Section one (1) Township Number four (4) north of Range Number four (4) west of the Mount Diablo base line and Meridian…”

7

NAPA: G-467

3 May 1862

Andrew J. Anderson to

  Jacob Anderson (his father)

$320 for 320 acres +/-

“… certain piece or parcel of land … known as Tule lands and bounded as follows towit: on the west Side by Napa Creek on the South by tule lands of Jacob Anderson [Jr?] on the east Side by lands Claimed by Peter Fagan on the north by lands Claimed by Peter Fagan and Waterson …”

 

County Surveyed & Unsurveyed Lands, Bk B, p. 72

7 Feb 1863

County of Napa to

  Jacob Anderson

Down payment of $133.20 (20% of price) for 475 71/100 acres surveyed and described in #3 above.

 

 NAPA: Misc. Records, Vol. B, pp. 372-74

26 May 1866

Robert Sheehy (of S.F.) to

A.J. Anderson etc., heirs of Jacob Anderson, Deceased 

 A complicated "agreement" conveying title for $1 (upon certain conditions) of the southern most portion of the southeast quarter of Section 36, T5N, R4W (see #1 above) described as "Commencing at the south west corner of the south east quarter (1/4) of Section 36, Township 5 North, Range 4 West, Mount Diablo Meridian, thence north along the westerly line of said quarter section to the fence dividing the land occupied by the heirs of said Jacob Anderson deceased from the land occupied by Captain Thomas; thence easterly along the line of said fence to the 'Sheehy fence' so called; thence southerly along the line of said Sheehy fence to the southerly line of said quarter section, and thence westerly along said last named line to the point of commencement, being Twenty (20) acres more or less..."  This agreement states that "Jacob Anderson and his heirs have been in possession and occupation of the portion of said land [above] ... described, since about the year 1857 or have claimed such possession and occupation."

We welcome any suggestions, corrections or additions to the above summaries. Please e-mail Keith

 

If the Jacob Anderson family actually owned all of the parcels described above, they would have owned at various times, or at one time, over 1,200 acres in southern Napa County, and that is not counting the poorly described 320 acres of #7, which may have been part of the other “Tule lands” of #3-5.  It does appear that some of these property titles were moved around among family members and there are indications that some of the property was put in Jacob’s son’s name prior to Jacob’s death.  Clear title to some of the earlier purchased land may have never been obtained.

 

Jacob died in May of 1864 just short of 57 years of age.  Apparently Jacob died without a will and the Napa Probate Court directed his wife Serena, acting as Administratrix, to sell his holdings.   From the probate records (NAPA: Book of Deeds J, pp. 420-21, 16 Mar 1867; see transcript>>) we know that Jacob owned the following land at the time of his death:

  1. 80 acres that contained “Green Island” as described in #2 above and northwest portion of Survey No. 97 in #4 above.
  2. 475 71/100 acres described in Survey No. 96½ in #3 above.

This gives the total of 555 71/100 acres of real property that had to be sold to settle the estate.  By the time the estate was settled in 1867, Jacob’s youngest son, Jacob Jr., had been deceased for several months and his only surviving son, Andrew J. Anderson, was the only one apparently seriously interested in keeping his father’s property.  The two eldest surviving daughters, Martha and Isabelle, had by this time left the Napa area with their husbands; the youngest, Julia, had not yet turned 12.  The son Andrew J. was the highest bidder on the property and obtained title to the property for the sum of $500 in gold coin.

 

Sometime between this settlement date in 1867 and the 1870 US Census, Andrew J., his wife Melissa, his mother Serena, his young sister Julia, all moved back to where the family still owned property in southwest Iowa.  Records of the disposal of the Napa area property will be the subject for future searches.

 

Background Links:

These excellent history articles are made available by The Reporter newspaper of Vacaville, CA.  We thank them for sharing this information on the Internet.

Gen. Vallejo sets out to tame the territoriesDelaplane’s “Echoes of Solano’s past” – Sep. 17, 1995

Vallejo: Dignified in face of adversity - Delaplane’s “Echoes of Solano’s past” – Sep. 24, 1995

City straddled Solano-Napa border – Bowen’s “Solano: The Way It Was” – Aug. 24, 2003

The rise and decline of Soscol City - Bowen’s “Solano: The Way It Was” – Sep. 7, 2003

SORRY - APPARENTLY THE ABOVE ARTICLES ARE NO LONGER MADE AVAILABLE FREE ONLINE

BY THE REPORTER.

 

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