# José Manuel Boronda

José Manuel Boronda (September 5, 1803 – July 24, 1878), was the first ranchero settler in Carmel Valley, California. He and Vicente Blas Martínez were given the 6,625-acre (26.81 km$^2$) Rancho Los Laureles Mexican land grant in present-day Monterey County, California on September 20, 1839, by Governor Juan Alvarado. Many of the Boronda historic sites still exist, including the Los Laureles Lodge, Carmel Valley Village, Road-Boronda Road Eucalyptus Tree Row, Manuel Boronda Adobe (1817), José Manuel Boronda Adobe, and the Jose Eusebio Boronda Adobe.

## Early life

José Manuel Boronda Jr. was born on September 5, 1803, in San Jose, California. His father was Captain José Manuel Borunda Sr. (1750-1826) and his mother was Maria Gertrudis Higuera (1776-1851). Her parents from Sinaloa, Mexico, had settled in Monterey, California. The senior Boronda was born in Zacatecas, Mexico in 1750. He was a corporal in the Spanish Army and went with Junípero Serra on his second expedition to Alta California. By 1790, he was put on duty at the Presidio of San Francisco. When he retired he and his family moved to Monterey, where he built the three-room Boronda Adobe in 1817, which is the oldest remaining adobe residence in Monterey. He conducted Monterey's first school for boys at this adobe.
José Manuel Boronda Jr., married Maria Inocencia Lidia Cota (1805–1894) on May 2, 1821, at San Carlos Cathedral in Monterey. Juana was born on December 28, 1805, in Santa Barbara, California. She was the daughter of Manuel Antonio Cota (1779-1826) and Maria Gertrudis Romero (1781–1817). The Boronda's had 15 children in 25 years.

### Rancho Rincón de Sanjón

José Eusebio Boronda was the second son of José Manuel Sr. and Maria Boronda. He married Maria Josefa Buelna (1817-1864) on September 5, 1831. Maria Buelna was the daughter of Antonio Buelna, grantee of Rancho San Francisquito and Rancho San Gregorio. Boronda served as Mayordomo (Butler) of Rancho Los Vergeles. In 1839, Boronda and his family settled on a one and one half square league, Rancho Rincón del Sanjón which he called San José, and which he was granted in 1840. He built the Jose Eusebio Boronda Adobe in Salinas in 1846.

### Rancho Potrero de San Luis Obispo

José Canuto Boronda was a soldier at Monterey and Mission San Antonio, San Miguel and San Juan Bautista. He married Maria Francisca Castro (1799-1830) and they had nine children. He received the Rancho Potrero de San Luis Obispo land grant in about 1842. His daughter Maria Concepcion Boronda (1820-1906) received the patent in 1870.

## Professional life
### Rancho Los Laureles

On September 20, 1839, Governor Juan Alvarado granted Rancho Los Laureles to José Manuel Boronda, which was 6,625-acre (26.81 km$^2$) in upper Carmel Valley, California.
   It was the year 1840. Don José Manuel Boronda rode at the head of the pack train that carried the family's possessions. Beside him was his eldest son, the eighteen-year-old Juan de Mata, and at the rear, in the bulging carretas hat lumbered up the steep trail out of Monterey, were Doña Juana and the younger children. Emerging from the deep shade, they saw the Carmel River, glistening between willow-bordered banks below them. Beyond were the tawny flanks of the towering Santa Lucias, tapering to a dark green sea-girt point.
— Cahpter 14: The Carmel Valley
In 1840, José and Maria settled at Rancho Los Laureles, the first ranchero to set up a permanent residence in Carmel Valley. The family farmed and raised cattle, horses, chickens, and ran a dairy. They grew tomatoes, chilies, and squash. The only neighbors were Domingo Peralta and his wife Maria Loreta Onésimo (1819–1892), who were Rumsen-Esselen Native Americans. After Loretta's husband died, she married James Meadows, who had the adjacent Meadows Tract.
With the cession of California to the United States following the Mexican-American War, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided that the land grants would be honored. As required by the California Land Act of 1851, a claim for Rancho Los Laureles was filed with the Public Land Commission in 1853, and the grant was patented to José M. Boronda and his son, Juan de Mata Boronda (1822-1901) in 1866. In 1851, the Borondas purchased Vicente Blas Martinez and his wife's half-interest in Rancho Los Laureles.
In 1868, the Borondas sold Rancho los Laureles for $12,000 (equivalent to $274,680 in 2023), to Elihu Avery, who sold it to Ezekiel Tripp in 1874. Nathan W. Spaulding, later Oakland 's fifteenth Mayor, purchased a half interest on April 27, 1874.$^{:p111}$

### Boronda Adobe

José and Maria Boronda lived in a three-room adobe house, built by the mission Indians, near the Carmel River, from 1840 to 1868. The Boronda Adobe is the oldest building in Carmel Valley having been built ca. 1833. It had three rooms, dirt floors, and a thatched roof (unlike the Boronda adobe in Salinas). A second story was added by the Borondas.
In 1890, William Hatton managed the Hatton Upper Dairy on the old Rancho Los Laureles. Guests from the Hotel Del Monte would visit the Los Laureles lodge on the property to ride, hunt, and explore the trails. Hatton modernized the dairy operations at the old Boronda adobe, adding Durham cattle to the Holsteins that increased the milk butterfat content. Large vats and presses were installed to manufacture Monterey Jack cheese.$^{:p44}$
By the 1930s the Boronda adobe had fallen into disrepair and was used to house cattle. In 1947, George Sims purchased the adobe and restored the home and grounds and lived on the property until 1960. It can be seen today on Boronda Road in Carmel Valley. Today, the adobe is a private home and is not open to the public.

## Death

José Boronda died of a heart attack on July 24, 1878, in Castroville, California, at the age of 74. His funeral was attended by large number of people. He was buried at the Castroville Public Cemetery in Moss Landing, California.