Los Angeles herald., 1890-03-31
MONDAY, MARCH 81. 1890,
JAMES ADDISON PERALrA REAvIs.

more persistent purpose to surmount
apparently insurmountabie difficulties
in the pursuit of a set determination
this article has shown in his effort to
successfully assert his claim to a monster
grant of land in Arizona. Miss Myra
Gaines devoted her life to the establish
ment of her fathers claim to an estate
which covered a great part of New
Orleans, and at length, when old age
had overtaken her-after she had carried
her suit from Court to Court and run
over the whole wide gamut of the claws
delays"-she gained the cause for which
she had so long and so faithfully
struggled.
Reavis is yet in the prime of life; but
he has already devoted ten years to the
object of collecting and putting into the
best shape for legal battle the NUM-
ments of title through which he hopes
ultimately to recover tract of land in
the very richest part of Arizona of the
enormous dimensions of $4,000 square
up by the documents submitted, the
history they convey and the efforts of
the claimant to present perfect claim
of title, is romantic and interesting.
We have before us two brochures. One
is the adverse report just made of the Sur
veyor-General of Arizona, Royal A.
johnson, upon the alleged Peralta
grant, in which he comes to the conclu-
sion that all the papers that have been
presented to sustain the grant are for
geries. A careful reading of the bro
chure, however, impresses one with the
idea that Mr.. Johnson's conclusion is
too sweeping. But we do not intend to
take issue with him, nor to pronounce
any opinion whatever upon the merits
of the claim. We merely wish to give
our readers hasty sketch of the history
of this remarkable grant as outlined by
the other brochure before us, which is
the copy of petition filed before the
Court of Claims of the United States,
in which Reavis, his wife and Clinton
p. Farrell, trustee, commence suit
against the United States to recover
eleven million dollars from the Gov
ernment for having set off reservations
and granted patents, homesteads, etc,
to land within the said alleged grant
In setting forth the chain of title, this
petition cites as the origin of the grant
royal decree from Ferdinand VI, King
of Spain, to Sefior Don Miguel Silva de
Peralta de la Cordoba for three hundred
square leagues of land to be located in
Arizona. The Holy Inquisition of the
City of Mexico, in 1857, made favorable
report upon the tract now claimed by
Reavis, and in 1853 the order of location
was made by the Viceroy of New Spain
In the same year Father Francisco
Pauer, of the Mission of San Xavier, was
empowered to locate and give iuridical
possession OF the grant to Peralta in con-
forlnity with the royal decree. In
1776 Carlos Ill. granted a petition
made by Peralta in 176S, praying for a
confirmation OF the concession made by
his predecessor, Ferdinand VI. On the
death of the original grantee, his son,
Miguel de Peralta, went into possession
of the grant. He married lady from
Cadiz, and OF this union there was born
daughter, who, in course OF time, also
married, and in her turn left daughter,
who was born in 1862.
This child, the lineal heir of the orig
inal grantee, in 1882, became the wife of
James Addison Reavis on condition that
he should add ''Peralta'' to his name.
This would make the chain of the title
perfect, if the documents are all au-
thentic.
But a curious phase of this whole
affair is yet to be told. When Mr..
Reavis first started in quest of this
grant he was living in Los Angeles He
purchased from DIR. Willing, and after
wards from his widow, his right to the
Peralta grant, DR.. Willing having, it
seems, during Miguel Peralta's life
time, secured from that gentleman a
conveyance of the claim. Mr.. Reavis
rested upon this conveyance and prose-
cuted his case on that basis for some
years. But it would seem that in his
researches he found that there was a
missing link to the chain, and that it
could only be made perfect by finding
the great grand daughter of the original
grantee. Mr.. Reavis discov cred, as
he proceeded deeper into the archives
of the City OF Mexico and Guadalaiara,
that the original grantee had made
will in which the Peralta grant was de-
yised with certain conditions. He per-
haps also found that he had but a frail
tenure in the purchased rights of DIR.
Willing and his wife, and that he would
reach solid ground if he could supple
ment and fortify these muniments with
the rights possessed by the sole surviv-
ing heir OF the original grantee With
this object in view he went to Spain,
and in the person of Dofia Sophia Loretta
Micaela Mas6 Y Peralta de la Cordoba he
found the lady of his research. 1t was
doubtless a case of love at first sight,
for he at once wooed and won her.
This ends the Peralta- Reavis story.
But the case having got into the United
States Court of Claims it will doubtless
be subjected to a critical legal investiga-