Cypress
California
Cypress is a city located
in Southern California near the northern border of Orange
County California. The first people living in the area now
known as Cypress were the Gabrieleno,
a Native American tribe of the Tongva people. They were displaced
soon after the arrival of the Europeans. The government of Spain
then possessed the land until Mexico gained its independence in
1821. Mexico then lost Alta California to the United States during
the period following the Bear Flag Rebellion and then the Mexican-American
War.
The original Spanish dons held immense tracts of land throughout
California, which were given in lieu of pay to Spanish soldiers.
Manuel Nieto was one of the early Spanish dons or landowners in
the area. After his death in 1804, his sons retained title to
his holdings, but these lands were eventually broken up and distributed
among them in 1833 by a grant from the Mexican governor José
Figueroa. Manuel's son, Juan José Nieto, retained the title
to a large portion of his father's original properties in southern
California that included the present-day area of Cypress. That
land and other Rancho properties were finally sold to the American
Abel Stearns, then acquired by the Robinson Trust, a group of
investors, which eventually parlayed their holdings into a vast
land speculation business.
|
