an escolta, who were assigned to protect Mission San Rafael. Garcia, a corporal, 

 and his men reportedly proved themselves to be valuable members of the 

 community by fighting off Indian attacks on the mission and by helping with 

 the construction of mission buildings. 13 



In July of 1835, Garcia petitioned for a grant of two leagues in the 

 "Canada de Baulenes", and in March 1836, he received his grant. His diseno 

 failed to depict the rancho with any accuracy and later contributed to a 

 boundary conflict with neighboring rancheros Richard Berry and Antonio Osio. 

 Garcia called his rancho Tomales y Baulenes, a name which probably described 

 Olema Valley between Tomales Bay and Bolinas Bay. 



In an effort evidently to accommodate his brother-in-law, Gregorio 

 Briones, Garcia moved his rancho headquarters or hacienda to a site near 

 today's town of Olema, while Briones' family took up residency near Bolinas 

 Bay, presumably in Garcia's vacated hacienda. Gregorio Briones sent his eldest 

 son, Pablo, aged fourteen, to Bolinas Bay in the fall of 1837, to take charge of 

 the rancho and to erect any necessary buildings. The following year Ramona 

 Briones and her other children joined Pablo, while Gregorio stayed behind to 

 complete his service as alcalde (mayor) of San Mateo. 



In 1843, Gregorio Briones filed a correction deed with the local 

 government declaring that Garcia had transferred the land to him some seven 

 years earlier (1836) and that he had been living there about that length of time. 

 Not until February 11, 1846, however, did Briones officially receive title to two 

 leagues of land (8,911 acres), which he called the Rancho Las Baulines. 14 



Gregorio Briones, like his brother-in-law Rafael Garcia, had completed a 

 ten-year enlistment as a frontier soldier. Gregorio and his wife, Ramona Garcia 

 de Briones, were born in California; Gregorio in Monterey, and Ramona in San 

 Diego. They were married sometime around 1822. After retiring as a soldier in 

 1827, Gregorio continued his public service as alcalde of the Contra Costa in 

 1835, regidor of San Francisco in 1836, alcalde of San Mateo in 1838, and sheriff 



13 Munro-Fraser, Marin County, p. 276; "A Chronological History of Marin County," 3 Volumes 

 typescript, 1: n.p. 



14 Robert H. Becker, "Historical Survey of Point Reyes," Land Use Survey. Proposed Point Reyes 

 National Seashore (San Francisco: Region Four Office, National Park Service, February, 1961), p. 

 42; Munro-Fraser, Marin County, pp. 112, 194, 418; Bancroft, History 3. pp. 712-713; Cowan, 

 Ranchos. pp. 18 and 104; Bliss Brown, "Rancho Los Baulines," February 10, 1937, p. 1, in "Marin 

 County, Mexican Land Grant," Works Progress Administration Project, Typescript, no date, Marin 

 County Library, San Rafael. 



11 



