immigrant who arrived in 1884, had a wife and seven children and also rented 

 the Lake Ranch at Point Reyes from the O. L. Shatter estate. In 1901 

 Bondietti was recorded as milking 40 cows, from which he made 1,260 pounds 

 of butter per month. According to the 1910 census record, Bondietti employed 

 his children as milkers. Bondietti bought a ranch on Tomales Bay and moved 

 there in 1913. The ranch had passed through a few hands while leased by 

 Bondietti until it was purchased by Thomas Healion, an Irish immigrant who 

 had arrived in Marin County as a young man in the 1860s. Healion died in 

 1909 and passed on the ranch to his son Arthur and his wife Caroline, who after 

 Bondietti left, operated the dairy, built a new house, and raised a family there. 46 



The 290-acre property directly north of the Healion Ranch has been 

 known most popularly as the Biesler Ranch. Pablo (or an Americanized "Paul") 

 Figueras, born in Spain about 1819, settled on this ranch in the late 1850s, 

 probably purchasing or renting it from Rafael Garcia or Gregorio Briones. He 

 served as Justice of the Peace for Bolinas Township in 1858-59, and 1860-61. 

 Figueras officially bought the property from Shatter, Shatter, Park and 

 Heydenfeldt, after the law firm won title to the property in court, in 1862 for 

 $1,700. He later sold 11 acres, including the roadway to his ranch to which he 

 retained a right-of-way, to neighbor Sarah Randall for $100. Apparently 

 Figueras and his brother Louis farmed potatoes at the ranch and had no dairy. 

 In 1870 Figueras and his brother employed five laborers at the ranch, raising 

 oats and hay and caring for 11 oxen and eight horses. 46 



German-born John Biesler bought the Figueras Ranch shortly before 

 1880, after a life in the gold mines of California. The ranch had fallen into 

 neglect, so Biesler spent much time and money improving it. By 1880, Biesler 

 was selling 8,000 gallons of milk per year from 17 cows. Biesler died in 1893 

 and passed the ranch to his sons John H. and Fred W. Biesler, who lived there 

 with their mother. A biography described the ranch shortly after the turn of 

 the century: 



45 Financing an Empire, p. 528; Guinn, Coast Counties, pp. 694-699; Marin County Journal. 

 May 22, July 17, and August 28, 1869, p. 3; Deeds Book G, p. 474, and Book L, p. 153, Leases 

 Book D, p. 91, MCRO; Population Schedules, 13th U. S. Census, 1910. 



46 Munro-Fraser, Marin County, pp. 232-233; Population Schedules, 8th U. S. Census, 1860; 

 Agricultural Schedules, 9th U. S. Census, 1870, and 10th U. S. Census, 1880; 

 Deeds Book C, p. 406 and Book E, p. 534, MCRO. 



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