Rancho Las Ánimas (also called Las Ánimas o La Poza de Carnedero or La Brea) was a 26,519-acre (107.32 km2) Spanish land concession in present-day Santa Clara County given in 1803 by Viceroy Félix Berenguer de Marquina to José Mariano Castro.
[2][3][4] In 1803, Feliz Beranceur, then Viceroy and Governor of New Spain, made a conditional grant of the Las Ánimas Ranch to José Mariano Castro (1765–1828).
[5] 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.
[6][7] Shortly after, Sanchez drowned in the Pajaro River on Christmas Eve, 1852 leaving his widow, Maria Encarnacion Ortega Sanchez, and five children (sisters: Vicenta; Refugia; Candelaria; Guadalupe and one brother, José Gregorio).
When the land commission issued its patent in 1871, Johanna Fitzgerald, Thomas Rea and Henry Miller owned over 80% of the 26,518 acres (107 km2) rancho.