Rancho Milpitas

The land was originally granted to Nicolás Tolantino Antonio Berreyesa (1789–1863) by the alcalde of San José, Pedro Chaboya, on May 6, 1834.

Alviso built the first story of the ranch house on the north east corner of the property and moved his family there.

[3] 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.

[4][5][6] Some members of the Berreyesa family went mad defending their land: one son ran into the hills, another died in an asylum.

[7] Alviso hired an American lawyer (previously a butcher) to survey his land, and the new borders of the rancho included much of Berreyesa's claim.