[2] The four square league former San Diego Mission lands in the Santa Maria Valley were granted to José Joaquin Ortega and his son-in-law, Edward Stokes.
[6] 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.
After a few years, Etcheverry moved back to his native France, but then returned to San Diego County in 1872.
[10][11] In 1886, Etcheverry sold 3,855 acres (15.6 km2) to Milton Santee, a Los Angeles civil engineer and land developer.
Santee then started the Santa Maria Land and Water Company and subdivided what is now the townsite of Ramona.