3/15/2022 Chatsworth Historical Society - Chatsworth Hills Homesteaders Part 1 1

Revised 10/25/2013

Chatsworth Hills Homesteaders –Part 1

Chatsworth Hills Homesteaders Part 1

•This will be a three part presentation, as we share the history of some of the 45

Chatsworth Homesteading Families. Topics we will cover tonight:

•Homesteading Overview

•Research Tools supporting this presentation

•Homesteading History in California

•Homesteading Requirements

•Overview of Chatsworth Hills Homesteaders

•Part 1 - Homesteader Families in the Santa Susana Mountains, north of

Chatsworth Street and west of Andora.

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Online Research Tools used in this Presentation

•Online Census Data, and supplemental Genealogical Websites, i.e. Ancestry.com

•Online Township Master Title Plats from California Bureau of Land Management

(BLM)

•Online US Dept. of Interior BLM, listing Names and Doc numbers of

Homesteaders, and any other transfer/sale of public lands to private lands

•Google Earth, allowing us to plot Homesteader parcels as an overlay

•Earth Point, allowing an overlay of the Federal townships and sections on Google

Earth.

•As a background, a township is 36 square miles (6 miles to each side). A township

is divided into 36 sections of one square mile each (1 mile to each side). Each

section is 640 acres, a quarter section is 160 acres.

•A special thanks to Rich Krugel and Ken Ditto, who helped us compile the Homestead

Data

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Example of 1880 Census

•This page shows Rita De la Ossa (Stagecoach Way Station), Francisco Miranda

(Oakwood Cemetery), and Peter (Pierre) Domec, Chatsworth Lake Manor

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Example of Township Master Title Plat

Township 2North,

Range 17West,

showing portions of

Sections 1, 2, 11 and

12. Representing

surveys from 1853-

1895.

Each of the grids

represents 160 acres.

Notice the map shows

Mrs. Johnsons house,

and Williams house.

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Example of US Dept. of Interior Names and Doc #s of

Homesteaders

This information was compiled by Rich Krugel from the US Dept. of Interior Bureau of

Land Management website. Notice Ann Johnson, 1899, Doc# 397, and Charles Iverson,

1897, Doc #2854.

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Example of Google Earth with Homesteader Overlay

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Research Tools and Homesteader Overlay

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For those of you who are interested in the

sources we used for this presentation, email

us at chatsworthhistory@gmail.com

We will email you the online links, plus a

Chatsworth Hills Homesteader file that you

can open up as an overlay on Google Earth.

Homesteading History in California

•Spanish Rule

•1542 - Cabrillo anchors his ships off the shore of Santa Monica.

•1769 - Spanish Colonization and the Mission Period begins.

•1773 –Spanish Viceroy Felipe de Barri grants authority for the issuance of land grants in California

•1781 –Pueblo de Los Angeles is founded. Grants for lots at the Pueblo for twelve Spanish

pioneer colonists and their families were conditional for a period of five years, at the end of

which time they received confirmation of possession.

•1795 –Rancho Simi - Francisco, Patricio and Miguel Pico are given a 113,009 acre land grant of

Simi Valley and other Ventura lands.

•1795 –Rancho Encino - The first land grant in the San Fernando Valley. Cattle raising was

popular in the Valley at this time.

•1797 –The San Fernando Mission is established, and Rancho Encino gives up much of its land for

the use of the Mission.

•1819 –The Mission has 21,745 cattle, sheep, horses, mules, goats and pigs.

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Homesteading History in California

•Mexican Rule

•1821 –Mexico declares independence from Spain

•1834 –The Mission is secularized, allowing Mission lands to be granted to individuals. The

Mission is at its peak, with 26,000 cattle, sheep, horses, mules, goats and pigs.

•1845 –Rancho Encino –Governor Pio Pico regrants Rancho Encino to three Tongva Native

Americans, Ramon, Francisco, and Roque.

•1845 –El Escorpion - Governor Pio Pico grants 1,110 acres to three Chumash Native Americans,

Odon, Urbano and Manuel. Their grant petition was for two square leagues, or 9,000 acres,

reaching north to Chatsworth Lake and east to Topanga Canyon.

•1846 –Rancho Ex-Mission San Fernando - To raise funds for the Mexican-American war, Governor

Pio Pico sells most of the valley floor, 116,858 acres, to Eulogio De Celis for $14,000.

•1848 –the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the Mexican-American war, and provides that land

grants will be honored.

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Homesteading History in California

•American Rule

•1820 – The 1820 Land Act or “Cash Act” allowed the purchase of 160 acres of federal land at a

cost of $2.00 an acre. The 1821 Relief Act reduced the minimum acres to 80, and reduced the

price to $1.25 per acre.

•1841 –The Preemption Act permitted "squatters" who were living on federal land to purchase up to

160 acres at a very low price before the land was to be offered for sale to the general public.

•Requirements included living on the land, and working to improve it for five years.

•1850 –California becomes the 31st state in the United States

•1862 –The Homestead Act gave an applicant ownership of government land of up to 160 acres.

Requirements were that the homesteader needed to live on the land for five years, and improve it

by building a 12’ x 14’ dwelling and growing crops.

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Homesteaders Overview –Spanish Land Grants in 1848

45 Homesteaders pioneer the Santa Susana and Simi Hills

•The orange section is the area between Rancho

Simi and Rancho Ex-Mission de San Fernando,

that became federal land after the Mexican

American war in 1848.

•Some Homesteaders arrived as early as the

1860’s and 1870’s, although most did not file for

their homesteads until the mid 1890’s

•Chatsworth Park (in blue) was originally a part

of Rancho Ex-Mission de San Fernando. It was

founded in 1888, about the same time as many

homesteaders settled in the area. The railroad

came in 1893.

•Notice that Chatsworth Park was bordered by

Andora, the Mission Road (Rinaldi), Mason and

DeSoto, Roscoe, and Fallbrook.

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Overview of Chatsworth Hills Homesteaders

•32 homesteaders qualified under the Homestead Act, and 13 purchased

their land for cash.

•A few homesteaders continued to live on their land long after they

earned their property, while most eventually sold their interests or

moved out of the hills to the main part of town.

•We have broken the Homesteaders into 3 major groups:

•North Chatsworth –north of Chatsworth Street and west of Andora.

•West Chatsworth –between Chatsworth St. and Plummer west of Andora.

•South Chatsworth –north of Roscoe and south of Plummer including Lake

Manor.

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Homesteaders of the

Northern Hills of

Chatsworth

•Although the hills had been

occupied by Indian and

Spanish families for many

years, those that actually set

down roots and officially

homesteaded, left a

paperwork trail that we have

been able to follow.

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•1865 One of the earliest Homesteaders in

the north were Ramon and Augustias

Dejeremias, both of Spanish descent

married in 1865.

•Ramon is listed as a rancher in San

Fernando at the age of 25. In 1870 they

have two children.

•The residents of our Chatsworth area were

included in the San Fernando records until

Chatsworth Park was put on the map in

1888.

•Notice that his land followed the Santa

Susana Creek, and was also relatively flat.

Ramon and Augustias Dejeremias

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Ramon and Augustias Dejeremias

• Quote: “Ramon Jeremiah was another

Chatsworth Pioneer who first demonstrated the

highly productive quality of the soil in that most

scenic and picturesque part of the valley. His

garden provided many choice vegetables for

the sheep herders, who pastured their flocks in

the nearby hills.”

•As a side note, the 1880 Census listed

Bernadeno Don Aleke as a French Basque

Sheepherder living near the Jeremiah family

through at least the 1880’s.

•Living with Bernadeno was his stepson

Martin Biscaluz, who became an attorney.

• Martin’s son Eugene Biscaluz became the

sheriff of Los Angeles in 1932.

Note the trails shown on the 1903 topo map

to homesteads in the area

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Stephen Lopez

•Stephen Lopez was born in 1871. His

parents were Catalina and Geronimo

Lopez who ran the Lopez Stagecoach

Station in San Fernando.

•His mother Catalina, born in 1832, grew

up in the romantic and colorful Mission

period while her father Pedro Lopez

handled the affairs of the Mission.

• “She (Catalina) first saw the San

Fernando Mission in all its glory, with

beautiful orchards and gardens

surrounding it and the wide plains in

front covered with cattle and sheep.”

•He is listed in the 1892 voter registration at

the age of 21 as a butcher, lame in one

foot.

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Stephen Lopez

•The property he homesteaded had the

railroad tracks and one of the tunnels

running through it. Construction was in

progress during the time he was

homesteading.

•In 1900, his Chatsworth neighbor

Augustias Dejeremias is listed as a widow

residing as a boarder with the Geronimo

Lopez family (Stephen’s father) in San

Fernando.

•In 1920, Stephen Lopez is caring for his

father Geronimo Lopez in San Fernando.

Stephen Lopez’s occupation at this time is

Real Estate.

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Stephen Lopez Land Grant

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Neils and Ann Johnson

•1868 - The Neils and Ann Johnson family

arrive in California and build a shake house

in 1871 in what eventually became known

as Brown’s Canyon

•Confrontations over cattle grazing and

water access rights developed with

Milton Brown, who arrived shortly

after they did with a herd of cattle from

the Sonoma area. The Brown family

remained and by 1900 at the age of 71,

Milton Brown retired to Whittier. He

never filed for homesteading.

•Neils and Ann moved on to the property

they homesteaded in 1874. Homesteading

documents were issued in 1899.

•The Johnsons were known as the

first American family to arrive in the San

Fernando Valley.

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Neils and Ann Johnson

•Ann & Neils had 10 children, and number 8

was Emma Johnson, born in 1873.

•Ann Johnson worked to start the first school

in 1880, and organized services under the

oaks before the Pioneer church was built in

1903.

•1913 - Ann moves down from the hills to the

town onto Old Santa Susana Pass near her

son Charles’s property. She dies in 1920.

•1929 - The Johnson Family sell their

homestead property to John Brandeis,

preserving 20 acres as a family retreat.

Movies were made at the Brandeis Ranch

until 1949.

•1963 - Katharine Johnson, wife of grandson

Kelly Johnson, is a founding member of the

Chatsworth Historical Society

•2000 - Indian Springs Estates custom homes

surround the remaining acres of Fern Ann.

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“The friendship, cooperation and mutual spirit

of enthusiasm that developed between the

Jeremiah family and the family of N.C.

Johnson, who came to be neighbors in those

early days, laid the groundwork for that deeply

seated pride of possession that still maintains

among the citizens of the Chatsworth area of

the valley.”

History of San Fernando Valley, by Frank

Keefer,1934

Neils and Ann Johnson

The Johnson

Homestead

House at Fern

Ann Falls

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Fred Graves

•Fred Graves was the first member of the

Graves family to arrive in Chatsworth in

1896.

•Emma Johnson, the 8th child of Neils and

Ann, married Fred Graves, and they

homesteaded an additional 160 acres

adjacent to the Johnson property, receiving

homestead documents in 1903.

•The Graves homestead property becomes

part of the Johnson’s land holdings, bringing

it up to 320 acres.

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Fred Graves

•Fred Graves

becomes Constable

of Chatsworth from

1903-1910, and

also goes into

partnership with

Lovell Hill, another

homesteading

family, to run the

Graves & Hill

General

Merchandise.

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Fred Graves

•1908-1913 Fred purchases land west of

Andora and north of Chatsworth Street.

His father Eli and brother Harry soon

purchase additional adjacent land north

of Chatsworth street.

•1932 Fred Graves sells most land

holdings, and moves his house from

10637 Andora to the present location

22200 Chatsworth Street (known today

as the Big Oak Theatre).

•The house is thought to have been built

in 1913 (maybe as early as 1908) from

interviews with Emma Graves.

Fred and

Emma Graves

60th Wedding

Anniversary,

1956

Emma Graves

was know for

being seen on

horseback

throughout the

community.

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Graves Family –Harry Graves

•1945 - 15 acres in the northwest corner

of the Harry Graves ranch is deeded to

Bill/Bonnie Graves Lakey and

Hubert/Virginia Graves Ditto

•1947 Lakey House is built, 1949

Ditto House is built

•In 1969, Harry Graves ranch house on

Tulsa is sold

•1972-1975 - Lakey house and remaining

property is sold

•1986 to 1995 - Virginia Graves Ditto

thought to be the oldest person born and

still living in Chatsworth

•2013 - Ditto property is still owned by

the family, it is last of the Graves ranch

remaining

1926 Bonnie and

Virginia Graves in

a wheelbarrow on

the Harry Graves

Ranch. Today it is

at the Acre.

1952 Mailbox at Graves

Ranch, showing three

addresses –

•Route 1, Box A15

•10755 Santa Susana

•22101 Tulsa

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J. R. Williams

•1881 The James Richard and Caroline

Williams family arrived from Kansas. They

had 5 children.

•Twenty acres of cultivated land was used to

raise hay and grow potatoes, with the

remainder set aside for grazing cattle and

apiaries (bee hives).

•J.R. and his wife Carrie, along with their

children, lived in a 4-room 24’ x 24’ “wood-

board house,” with a 12’ x 16’ barn, honey

house, a small orchard, and a half-mile of

fencing nearby.

The Williams property is now shared by the Church at Rocky Peak,

Indian Springs Estates, & the Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park.

The lower section was once a part of the Spahn Ranch.

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J. R. Williams

Caroline Williams at her

Homestead House, on

the north side of the

Santa Susana Creek.

The house is no longer

there.

•The Williams family lived on their

homestead at least into the 1920s.

• They later moved to “Chatsworth

Proper” with a home on Devonshire and

Farralone where they retired and

remained active in the community.

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J. R. Williams

J.R. I is Rick,

J.R. II is Jim,

J.R. III is Dick

•During the moving of the

Pioneer Church in 1965, a

ceremony was held to open

the cornerstone that was

sealed in 1903.

•At that ceremony were

three generations of J.R.

Williams.

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Carl Iverson

•In 1884 Caroline Williams

invited her sister Augusta to

visit and stay with her while she

was expecting another child.

James and Caroline Williams

convince Augusta to stay and

homestead 160 acres next

them.

•James and Caroline built

Augusta a small lean-to shack

with the promise of a house

later on. They gave her a cow

and chickens, and Mr. Johnson

from up the road built her a fine

chicken coop.

• 1887, Carl Iverson is working on a dam in Devil’s

Canyon on the Charlton Ranch. One day while hiking

he knocks on Augusta’s door.

•In 1888, Carl Iverson (from Norway) and Augusta

Wagman (from Sweden) are married.

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Carl Iverson

The rock-strewn property with rugged

outcroppings proved to be invaluable later

when it was adapted to the changing scenery

for the movie industry which came along

about 1912.

The Frank Raposa parcel and a portion of the

Williams parcel was acquired by the Iversons,

and the Iverson Ranch was run by Carl,

Augusta and sons Joe and Aaron.

As many as 2,000 motion picture and

television shows are reported to have used

Iverson Ranch to shoot some or all of their

outdoor scenes.

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Carl Iverson

In 1966-68, the construction of the Simi Valley

Freeway cut the Iverson Ranch in half, and

the freeway noise kept the ranch from being a

viable movie location.

The Upper Iverson ranch is now developed as

large estate-size homes in a gate guarded

community. The Lower Iverson includes the

old Joseph Iverson residence, Indian Hills

Mobile Home Village, the Cal-West

Townhomes, the Rocky Peak Church, and the

Garden of the Gods.

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Dionisio Sanchez

•Dionisio Sanchez was a recently naturalized

American citizen. Sanchez had immigrated to

the United States from his native Mexico in

1882.

•He and his California-born wife María, along

with their six children, had settled in the

Santa Susana Pass area around 1885. On

December 14, 1901, he received a patent for

129 acres of “hilly and rough mountain land”.

•Sanchez farmed about 50 acres, with 10 or

12 acres cleared for grape vines and fruit

trees, with the remainder was used for

pasture. He and his family lived in an

approximately 15’ x 16’ “rough 2-3 room

lumber house.” Other improvements included

a shed, corral, wire fencing, and water well.

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Florence and Charles Mattingly

•Florence and Charles Mattingly, lived in

Los Angeles where Charles was a

prominent attorney. They purchased two

160 acre properties in 1909 and 1912.

There is no evidence that they ever lived

in Chatsworth.

• During the 1930’s, there was an

“indigent camp” that the Los Angeles

County Department of the Forester and

Fire Warden, in cooperation with the

State of California, erected and

administered. The location of the camp

is uncertain, although it was most likely

at the southeast corner of Sanchez’s

homestead.

•Both properties are now a part of the

Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park

and Rocky Peak Church.

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George Charlton

•The Charlton family owned what is now

known as Stoney Point.

•George Gray Charlton was born in 1835

in New York and of English decent.

George and his wife, Mary, had 3 sons,

Oliver, Frederick, Robert and one

daughter Annie.

•1894 Directory Book in the Chatsworth

Section, he is listed as an apiarist.

•1896 Voter Registration records

•1899 Homestead is recorded

•In 1906-1915, his son Oliver operates the

Charlton quarry on his homestead. Oliver

hires William Bannon, who had moved to

Texas, to work his quarry.

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George Charlton

• A website “Stone Quarries and

Beyond” has compiled locations of

“Mines and Mineral Deposits of Los

Angeles County”. They identified a

Charlton Quarry in 1906.

•The SSPSHP documentation also

references the Charlton Quarry.

•Researching where the stone

quarry was on a map required us

identifying the location of Township

2 North, Range 16 West.

• Using Earth Point’s overlay on

Google Earth, Here is that

township, six miles square,

identifying 36 sections.

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George Charlton

•Section 7 is where the quarry

was located. It includes

George Carlton’s parcel, plus

most of the parcel of Twin

Lakes.

•The research points to a rock

quarry at or near Stoney Point

operating in 1906 - 1915.

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George Charlton

•This is section 7 in a 1903 topo

map. Charlton’s house is identified

with a red star. He lived off of

Rinaldi (the old Mission Road)

where Chatsworth Hills Academy is

today.

•Section 7 is bounded by Topanga,

Chatsworth St., and DeSoto.

•The Quarry activity was on the east

side of Stoney Point.

DeSoto

Rinaldi

Topanga

Chatsworth St.

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George Haight

•George Haight came to Los Angeles in

1904, built a house on West Adams in

1908, then homesteaded land in

Chatsworth. The homestead certificate

was issued in 1918.

• Newel Asay’s marriage in San Francisco

was witnessed by George Haight’s wife.

Newel homesteaded his land in 1923.

–LeRoy Newell Asay can be found in

the 1920 Owensmouth annual as a

student.

•By 1927 Twin Lakes was established

and eventually marketed as a rural

resort, and promoted as a retreat for the

weekend, season, or holiday.

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Mentions of Other Homesteaders

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Mentions of Other Homesteaders

•Frank Raposa - (above Iverson) Homestead

1899, from Portugal

•Frank became a citizen in 1899. His

sponsors on his citizenship papers were

Frank Ackerman and Lovell Hill, both

Chatsworth homesteaders.

•Tavner Myers - Homestead 1917 from Missouri

•In 1918 The local draft board representative

that signed Myers' WW1 registration was

Carl Iverson.

•In 1920 he is a farmer/owner on Lurline in

Chatsworth.

•In 1930 he is 50 years old living on Santa

Susana, with wife, Martha, and children

Hazel, Lora and Tavner. His occupation is

real estate salesman.

•Jose Mondragon - Homestead 1901 From

Arizona, he registered to vote in 1896

•Frederick Bachmann - Homestead 1909 from

Germany

•Benjamin Conner - Homestead 1915 from

Nevada

•George Jones –Homestead 1919

•Brooks Miller - Homestead 1925

•R C Ray - Homestead 1935

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Sources/Acknowledgments

• “Our Pioneer Mother”, As told to Lenora Johnson

MacDonald, 1920, Chatsworth Historical Society

• “Grandma Ann”, Mary Huff, 2001, Chatsworth

Historical Society

• “The Story of San Fernando Valley”, Title Insurance

and Trust Company, 1962

• “El Escorpion”, Chester G. Cohen, 1989, Leonis

Adobe Museum

• “The Boom of the Eighties in Southern California”,

Glenn S. Dumke, 1991, Huntington Library

• “The Cattle on a Thousand Hills, Southern

California, 1850-80”, Robert Glass Cleland, 1957,

Huntington Library

• “History of San Fernando Valley”, Frank

Keefer, 1934

• “Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park

Cultural Resources Inventory Historic

Overview”, Alexander Bevil, 2007

•Prepared by Ann and Ray Vincent,

Chatsworth Historical Society, October

2013, revised Jan 2021, Mar 2022

•For our list of online resources, please

send an email to:

chatsworthhistory@gmail.com

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