Moses and Ernest Cerf, SLO Land Purchases, Part 1

In this blog, I’m taking you on my research trip through the land records of San Luis Obispo because I almost can’t believe what I discovered.

Good Beginning

After downloading the grantor-grantee index to SLO deeds, I find Moses (he used the name Moses on all deeds) usually purchased land with Abraham Blochman, his business partner, and sometimes with his brother, Ernest. Moses bought 35 parcels of land (between 1859 and 1880) and made 36 sales of land (between 1864 and 1894). Ernest was a buyer in 87 transactions (between 1870 and 1891) and made 70 sales (between 1872 and 1894), mostly by himself. I decide my game plan.

At the County Recorder’s Office, the first deed checked records a sale from Moses Cerf and Blochman to George Hearst, the father of William Randolph Hearst who built Hearst Castle. In 1868, Blochman and Moses sold their one-quarter interest in land along San Simeon Beach between two arroyos known as Port Reservation on the Rancho Piedra Blanca for $2,000 in gold coin of the United States. Checking other deeds, I discover Blochman and Moses bought their interest in the property in 1866 for $1,000.  San Simeon harbor was busy in that era, shipping agricultural products and serving a whale fishing community. Principal commerce in and out of the port included dairy, wool, whale oil, produce, eggs, and beans (Angel 331), for which the wharf owner collected wharfage charges. Not a bad start to my day of research. It’s pretty cool, actually.

View from Hearst Castle to San Simeon Harbor

San Simeon Pier today

The Ranchos

Next, I select a deed involving an owner of a Mexican land grant.  A little background is needed here. Before American occupation of California, the prime cattle-grazing land in coastal San Luis Obispo County was granted by the Mexican government to Mexican citizens who were able to stock the land with cattle or who were entitled to favors from the government (Angel 213). Within about fifteen years after California became a state in 1850, the owners of these ranchos obtained patents of ownership from the U.S. Land Commission. In 1862 a severe drought began in California that lasted through 1864, killing much of the cattle on the ranchos.  Owners, desperate for cash, mortgaged their land and eventually sold some or all of their property when they were unable to pay their mortgages (Angel 222).

The deed I inspect is from Francis Z. Branch, an early California pioneer who married into a Mexican family and became a Mexican citizen. Branch and his sons sold property to Moses Cerf on January 15, 1869, for $18,240.00 in gold coin of the United States. I read the property description and immediately become confused. The deed describes the purchase of four properties, including the entire Rancho Bolsa de Chamisal (14,335.22 acres) and Rancho Arroyo Grande (4,437.29 acres). Next, it describes the purchase of a portion of two other ranchos, 3,579 acres of the 8,838.89-acre Rancho Pismo and 1,900 acres of the 30,911.20-acre Rancho Corral de Piedra. I immediately double-check my sources, noting this doesn’t agree with the local history books. We’re talking about a purchase of 24,251 acres and maybe eight miles of California coastline from north of Guadalupe to near Pismo Beach, an area encompassing the present-day towns of Arroyo Grande, Grover Beach and Oceano. I’m scratching my head, thinking how is this possible? I even take the deed over to one of the clerks to ask about it. She has nothing to offer, however. The hunt for an explanation continues.

View from Shell Beach looking south toward Pismo Beach and beyond.

I check deeds after 1869, finding a deed dated July 14, 1870, in which Moses Cerf granted property to Isaac C. Steele and sons. The property description matches, although it specifically mentions some exceptions for property sold. But get this, the sale price is $1. Huh? Reading further in the long deed, I find toward the end, “This deed is executed under and in pursuance of a Decree of the District Court of the 4^th Judicial District in and for the city and county of San Francisco, made and entered November 19, 1869….” What was the lawsuit about and why did it take eight months from the court decision to record the deed? The answer triggers a memory, and I search through my old research files.

Voila! My search turns up a document someone gave me when I first arrived in San Luis Obispo twenty years ago. Among several newspaper clippings of general county history I had received, I found a copy of an October 1870 court decision, Steele (and sons) v. Branch (and sons) and Moses Cerf, rendered by the California Supreme Court, which heard the final appeal.

The case centers on a written contract dated July, 1866, between Steele and Branch for five leagues of land (one league equals 4,428.4 acres). As part of the sale, Steele agreed to pay off a mortgage due on December 26, 1868, pay off accruing taxes, and erect $10,000 in improvements or in lieu of improvements to pay the mortgage down by that amount before December 1867. Failure to comply voids the contract. Steele did not make improvements or the payment before December 1867. The holder of the mortgage note lived in Santa Barbara and, when the note was due in December 1868, he sent the note, mortgage and release to his agent in San Francisco so he could receive the balance due there. Due to a delay in transportation, these papers were not received in San Francisco until after the due date of the mortgage. Steele had made an arrangement with a firm to make the mortgage payment with funds he had sent to his agent. Full payment of the mortgage was made on January 11, 1869, after the mortgage holder agreed to the delay but with no agreement by Branch. The release of mortgage was filed on January 16, 1869. The court opinion also notes that Branch offered to pay off his mortgage when due, but the mortgage holder declined because he had sent the papers to San Francisco. On January 15, 1869, Branch sold the land to Cerf, who immediately recorded the deed. Cerf claimed to have no notice that the mortgage debt had been fully paid by Steele and assumed Steele failed to perform on the contract.

The principal question of the case was whether or not the stipulated time for the payment of the mortgage debt by Steele was of the essence of the contract, as well as considering Steele’s failure to make improvements or a payment within the stipulated time. In examining the intention of the parties, the court found that Steele acted in good faith. The provision to void the contract if not fulfilled was deemed to be included merely to induce a prompt performance by Steele. The court noted that Branch may have been trying to get out of the contract (by offering to pay the mortgage himself) because the property had risen in value since the date of the contract. The court further noted that Branch did not suffer because Steele had not made timely improvements or made a payment in December 1867, and Branch did not try to forfeit the contract at that point in time.

Although the court annulled the deed to Moses Cerf, I find it curious that there was a deed from Moses to the Steeles instead of transferring the property back to Branch. This is definitely one that got away.

There's a lot more. Look for it to be published soon.

References:

Angel, Myron. History of San Luis Obispo County, California, Oakland, CA: Thompson & West, 1883.

Carpenter Index to Grantor/Grantee Databases, San Luis Obispo County Genealogical Society, http://www.slocgs.org/carpenter/.

San Luis Obispo County Deeds, SLO County Recorder’s Office, San Luis Obispo, CA.

Isaac C. Steele, et al., Respondents, v. Francisco E. Branch, Ramon J. Branch, Leandro R. Branch, Frank Branch and Moses Cerf, Appellants, California Supreme Court Case No. 2,358, October 1870.