Soto

The documentary evidence produced from the archives in *1263 this case shows that in May, 1842, Teodora Soto petitioned the governor for a place called “La Cañada del Hambre.” She represented that her deceased husband, Francisco Bar-cenas, had obtained a provisional gTant of the land and had occupied it with his cattle. That shortly afterwards he was obliged to leave it in consequence of a fire which destroyed the pasture, and had since accidentally been killed. She therefore solicited the governor to grant her the land, though only provisionally, and until she could present a new sketch, and reminded him of the services of her late husband in the army for more than ten years, and that on his discharge more than half his pay was due him. The prefect Guillermo Castro, to whom the governor referred for information, reported that Barcenas had occupied the land provisionally until he should obtain the grant; that he built a corral, but that it was burnt, and Barcenas was obliged to withdraw from the premises, and soon after met his death. It appears, also, from the report of Lstrada, that the expediente of the grant obtained by Barcenas could not be found in the archives; but José…