It would be hard to find a pioneer, Californio family whose imprint on Marin County is more widespread than Ignacio Pacheco’s. The two-story Pacheco House still stands today in the unincorporated community of Ignacio, and was built by his son Gumesindo in 1876 on the original ranch property.
Ignacio (Ygnacio in Spanish) was born in 1808 at the Pueblo de San Jose and was the son of the alcalde, or mayor. He joined the San Francisco Presidio garrison as a teenager and was eventually promoted to sergeant. Upon his retirement, Ygnacio was given a land grant by the California Gov. Juan Bautista Alvarado north of Sonoma called Rancho Agua Caliente. However, he found the land there unsuitable for his agricultural and ranching needs, and in 1840 was given the Rancho San Jose grant of 6,600 acres north of San Rafael that ran from the San Pablo Bay west to Nicasio.
The Pacheco family raised cattle and horses for stock and racing. Ygnacio is credited with planting the first vineyards in Marin County, along with numerous fruit orchards. He had nine children by three wives: Maria Josefa Higuera, Maria Guadalupe Duarte and Maria Loreto Duarte, the younger sister of his second wife. The Pachecos revered education and built a schoolroom in the original adobe house for their children and neighbors’ children. In later years, the family donated nearby land for a schoolhouse that would eventually become the first school of the San Jose School District of Novato.
Ygnacio was an influential and respected rancher, and was noted for being a crack shot and fine swordsman. His great-great grandson Herb Rowland tells a story of Ygnacio challenging John C. Fremont to a duel when Fremont, on his way to Sonoma just before the Bear Flag Rebellion, demanded that Ygnacio deliver up his finest horses. Ygnacio had sent his best horses north and pointed at some broken-down, sway back nags, saying, “There they are.” Fremont became furious and called him “a liar”. Ygnacio challenged him to a duel, but Fremont backed down when his guide and interpreter Kit Carson revealed that Ygnacio was known as one of the best shots and swordsman in California.
On Nov. 29, 1864, he died, leaving his wife and children his entire estate. He is buried at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in San Rafael, along with his third wife, Maria Loreto. She lived until 1891 and married twice more, including to West Marin pioneer and land owner James Black. Over the years, family members sold off most of the land except for the Ignacio home site. However, the Pacheco family is still remembered in the winery, shopping center, creek, neighborhoods and numerous street names that bear their first and last names.
Today, the Pacheco Valley winery sits on 70 acres of the original San Jose land grant, just west of Highway 101. It is managed by Rowland, who is a fifth-generation Novato resident and seventh-generation Californian. He and his wife, Debbie, live on the property and run the family business from the same house that his great grandfather built in 1876.
History Watch is written by Scott Fletcher, a volunteer at the Marin History Museum, marinhistory.org. Images included in History Watch are available for purchase by calling 415-382-1182 or by email at info@marinhistory.org
