Branch

Branch Street

Francisco Ziba Branch was born on July 24, 1802 in Scipio, Cayuga County New York. At the age of 18 he had obtained employment with a boating company in Buffalo. Shortly thereafter, he ventured west to St. Louis where he joined a trading party of 150 individuals headed for what was then called Neuvo Mejico. By 1831 Francis had made his way to California, and by way of San Bernardo, made he way to Santa Barbara working in the sea otter trade. In 1833 he sold his share in the business and in 1835 married Dona Manuela Carlon settling in the area of San Luis Obispo. 

In 1837 Mr. Branch received from the Mexican Government a grant of land known as Santa Manuela comprising of 16,954 acres of land. When California became a state in 1848, Francis had to claim the land through the Public Land Commission in 1852 through legal battles to one again own what eventually totaled 37,000 acres.

Mr. Branch and Maria Carlon had 12 children and worked cattle for many years, first for grazing, and eventually for their beef and hide, which reared a higher profit. The drought years of 1862-63 saw the loss of some 20,000 head of cattle. Having come to California with little more than a gun, and through all these trying times, he at one time was one of the wealthiest persons in the county. 

Here is a drawing of the Rancho Santa Manuela.

Mr. Branch was more than a rancher, serving as Assessor in 1850, Judge of the Plains in 1851, and one of the first Board of Supervisors for the County of San Luis Obispo in 1852.

Francis established the first grain mill in the area consisting of a pair of grinding stones brought by sailing ships from Mexico via Pirates Cove. One surviving stone is housed and on display at the South County Historical Society in Arroyo Grande.

By 1876 a total of 35 families has settled in the valley and established two stores, two saloons, a wheelwright, a butcher shop, a laundry and a livery and feed yard. The Pacific Coast Railway has made its way to the Village in 1882 and Arroyo Grande was on its way to becoming an established town.

F.Z. Branch died of bronchitis on May 8, 1874 at his home on the Santa Manuela Rancho.

The Biddle family bought much of the ranch in 1879. Oliver Talley leased part of the Biddle farmland in the 1940's and established Talley Farms.