Yerba Buena's citizens, shortly after the arrival of George and Mary
Donner, contributed a fund for the purpose of purchasing for each of
them a town lot. It happened that these lots were being then distributed
among the residents of the town. Upon the petition of James F. Reed, a
grant was made to George Donner of one hundred vara lot number
thirty-nine, and the adjoining lot, number thirty-eight, was granted to
Mary. The price of each lot was thirty-two dollars, and both were paid
for out of the fund. The grants were both entered of record by the
Alcalde, George Hyde. The grant made to George was signed by the
Alcalde, but that made to Mary was, through inadvertence, not signed. A
successor of Hyde, as Alcalde, regranted the lot of Mary Donner to one
Ward, who discovered the omission of the Alcalde's name to her grant.
This omission caused her to lose the lot. In 1851, a number of persons
squatted on the lot of George Donner, and in 1854 brought suit against
him in the United States Circuit Court to quiet their title. This suit
was subsequently abandoned under the belief that George Donner was dead.
In 1856, a suit was instituted by George Donner, through his guardian,
to recover possession of the lot. Down to the spring of 1860, but little
progress had been made toward recovering the possession of the lot from
the squatters.
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