Tzabaco Rancho Vineyards: Premium Winegrapes from Dry Creek Valley: Family History

Tzabaco Rancho Land Grant Story

The valley of Dry Creek, the home of Southern Pomo tribelet Mihilakhawna, became a portion of the 17,000 acre Tzabaco Rancho when 14 year old Jose German Pina applied for a Mexican land grant on September 14, 1843. The Mexican government may have approved the application to help stem the tide of Russian expansion out of Fort Ross but Jose was also eligible as his father, Lazaro Pina, was a soldier and officer of a Mexican presidio who eventually served as General Vallejo's right hand man.

Living in an adobe that was fashioned more like a fort and may have been an early Mexican outpost, Jose Pina developed the property and raised cattle, corn, wheat and other crops. Dying at the age of 18 in 1847, the property passed to his brothers Francisco, Lewis and Jesus and his sister Clara and her husband William Fitch.

Unable to authenticate ownership when California became a US possession and increasingly troubled with squatters, the Pina family fell into increasing debt. A portion of the rancho was sold at public auction. After the murder of one brother and followed by alleged legal mismanagement by executor General Vallejo the remaining brothers signed over interest to their portion of the rancho to their attorney in exchange for $20,000. This land grab would not take effect for 5 years as the US courts sorted out the validity of the Mexican land grant claim.

Unlike the many squatters in the area D.D. Phillips and partner Sam Heaton legally purchased the last piece of land from the family in 1856, signing a deed and paying cash. The adobe was reputed to have bear skin doors, peep hole windows and dirt floors. Before long, D.D. had Mary's shipwright brother travel to California to add a wooden second story to the adobe as well as add oak flooring. The finished home is pictured below.

Adobe

For more interesting historical tidbits about the settling of Healdsburg, please visit Hannah Clayborn's History of Healdsburg, especially the sections about Cyrus Alexander, Captain Henry Delano Fitch, Colonel Roderick Matheson and the Heald family and founding of Healdsburg!

D. D. Phillips Story

Duvall Drake Phillips was born in Mason County, Kentucky on May 1, 1822 to Gabriel and Fanny (Cooper) Phillips. Raised on family farms in that state, and later Missouri, he followed his father into farming. He married Amelia Ann Kennedy in May 1843 and had his first child, George Washington in 1845. Amelia passed away during the birth of their second son, Gabriel Duvall, after four years of marriage in 1847.

Despondent, he joined the Third Regiment of Mounted Volunteers in March 1847. Although he served during the Mexican War, he escaped with no wounds though he fought in many engagements.

Returning home to Missouri, he and three cousins started for California in the Spring of 1849 finally reaching reaching Gold Country that fall. After mining unsuccessfully for several years, he began the construction of dams, tunnels, canals and flumes. There, he met and married the widow Mary (Terry) McCloud and they moved to Healdsburg in 1856.

Deed D.D. and partner Samuel Heaton purchasd a total of 137 1/4 acres from the original Land Grant Pina family for $1112.82 1/2. Devoting many acres to field crops as well as vineyards and tree crops, they later divided the property into equal parcels of 68 acres. D.D. separately purchased another 220 acres around 1868.

D.D. and Mary settled into the old adobe to raise their young family. They had a total of seven children of which three survived into adulthood. His son Oscar Frederick Phillips was in charge of the ranches at the time of his father's death on June 2, 1904. The three remaining sons split the property with the adobe going to Samuel Edmond, the center portion going to Philip Walton and the southern portion, at 6362 Dry Creek Road going to Oscar Frederick. Sometime after his father's death, perhaps with part of his inheritance, the property at 5796 Dry Creek Road was purchased.

D.D. was a steadfast Democrat and served as constable (of Mendocino Township in 1869), supervisor and assessor (of Sonoma County in 1879). He was an active politician, charter member of the Healdsburg Lodge, of the Mexican War Veterans and of the California Society of Pioneers.

DD Phillips

DD & Mary Phillips First Generation to California:

D. D. Phillips (1822-1904) married to second wife Mary McCloud (1824-1907) in 1855 and they had three surviving children; Philip Walton (1856-1831), Samuel Edmund (1857-1934) and Oscar Frederick (1858-1936). After D.D.'s death in 1904 and his wife's in 1907, the property was split equally between the three sons.

Oscar Phillips Second Generation: Oscar (Fred) Frederick Phillips (1858-1936) continued to farm the southernmost piece of property and married Elizabeth (Lizzie) Miles (1861-1920) in 1880. They had six children including: Grace Ethel Phillips (1880 - 1924), Mabel Gertrude (Phillips) Eachus (1882-1964), Genevieve Phillips (1885-1892), Pauline (Phillips) Black (1885-1981), Harold Frederick Phillips (1894-1977), and Emmett Phillips (1902-1938).

Harold & Arla Phillips Third Generation: Harold Frederick Phillips (1894-1977) married Arla Marie Wagers (1898-1968) in 1918 and had two children: Patricia Kay Phillips (1921-1998) and Larry Neil Phillips (1924-1943). Larry was killed in a tank training accident during WWII. Harold and Marie lived at 5796 Dry Creek Road from 1921 to 1977. They endured the hardships of the Great Depression by selling produce directly to markets in San Francisco.

Don & Pat Schmidt Fourth Generation: Patricia Kay Phillips (1921-1998) married Don Schmidt (1920-2001) in 1943. They have three children: Diane (Schmidt) Carriger, Brian L. Schmidt and Kay (Schmidt) Robinson. They grew up at 5675 Dry Creek Road with their grandparents across the road. They were all active in 4-H and participated in the Healdsburg Future Farmers Fair yearly. The family continued the family farm by raising prunes.

Fifth Generation: Diane (Schmidt) Carriger, Brian Schmidt and Kay (Schmidt) Robinson all live in houses on the family ranch. All the kids picked prunes during their summers.

Brian celebrated his 30th Anniversary with Janice (Osborne) Schmidt this year and they cooperatively tend to the vineyards and maintain the family farm so that the next generation can appreciate this wonderful valley that we live in!