Sainsevain, Pierre

Pierre (Pedro) Sainsevain came to the Santa Cruz area before 1846. He was among a small group of French and/or French-Canadian men who came to the Monterey Bay area in the early 1840s. Some (e.g. Sainsevain), were naturalized as Mexican citizens, and received late-Mexican-era land grants. In 1846 "Pedro" Sainsevain was granted the Rancho Cañada del Rincon en el Rio San Lorenzo (north of Santa Cruz along the San Lorenzo River). That same year, Rowland describes how Sainsevain teamed with Charles Roussillon to build a schooner on/near the beach. Sainsevain moved to Los Angeles in 1859, and became a successful vintner. Nephew Pierre Vignes worked on the Sainsevain rancho in 1845, before both moved to Los Angeles to join with others in the Vignes winemaking family.

• John L. Chase, The Sidewalk Companion to Santa Cruz Architecture (4th ed. 2023), Chapter One, item (21), page 15.
• Leon A. Rowland, Santa Cruz: The Early Years (1980 book), page 131.
• Riptide CPL15