To Maria in Chile mailto:madepassier@hotmail.com I copied the pages you asked for and will be posting the information shortly. Since you are in Chile I will have to copy the pages and send them later by email, not by snail mail, as you requested. There are two pages but the article doesn't give much information biographically. Highlights: Alameda was a hunter's paradise. Antonio Maria Peralta held his share of the Peralta estate intact until 1850. At this time, two Frenchmen named MAITRE and DESPACHIER negotiated with Antoinofor lease of a tract of Alameda land for the purpose of cutting firewood for the San Francisco market. This transactions marks the beginning of the breakup of the PERALTA grant. "It was in September of 1850," Gideon AUGHINBAUGH, co-founder of Alameda, recorded in his diary, "when I first crossed the bay (from SF) in a whitehall boat. My object in coming was to find a suitable location to plant an orchard. We continued up the slough to East Oakland (then known as San Antonio) where we found a one-story house occupied by some Frenchmen whose business it was to slaughter cattle. "I then also found Antonia Maria PERALTA," continues Mr. AUGHINBAUGH's memoirs, "who had given a lease to two Frenchmen, De PASSIER and LeMAITRE, for a term of six years. These men were located on the south shore of the encinal (foot of Chestnut Street) and were cutting timber and shipping firewood to SF. Mr. Wm. W. CHIPMAN and myself obtained a sublease from these men for the unexpired term." The sublease, which describes the term of the contract was dated January 3 1851 and confirmed March 26 1851. It was between Wm. W. CHIPMAN and Gideon AUGHINBAUGH and Joseph DePASSIER and Baltazar MAITRE. Witnessed by Joseph DEPASSIER (seal) B. MAITRE (seal) Wm. W. CHAPMAN (seal) G. AUGHINBAUGH (seal) in the presence of C. A.BOUSQUET Pedro VARELA John CROSE Confirmation was by the company of Joseph DEPASSIER, Joseph EMERIC and J. M. PAYOR.