A look back at Sonoma County's Irish pioneers

The history of Irish settlement in Sonoma County goes back to pioneer days, when waves of Irish citizens were looking for a new place to call home.

During the 1840s when the Great Potato Famine devastated the Irish staple, millions of citizens died and even more fled the country in search of greener pastures. Some made it to the West Coast hoping the golden hills of California would be fruitful for crops. Certainly, the draw of life in Mexican Catholic-governed California proved appealing to those suffering religious persecution under British Protestant rule.

Sonoma County's first Irish settler was John Read in 1826, seven years before General Vallejo put down roots in Sonoma. Read (for whom a Rohnert Park elementary school is misnamed Reed) built a ramshackle house on the Cotati plan and planted corn. He didn't stay long in Sonoma County, retreating to the shores of the San Francisco Bay after natives burned his crops. He married a Spanish widow, became a naturalized Californian and owner of the Rancho Corte Madera.

Arriving in 1843 was civil engineer Jasper O'Farrell who laid roots in Freestone, and named it Analy after his family estate in Ireland. O'Farrell made his wealth surveying throughout California. He mapped the original grid pattern for the city of San Francisco and a street in the city still bears his name.

O'Farrell was paid by the Mexican government in land. In 1846, he was granted Rancho Nicasio in Marin, which he exchanged with James Black for the Jonive Rancho in western Sonoma County. He also purchased the Rancho Estero Americano, including land between the present day Freestone and Valley Ford.

Gold was discovered in the Sierra foothills in 1848 and Irish immigrants joined in the hunt. O'Farrell met up with fellow Irishmen Patrick McChristian and Jacob Leese. In 1850, the first U.S. Census reports O'Farrell as Sonoma County's wealthiest citizen.

O'Farrell supported the Irish community for years as a patron of the St. Teresa's Catholic Church in Bodega, and was the booster of the migration of Irishmen who earned paychecks working on his surveying crew.

By the 1870s, the U.S. Census reported the Irish were the largest single immigrant group in Sonoma County. Descendants of O'Farrell can be found in Sonoma County to this day.

Want to learn more about Sonoma County's pioneering Irish? Click through our gallery above.

Columnist Gaye LeBaron contributed to this report.