Editing Pleasanton, California (section)

==== Founding ====
The Rancho Valle de San José grant had been given to Agustín and Juan Pablo Bernal and their brothers-in-law Antonio Suñol and Antonio Maria Pico.<ref name=":1" />{{When|date=November 2024}} In order to safeguard the grant from squatters during the [[California gold rush|Gold Rush]] in the 1840s-1850s, the Bernal family moved{{When|date=November 2024}} from [[San Jose, California|San José]] to live on their ranch along with John Kottinger, an Austrian immigrant and a lawyer who had married into the family.<ref name=":1" />

Pleasanton is located on the lands of the [[Rancho Valle de San Jose (Bernal)|Rancho Valle de San José]] and [[Rancho Santa Rita]] Mexican land grants. Its name was chosen in the 1860s by John W. Kottinger, an Alameda County [[justice of the peace]], after his friend, [[Union army]] cavalry Major General [[Alfred Pleasonton]]. A typographical error by a recording clerk in Washington, D.C., apparently led to the current spelling.<ref name=":2">{{cite web|title=History of Pleasanton|url=https://www.pleasanton.org/history-of-pleasanton|website=Pleasanton Chamber of Commerce|access-date=September 29, 2022}}</ref>