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The James Johnston house sits on a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean, east of Route One, just south of the city of Half Moon
Bay. Isolated, its silhouette is a remarkable sight against the rolling hillsides golden brown until the winter rains turns
them green. The classic New England salt-box (two stories in front, one in back) was built by '49er pioneer James Johnston
between 1853-1855, for his Californiano bride, Petra Maria de Jara.
One of the first white men to visit the Coastside, Johnston (1813-1879) saw Candelario Miramontes's magnificent Rancho de
San Benito and in 1853 purchased 1,162 acres from Guadalupe Briones, Miramontes's widow for $14,000. His grand scheme and
dream of a proper Yankee house, the center of an eastern-style dairy ranch, became real as he sent his brothers, Thomas and
John, back to Ohio to round up a herd of eastern dairy cows and with brother William drive them across the country to "Spanish
Town."
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| Petra and the children |
The elegantly appointed house was home for the Johnston's growing family. James, Jr., born in 1853 was followed by Alice Maria
Theresa de Jesus in 1854, John Francis in 1856 and Francis Thomas in 1859. One of James' sisters, Isabel, moved west in January
1860 and his mother-in-law Ursula "Melita" Valenzuela de Jara came from Mexico came to help raise the children.
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