The Del Valle family's livestock ledger from June and July 1853, the year they built their adobe home at Rancho Camulos.

The ledger was found in the summer of 2014 among some papers in a locked trunk on the second floor of the 1867 Del Valle winery, where 1924-1943 ranch owner August Rubel maintained a private museum. The museum area had been essentially untouched since Rubel's death in North Africa during World War II. (No, there was no key to the trunk. The bottom fell out when we tried to move it. It had rotted away.)

It is theorized that this ledger and the other documents, including original, 19th-century Del Valle fruit and wine labels, were placed in the trunk by Rubel.

When this ledger was created, the Del Valles were in possession of the entire 48,000-acre Rancho San Francisco, which extended to from Camulos on the west to the edge of modern-day Canyon Country on the east.

We don't know exactly what the ledger denotes, but the livestock appears to be apportioned to the various adult Del Valle family members, including:

• Jacoba Feliz, widow (second wife) of Antonio del Valle (1788-1841), who had held the Rancho San Francisco since about 1824 and took formal possession of it in 1839. By this time (as of 1852), Jacoba's new husband, Jose Salazar, was the official administrator of the Del Valle estate.

• Jose Ygnacio and Conception del Valle, children of Antonio del Valle and Jacoba Feliz.

• Ygnacio and Magdalena del Valle: Ygnacio was a son of Antonio del Valle and his first wife, Maria Josepha Carillo; Magdalena was a daughter of Antonio del Valle and Jacoba Feliz. After Antonio's death, Ygnacio bought out his half-sister Magdalena's interest.

• Maria del Valle, daughter of Antonio del Valle and Maria Josepha Carillo.

Some pages had been torn out.

The livestock includes:

Vacas = cows

Vaquillos de uno a dos años = heifers of 1 to 2 years (old)

Becerros = calves

Toros = bulls

Torunos = stud bulls

Bueyes = oxen

Novillos = steers (3 years, 2 to 3 years, 1 to 2 years)