The story of Rancho Mission Viejo began 120 years ago when partners Richard O'Neill, Sr. and James Flood bought Rancho Santa Margarita y las Flores in northern San Diego County (now Camp Pendleton) and its adjoining Rancho Mission Viejo and Rancho Trabuco in southern Orange County. Collectively spanning more than 200,000 acres and stretching from Aliso Creek (near El Toro Road) south to Oceanside, the combined properties were acclaimed by many as "the greatest of all California 'ranchos.'"

1882 - 1940s
1940s - 1960s
1960s - Today

History Timeline

1882 - 1940s

In 1882, in a deal struck with a handshake, Flood and O'Neill became equal partners of the Rancho Santa Margarita y las Flores, Rancho Mission Viejo and Rancho Trabuco lands. Flood provided the money to purchase the ranches; and O'Neill, offering his skills as a cattleman as his sweat equity, agreed to work out his half as resident manager. Under O'Neill's tenure, the cattle herd was upgraded and expanded, the land was improved, row crops were introduced, and the Ranch became home to Orange County's biggest wheat fields.

In 1907, just 25 years after the original partnership was formed between his father and O'Neill, James L. Flood, son of the "Silver King," made good on his late father's promise and conveyed an undivided half interest to O'Neill, Sr. Just four months later, declining health caused O'Neill to deed his interest to his son, Jerome.

As hard-driving as his father, Jerome led the Ranch into a new direction and, despite a severe drought and an unstable economy, the Ranch flourished under his leadership. Agricultural operations were greatly expanded, and the cowherd grew to 15,000 head. In 1923, with establishment of a corporation, the "Santa Margarita Company," the sons of Flood and O'Neill consolidated their second generation friendship. Sadly, three years later both sons died, just two days apart. Jerome's beneficiaries included his sister, Mary O'Neill Baumgartner, and her family, and Jerome's younger brother, Richard Jr., his wife, Marguerite, and their two children, Alice and Richard Jerome.

In 1939, Santa Margarita Company was dissolved. The Floods and Baumgartners took the San Diego portion (Rancho Santa Margarita y las Flores) and Richard O'Neill, Jr. retained the Orange County parcels (Ranchos Mission Viejo and Trabuco).

Two years later, as the nation was preparing for war, the course of the families and their landholdings was forever changed when representatives from the U.S. Navy arrived at the Ranch and announced that the government was taking possession of the Rancho Santa Margarita y las Flores to establish the Marine base, today known as Camp Joseph H. Pendleton.

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1940s - 1960s

What remained of the historic Ranch now encompassed two Orange County parcels, united under the name Rancho Mission Viejo, and totaling 52,000 acres. Soon after the end of World War II, cattle were branded with the O'Neill family's new "Rafter M" brand, which endures today.

In 1943, upon the death of her husband, Richard, and with the ranchlands held in trust, Marguerite O'Neill stepped forward to lead the family. A fifth generation Californian, "Daisy," as she was called, thwarted several attempts by the bank's trust officers to liquidate her family's holdings.

With great determination and pride, she kept the land intact and, as much as possible, in her family's control. To this day, Marguerite O'Neill's admonition to "take care of the land and the land will take care of you" continues to guide the family.

In June 1950, with the establishment of 278-acre O'Neill Regional Park, the O'Neill family made the first of its many open space dedications to the people of Orange County. With respect for the ranch land and pride in its heritage, the O'Neill family has since dedicated more than 9,000 acres of open space to the County of Orange.

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1960s - Today

In 1964, in response to the demands of Orange County's expanding population, the O'Neill family and its partners established The Mission Viejo Company and embarked on its first residential development, the 10,000-acre planned community of Mission Viejo. Serving as an officer of Mission Viejo Company and overseeing the family's ranching operations was Marguerite's grandson, Anthony R. "Tony" Moiso, fresh out of Stanford University and the U.S. Army. In 1972, when Mission Viejo Company and its remaining undeveloped land in Mission Viejo were sold, Tony accepted the responsibility of daily managing the remaining 40,000 acres of Rancho Mission Viejo.

Over the past four decades, it has been family leaders, Richard J. O'Neill and Tony Moiso, who have shouldered the family's responsibilities of land stewardship. Choosing not to break up the ranch and not to sell all the property to the highest bidders, O'Neill and Moiso have successfully retained family ownership of the ranch by forming long-term ranch lease agreements for research and development, natural resource exploration, commercial nursery operations, and farming. In addition, they have helped the region manage its growth through visionary community planning and development which has underwritten the family's preservation of nearly 20,000 acres of permanent open space. They have established Southern California's first private land conservancy and one of the nation's most successful wetlands restoration programs. They also have funded the construction of roads in anticipation of need as well as provided sites for new schools, libraries, parks, ball fields, employment opportunities, fire stations, post offices, retail plazas, places of worship, and child care centers.

Today, as a result of the family's commitment to its heritage, the remaining 23,000 acres of Rancho Mission Viejo continue as a place where ranching reigns, citrus groves are planted, open space is preserved, and the descendants of Richard O'Neill, Sr. still live and work.

Proud of their history yet mindful of the future, the members of the O'Neill/Avery/Moiso family remain steadfastly grounded to the same values which guided them 120 years ago: a commitment to thoughtfully manage the land, a pledge to honor family, friends and community, and a promise to "make your hand shake, your bond."

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