Thomas Seale

From Palo Alto Wiki

Thomas Seale profited from the Soto land grant, although they did not marry into the Soto family. When the U.S. Land Grant Commission denied the ownership claims of Maria Luisa and other Soto descendants, the Soto family agreed to give Seale half the land if he could convince the commission members to change their minds. Although Thomas wasn't immediately successful, his brother Henry proved a better persuader and convinced the Lands Commission it was wrong in 1861. The brothers received about 1,400 acres for their trouble. Timothy Hopkins later bought some of this land for Leland Stanford, who wanted to establish a town to go along with his university.