 In 1836, he sold his accumulated inventory to a Boston trader for $500 and rode to Northern California seeking a ranch to purchase.Since only Catholics in California were allowed to own land, he became baptised as a Roman Catholic.In 1837 he acquired the Rancho Los Meganos, a Mexican land grant, from Jose Noriega on what is now called Marsh Creek on the western edge of the town of Brentwood and just to the east of what is now Clayton, California (acquisition of the rancho seems to indicate that Marsh had become a naturalized Mexican citizen).