Laguna Hills Tutors

About Laguna Hills

When you talk about Laguna Hills California, you can’t help but talk about Nellie Gail Moulton, a woman who had a large part in this history of this town. Nellie was born in Kansas, and bopped around to a few different states including Washington and Nebraska. She would visit Southern California sometimes to visit her father who lived there, and absolutely hated it. Being used to the lush green landscape of Washington, she hated the dry and brown views that Southern California had to offer, and even remarked that you couldn’t give her land for free down here. History, however had some big plans for her.

Nellie met a man by the name of Louis Moulton, a recently divorced gentleman who was the most sought after bachelor around. Louis had moved to Southern California from Chicago, wanting to escape his city life for the life of a rancher. He found work almost immediately working under a local sheep farmer, but it wasn’t long before he was able to take over the business. He worked hard continuing to buy out other sheep farmers and rent their land, and by 1884 he was renting out close to 19,000 acres! Louis soon made partners and friends Jean Pierre Daguerre, and they went into business together, taking the ranching world by storm. Even though Louis’s first marriage failed during this time, his business prospered.

He met Nellie one day in her father’s store, and after a long courtship the two were married. The couple had two daughters and enjoyed success for a while, but the unexpected death of Mr. Daguerre threw the business into peril. Attempts were made to save the business, but after Mr. Moulton’s death the land was divided among the two families. As time passed the land was divided over and over, however Nellie had kept a small portion for herself.

While she was never a rancher, Nellie was a very accomplished artist. She worked under a very famous Laguna Hills art tutor, and had a passion for painting. She has two famous paintings on display at the Heritage Hill Historic Park, and was a founding member of Laguna’s College of Art and Design, where she must have also worked as a Laguna Hills tutor. She was also the president of the Laguna Hills Art Gallery, and was known as a very generous woman. Upon her death, she donated 250 acres of her land to Chapman University, and the rest of her land was sold off, and is now remembered as the Nellie Gail Ranch.