Chileno Valley Ranch was purchased by Carlo Martinoiya from Henry Halleck in 1862. Henry Halleck then traveled to Washington, DC, where he became President Abraham Lincoln’s Chief of Staff. Carlo Martinoiya was Sally Gale’s great-great-grandfather. He married Katerina Traversi in Chevio, Switzerland, and together they had seven children. Carlo Martinoiya became a well-known banker and broker in California in addition to being a dairyman at what is now Chileno Valley Ranch. The youngest of Carlo and Katerina’s children, Anita Martin, married a hired man by the name of Peter Dolcini. Together, they had five children, who were brought up on a ranch in Nicasio Valley, a wedding gift to Anita from her parents. Peter and Anita had five children, the eldest of which was Arnold Tullio Dolcini. Arnold and his wife, Catherine Connolley, met when Catherine was given a job as a nurse in the Nicasio family home, to care for both Anita and Arnold, who were gravely ill. Arnold survived and they were married and moved to Hick’s Valley Ranch, where they raised six children, the eldest of which was Anita, Sally’s mother.

Meanwhile, Chileno Valley Ranch, being owned by many family members, fell into disarray and decay, until Sally Gale and her husband, Mike, returned from Hawaii to restore the ranch in 1993.