The city of Pleasanton, located in the beautiful Amador-Livermore valley, was formed in 1867 when immigrants John Kottinger and Joshua Neal used land from their Californio wives' dowries and laid out a town. Kottinger named the city after Civil War general Alfred Pleasonton, but a postal clerical error changed the spelling to "Pleasanton" and the name stuck. The men secured Pleasanton's future by offering land to the Western Pacific Railroad for a...