P?o Pico
P?o de Jesus Pico
Governor of Alta California
In office
1832 ?– 1832
Preceded by Manuel Victoria
Succeeded by Agust?n V. Zamorano and
Jos?© Mar?a de Echeand?a
Born May 5, 1801(1801-05-05)
Mission San Gabriel Arc?¡ngel
Died September 11, 1894 (aged 93)
Los Angeles, California
Spouse Mar?a Ignacia Alvarado
Profession Entrepreneur, Politician
Religion Roman Catholic
P?o de Jesus Pico IV (May 5, 1801 ?– September 11, 1894) was the last Mexican Governor of Alta California.
P?o Pico was born at the Mission San Gabriel Arc?¡ngel to Jos?© Mar?a Pico and Mar?a Eustaquia Guti?©rrez with the aid of midwife Eulalia P?©rez de Guill?©n Marin?©. He was the fourth of ten children of mixed ancestry (Pico had African, Native American, Spanish blood). His grandmother was listed in the 1790 census as mulatta. His grandfather was among the soldiers accompanying Juan Bautista de Anza on the expedition that launched from Tubac, Arizona for California around 1775 with the intent to explore and colonize. After the death of his father in 1819 he settled in San Diego, California. He married Mar?a Ignacia Alvarado on February 24, 1834.
Business life
Pico set up a tanning hut and dram shop in 1821 at Los Angeles, selling a drink for two bits (25 cents). Some of those drinks were served to unwitting customers from hollowed out ox-horns sporting false wooden bottoms. His retailing businesses became a significant source of income.
By the 1850s Pico was one of the richest men of Mexican Alta California. In 1850 he purchased the 8,894-acre (3,600 hectare) Rancho Paso de Bartolo Viejo, which included half of present day Whittier. He built a home on this ranch in 1852 and lived there until 1892. Today, his home is preserved as Pio Pico State Historic Park. Pico also owned the former Mission San Fernando Rey de Espa?±a, Rancho Santa Margarita y Las Flores (now part of Camp Pendleton), and several other ranchos totaling over one half-million acres, or 800 mi?² (2,000 km?²).
In Los Angeles, he constructed the three story, 33-room hotel, Pico House (Casa de Pico) on the old plaza, opposite today's Olvera Street. At the time of its opening in 1869, it was the most extravagant and lavish hotel in Southern California. However, even before 1900, it began a slow decline along with the surrounding neighborhood, as the business center moved further south. After decades of serving as a shabby flop house, it was deeded to the State of California in 1953, and is now a part of El Pueblo de Los Angeles State Historic Monument. It is currently used on occasion for exhibits and special events.
[edit] Political life
Pico served twice as Governor of Alta California, taking office the first time from Manuel Victoria in 1832, when Victoria was deposed for refusing to follow through with orders to secularize mission properties. As governor pro tempore and Vocal of the Departmental Assembly, he set forth with secularization, handing the reins of governor to Zamorano and Echeandia to respectively govern the north and south after only twenty days in office. In 1844 he was chosen as a leader of the California Assembly, and began his second term as governor, succeeding the unpopular Manuel Micheltorena in 1845. Pico made Los Angeles the state capital. In the year leading up to the Mexican-American War, Governor Pico was outspoken in favor of California becoming a British Protectorate rather than American territory.
He actively challenged the government of Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado (1837 to 1849) and was imprisoned on several occasions. During the Mexican-American War, when U.S. troops occupied Los Angeles and San Diego in 1846, Pico fled to Baja California, Mexico, to argue a case for sending troops to defend California before the Mexican Congress as well as prevent himself being taken prisoner. After the war, Pico returned to Los Angeles in 1848, successfully surviving the Mexican-American transition.
P?o de Jesus Pico
Governor of Alta California
In office
1832 ?– 1832
Preceded by Manuel Victoria
Succeeded by Agust?n V. Zamorano and
Jos?© Mar?a de Echeand?a
Born May 5, 1801(1801-05-05)
Mission San Gabriel Arc?¡ngel
Died September 11, 1894 (aged 93)
Los Angeles, California
Spouse Mar?a Ignacia Alvarado
Profession Entrepreneur, Politician
Religion Roman Catholic
P?o de Jesus Pico IV (May 5, 1801 ?– September 11, 1894) was the last Mexican Governor of Alta California.
P?o Pico was born at the Mission San Gabriel Arc?¡ngel to Jos?© Mar?a Pico and Mar?a Eustaquia Guti?©rrez with the aid of midwife Eulalia P?©rez de Guill?©n Marin?©. He was the fourth of ten children of mixed ancestry (Pico had African, Native American, Spanish blood). His grandmother was listed in the 1790 census as mulatta. His grandfather was among the soldiers accompanying Juan Bautista de Anza on the expedition that launched from Tubac, Arizona for California around 1775 with the intent to explore and colonize. After the death of his father in 1819 he settled in San Diego, California. He married Mar?a Ignacia Alvarado on February 24, 1834.
Business life
Pico set up a tanning hut and dram shop in 1821 at Los Angeles, selling a drink for two bits (25 cents). Some of those drinks were served to unwitting customers from hollowed out ox-horns sporting false wooden bottoms. His retailing businesses became a significant source of income.
By the 1850s Pico was one of the richest men of Mexican Alta California. In 1850 he purchased the 8,894-acre (3,600 hectare) Rancho Paso de Bartolo Viejo, which included half of present day Whittier. He built a home on this ranch in 1852 and lived there until 1892. Today, his home is preserved as Pio Pico State Historic Park. Pico also owned the former Mission San Fernando Rey de Espa?±a, Rancho Santa Margarita y Las Flores (now part of Camp Pendleton), and several other ranchos totaling over one half-million acres, or 800 mi?² (2,000 km?²).
In Los Angeles, he constructed the three story, 33-room hotel, Pico House (Casa de Pico) on the old plaza, opposite today's Olvera Street. At the time of its opening in 1869, it was the most extravagant and lavish hotel in Southern California. However, even before 1900, it began a slow decline along with the surrounding neighborhood, as the business center moved further south. After decades of serving as a shabby flop house, it was deeded to the State of California in 1953, and is now a part of El Pueblo de Los Angeles State Historic Monument. It is currently used on occasion for exhibits and special events.
[edit] Political life
Pico served twice as Governor of Alta California, taking office the first time from Manuel Victoria in 1832, when Victoria was deposed for refusing to follow through with orders to secularize mission properties. As governor pro tempore and Vocal of the Departmental Assembly, he set forth with secularization, handing the reins of governor to Zamorano and Echeandia to respectively govern the north and south after only twenty days in office. In 1844 he was chosen as a leader of the California Assembly, and began his second term as governor, succeeding the unpopular Manuel Micheltorena in 1845. Pico made Los Angeles the state capital. In the year leading up to the Mexican-American War, Governor Pico was outspoken in favor of California becoming a British Protectorate rather than American territory.
He actively challenged the government of Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado (1837 to 1849) and was imprisoned on several occasions. During the Mexican-American War, when U.S. troops occupied Los Angeles and San Diego in 1846, Pico fled to Baja California, Mexico, to argue a case for sending troops to defend California before the Mexican Congress as well as prevent himself being taken prisoner. After the war, Pico returned to Los Angeles in 1848, successfully surviving the Mexican-American transition.
