| Octaviano Ambrosio Larrazolo |
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Information AboutOctaviano Ambrosio Larrazolo |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT OCTAVIANO AMBROSIO LARRAZOLO | |
| 1859 births | |
| larrazolo, octaviano ambrosio | |
| 1930 deaths | |
| united states senators from new mexico | |
| governors of new mexico | |
| members of the new mexico house of representatives | |
| mexican american politicians | |
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EARLY LIFE Larrazolo was born in El Valle de San Bartolo (now Allende ) in what is now the state of Chihuahua , Mexico , on December 7 , 1859 . He came from, apparently, upper class surroundings. His grandfather, José Maria Larrazolo, was a very wealthy business man of the town, and his mother, Donaciana Corral de Larrazolo, was educated at some of the finest schools in Mexico. At the age of ten, in November of 1870, Larrazolo left Mexico for the Arizona Territory with Father Bernal and Archbishop J.B. Salpointe - who was the second Archbishop Of Santa Fe and the first Archbishop Of Arizona . Bishop Salpointe sponsored Larrazolo's education and was a benefactor, mentor, and friend during the early part of his life. Salpointe's influence on Octaviano is perhaps what made him such a devout Catholic throughout his life. Larrazolo attended school in Las Cruces, New Mexico for two years at a parochial institution established by Salpointe in 1873. On March 21 , 1875 , Larrazolo arrived at Santa Fe, New Mexico where Salpointe enrolled him the next day as a boarding student at St. Michael's College (now College Of Santa Fe ). ADULTHOOD In 1876, after a year and half of study at St. Michael's, Larrazolo completed his formal education, having become proficient in English and excelling in public speaking. With the advice and support of Bishop Salpointe, Larrazolo decided to move to San Elizario, Texas in El Paso County where he became a school teacher by order of County Judge G.N. Garcia, February 23 , 1878 . In 1879, Larrazolo invited his parents to move to San Elizario where he continued teaching and farming. On April 25 , 1881 , he married Rosalia Cobos. After the death of his father in 1882 and the birth of his first child in 1883, Larrazolo decided to become an attorney. He became a United States citizen in 1884, and in 1885 he left the teaching profession for the appointed position of clerk of the United States County Circuit and District Court at El Paso, Texas. By 1886, Larrazolo was elected to his first public office, District Court Clerk of El Paso County. In 1888, he moved to El Paso and was admitted into the Texas bar to practice law. In 1889, he was elected district attorney for the 34th Judicial District of Texas at El Paso. In March 1891, his wife Rosalia died. Larrazolo was left with the responsibility of raising his family and extended family. After one and half years as a widower, he married Maria Garcia in August 1892. When his mother died in 1893, he began considering the business and political opportunities in New Mexico, and in 1895 Octaviano and Maria Larrazolo moved their family to Las Vegas, New Mexico . POLITICAL CAREER Larrazolo established a law office in Las Vegas where he also became involved in civic and public affairs and in the Democratic party. He put his public speaking ability to good effect and was known as the "silver-tongued orator" throughout the Southwest. By the 1900s he had developed a wide reputation as a successful attorney and public speaker. In 1900, he was asked to run as the Democratic party candidate for delegate to the Congress of the United States, but was defeated by Bernard Shadon Rodey . Continuing his law practice in Las Vegas, Larrazolo also wrote extensively in Spanish for such newspapers as ''La Voz del Pueblo'' and ''Revista Catolica''. His newspaper articles and speeches stressed the need for more and better educational facilities in the territory and strongly advocated bilingualism. In 1906, Governor Of The New Mexico Territory , Miguel Otero , appointed Larrazolo to the Board of Regents of the New Mexico Normal University. He was persuaded to run again as the Democratic candidate for Congress. The outcome was the same as in 1900, with Larrazolo losing by small margins in highly contested races in 1906 and again in 1908. By 1910, the issue of statehood occupied much of his time. He worked diligently to include safeguards for the rights of "Spanish-Americans" in the drafting of the constitution. Because of the opposition of the Democratic party to the 1910 Constitution of New Mexico, and particularly to their opposition to bilingual education, Larrazolo changed parties. On November 5 , 1918 , Larrazolo was elected as the first Republican governor of New Mexico. He worked on issues relating to education, particularly bilingual education; hemispheric solidarity between the United States and the countries of Latin America, especially with Mexico; public health; employment for returning war veterans; the Rio Grande water conservancy district; problems of farmers; women suffrage; highway construction; the mining industry; and the rights of labor and management. Larrazolo also worked on issues concerning public lands and federal ownership and was associated with the Good Roads Association, which elected him president in 1922. He was not nominated to a second term as Governor of New Mexico. In 1921, Larrazolo moved back to El Paso to open a law office with Nick Meyer, attending to business in the area as well as in the Republic of Mexico. However, by 1922 he was back in New Mexico, having opened a law office in Albuquerque . He continued handling business matters in El Paso and Mexico and working for the " Progressive " movement and against " Bossism " in New Mexico. In 1926, Larrazolo became the Republican candidate for State House of Representatives, and was elected to that position. In 1928, Senator Andrieus A. Jones died in office. His seat was temporarily filled by Bronson M. Cutting , but due to opposition within the legislature, the state was forced to hold a special election for the six months that remained in Jones' term. At the age of sixty-nine, Larrazolo was elected by the state of New Mexico as the first native of Mexico, the first Latin American to be elected to the United States Senate. Larrazolo enjoyed the distinction of being the only native of Mexico elected governor of the state of New Mexico and became the only Mexican native elected to the upper House of the United States Congress, where he continued to press for better education in the state of New Mexico and for the ceding of federally held public lands in the West to the states themselves. Octaviano A. Larrazolo died on April 7 , 1930 and was interred in Santa Barbara Cemetery in Albuquerque, New Mexico .
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