Information AboutPío Pico |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT PíO PICO | |
| 1801 births | |
| 1894 deaths | |
| californios | |
| governors of california | |
| history of los angeles | |
| mexican american politicians | |
| spanish mexicans | |
| SHOPPER'S DELIGHT | |
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Pío de Jesus Pico IV ( May 5 , 1801 – September 11 , 1894 ) was the last Mexican Governor of Alta California . ORIGINS Pío Pico was born 1801 at the San Gabriel Mission to José María Pico and María Eustaquia Gutiérrez; the midwife was Eulalia Perez De Guillen Marine . His father was one of the soldiers accompanying Juan Bautista De Anza in the expedition that started off from Tubac, Arizona for California around 1775 with the intention of exploring and colonizing the area. After his father died in 1819 he moved to San Diego . He was the fourth of ten children of the marriage and his ancestry comes from a mixture of African blood, native American, European Spanish, and other roots. Pio Pico's grandmother was listed as a Mulatto in the 1790 census. On February 24 , 1834 Pío Pico married María Ignacia Alvarado. BUSINESS LIFE Pico setup a hide tanning hut and dram shop in 1821 at Los Angeles, selling a drink for two bits (25 cents). He introduced the idea of using ox-horns to drink from, which had a false wooden bottom to reduce the liquor sold. His business as a retailer increasingly became an important source of capital. By 1850s, Pico possessed ex- Mission San Fernando and several ranchos totaling over a half-million acres (2000 km²) of land. In San Diego he was proprietor Rancho Rancho Santa Margarita y Rancho Las Flores, now Camp Pendleton . At the time he was one of richest men of Mexican Alta California . In Los Angeles , he constructed a 33-room mansion, ''Casa de Pico'' on today's Olvera street. It was one of the first and more important homes of the city. In 1850 he bought Rancho Paso de Bartolo Viejo, where he built is home in 1852 and lived there until 1892. Pico built the Pico House, the first three-story hotel during 1867–1870. POLITICAL LIFE In 1832, Pico became Senior Vocal of the State Assembly, and was chosen Governor of Alta California after Manuel Victoria was expelled. He ran for the first Alcalde (Mayor) of San Diego in 1834 but was defeated. He was active against Governor Alvarado 's government during 1837–1839 and was imprisoned multiple times. In 1844 he was chosen as a leader of the California Assembly, and during 1845–1846, became Governor, succeeding the unpopular governor Manuel Micheltorena . Pico made Los Angeles the state capital then. During the Mexican-American War , when U.S. Troops occupied Los Angeles and San Diego in 1846, Pico fled to Baja California , Mexico, to prevent being taken prisoner. After the war, Pico returned to Los Angeles in 1848, successfully surving the Mexican-American transition after the signing of the Treaty Of Guadalupe Hidalgo . In 1853 he was elected to the Los Angeles Common Council , but did not assume office. EPILOGUE After the Mexican-American War Pico was dedicated himself to his businesses until his death. Pico's gambling, and his losses and loan sharks, along with a 1883 flood, bad business, and fraud from other businessmen, ruined him financially and forced him to sell his land holdings. He died in poverty shortly after his land was sold, in 1894, in the home of his daughter Joaquina Pico Moreno in Los Angeles. He was buried in a modest tomb in El Campo Santo Cemetery at the Homestead Museum in the present City Of Industry . Pico had three nationalities during his life: he was born a Creole in New Spain , was later a Mexican citizen, then an United States citizen. He was known for his extravagant lifestyle, with fine clothes, expensive furnishings, and heavy gambling. In 1927 Pio Pico State Historic Park was created from the ruins of his Rancho de Bartolo (or "El Ranchito") in Whittier . and Casa Pico mansion. Pico Boulevard, a major east-west thoroughfare in Los Angeles, is named after the governor. An Elementary and Junior High School in Los Angeles' Koreatown district is also named in his honor. QUOTE What are we to do then? Shall we remain supine, while these daring strangers are overrunning our fertile plains, and gradually outnumbering and displacing us? Shall these incursions go on unchecked, until we shall become strangers in our own land? SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINK
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