Pío Pico

Pío de Jesús Pico IV (May 5, 1801 – September 11, 1894) was a Californio politician, ranchero, and entrepreneur, famous for serving as the last governor of Alta California under Mexican rule from 1845 to 1846. He briefly held the governorship during a disputed period in 1832. A member of the prominent Pico family of California, he was one of the wealthiest men in California at the time and a hugely influential figure in Californian society, continuing as a citizen of the nascent U.S. state of California. His legacy can be seen in the numerous places named after him, such as the city of Pico Rivera, Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles, Pio Pico State Historic Park, and numerous schools that bear his name.

Early years

Ancestry

Pío Pico was of Native American, Spanish, Italian, and African ancestry. His earliest known ancestor is the Count Mazzi, who lived during the early 1600s in the town of Pico in Central Italy. Pico's great grandfather, the Spanish-born Pío de Jesús Pico III, likely came to Mexico during the first or second decade of the 18th century. Pico's paternal grandmother, María Jacinta Vastida, was listed in the 1790 census as a mulata (Spanish-African). His paternal grandfather, Santiago de la Cruz Pico, was described as a mestizo (Native American-Spanish) in the same census. Santiago was one of the soldiers who accompanied Juan Bautista de Anza on the expedition that left Tubac, Arizona for California in 1775 to explore the region and colonize it. Santiago and María Jacinta were from the provinces of what are now Sinaloa and Sonora.

Birth and childhood

Pío de Jesús Pico IV was born at Mission San Gabriel Arcángel on May 5, 1801, to José María Pico and his wife María Eustaquia Gutiérrez, with the aid of midwife Eulalia Pérez de Guillén Mariné. He was the fourth of his parents' ten children, and their second son. Among his siblings was his younger brother General Andrés Pico, born in 1810. In 1805, the family moved to San Diego. José María Pico worked as a guard for mission communities, and would move to different missions as his work required. Pío Pico spent much of his childhood outside the tiny settlement of Mission San Diego. There, he received a modest education. He often read from the Bible at Mass, and felt the immense presence of the church, as it dominated the economy, although he was not profoundly religious. At the Presidio of San Diego, José Antonio Carrillo, who later married Pico's sister Estéfana, taught Pico how to read. This would be important to his career, as California law required literacy among elected officials. Carrillo would have a great influence on Pico's youth and political rise. He took an interest in his father's work, and in 1815, he was temporarily placed in charge of the mission guards by local officials while his father was away. His father and other guards defended the missions from rebellions by Native Californians, who resented being forced to convert to Christianity as part of attempts to "civilize" them. The Spanish government gave plots of land for housing and agriculture to some of the settlers in the area, and used them as incentives to recruit soldiers. José María Pico was never given any plots. José María eventually began to support the Mexican War of Independence from Spain. In 1811, he and sixty other soldiers were arrested by Spanish authorities on charges of conspiracy and imprisoned. He was eventually released, and the family moved back to San Gabriel. However, José María died in September 1819 in the same mission in which his son had been born. After this, Pío Pico was left in charge of his large family, and would have to continue without owning any land, which would remain a necessary component for entering California politics.

Mexican independence

Following his father's death, Pico moved back to San Diego around the year 1820. He became a merchant, selling liquor, groceries, and dry goods. He would open a general store where he also sold furniture and mules. His occupation also allowed him to travel the state and meet notable Californios. Pico's sisters married into prominent California families, which would be important to Pico's political rise. He kept close connections with these families. These marriages also gave the Pico family their first sense of financial security. Concepción Pico married Domingo Carrillo in 1810, María Casimira Pico married José Joaquín Ortega in 1821, and Estéfana married José Antonio Carrillo in 1823. In 1824, Pío and Andrés Pico built their mother a home by Presidio Hill in San Diego. After Mexico's successful independence in 1821, the First Mexican Empire was created. However, Mexico's emperor, Agustín de Iturbide, clashed with liberal revolutionary generals such as Guadalupe Victoria, Vicente Guerrero, and Antonio López de Santa Anna, who resisted Iturbide's conservative policies. In 1823, Iturbide was forced to abdicate amid revolts, and soon after, the First Mexican Republic was created. Two rival factions developed: Liberals and Centralists. Centralists believed that Mexico's states should be controlled by an elitist government, as well as the continued heavy influence of the Catholic Church. Liberals wanted Mexico to become a federal republic, where the federal government shared power with the states, and supported secular education. California leaned more towards liberalism, as their political culture had developed largely separately from the federal government seated in Mexico City. Pico was eventually appointed as the secretary to a captain named Pablo de la Portillà. In 1827, Portillà charged merchant Luis Brigas with misappropriation of funds, and brought the matter to a military tribunal. Brigas defended himself by stating that, "the civilians were the sacred core of the nation and that the military were nothing more than servants". The response affected Pico so much that he broke the line of command and sided with Brigas, which resulted in Pico temporarily being placed in jail. The incident was the beginning of Pico's support for liberalism and the first major political event of his life. Pico also became a supporter of California's liberal governor, José María de Echeandía, who became California's governor in 1825. Echeandía was a supporter of secularization, which would involve releasing natives from Church control and redistributing excess land to them.

Early political career

Diputado

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.