Don Antonio María Pico was a Californio politician, ranchero, and a signer of the California Constitution in 1849.[1] He also served twice as Alcalde of San José.[2]
Biography
Antonio María Pico, a member of the prominent Pico family of California, was born in 1808 in Monterey, California.[1] He was a son of José Dolores Pico and his wife, the former Maria Ysabel de la Asención Cota.
In 1824, Pico left Monterey to serve as a bookkeeper at Mission San Juan Capistrano.
He served as Alcalde of San José (mayor of San Jose) in 1835 and 1844–1845.[3][4][2]
Governor Manuel Micheltorena granted Rancho Pescadero (present day city of Tracy, California) in 1843.
He was elected as a delegate for Santa Clara County to the Monterey Constitutional Convention of 1849 and was a signer of the California Constitution.[1]
In 1859, he led a petition of Californio rancheros to the U.S. Congress describing their taxation as unduly high.[5]
He was elected to the Electoral College in 1860 as an elector for Abraham Lincoln.[1]
Pico died in San José on 23 May 1869.
References
- ^ a b c d Online Archive of California – Antonio Maria Pico correspondence : San Jose, California, 1853–1854
- ^ a b History of California: 1825–1840
- ^ Hoover, Mildred B.; Rensch, Hero; Rensch, Ethel; Abeloe, William N. (1966). Historic Spots in California. Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-4482-9.
- ^ Oscar T. Shuck,1870, "Representative & Leading Men of the Pacific", Bacon & Co., Printers & Publishers, San Francisco, pages 631-634
- ^ University of Houston: Digital History – The Public Land Commission
