At age twelve, Pacheco began an apprenticeship aboard a tradingvessel. The Mexican–American War broke out two years later, and he was briefly held by American forces during the Conquest of California while on one trip in July 1846, as he brought cargo to Yerba Buena (modern day San Francisco). The ship he was on was searched, and he made an oath of allegiance to the United States and was released.
Pacheco's association with a prominent family in the state helped him to gain support as he entered politics in the 1850s. He was also well respected by Anglos coming into the area. Early in his political career in the 1850s, he was a Democrat. He became affiliated with the National Union Party in the 1860s, but was elected to most of his positions as a candidate for the Republican Party.
After his brief tenure as governor, Pacheco ran for a U.S. House seat in 1876, defeating incumbent Peter D. Wigginton by just one vote. Wigginton contested the election, eventually forcing Pacheco to leave in 1878 when the House Committee on Elections refused Pacheco's certificate of election. Returning to California, he went into business until winning a House seat again in September 1879. He was reelected in 1880.
Diplomacy and death
Pacheco in the 1890s
After leaving Congress, Pacheco lived on a cattleranch in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila for five years until he was appointed as U.S. Minister to various countries in Central America in 1890.
He returned to California in 1893, and he died in Oakland, at the home of his brother-in-law, in 1899. He is buried in Mountain View Cemetery.[8]
Personal life
On October 31, 1863, he married Mary McIntire, a 22-year-old playwright.[9] They had three children, Maybella Ramona, Romualdo, and Enrique.
Legacy
Pacheco not only was the first Hispanic governor of California, but (as of 2024) the only one in California's history as a state. He is also remembered for being the first Latino to represent a state in the U.S. House of Representatives. Latinos had served as non-voting delegates of territories before, but Pacheco was the first Latino member of Congress with full voting rights.
He was the last Hispanic Republican elected to represent California in the U.S. Congress until Mike Garcia was elected to represent the 25th district in a special election in May 2020,[10] although Frank Coombs, whose mother was Mexican, was a Republican U.S. representative from California from 1901 to 1903, and Mexican-American U.S. Representative Matthew G. Martínez switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party on July 27, 2000 and served in Congress as a Republican until his term concluded on January 3, 2001.
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