Los Angeles County, CA, Biographies

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives 
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


EX-GOVERNOR PIO PICO.
 
        The last Governor of Alta or Upper California under the Spanish or 
Mexican regime, was born at the Mission of San Gabriel, May 5, 1801.  He was the 
son of Jos� M. Pico, Sergeant of the artillery company stationed at the Presidio 
of San Diego, and Do�a Maria Eustaquia Gutierrez. Sergeant Pico died at San 
Gabriel in 1819, and his wife in 1846. Don Pio's recollections of persons and 
events in California, extending over the period of nearly a century, are very 
vivid and are of great interest, as he took an active part in public affairs 
during much of the time.  Only the barest skeleton sketch of them are recorded 
in these brief notes of his life. He remembers the great earthquake of 1812 that 
destroyed the unfinished church of San Juan Capistrano, with many lives. He 
remembers that in 1810 his father was put in prison, because of talk in the 
company of which he was Sergeant, of Mexican independence, which was then much 
agitated throughout Mexico. His
brother, General Andres Pico, who was also a conspicuous character in 
California's early history, was born in 1810. The latter acted as General in the 
defense of the country when invaded by the United States, and he signed the 
peace agreement with General Fremont. General Pico and General Fremont were good 
friends
in after years. A sister (Maria) of Don Pio, born in 1804, married Ortega, and 
was still alive in this city only a short time ago. Two sisters married in 
succession Jos� A. Carrillo, and the second lived to a very old age. Still 
another sister, Do�a Ysadora, married Don Juan Forster. An elder brother, Jos� 
Antonio Pico, was a soldier at Monterey; he died at Santa Margarita some years 
ago. Don Pio remembers that in 1818 his father was sent to San Gabriel on 
account of a rising of the Neophytes of the mission; and that the same year he 
was recalled to San Diego to assist in the defense of that port against some 
pirates. In 1821 Don Pio was employed by his brother-in-law, Jos� Antonio 
Carrillo, to take twenty-five barrels of brandy to distribute among the 
Missionary Fathers of the northern part of the Territory, as a particular 
present from Carrillo, who was one of the most influential and capable men of 
that epoch in California. In 1828 Don Pio was appointed secretary of a 
commission, of which Captain Portilla was the head, which was ordered by 
Governor Echandia to try some charges against a Mexican citizen, Luis Bringas, 
in which the question of the precedence of the civil over the military authority 
came up and was vehemently contested. In 1831 Pico, with others, joined in 
resisting the aggressive course of General Victoria; and on the 30th of November 
they issued a "Pronunciamento," and they gained the adhesion of all the military 
companies at San Diego. General Echandia placed himself at the head of the 
revolutionary force. He dispatched fifty men under Captain Portilla to Los 
Angeles, with orders to imprison the Alcalde Vicente Sanchez and set at liberty 
several citizens whom he had illegally imprisoned. Captain Portilla, on his 
arrival in Los Angeles, carried out the orders of his superior. The same day 
that Captain Portilla arrived in the pueblo, General Victoria, on his way south 
from Monterey, reached the mission of San Fernando, where he stayed over night. 
The next day an engagement took place between the two forces, just west of the 
city, which resulted partly in favor of Victoria, who, however, was seriously 
wounded; and also in the lamentable loss of two good citizens, viz: Jos� M. 
Abila and Captain Pacheco.
Victoria retired to San Gabriel, and the next day surrendered to Portilla. Don 
Pio was Governor at the time of the change of Government, and did his best to 
defend the Territory, but the contest was a hopeless one, especially after the 
capture of the National capital by the American army. Both he and Don Andres 
accepted the inevitable, and became good American citizens. General Pico died 
some years ago; and Governor Pico, now almost the last of his family, is still 
hale and robust at the age of eighty-eight; and he may be seen on our streets, a 
striking figure; although his hair and full beard are white, and his appearance 
is venerable, he seems as vigorous and courtly as a cavalier of twenty-five.
 
An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California �  Chicago, The Lewis 
Publishing Company, 1889   Page 589
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler