Romualdo Pacheco

José Antonio Romualdo Pacheco, Jr. (October 31, 1831 – January 23, 1899) was a Californio politician and diplomat. Involved in California state and federal politics, Pacheco was elected and appointed to various posts and offices throughout his more than thirty-year career, including the California State Senate, the 12th governor of California, and three terms in the United States House of Representatives. Pacheco remains the only Hispanic or Latino governor in the state's history as part of the U.S. He was also the state's first governor to be born in California and the only governor to be born in the state before statehood. Pacheco represented California in the United States House of Representatives from March 4, 1877 to February 7, 1878, and from March 4, 1879 to March 3, 1883. He was the first Hispanic Representative from a U.S. state; several others had previously served as delegates for U.S. territories and as such did not have full voting privileges.

Early years

José Antonio Romualdo Pacheco, Jr. was a Californio, born in Santa Barbara, California to a prominent Alta California family. His father, Captain José Antonio Romualdo Pacheco, had moved to Alta California from Guanajuato, Mexico in 1825, and served as an aide to Governor José María de Echeandía. Captain Pacheco was killed at the Battle of Cahuenga Pass in 1831, when the young Romualdo was just five weeks old. His mother, Maria Ramona Carrillo de Pacheco, was a sister-in-law of General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, and a daughter of Maria Ygnacia Lopez de Carrillo, the grantee of Rancho Cabeza de Santa Rosa. After the death of his father, Romualdo's mother married Captain John D. Wilson, a Scotsman, who sent Pacheco to Honolulu, Hawaii for his education.