Pio de Jesus Pico (5 May 1801-11 September 1894) was Governor of Alta California in 1832 (succeeding Manuel Victoria and preceding Jose Maria de Echeandia) and from 1845 to 1846 (succeeding Manuel Micheltorena and preceding John D. Sloat). In 1853, he served on the Los Angeles Common Council.
Biography[]
Pio de Jesus Pico was born in San Gabriel, Alta California, New Spain in 1801 to emigrants from Mexico, and he was the brother of Andres Pico. He first served as Governor in 1832, when Manuel Victoria was deposed for refusing to secularize mission properties. He served for just 20 days, and he was defeated in his 1834 run for Alcalde of San Diego. In 1845, he returned to serving as Governor, and he made Los Angeles the capital of Alta California. During the Mexican-American War, he fled to Baja California to ask for reinforcements, but, by the time he returned to California, it was in US hands. Pico was automatically granted US citizenship, and he became one of California's richest citizens during the 1850s. In 1853, he was elected to the Los Angeles Common Council, but he did not take office. The flood of 1883 and bad business dealings ruined him financially, and he died in 1894.