Pio Pico: The Last Governor of Mexican California

by Carlos Manuel Salomon

Two-time governor of Alta, California and prominent businessman after the U.S. annexation, Pío de Jesus Pico was a politically savvy Californio who thrived in both the Mexican and the American periods. This is the first biography of Pico, whose life vibrantly illustrates the opportunities and risks faced by Mexican Americans in those transitional years. Carlos Manuel Salomon breathes life into the story of Pico, who—despite his mestizo-black heritage—became one of the wealthiest men in California thanks to real estate holdings and who was the last major Californio political figure with economic clout. Salomon traces Pico’s complicated political rise during the Mexican era, leading a revolt against the governor in 1831 that swept him into that office. During his second governorship in 1845 Pico fought in vain to save California from the invading forces of the United States. Pico faced complex legal and financial problems under the American regime. Salomon argues that it was Pico’s legal struggles with political rivals and land-hungry swindlers that ultimately resulted in the loss of Pico’s entire fortune. Yet as the most litigious Californio of his time, he consistently demonstrated his refusal to become a victim. Pico is an important transitional figure whose name still resonates in many Southern California locales. His story offers a new view of California history that anticipates a new perspective on the multicultural fabric of the state.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography

248 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 2011

Reviews

[Aline Ohanesian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a well researched history of a fascinating man, Pio Pico, the last governor of Mexican California. Pico's life spanned 3 different eras of California history, the Spanish colonial period, Mexican independence, and California as a part of the United States. The author gives enough history of the time and region to ground the reader, but maintains his focus on the unbelievable life of his subject.

[Daniel Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cool book about a man I knew nothing about - Pío Pico, the last governor of Mexican California.

Despite the tagline, most of Pío's life was spent NOT being a governor but instead being either a poor young man under Spanish rule or a wealthy ranch and land magnate under American rule. It is cool to see that his experiences spanned from the Spanish Empire right up to the 1890s America.

This is a straightforward biography - clear writing, the perfect amount of detail while keeping the story flowing, some photos now-and-then. You do get a sense of Pío's experiences, and the author even points out his flaws (how he treated Indian laborers; how he kept wandering into bad deals trying to help people).

Here are some segments that I enjoyed.

Chapter 1 talks about Pío's family background and his early life. He was a military brat! His father was part of the militia, so he grew up near the military encampment and spent time at one of the Missions.

There is also an interesting incident in Chapter 4 (page 86 - 90), where effectively Pío tricked a missionary father into agreeing to secularize the missions. The fate of the missions (and the Mission Indians) was one of the major questions in Mexican California, and Pío pursued their liquidation. The author also included the Indians' complaints against Pío and his abuses, as well as the methods they chose to resist him. While they aren't the focus of this book, it was really interesting to read how the indigenous peoples resisted their oppression by the Mexican government.

One note is that the author seems keen on interpreting Pío's life story as NOT affected by the systemic efforts to strip Californios of their property. I'm not sure I agree with the author's statement "His ultimate demise was more associated with corrupt and cunning individuals who conspired to destroy the old governor than a systemic process aimed at destroying the Californios" (p. 171) since there was such a process in place across the state. To me this is an . . . interesting interpretation given the literal conspiracies - enumerated by the author - of Anglo lawyers, judges, and landowners who coordinated to strip Pío of his property. Although to the author's point, Pío's wealth and influence was significant enough that for decades he was able to avoid any issues with California's anti-Black laws (p. 116). But I still slightly disagree with the author's interpretation.

My favorite chapter is Chapter 7 - "The Making of an American Don". This is the story of Pío's numerous business ventures, loans and investments, failures and betrayals by others. This is especially entertaining because of the ridiculous amount of family drama. Lawsuits over property, accusations of mistresses and illegitimate children swirling on all sides, changing testimony, a wayward brother with a gambling addiction. It's of course unfortunate that they couldn't all be a big happy family, but as a reader this is as great as any telenovela! It is astounding to read about the sums involved, which are enormous even now in 2022.

Finally, the concluding chapter had a very interesting segment about how Pío rejected attending the World's Fair because he did not want to be treated like a display animal (p. 177).

This was a good read. If you want a short biography of a man with long live, diverse experiences, strengths and flaws, and a lot of drama, then I'd recommend this.

[Ryan Copping · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pio Pico is an fascinating historical figure that I had not heard of. I am glad that this book exists to tell us of this fascinating man’s extraordinary life, but I did come away disapointed. The research is flawless, but only a few pages are spent on Pico’s personality and relationships outside of politics and business. I missed these things and although I could now probably pass a test on Pio Pico, I don’t feel like I had much of a sense of who he was as a person as opposed to what he did or what happened to him.

[alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating read about a character in California's long history. One who is often not discussed. This book provided insight into the pivotal character, Pio Pico. The book reads as more of a scholastic or scholarly text so there's not a lot of drama here. It reads kind of dry, but still this is a fascinating and important piece of California's earliest history and I'd recommend it to anyone who's interested.

[Nate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have lived a few miles from Pio Pico's home at El Ranchito for over 20 years, but I never knew how interesting his story was. He is life was a reflection of California's diverse history. Born to a poor family of mixed African, Spanish, and Native American heritage in Spanish California, he ended his life a member of the Republican party. At one time, he owned hundreds of thousands of acres of California land, but because of his own pride, naivete, and racist litigators, he lost nearly everything.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Valuable read to learn about California, its peoples and places, 1770s to 1900s. Learned much about Californios and their role in shaping the state.

[Steven Yoder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pio Pico, as a young man, helped California become virtually independent within the country of Mexico. After the Mexican War, he became a wealthy businessman in Los Angeles. In his later years, his penchant for signing loan agreements without understanding exactly what he was agreeing to, ended up with him losing all of his land. He was an important person in the history of California.