Otero, Mariano S. (Mariano Sabino), 1844-1904

OTERO, Mariano Sabino, (Nephew of Miguel Antonio Otero), a Delegate from the Territory of New Mexico; born in Peralta, Valencia County, N.Mex., August 29, 1844; attended private and parochial schools and St. Louis University, Missouri; engaged in commercial pursuits and stock raising, and subsequently became a banker; probate judge of Bernalillo County 1871-1879; nominated by the Democratic State convention as a candidate for Delegate to the Forty-fourth Congress, but declined; elected as a Republican to the Forty-sixth Congress (March 4, 1879-March 3, 1881); declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1880; engaged in his former business pursuits; commissioner of Bernalillo County 1884-1886; unsuccessful candidate for election in 1888 to the Fifty-first Congress and in 1890 to the Fifty-second Congress; moved to Albuquerque, N.Mex., in 1889; interested in the manufacture of sulphur and engaged in banking; died in Albuquerque, Bernalillo County, N.Mex., February 1, 1904; interment in Santa Barbara Cemetery.

<p>Mariano Sabino Otero (August 29, 1844 – February 1, 1904) was a Congressional delegate from the Territory of New Mexico, nephew of Miguel Antonio Otero (I) and cousin of Miguel Antonio Otero (II).</p>

<p>Born in Peralta, New Mexico, Otero attended private and parochial schools and St. Louis University, Missouri. He engaged in commercial pursuits and stock raising, and subsequently became a banker. He was probate judge of Bernalillo County in 1871–1879. He was also nominated by the Democratic State convention as a candidate for Delegate to the Forty-fourth Congress, but declined.</p>

<p>Otero was elected as a Republican to the Forty-sixth Congress (March 4, 1879 – March 3, 1881). He declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1880, but instead engaged in his former business pursuits.</p>

<p>A successful rancher and banker, Mariano Otero enjoyed a short-lived career in elective office that was emblematic of the web of business and familial connections among the territorial political elite. His uncle, Miguel Antonio Otero, Sr., served as New Mexico’s Delegate to the U.S. House from 1856 to 1861. His cousin, Miguel Antonio Otero, Jr., built a career as a powerful state politician, eventually becoming the only Hispanic-American governor of the New Mexico Territory. In accepting the nomination in 1878 to run as the Republican nominee for Territorial Delegate, Otero wrote, “The confidence manifested by the unanimity of my nomination arouses in me the most profound emotions of gratitude and an earnest determination to spare no effort and hesitate at no sacrifice of my personal convenience to discharge worthily the duties of the position.”1 His fleeting career at the federal level coincided with the declining influence of the Republican Party in late 19th-century New Mexico.</p>

<p>Mariano Sabino Otero was born in Peralta, Valencia County, New Mexico, on August 28, 1844, to Juan Otero and his wife, whose name is not known. He was educated in private and parochial schools in New Mexico and then studied at St. Louis University. Upon returning to New Mexico, Otero became a sheep and cattle rancher and later moved into banking. The Otero family dominated Valencia County, which at one time stretched from Texas to California. The eastern part of the county was bordered by the San José, Rio Puerco, and Rio Grande Rivers; the west was bordered by streams that flowed into the Zuñi River. The sprawling county was separated by the Continental Divide, with the Zuñi Mountains in its northwest quadrant. Mariano Otero relocated to Albuquerque and married Filomena Perea, the sister of Pedro Perea, a rising politico who eventually served as a Delegate in Congress. The couple had five children: Margarita; Frederick; Alfredo; Mariano, Jr.; and Dolores.</p>

<p>Otero became active in politics when he served as probate judge in Bernalillo County from 1871 to 1879. In 1874 state Democrats nominated him for congressional Delegate, but he declined their offer, perhaps because of the responsibilities of managing his business empire; he not only achieved great success in ranching, marketing, and commerce, but he also owned the Nuestra Señora de la Luz de los Lagunitas Land Grant, which comprised more than 39,000 acres.</p>