Perea, Francisco, 1830-1913

PEREA, Francisco, (cousin of José Francisco Chaves, cousin of Pedro Perea), a Delegate from the Territory of New Mexico; born in Los Padillas, N.Mex. (then in the Republic of Mexico), January 9, 1830; attended select schools in Bernalillo County and at Santa Fe 1836-1839; enrolled at the Jesuit College, St. Louis, Mo., 1843-1845 and received collegiate training at the Bank Street Academy in New York City 1847-1849; from 1850 to 1864 was engaged in stock raising and commercial pursuits and in carrying merchandise by mule train from St. Louis and Independence, Mo., to Mexico; member of the Territorial council in 1858, 1866, and 1884; during the Civil War served as lieutenant colonel of Perea's Battalion in 1861 and 1862; delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1864; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1863-March 3, 1865); unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1864; moved from Bernalillo County to Jemez Springs, Sandoval County, N.Mex., in 1881; proprietor of the springs and a hotel; postmaster of Jemez Springs 1894-1905; moved to Albuquerque, N.Mex., in 1906 and died there May 21, 1913; interment in Fairview Cemetery.

<p>Francisco Perea capitalized on his family’s prominence and his military service to propel his career in territorial and national politics. The first Republican Hispanic-American Member of Congress, he dedicated his single term as Territorial Delegate to serving his constituents and containing the Indian threat to settlers by championing a controversial reservation system.</p>

<p>Perea was born in Las Padillas, New Mexico, on January 9, 1830, to Juan Perea and Josefa Chaves de Perea. Perea’s maternal grandfather, Francisco Xavier Chaves, was Mexico’s governor of the New Mexico province in the 1820s, and two of Perea’s maternal uncles eventually succeeded his grandfather. Perea’s father served in the Fourth Departmental Congress in 1846 and in the New Mexico Legislative Assembly in 1852 and 1857. After the U.S. war with Mexico, José Leandro, Perea’s paternal uncle, represented Bernalillo County in the First Legislative Assembly. Years later, his cousins Pedro Perea and José Francisco Chaves would serve as New Mexico’s Legislative Delegates to the U.S. Congress. Francisco studied at a local Bernalillo school in 1836 and 1837. He and his cousin José Chaves attended a Santa Fe school in 1837 and 1838, and Francisco transferred to a school in Albuquerque the following academic year. From 1839 to 1843, Perea tutored his younger siblings. Like many elite New Mexicans, he received a college education in Missouri, mastering English (again, with his cousin José F. Chaves) at Jesuit College in St. Louis from 1843 to 1845. While the Mexican-American War raged on, Perea traveled to New York City’s Bank Street Academy in 1847, completing his studies in 1849. During this sojourn, Perea and a colleague visited East Coast cities including Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C.; they also traveled to northern New York and Chicago.</p>

<p>Perea returned to New Mexico in 1850 to pursue a career in business that included ranching, trade, and commerce. He served as a distributor of manufactured goods to New Mexicans by importing products from cities such as St. Louis, and Independence, Missouri, at the head of the Santa Fe Trail. He also herded sheep to California for sale in the markets. After making a fortune selling sheep, Perea invested in the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. Perea married twice. He had 18 children with his first wife, Dolores Otero (a niece of Territorial Delegate Miguel Antonio Otero’s), whom he wed in 1851, but many of them died in infancy. Dolores died in 1866. In 1875 Perea married Gabriela Montoya, with whom he had 18 more children, but only 10 were living at the time of his death.</p>

<p>Francisco Perea (January 9, 1830 – May 21, 1913) was an American businessman and politician, serving first in the House of the New Mexico Territory after the area's acquisition by the United States following the Mexican–American War. He was a cousin of Pedro Perea, and grandson of Governor Francisco Xavier Chávez, the first Governor (1822–1823) of the Departamento de Nuevo México under the independent First Mexican Empire. Perea had a trade network along the Santa Fe Trail between St. Louis and Mexico.</p>

<p>During the American Civil War, Perea was commissioned as a Union Army lieutenant colonel, helping to defend the Territory. He was elected to serve as a delegate for the Territory of New Mexico to the 38th United States Congress from March 4, 1863, to March 3, 1865. After the war he served again in the Territorial legislature, and then as US postmaster of Jemez Springs from 1894 to 1905.</p>

<p>Perea was born January 9, 1830, in Los Padillas, New Mexico (then in the United Mexican States). This area is now within Bernalillo County, New Mexico, near Albuquerque. He was the third child of Juan Perea and his wife, Josefa Chaves de Perea, a family of Hispanos whose roots in the area dated to colonial era. He was a maternal grandson of Governor Francisco Xavier Chávez, the first Governor (1822–1823) of the Departamento de Nuevo México under the independent First Mexican Empire shortly after Mexican War of Independence from Spain ended in 1821. As a youth, Perea attended select schools in Bernalillo County from 1836 to 1837 and at Santa Fe from 1837 to 1839.</p>