Chaves, J. Francisco, 1833-1904

<p>Like many of his 19th-century contemporaries, three-term Territorial Delegate José Francisco Chaves, used his distinguished military service as a route to political office. A prominent militia commander and a Union officer during the Civil War, Chaves began as a local power broker working with key politicians in Santa Fe. Elected to Congress at the end of the Civil War, Chaves emerged as a strong supporter of New Mexican statehood when he made a memorable speech on the House Floor. In an open letter to constituents, Chaves pointed out the disadvantages of New Mexico’s remaining a territorial possession. “You are not the owners of your own laws or of your own servants [political representatives],” Chaves declared. “Therefore, you are not essentially a free people, but rather a subordinate, dependent community, governed … by the pleasure or whim of men who live far from your borders, who in their public actions towards you are sometimes governed by individual influences and rarely act with due concern for your true condition and your needs.”</p>

<p>José Francisco Chaves was born on June 27, 1833, in Los Padillas, Bernalillo County, New Mexico, to Mariano Chaves and Dolores Perea. Like their cousins Francisco and Pedro Perea, the Chaves family played a prominent role in New Mexico’s military and political affairs. Chaves’s paternal grandfather, Francisco Xavier Chaves, was governor of New Mexico after Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821. Chaves’s father was a prominent military officer and an aide to Mexican general Manuel Armijo, who suppressed the Pueblo Revolt of 1837. José Chaves was educated in Chihuahua, Santa Fe, and St. Louis. Like the sons of many elites in New Mexico, Chaves attended college in Missouri, studying at St. Louis University from 1841 to 1846. “The heretics are going to over-run all this country,” Mariano Chaves told his son before sending him to St. Louis. “Go and learn their language and come back prepared to defend your people.” Chaves returned to New Mexico and may have fought in the Mexican-American War. Afterward, he completed his education in New York, attending private academies in New York City and in Fishkill. He also studied medicine for one year at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City before returning to New Mexico in 1852. From 1853 to 1857, he managed the family ranch. Chaves married Mary Bowie of California in 1857, and they raised a daughter, Lola, and a son, Francisco. After Mary died in 1874, Chaves married Mariana Armijo and adopted her son, James. Mariana passed away in 1895.</p>

<p>Chaves’s career in local politics began at the same time he became active in territorial military affairs. In 1859 and 1860, he took part in military expeditions against hostile Navajos, whose attacks on U.S. settlements resulted in approximately 300 deaths and $1.5 million in stolen property. Chaves had been elected to the Ninth Legislative Assembly (1859–1860) as a representative of Valencia County, but because of his military commitment, he served just one term. At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Chaves served as a major in a volunteer regiment of the First New Mexico Infantry to defend the territory against a Confederate army led by General Henry Sibley. During the war, Chaves served at Fort Union, near Santa Fe, and at Fort Craig. He also fought in the Battle of Valverde and in skirmishes near Albuquerque. Chaves was promoted to a lieutenant colonel for his service.</p>

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CHAVES, José Francisco, (cousin of Francisco Perea, cousin of Pedro Perea), a Delegate from the Territory of New Mexico; born in Padillas, Mexico (now New Mexico), June 27, 1833; attended schools in St. Louis, Mo.; studied medicine at the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons; engaged in the stock-raising business in the Territory of New Mexico; president of the Territorial council for eight sessions; major of the First New Mexico Infantry in the Union Army during the Civil War; promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel; took part in the Battle of Valverde in 1862; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-ninth Congress (March 4, 1865-March 3, 1867); successfully contested the election of Charles P. Clever to the Fortieth Congress; reelected to the Forty-first Congress and served from February 20, 1869, to March 3, 1871; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1870 to the Forty-second Congress; engaged in farming and stock raising; district attorney of the second judicial district 1875-1877; member and president of the State constitutional convention in 1889; State superintendent of public instruction from 1903 until his death; appointed State historian of New Mexico in 1903, but died before his term of service began; assassinated in Pinos Wells (near Cedar Vale, Torrance County), N.Mex., November 26, 1904; interment in the United States National Cemetery at Santa Fe, N.Mex.

<p>José Francisco Chaves (June 27, 1833 – November 26, 1904) was a nineteenth-century military leader, politician, lawyer and rancher from the New Mexico Territory.</p>

<p>José Francisco Chaves was born on June 27, 1833 in Los Padillas, New Mexico (then in the Departmento de Nuevo México of the United Mexican States) in what is now Bernalillo County, near Albuquerque, New Mexico. His father was Don Mariano Chaves and his mother Dolores Perea was the daughter of Don Pedro Jose Perea of Bernalillo. She later married Dr. Henry Connelly, who became Territorial New Mexico governor during the Civil War. José's father, Don Mariano Chaves, was chief of staff under Governor Manuel Armijo in the revolution of 1837 and inspector general of all the military forces of New Mexico. Don Mariano later served as pro-tem governor under Mexican rule in the absence of governor Armijo. José Francisco was a paternal grandson of Don Francisco Xavier Chávez, the first Governor (1822–1823) of the Departmento de Nuevo México under the independent First Mexican Empire shortly after Mexican War of Independence from Spain ended in 1821. José was also a first cousin of Francisco Perea and of Pedro Perea. Related to the Chaves Family of Fall River in Massachusetts.</p>

<p>José Francisco Chaves attended schools in St. Louis, Missouri, studied medicine at the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons and engaged in livestock raising in the New Mexico Territory. He married Mary Bowie in 1857, who died in 1874, leaving two children, Lola and Francesca. The former married Mariano Armijo, descendant of a prominent family of Bernalillo county, NM. The latter died in 1895.</p>

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