Romualdo Pacheco was an American politician and diplomat. He was a Governor of California.
Background
Romualdo Pacheco was born on October 31, 1831 in Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara County, California, United States. He was the second son of Lieutenant of Engineers Romualdo Pacheco, a native of Guanajuato, Mexico, who went to California in 1825 as an aide-de-camp to Governor Echeandía, and of Doña Ramona Carillo, daughter of Don Joaquin Carillo of San Diego. The period of his childhood was one of turbulence. Spanish rule had come to an end in 1822, Mexico was involved in revolutionary difficulties. In the combat at Cahuenga Pass near Los Angeles in December 1831, Lieut. Pacheco was killed, leaving a widow and two sons, Mariano and Romualdo. Doña Ramona subsequently married an English sea captain, John Wilson.
Education
In 1840 Romualdo Pacheco and his brother were sent to Honolulu for schooling.
Career
By the age of fifteen, Romualdo Pacheco was back in California, serving as supercargo on vessels in which his stepfather was interested. He was commanding a trading ship in 1846 when California passed under American control. When the state was admitted to the Union, he took the oath of allegiance to the United States and thereafter became one of the most active of its citizens. His family stood high in native California society and his English education and experience had fitted him for immediate political usefulness. He served several terms in the state Senate and also as judge of the superior court of his county. In 1863 he was appointed state treasurer by Governor Leland Stanford to fill a vacancy. By subsequent election he served in this office for four years. In 1871 he was elected lieutenant-governor of California, and upon Governor Booth's election to the United States Senate, became governor of the state in January 1875. Pacheco was the Republican candidate for the Forty-fifth Congress in 1876, for the fourth district. He was given the certificate of election and took his seat in 1877, but the House subsequently decided that his Democratic opponent had won the election by a few votes.
As a public official, Pacheco made an excellent record. While lieutenant-governor of the state, he served, ex officio, as warden of the San Quentin penitentiary, where he found conditions which he worked to ameliorate.
Pacheco was the Republican candidate again in 1878, was elected, and was reelected in 1880. His service at Washington was primarily as a member and subsequently as chairman of the committee on private land claims, a subject of much interest and litigation in California. Ending his congressional services in 1889, he was chosen by President Harrison in 1890 as American minister plenipotentiary to the Central American Republics. The next year he was accredited solely to Guatemala and Honduras. He appears to have satisfactorily represented the United States both in the settlement of the Colima dispute and in the harmonization of relations between these Republics. Subsequent to his retirement from the diplomatic service, he accepted the management of a cattle ranch in north Coahuila, Mexico, and later returned to San Francisco to engage in stock brokerage business.
Achievements
Politics
Romualdo Pacheco entered politics in the 1850s, and his party affiliation changed over time. He started his political career as a Democrat but took a stand against slavery and switched to the National Union Party. Nevertheless, Pacheco was elected to most of his positions as a candidate for the Republican Party.
Personality
Romualdo Pacheco was a strikingly handsome man, a fine horseman, and was known among all his acquaintances for his personal charm and cultivated manners. It is related in his family that his greatest pleasure was to assemble at San Luis Obispo guests from far and wide for that typical ranch hospitality in which took place the sports and the unaffected social diversions which are a part of the state's heritage from its Spanish origin.
Connections
In 1863 Romualdo Pacheco married Mary McIntire, the writer of a number of successful comedies. They had two children.