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Los Angeles Common Council
The Los Angeles Common Council was the predecessor of the Los Angeles, California, City Council. It was formed in 1850 under state law, when the city had only 1,610 residents, and it existed until 1889, when the city had about 50,400 residents and a city charter was put into effect. From 1850 through 1869, council members were elected at large under a first-past-the-post voting system, in which the top vote-getters were seated. From 1870 they were elected by electoral districts called wards. History The Los Angeles Common Council was created in 1850 as the city of Los Angeles grew from a remote town of 5,000 residents to a city of 15,000 residents. Between its creation in 1850 to 1858, the council had 7 seats and for two years after had 10 seats drawn by lots. From 1870 to 1889, the council had a ward system with three (until 1877) and five (1877 onwards) seats. The Council had various responsibilities for governing the city, including the responsibility of governing the scho ...
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Los Angeles City Council, 1889–1909
The Los Angeles City Council, 1889–1909, was the legislative body of Los Angeles, California, under the first charter of the city, granted by the Legislature in 1889. The first election under that charter was held on February 21, 1889, and the last on December 4, 1906. History In 1888, voters adopted the a city charter, which took effect in 1889, with top officials elected for two year terms. In 1909, due to the ward system leading to corruption in the City Council, citizens voted to replace the nine-ward system with an at-large system and instituted nonpartisan elections before the state constitution was amended to require it for all local elections two years later. It was succeeded by an at large-election system. Wards The city was divided into nine wards, with a councilman elected from each by plurality vote. 1st Ward ". . . northerly by the north city boundary between the Los Angeles River and the east boundary of the city; easterly by the east boundary of the city, bet ...
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Manuel Requena
Manuel Requena (1802–1876) was a Yucatán-born Californio politician who served multiple terms as Alcalde of Los Angeles (Mayor of Los Angeles). Requena became active in Los Angeles politics in the 1830s, during the Mexican era, and continued serving after the American Conquest of California until his death in the 1850s. Early life Requena was born in 1802 in the Mexican state of Yucatán, where he grew up and went on to become a successful merchant. In 1834 he moved to Los Angeles, where he quickly became an important business and political figure for the Mexican government. Political career Mexican California At one point, Requena, who was accorded the honorific Don, was appointed an election judge, but he declined, citing ill health. The ''ayuntamiento'' was about to accept it when some one reported that Don Manuel was engaged in pruning his vineyard, whereupon a committee of investigation was appointed, with Juan Temple, merchant, as medical expert. The committee a ...
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Ygnacio Del Valle
Ygnacio Ramón de Jesus del Valle (July 1, 1808 – 1880) was a Californio ranchero and politician. He owned much of the Santa Clarita Valley and served briefly as Mayor of Los Angeles and as a California State Assemblyman. Early life Del Valle was born in Jalisco, Mexico. His father, Antonio del Valle, was a soldier in the Spanish army who came to California in 1819 and was mayordomo (administrator and/or foreman) of Mission San Fernando Rey de España. Ygnacio joined the army as a cadet in 1825 at the Presidio of Santa Barbara. In 1828 he was promoted to second lieutenant and transferred to the Presidio of San Diego. In 1832, his commander became involved in a power struggle with the commandant of the Presidio of Monterey, where Antonio served. Ygnacio's side won the conflict on the battlefield, causing a rift between father and son, and they never spoke again. Ygnacio then moved to the Monterey Presidio and was in charge of the secularization of Mission Santa Cruz and Mi ...
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Mathew Keller
Matthew Keller or Mathew Keller (1810–81) was an early agriculturalist, vintner and distiller in Los Angeles, California, shortly after it became part of the United States following the Mexican War. He was also on the county Board of Supervisors and on the Common Council, the city's governing body. Personal Keller was born in Queenstown, Ireland Queenstown, County Cork, Ireland, in 1810 according to his grandson he graduated from Trinity College, Dublin but in fact Trinity College did not let in Catholics until 1970 and they had no record of his attending. He was well educated and his business ventures show how intelligent he was. He married Eliza Christie and when he died in 1881 he was survived by three children, Caroline E. Shafer, Alice Shafer and Henry Workman Keller. Eight children predeceased their parents. As a mark of respect, Keller was known as Don Mateo (Spanish for "Matthew"). Business and agriculture He moved to Texas in the mid-1830s, then spent "th ...
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Myron Norton
Myron Norton (1822–1886), was an American attorney, and an officer in the 1st Regiment of New York Volunteers, fighting in the Mexican–American War, and remained in California afterward to become active in both San Francisco and Los Angeles legal circles and politics. He drafted California's first state constitution. Early life Norton was born in Bennington, Vermont, on September 23, 1822, and studied at Harvard University. Military The day after he graduated from Harvard, he joined the Army and served under General Winfield Scott in the Mexican War. He then joined Jonathan D. Stevenson's 1st Regiment of New York Volunteers, with which he came to California. He was a lieutenant.Donald C. Biggs, ''Conquer and Colonize,'' San Rafael:Presidio Press (1977) In 1850–51, the settlers were fearful of an Agua Caliente Indian "insurrection" under Chief Antonio Garra, so "Regulars and volunteers were accordingly mustered to guard against this danger." The Los Angeles volunt ...
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John G
John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second Epistle of John, often shortened to 2 John * Third Epistle of John, often shortened to 3 John People * John the Baptist (died c. AD 30), regarded as a prophet and the forerunner of Jesus Christ * John the Apostle (lived c. AD 30), one of the twelve apostles of Jesus * John the Evangelist, assigned author of the Fourth Gospel, once identified with the Apostle * John of Patmos, also known as John the Divine or John the Revelator, the author of the Book of Revelation, once identified with the Apostle * John the Presbyter, a figure either identified with or distinguished from the Apostle, the Evangelist and John of Patmos Other people with the given name Religious figures * John, father of Andrew the Apostle and Saint Peter * P ...
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John Ozias Wheeler
John Ozias Wheeler (November 24, 1823 – April 11, 1899) was an American merchant, court clerk, government employee, city council member and newspaper editor. He worked primarily in California during the 19th century. Personal life Wheeler was born November 24, 1823, in Groton, Connecticut, the son of John Holmes Wheeler and Esther Hill Buddington. He had a younger brother, Horace Z. Wheeler, who became appraiser-general in the U.S. customs house in Yokohama, Japan. In September 1844 John Ozias Wheeler married Nancy Moore, and they moved to Florida. In 1849 he journeyed to California, bound for Rancho Chino, as it was called then, and his wife followed two years later. They had four daughters, Mary Esther, Louisa, Alice R. and Mattie. Three of these became Mrs. William Pridham of Los Angeles, Mrs. Clay M. Green of New York and Mrs. F.H. McCormick of Alameda, California. Wheeler died in Redondo, California on April 11, 1899, at the age of 65. Career Commercial In conjunctio ...
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Tomas Avila Sanchez
Tomas Avila Sanchez (1826–1882), soldier, sheriff and public official, was on the Los Angeles County, California, Board of Supervisors and was a member of the Los Angeles Common Council, the legislative branch of the city. Personal Sanchez was baptized José Tomas Tadeo Sanchez y Avila as the son of Pedro Antonio Jose Sanchez (1806–1837) and Maria Ascension Josefa Avila (1809–1847). His grandfather, Vicente Anastacio Sanchez (1785–1846), was mayor of Los Angeles in 1831–1832 and 1845 and the grantee of Rancho La Cienega o Paso de la Tijera. In 1867, Sanchez married Maria Sepulveda (daughter of Fernando Sepulveda and Maria Josefa Dominguez) and lived in an adobe home Casa Adobe De San Rafael on Rancho San Rafael. He died at the age of 56 in 1882, leaving his wife, nineteen sons and two daughters. Political offices Early Sanchez was the tax collector for Los Angeles in 1843, during the period of Mexican government of California. He served as a soldier in the ...
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Agustin Olvera
Agustin Olvera (1820-1876) was a pioneer of Los Angeles, California, and was active in the political affairs of the time. Biography Accompanying his uncle, Ygnacio Coronel, he came to California in 1834 as a member of the Híjar-Padrés Colony. In 1842, Olvera married Concepción Argüello (1815–1853), daughter of Santiago Argüello. After her death, Olvera married in 1859 Maria Ortega (1823–1918), widow of Edward Stokes. Olvera held various offices in the Mexican administration. Olvera was granted Rancho Mission Viejo in 1842 and the Rancho Cuyamaca in 1845. Olvera helped to bridge the gap between the governance of California by Mexico and the United States. Olvera later served as captain in Flores' campaign against Frémont and was one of the commission of three that negotiated peace with the American forces at Cahuenga. As a commissioner he signed the Treaty of Cahuenga ending the war in California. U.S. Military Governor Bennet Riley appointed Olvera to be Judge ...
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Ygnacio Coronel
Ygnacio Coronel (1795–1862) was a settler in the Pueblo de Los Ángeles of Mexican Alta California. He was a member of the Los Angeles Common Council. Life Jose Ygnacio Franco Coronel was born in Mexico City, during the colonial New Spain period. He joined the Spanish army and by 1814 rose to the rank of corporal of the cavalry. He married Maria Josefa Francisca Romero (1802 –1871), a native of Toluca. In 1834, as a part of the Híjar-Padrés Colony, Ygnacio brought his family (two sons, Antonio F. Coronel and Manuel F. Coronel, four daughters, and his nephew Agustín Olvera) to Alta California,C. Alan Hutchinson, ''An Official List of the Members of the Hijar-Padres Colony for Mexican California, 1834'', The Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 42, No. 3 (Aug., 1973), pp. 407-418, University of California Press. where he started a new life as a civilian. Ygnacio Coronel was a schoolmaster. His son, Antonio, married Mariana W. de Coronel. In 1836, Coronel was appoint ...
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Stephen Clark Foster
Stephen Clark Foster (December 17, 1820 – January 27, 1898) was a politician, the first American mayor of Los Angeles under United States military rule. Foster served in the state constitutional convention, and was elected to the State Senate. He was elected as mayor of Los Angeles in 1856, and later elected for four terms to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. Early life and education Foster was born in Machias, Maine, December 17, 1820. He graduated from Yale College in 1840. Career He taught at a private academy in the South. In 1845 at age 25, he headed for California, like many other young single men, via El Paso and Santa Fe. While in Santa Fe, Foster was hired by Quartermaster Wm. M.D. McKissack to be an interpreter for the Mormon Battalion of Volunteers, then on its way to California as part of the Mexican–American War forces sent to California. He acted unofficially as an additional guide. In the stormy period when California was under US military rule ...
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Benjamin Davis Wilson
Benjamin Davis Wilson (December 1, 1811 – March 11, 1878), commonly known as Don Benito Wilson,Excerpt: ''"Wilson, now known as Don Benito, became a Californio – that group of Mexicans and Angols who thought of themselves as Californians rather than Mexicans or Americans"''; Farrar Hyde, Anne. Empires, Nations, and Families: A History of the North American West, 1800–1860' (2011); University of Nebraska Press.Excerpt: ''"He was familiarly known as Don Benito"''; Macfarland, John C. 'Don Benito Wilson'' (1949); Historical Society of Southern California Quarterly (Vol. 31, No. 4) was an American-Mexican politician, fur trapper, and ranchero of California. Born in Tennessee, Wilson eventually settled in Alta California, became a Mexican resident, married into a prominent Californio family and acquired Rancho Jurupa. Following the American Conquest of California, Wilson served a term as Mayor of Los Angeles. Life in California Rancho Jurupa Wilson came to California with the W ...
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