José de Jesús Noé (1805 – 17 March 1862) was a

Californio Californio (plural Californios) is a term used to designate a Hispanic Californian, especially those descended from Spanish and Mexican settlers of the 17th through 19th centuries. California's Spanish-speaking community has resided there sinc ...

politician, soldier, and ranchero, who served as the 7th and 12th

Alcalde of San Francisco Alcalde (; ) is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and administrative functions. An ''alcalde'' was, in the absence of a corregidor, the presiding officer of the Castilian '' cabildo'' (the municipal council) an ...

. He is the last Hispanic Californian (Californio) to serve as Mayor of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Life

In 1845, Noé was granted the land known as

Rancho San Miguel Rancho San Miguel is a Neighborhood in Walnut Creek, California. It is named after the Alta California Rancho Rancho Arroyo de Las Nueces y Bolbones which was also referred to as Rancho San Miguel. Until the mid-1950s the area consisted largely o ...

, which covered the neighborhoods now known as

Noe Valley Noe Valley ( ; originally spelt Noé) is a neighborhood in the central part of San Francisco, California. It is named for Don José de Jesús Noé, noted 19th-century Californio statesman and ranchero, who owned much of the area and served as m ...

, Eureka Valley, Fairmont Heights, Glen Park and Sunnyside. Following U.S. military occupation of Yerba Buena in the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...

, Noé became alcalde again in 1846, becoming the last man born in Mexico to serve in that office (the office of alcalde was abolished with adoption of the

California Constitution The Constitution of California ( es, Constitución de California) is the primary organizing law for the U.S. state of California, describing the duties, powers, structures and functions of the government of California. California's original co ...

in 1849). Noé was appointed alcalde by U.S. Navy Commodore

Robert F. Stockton Robert Field Stockton (August 20, 1795 – October 7, 1866) was a United States Navy commodore, notable in the capture of California during the Mexican–American War. He was a naval innovator and an early advocate for a propeller-driven, steam-p ...

, under his authority as military governor of the occupied territory. Also appointed alcalde, and serving concurrently with Noé, was Navy Lt. Washington Allon Bartlett. As a military officer, Bartlett was a direct representative of the military governor, functionally similar to the office of

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...

in the Mexican system. One of the last acts of the Noé/Bartlett year was to rename Yerba Buena to its current name, San Francisco.Grivas, p.92–93 Following his death in 1862, Noé was interred at

Mission San Francisco de Asís Mission San Francisco de Asís ( es, Misión San Francisco de Asís), commonly known as Mission Dolores (as it was founded near the Dolores creek), is a Spanish Californian mission and the oldest surviving structure in San Francisco. Located i ...

Notes

References

* Theodore Grivas (1963). ''Military governments in California, 1846-1850; with a chapter on their prior use in Louisiana, Florida, and New Mexico''. Glendale, Calif: A.H. Clark Co. * Mayors of San Francisco 1805 births 1862 deaths People of Alta California 19th-century American politicians {{California-mayor-stub