Mary Catherine McIntire Pacheco (January 22, 1842 — November 5, 1913) was an American novelist and playwright. The wife of California governor

Romualdo Pacheco José Antonio Romualdo Pacheco (October 31, 1831January 23, 1899) was a Californio statesman and diplomat. A Republican, he is best known as the only Hispanic person to serve as Governor of California since the American Conquest of California, ...

, she was First Lady of California during her husband's term in 1875.

Early life

Mary Catherine McIntire was born in

Madison, Indiana Madison is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, Indiana, United States, along the Ohio River. As of the 2010 United States Census its population was 11,967. Over 55,000 people live within of downtown Madison. Madison is the larges ...

(or possibly

Danville, Kentucky Danville is a home rule-class city in Boyle County, Kentucky, United States. It is the seat of its county. The population was 17,236 at the 2020 Census. Danville is the principal city of the Danville Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes ...

), the daughter of David McIntire and Sarah J. Handley McIntire. She moved to California in the late 1850s, with her mother and sisters, after her father died.Mary Pacheco
First Ladies of California, California State Library.

Career

She published a novel, ''Montalban'', in 1874, which placed her "among the first of the women writers of California". Theatrical works by Pacheco include plays ''Betrayed'', ''Loyal Til Death'', ''Incog'', ''Malisoff'', ''To Nemesis; or, Love and Hate'', ''American Assurance'' (later revamped as ''Nothing But Money''), ''Don Roberto'', ''Tom, Dick, and Harry'', ''Loyal Unto Death'', ''The Leading Man'', ''The Two Johnnies'', and ''Three Twins'' (1908, a musical). In her life as a politician's wife, Pacheco lived in Sacramento and was, for ten months in 1875, the First Lady of California. (Her husband became the state's first California-born governor when he finished the term of Newton Booth.) She hosted a literary salon in San Francisco, drawing "all that were worth knowing in California", according to Western writer

Bret Harte Bret Harte (; born Francis Brett Hart; August 25, 1836 – May 5, 1902) was an American short story writer and poet best remembered for short fiction featuring miners, gamblers, and other romantic figures of the California Gold Rush. In a caree ...

. She was a member of the

Pacific Coast Women's Press Association Pacific Coast Women's Press Association (PCWPA; September 27, 1890 - 1941) was a press organization for women located on the West Coast of the United States. Discussions were not permitted regarding politics, religion, or reform. The members of the ...

Personal life

Mary Catherine McIntire married

in 1863, at St. Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco. They had two children, Maybella Ramona (later Mrs. William S. Tevis) and Romualdo Jr. Their son died at age 6 in 1871. Mary Pacheco was widowed in 1899, and died in 1913, aged 71 years, in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

."Wife of Ex-Governor Pacheco Dies Suddenly"
''San Francisco Call'' (November 6, 1913): 14. via California Digital Newspaper Collection

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pacheco, MaryMcIntire 1842 births 1913 deaths 19th-century American novelists 19th-century American women writers American women novelists American dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American women writers Place of birth unknown Writers from California Pacific Coast Women's Press Association