Teodoro A. Dehesa Méndez (October 1, 1848 – September 25, 1936) was the Governor of the state of Veracruz in Mexico for five terms from 1892 to 1911.

Early years

Teodoro Dehesa was the son of Teodoro Dehesa y Bayona, an

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...

ese pastry chef, and Antonia Méndez y Ruiz de Olivares, member of a

wealthy Wealth is the abundance of valuable financial assets or physical possessions which can be converted into a form that can be used for transactions. This includes the core meaning as held in the originating Old English word , which is from an I ...

family of

Xalapa, Veracruz Xalapa or Jalapa (, ), officially Xalapa-Enríquez (), is the capital city of the Mexico, Mexican States of Mexico, state of Veracruz and the name of the surrounding municipality. In the 2005 census the city reported a population of 387,879 and t ...

. He studied his first letters at ''La Amiga'', under supervision of Jacinta, Dolores and Carmen Torres. Later he studied at the ''Juan Rodríguez'' College. After his family moved to Xalapa, he finished his

primary education Primary education or elementary education is typically the first stage of formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary school. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first ...

at ''Francisco Ramos'' school and then joined '' Teodoro Kerlegand's

Liceum The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies among countries; usually it is a type of secondary school. Generally in that type of school the ...

''.

Assisting of Diego Rivera

When the artist Diego Rivera was looking for a sponsor to allow him to travel to Europe to further his art career, he approached Dehesa, who agreed to sponsor him. A chapter in Diego Rivera's

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

, ''My Art, My Life'', was dedicated to Dehesa and details how the opposition forces respected Dehesa and so refused to attack the city in which he was staying. Diego Rivera also mentioned his great respect for Dehesa.

Mexican Revolution

As a result of the

Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution ( es, Revolución Mexicana) was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from approximately 1910 to 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It resulted in the destruction ...

of 1910, Teodoro Dehesa, his son, and Teodoro's brother, Francisco, were forced to flee Mexico. Teodoro Dehesa moved to Cuba and, at some point, returned to Mexico, where he later died in 1936.

Legacy

Descendants of Teodoro Dehesa still live in Mexico. It is unknown what happened to Francisco Dehesa, but his wife and children moved to California, where their descendants still live.

References

* Rivera, Diego. ''My Life, My Art''. Dover Publications, Inc., New York, 1991. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dehesa Mendez, Teodoro A. 1848 births 1936 deaths Governors of Veracruz