Manuel Requena (1802–1876) was a

Yucatán Yucatán (, also , , ; yua, Yúukatan ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Yucatán,; yua, link=no, Xóot' Noj Lu'umil Yúukatan. is one of the 31 states which comprise the federal entities of Mexico. It comprises 106 separate mun ...

-born

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 sin ...

politician who served multiple terms as Alcalde of Los Angeles (Mayor of Los Angeles). Requena became active in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

politics in the 1830s, during the Mexican era, and continued serving after the American

Conquest of California The Conquest of California, also known as the Conquest of Alta California or the California Campaign, was an important military campaign of the Mexican–American War carried out by the United States in Alta California (modern-day California), t ...

until his death in the 1850s.

Early life

Requena was born in 1802 in the Mexican state of

, 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 ''Ayuntamiento'' ()In other languages of Spain: * ca, ajuntament (). * gl, concello (). * eu, udaletxea (). is the general term for the town council, or ''cabildo'', of a municipality or, sometimes, as is often the case in Spain and Latin Amer ...
'' was about to accept it when some one reported that Don Manuel was engaged in
pruning Pruning is a horticultural, arboricultural, and silvicultural practice involving the selective removal of certain parts of a plant, such as branches, buds, or roots. The practice entails the ''targeted'' removal of diseased, damaged, dead, ...
his vineyard, whereupon a committee of investigation was appointed, with
Juan Temple Don Juan Temple (né Jonathan; August 14, 1796 – May 31, 1866) was a Californian ranchero and merchant. Born in Massachusetts, he emigrated to Alta California in 1827, becoming a Mexican citizen, adopting the Spanish language and a Spani ...
, merchant, as medical expert. The committee and the improvised doctor examined Don Manuel, and reported that his indisposition did not prevent him from pruning, but would incapacitate him from serving as a judge of the election.J.M. Guinn, ''Historical and Biographical Record of Los Angeles and Vicinity,'' Chicago: Chapman Publishing Company (1901)
/ref>

Requena was first alcalde, which was equivalent to the position of mayor, during the last years of Los Angeles under Mexican rule. In April 1836 a force of

vigilantes Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without legal authority. A vigilante (from Spanish, Italian and Portuguese “vigilante”, which means "sentinel" or "watcher") is a person who ...

demanded that he cooperate with them in turning over the key to a house where fugitive Maria del Rosario Villa, accused of murdering her husband, was staying. He replied, in Spanish,

Maria del Rosario Villa is incarcerated at a private dwelling, whose owner has the key, with instructions not to deliver the same to any one. The prisoner is left there at the disposition of the law only. God and liberty.

Nevertheless, the vigilantes, who had previously executed Rosario Villa's paramour, seized her and shot her. That was, wrote historian J.M. Guinn, " the only instance in the seventy-five years of Spanish and Mexican rule in California, of the people, by popular tribunal, taking the administration of justice out of the hands of the legally constituted authorities.

American California

When the

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 ...

(which preceded the

Los Angeles City Council The Los Angeles City Council is the legislative body of the City of Los Angeles in California. The council is composed of 15 members elected from single-member districts for four-year terms. The president of the council and the president pro temp ...

) was formed in 1850 after Los Angeles was incorporated as an American town, Requena became one of its charter members. He served during the periods of 1850—1854, 1856 (when as council president, he also served briefly as acting mayor), and 1864—1868. Requena was elected to the first Los Angeles County

Board of Supervisors A board of supervisors is a governmental body that oversees the operation of county government in the U.S. states of Arizona, California, Iowa, Mississippi, Virginia, and Wisconsin, as well as 16 counties in New York. There are equivalent agen ...

in 1852.Supervisor Manuel Requena
In 1854 he became a trustee in the city's first

board of education A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional ar ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Requena, Manuel Californios Mayors of Los Angeles Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Los Angeles Common Council (1850–1889) members 19th-century American politicians 1802 births 1876 deaths People of Alta California People of Mexican California 1802 in New Spain California Republicans Hispanic and Latino American mayors in California