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| Image courtesy of the Library of Congress |
CHAVES, José Francisco, a Delegate from the Territory of New Mexico; born in Padillas,
Mexico (now New Mexico), June 27, 1833; attended schools in St. Louis, Mo.;
studied medicine at the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons; engaged in
the stock-raising business in the Territory of New Mexico; president of the
Territorial council for eight sessions; major of the First New Mexico Infantry
in the Union Army during the Civil War; promoted to the rank of lieutenant
colonel; took part in the Battle of Valverde in 1862; elected as a Republican
to the Thirty-ninth Congress (March 4, 1865-March 3, 1867); successfully
contested the election of Charles P. Clever to the Fortieth Congress; reelected
to the Forty-first Congress and served from February 20, 1869, to March 3,
1871; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1870 to the Forty-second
Congress; engaged in farming and stock raising; district attorney of the second
judicial district 1875-1877; member and president of the State constitutional
convention in 1889; State superintendent of public instruction from 1903 until
his death; appointed State historian of New Mexico in 1903, but died before his
term of service began; assassinated in Pinos Wells (near Cedar Vale, Torrance
County), N.Mex., November 26, 1904; interment in the United States National
Cemetery at Santa Fe, N.Mex.
BibliographyRead, Martha Durant. Colonel José Francisco Chaves: A
Short Biography of the Father of the New Mexico Statehood Movement,
Southwest Heritage, Winter 1978-1979, volume 8, no. 4: 13-21
& 30.
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