Civil War: Company A, 1st Battalion, Native California Cavalry

Benigno Pico y Villavicencio was born near Monterey, Alta California, México. He was baptized at the Monterey Presidio Chapel (San Carlos) April 17, 1837 (SC Baptism 04048, ECPP). He was the son of José de Jesús Pico y Cota and María Trinidad Francisca Javiera Antonia Villavicencio y Espinosa.* His father was grantee of Rancho Piedra Blanca (San Simeon) in January 1840, and he built a house on the banks of what is now Pico Creek near present day San Simeon where Benigno grew up. Benigno became a U.S. citizen with the transfer of California's sovereignty in 1848. During the Civil War he enlisted as a first sergeant at San José, California, February 18, 1863, and was mustered into Company A, 1st Battalion, Native California Cavalry, April 23. He was listed as a "deserter" July 3, 1863, but had returned to Company A by January 2, 1864. He married Anna Marie Forrester at Mission San Luís Obispo January 6, 1864. First Sergeant Benigno Pico was posted to Fort Mason, Arizona Territory, from September 1865 until January 1866. He returned with his company to Drum Barracks (Wilmington), California, where he was mustered out March 20, 1866. After the war he returned to Rancho Piedra Blanca (1867 San Luís Obispo County Great Register). In 1873 Benigno Pico filed an application to open a post office with the designation "San Simeon." The application was approved and Pico served as postmaster until 1875. In his application Pico stated that the post office would serve 250 nearby residents, including 45 at the whaling station. In 1878 he moved to San Fernando, Los Angeles County, where he operated the Pico Hotel and built a house at 451 San Fernando Mission Blvd. He later became a member of Los Angeles' Frank Bartlett Post, No. 6, Grand Army of the Republic. Benigno Pico was living at San Fernando and working as a "farm laborer" when the census taker knocked on his door in June 1880. Also enumerated were his wife, three sons, two daughters, and a brother, José Pico, age 25 years. His wife, Annie M., appears as a 37-year-old housekeeper. Her birthplace was recorded as Pennsylvania and the birthplace of her father Ireland and her mother New York. The children listed were all at school. Benigno filed for a Civil War veteran's pension September 3, 1890, and received certificate No. 1,002,987. Benigno died after being struck by a streetcar and was buried in Mission San Fernando Cemetery April 12, 1904. After his death Annie filed for a Civil War widow's pension and received application No. 806,704 and certificate No. 584,658.

*Francisca Javier Antonia Villavicencio y Espinosa was born at Monterey, Alta California, New Spain, early on the morning of December 3, 1813, and was baptized later that same day in the Presidio Chapel (San Carlos)(SC Baptism 02901). She was the daughter of soldado Jose Antonio Villavicencio y (neophyte, no surname)(SAP Baptism 00431) and Serafina Espinosa y Valencia (SFD Baptism 00243). She married José de Jesús Pico y Cota at the Monterey Presidio Chapel (San Carlos) October 3, 1832 (SC Marriage 01027).
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Family Saw Him Injured.
B. Pico was struck by a streetcar of the Downey-avenue line of the Los Angeles Railway Company last evening at River Station and seriously injured. He had been in Mexico for several months and had just alighted from a train where he was receiving the greetings of his family when the car felled him.
(Times [LA], 9 Apr 1904, 12:1)

Injuries Caused Death.
Pico, Struck by Electric Car, Died while Surgeons Were Preparing for Operation.
B. Pico was struck by a car of the Downey-avenue line of the Los Angeles Railway Company Friday evening at River Station died yesterday morning from the effects of his injuries, at the Emergency and General Hospital. When he was taken to the Receiving Room he was suffering from the concussion of the brain and the surgeons found it impossible to restore him to consciousness. He was removed to the other hospital, where an operation was decided upon, but before it was commenced the patient died. The deceased was one of the best-known citizens of the San Fernando district, where he had lived all his life [sic]. He was a direct descendant of Governor Pico, the last Mexican executive who presided over the destinies of California before the American occupation. He possessed a fortune consisting mostly of extensive tracts of land in the San Fernando district, and in that section of the county, he had numerous relatives. Four months ago Mr. Pico went to Sonora, Mexico, to look after some mining interests and to visit relatives. He had just stepped off a Southern Pacific train when he was struck by the car, the accident being witnessed by a number of his relatives, who had gone to River Station to welcome him home. The body was removed to the undertaking establishment of the Peck & Chase Company, where an inquest will be held tomorrow morning at 9 o'clock.
(Times [Los Angeles], 10 Apr 1904, 12:3)
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Children:
(born Rancho San Simeon)
- Nathaniel J. (1864-1930)
- Matilda Mary I. (Jan. 1866-June 19, 1931; m. Clarence Galliher)
- Mary Anna (1867-1950; m. [1] Miguel Lopez; m. [2] Thomas Hendricks)
- Juan Enrique "John Henry" (Mar. 5, 1868-Aug. 3, 1956)
- Frank J. (May 1873-after Apr. 1910; m. Camilla Candelot* on Sep. 12, 1903 at Mission San Fernando; ch: Benigno Pico [born Nov. 4, 1904])

(born San Fernando)
- Katherine "Kate" Rosalie (1881-1952; m. Bruno E. Praster)

* Born 1884, Los Angeles County. Daughter of Peter Candelot (Nov. 1855, France) and Victoria Ortega y Dominguez (June 1861, CA).

Biography by Steve