Pacomio

Pacomio
Mexican troops advancing on La Purisima Mission, under fire from Pacomio's Chumash warriors. Painting by Alexander Harmer, early 20th century.
Born	Pacomio Poqui c. 1794 La Ranchería de Esniscue, Alta California
Died	1840 (aged 46) Monterey, Alta California
Cause of death	Smallpox
Residence	Monterey, California
Occupation	Revolutionary, Carpenter, Civil Servant, Comisario de Policia of Monterey (1836-1840)
Known for	Chumash Revolt of 1824
Spouse(s)	Gordiana, Eusebia María
Children	María de Jesús

José Pacomio Poqui, better known as Pacomio, was a Chumash revolutionary, carpenter and comisario de policia (Police commissioner) of Monterey, who led one of the most significant Native American uprisings against the Spanish and Mexican rule of California, the Chumash Revolt of 1824. Pacomio's revolt against the Mexican-Spanish establishment was perhaps the most brutal in California's history, and grimly showed the Mexican government that California's indigenous population was not as servile as once thought.

Pacomio Poqui was born on La Ranchería de Esniscue, Alta California around 1794 to Chumash parents, and was baptized and given the Spanish name José at Mission La Purisima in 1803. During his time as a young boy at Mission La Purisima, he proved to be extraordinarily intelligent, which won him the favor of the mission's Franciscan friars. The friars taught the young Chumash how to read and speak Spanish, which was rarely practiced by the Spaniards. Most priests did not bother to teach the new indigenous converts their Spanish language, focusing instead on teaching them the basic symbols and ideology of Catholicism. Pacomio's fluent understanding of Spanish would become invaluable later in life.

In August 1807, at the age of thirteen, Pacomio married the eleven-year-old neophyte Gordiana. The couple would live childless in Mission La Purisima for twelve more years, until Gordiana's unexpected death in 1819. At the same time, Pacomio trained to become a carpenter, working under the watchful eyes of Salvador Carabantes and, after 1811, master stonemason José Antonio Ramírez. In December 1812, Mission La Purisima was totally destroyed by an earthquake, and the craftsmen of the former mission were instructed to build a new version three miles to the north of the original site. Pacomio and other neophyte craftsmen, like Mariano Francisco, Sebastián Tomás and Juan Nepomunceno, worked hard on the arduous task. Upon Gordiana's death, Pacomio and Tomás traveled to Monterey to work on the Presidio. After his duties in the Presidio expired, Pacomio took a liking to the city, and settled there. In February 1820 he married the widow Eusebia María, and in December had a daughter, María de Jesús. However, in 1824, growing tensions between his people, the Chumash, and the new Mexican Government forced him to leave his family in Monterey. Little did Pacomio know how significant those tensions were to become.