José Benítez (mayor)

José Benítez (c. 1760 – 1832[2]) was mayor of Ponce, Puerto Rico in 1800.[3] He is best remembered for the creation of the Fuerte de San José in 1760 in Playa de Ponce.[4] The fort was in operation until the 1890s.[5]

José Benítez
6th Mayor of Ponce, Puerto Rico
In office
1800–1800
Preceded byFrancisco Ortíz de la Renta
Succeeded byJosé Ortíz de la Renta
Personal details
Bornc. 1760
Riohacha, Colombia[1]
Died1832
Guayama, Puerto Rico
Spouse(s)Juana Bautista Constanza
ChildrenMaría Bibiana Benítez
OccupationTeniente a guerra
ProfessionMilitary

Background

Benítez is best remembered as the military commander who had headed a group of urban militiamen from Ponce in their defense of San Juan during the British invasion of 1797.[6]

Family life

Benítez married Juana Bautista Constanza, and was the father of María Bibiana Benítez, considered the first Puerto Rican female poet.[7]

Mayoral term

As a result of an attempted attack by the English navy, in 1802 Benítez established a shoreline lookout, and set up an artillery battery at El Peñoncillo in Barrio Playa, Ponce, to prevent further attempts by the English from dropping anchor and staging an attack from that area.[8][lower-alpha 1] On 1800, Benítez reported that the municipality of Ponce (then called "Partido de Ponce") measured 200 "caballerias", that is, 38,800 acres (60.6 sq mi).[lower-alpha 2] He categorized the jurisdiction into cotos, hatos, criaderos, monterías, and terrenos realengos.[9] Cotos were lands awarded to residents as reward for their services to the king. They were developed into estancias or lands apt to be cultivated for agricultural use. Hatos were lands not granted to anyone in particular, but available for communal use where cattle could roam at will. Monterías were hilly areas located next to hatos were cattle could be reigned in or gathered together with the help of trained dogs. Criaderos were lands were cows could be herded for milk production. Goats, sheep, pigs, asses, and mares were also herded in criaderos. Terrenos realengos were lands that belonged to the state (to the king).[10][11]

Controversies

In 1805, Benítez was accused of financial improprieties by a political rival and although a criminal investigation led nowhere, by 1825 the accusations were enough to reduce the war hero to a customs agent in Guayama. After his death in 1832, his family's fortunes were further diminished, but his daughter was able to successfully petition the government for a land grant, which kept them from becoming insolvent.[12]

Legacy

In Ponce, there is a street in Urbanización Las Delicias of Barrio Magueyes named after him.

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See also

Notes
  1. This 1802 lookout and battery was different from the fort built in Barrio Playa in 1760, and which had seven cannons mounted in an artillery battery formation. See Socorro Giron. Ponce, el teatro La Perla y La Campana de la Almudaina. Gobierno Municipal de Ponce. 1992. Page 4.
  2. 1 caballeria equals 200 cuerdas, or 194 acres. See, Guillermo A. Baralt. Buena Vista: Life and Work on a Puerto Rican Hacienda, 1833-1904. p.xvii.

References
  1. Puerto Rican Poetry: A Selection from Aboriginal to Contemporary Times. Robert Márquez. University of Massachusetts Press. 2007. ISBN 9781558495623 p. 55.
  2. Puerto Rican Poetry: A Selection from Aboriginal to Contemporary Times. Robert Márquez. University of Massachusetts Press. 2007. ISBN 9781558495623 p.56.
  3. Ponce. Puerto Rico Encyclopedia. Archived 7 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Eli D. Oquendo Rodriguez. De Criadero a Partido: Ojeada a la Historia de los Orígenes de Ponce: 1645-1810. Lajas, Puerto Rico: Editorial Akelarre. 2015. p.101. ISBN 1516895487 ISBN 9781516895489
  5. Eduardo Neumann Gandia. Verdadera y Auténtica Historia de la Ciudad de Ponce. San Juan, Puerto Rico: Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. pp. 133-134.
  6. "Verdadera y Auténtica Historia de la Ciudad de Ponce." 1913. San Juan, Puerto Rico: Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. p.68.
  7. "María Bibiana Benítez". Enciclopedia de Puerto Rico. Grupo Editorial EPRL. 2017. Accessed 20 May 2018.
  8. Socorro Giron. Ponce, el teatro La Perla y La Campana de la Almudaina. Gobierno Municipal de Ponce. 1992. Page 6.
  9. Eduardo Neumann Gandia. Verdadera y Autentica Historia de la Ciudad de Ponce. Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. 1913. p. 259.
  10. 'Neysa Rodriguez Deynes. Brevario sobre la Historia de Ponce. Gobierno Municipal de Ponce. Oficina de Cultura y Turismo. 2002. p. 37.
  11. Eduardo Neumann Gandia. Verdadera y Autentica Historia de la Ciudad de Ponce. Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. 1913. pp. 67-68.
  12. Márquez, Robert (2007). Puerto Rican Poetry: A Selection from Aboriginal to Contemporary Times. University of Massachusetts Press. pp. 55–57. ISBN 9781558495623.

Further reading
  • Fay Fowlie de Flores. Ponce, Perla del Sur: Una Bibliográfica Anotada. Second Edition. 1997. Ponce, Puerto Rico: Universidad de Puerto Rico en Ponce. p. 210. Item 1078. LCCN 92-75480
  • Juan Jose Barragán Landa. Los Benitez: raíces de una familia hacedora de historia. Rio Piedras: Puerto Rico. 1996. (Colegio Universitario Tecnológico de Ponce, CUTPO).
Political offices
Preceded by
Francisco Ortíz de la Renta		 Mayor of Ponce, Puerto Rico
1800-1800		 Succeeded by
José Ortíz de la Renta


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