An accomplished entrepreneur, Francisco
Manzanares was a reluctant candidate for
New Mexico Territorial Delegate in the U.S.
House. Urged on by friends and political supporters,
Manzanares—who had never clearly allied himself with
either major political party—accepted the Democratic
nomination, noting that his preference was to remain
immersed in the booming business opportunities in the
district and admitting he was a political neophyte. “My
life has been spent in active business pursuits and I do not
pretend to be versed in the methods of distinctions of the
politician,” he said.1 As it turned out, Manzanares endured
not only the rigors of the territorial campaign, but also
a contested election that consumed half a congressional
term. Serving just a year, Manzanares returned contentedly
to his business interests at the close of the 48th Congress
(1883–1885).
Francisco Antonio Manzanares was born in Abiquiú,
New Mexico, on January 25, 1843, to José Antonio
Manzanares and Maria Manuela Valdez. José Manzanares
represented his family’s home county, Rio Arriba, in
the New Mexico Territory’s First Legislative Assembly
(1851–1852) and in the territorial council of the Third,
Fourth, and Sixth Legislative Assemblies (1853–1855;
1856–1857).2 Manzanares attended the Taos school of
Padre Antonio José Martínez, a prominent local priest who
had mentored José Manuel Gallegos, New Mexico’s first
nuevomexicano Delegate to the U.S. House. Manzanares
attended St. Louis University from 1863 to 1864. After
leaving the university, Manzanares worked one year at
Chick, Browne, and Company, a merchandising firm in
Kansas City, Missouri. He then moved to New York City
to study in a commercial college and worked in a bank.
When he returned to Chick, Browne, and Company,
Manzanares took advantage of the burgeoning railroad
industry by expanding the firm’s business to cities that
served the Kansas Pacific and the Atchison, Topeka, and
Santa Fe Railroads. Propelled by his ambition and work
ethic, he rose from company clerk to partner in four years
by buying interest from a senior partner. Renamed Browne
& Manzanares, the firm moved to Las Vegas, New Mexico,
and competed with commissioning firms such as Otero,
Sellar, and Co. and the Romero firm. Eventually, Browne
& Manzanares established branches in five cities in New
Mexico and Colorado.3 In 1871 Manzanares married
Ofelia Baca, the daughter of Benito Baca, a cousin and
Democratic opponent of Mariano S. Otero’s in the 1878
race for Delegate. The couple had two children, Antonio,
Jr., and Manuel.4
Manzanares’s fortunes increased as the scope of his
business activities widened. The newly renamed Browne
& Manzanares Company became so successful that it
opened a wholesaling firm in Las Vegas, New Mexico,
where Manzanares lived. By 1885 the firm had become a
stock company, with branches in three locations in New
Mexico and Colorado. Manzanares contributed to the
territory’s economic development through his involvement
in forming the First National Bank of Las Vegas, the First
National Bank of Santa Fe, and the First National Bank
of Raton. Manzanares also formed a wholesale grocery
business with branches throughout the territory. He
enjoyed close ties with the Republican-dominated Santa
Fe Ring, serving as a trustee of the Maxwell Land Grant
Company and, with other Ring members, as a co-director
of the First National Bank of Santa Fe.5
In 1882 Manzanares received the Democratic
nomination to challenge the incumbent Territorial Delegate,
Tranquilino Luna, for a seat in the 48th Congress. One
observer noted, “Nobody was more surprised to know the
action of the Democratic convention than Manzanares
himself.” The same observer noted that when Manzanares
received word of his nomination, he hesitated and at “first
wanted to know all the circumstances that led up to this
… and wondered whether he may refuse to be a candidate
before leaving the city on much more important business
than politics.”6 From the outset, Manzanares was uncertain
about leaving behind his growing business empire for the
rigors of campaigning. In his acceptance letter, Manzanares
frankly acknowledged his lack of political experience,
writing that although he appreciated “the high honor
conferred upon me by selecting me from the masses of
many fellow citizens as one fitted to represent the interests
of our territory … I have been reluctant to accept the
nomination, but the urgent solicitation of many of my
fellow citizens and personal friends of every shade of
political opinion and from every portion of the Territory …
constrains me to forgo my personal preferences.”7
Assessing the Luna-Manzanares contest, Republican
political operative William A. Breeden suggested that
part of Manzanares’s reluctance to accept the Democratic
nomination may have been his conflicting political
loyalties. “It is a known fact that Sr. Manzanares stated
… that he did not know whether he was a Republican
or a Democrat and that he would have to investigate
and examine the records and the principles of the two
parties before being [able] to determine to which party he
belonged,” Breeden said. He described Manzanares as “a
man who flirts with both political parties, who seeks and
asks for the smiles and favors of each party and refuses to
declare his allegiance to either.” While urging Republicans
to rally behind Luna, he warned Democrats that “with all
of [Manzanares’s] changing around and his avoidances and
his attempts to avoid the question, although he tried to be
a candidate through the Democratic Party, [Manzanares]
also wants to avoid being the candidate of the party.”8
Press coverage of the race juxtaposed Manzanares’s
lack of political experience with his effort to win one of
the most coveted seats in territorial politics. Predictably,
Luna’s supporters emphasized his experience navigating
Washington’s political scene, portraying Manzanares as
an inexperienced businessman who would be beyond his
capabilities representing territorial interests in the national
capital.9 Luna, who had tried to push New Mexico toward
statehood and to settle some of the territory’s outstanding
land claims, was himself breaking with convention by
running for a second term, because a string of previous
Delegates had served one term.10 Luna won the election,
with 53 percent to Manzanares’s 47 percent.11
Although Luna was declared the winner, and the
territory certified the results, Manzanares contested the
election because of alleged voting irregularities in a number
of precincts, particularly in Luna’s political base of Valencia
County.12 One Republican-leaning newspaper stated, “We
believe that Mr. Manzanares was fairly elected by the voters
of New Mexico, and we have never hesitated to say that
we believed he was entitled to his seat, and there is not
an honest man in the Territory or either political party
who will deny the justice or fairness of this action by the
House.”13 The House Committee on Elections, controlled
by the newly installed Democratic majority, reviewed the
evidence and disqualified nearly 2,400 votes that were
determined to be fraudulent. Inconsistencies in the poll
books suggested that at least portions of these votes had
been forged. After deducting these votes, the committee
determined that Manzanares had prevailed by nearly 940
votes.14 Midway through the congressional term, the
House Committee on Elections overturned the election
results and awarded Manzanares the seat.15
Sworn into the House on March 5, 1884, Manzanares
served on the Committee on Coinage, Weights, and
Measures (the only committee New Mexico Territorial
Delegates had served on until that point).16 He submitted
bills for pension relief for individual constituents and
bills for infrastructure improvements, to provide funds
for a hospital, to construct a school for American Indians,
and to reserve land for a university.17 He added an
amendment to the 1886 Indian Appropriations Bill (H.R.
7970) that secured $25,000 to establish an industrial
school for Indian students in Santa Fe.18 At the end of
his term, a newspaper called Manzanares “the best
delegate in Congress ever sent by Democratic votes in
this Territory.” The editors of the newspaper continued,
“The people, irrespective of party, acknowledge the fact
that he has faithfully discharged the duties of a delegate
and has fully lived up to the trust reposed in him. Mr.
Manzanares retires to private life with the esteem and
confidence of the people of New Mexico, and may count
on many a Republican vote should he ever again desire
official honors.”19
Manzanares declined to serve for a second term and
returned to managing his business empire in New Mexico
and Colorado. One newspaper noted that Manzanares
“accomplished what he desired in the passage of various
important bills which he had prepared for the aid of the
Territory, and in demolishing the political ring in the
Territory”—the latter part of the statement referring to his
success as a candidate who was not endorsed by the Santa
Fe Ring. He remained active in New Mexico politics and
continued to be an important figure in Democratic Party
circles.20 In 1886 and 1897, Manzanares served as a county
commissioner. He also participated in the 1889 New
Mexico constitutional convention.21
In 1902 Manzanares sold his interest in Browne &
Manzanares for a 5,000- to 6,000-acre plot of land in San
Miguel County and a cash settlement.22 After a long bout
with a stomach disease, he died in Las Vegas, New Mexico,
on September 17, 1904, “surrounded by the clamor and
tears of … dear children and beloved sisters, who had been
called ahead of time to his death bed.”23 Manzanares was
interred in Mount Calvary Cemetery in Las Vegas.
View Record in the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress
[ Top ]
