Joshua Bean
1st Mayor of San Diego
In office
June 17, 1850 – January 14, 1851
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byDavid B. Kurtz
Personal details
Bornc. 1818
Mason County, Kentucky
DiedNovember 7, 1852 (aged 33–34)
Los Angeles, California

Joshua H. Bean (c. 1818 – November 7, 1852) was an American political figure.

Joshua Bean was born c. 1818 in Mason County, Kentucky to Phantly Roy Bean (November 21, 1804 – June 13, 1844) and his wife Anna Gore. His paternal grandparents were Benjamin Bean and his wife Fernetta Johnston, daughter of Archibald Johnston. Both grandparents were born in Virginia. Bean's brother would later be known as Judge Roy Bean.

Joshua Bean served with Zachary Taylor in the Mexican–American War and came to California in 1849 and San Diego in 1850, where he was a trader and saloon owner.[1] Bean was appointed Major General of the State Militia and served to crush the Antonio Garra revolt in 1851.[2] Later he had a small role in preventing the massacre of John Edward Irvine near Redlands, California.

San Diego was incorporated by the California State Legislature in 1850. Bean, the last alcalde of San Diego,[3] was elected mayor in the first election under the charter on June 16.[4] Bean was the first U.S. mayor of San Diego and served from 1850 until 1851.[5] While mayor, he illegally "sold" City Hall and city pueblo lands to himself and his drinking buddy Lieutenant Cave J. Couts (the City Hall was recovered).

In 1851 he moved to Los Angeles, where he kept a saloon, and store, in Mission San Gabriel, called the Headquarters. He was ambushed and killed, just outside Mission San Gabriel, in 1852 during an argument over a woman. Four were accused of his murder, and were executed, however it was later learned that the son of Victoria Reid was responsible for Bean's death.[6] One of those accused of his murder, a young Hispanic boy who called himself Reyes Feliz, gave evidence that he had overheard men saying that the killer was the California Bandido Joaquin Murieta.[7] Bean's brother Roy took over the saloon, and operated it until 1853, when Roy fled California after being indicted for being involved in a knife fight leaving for New Mexico.[8]

References

  1. ↑ San Diego History, section Joshua Bean
  2. ↑ San Diego History, Chronology
  3. ↑ San Diego History, Where California Began
  4. ↑ San Diego History, chapter 9
  5. ↑ San Diego History, List of San Diego Mayors
  6. ↑ Thrapp, D.L. (1991). Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography: A-F. Bison book. University of Nebraska Press. pp. 78–79. ISBN 978-0-8032-9418-9.
  7. ↑ "Daily Alta California 15 December 1852 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu. Retrieved 2023-11-16.
  8. ↑ Danelo, D.J.; Selee, A. (2019). The Border: Journeys along the U.S.-Mexico Border, the World’s Most Consequential Divide. Stackpole Books. p. 82. ISBN 978-0-8117-6845-0. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
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