Tres Macho--He Said: Padre Gallegos of Albuquerque, New Mexico's first congressman

Father Gallegos was an influential, popular, and controversial figure in the history of New Mexico. Powerful in his parish and elsewhere, he was the first New Mexican Delegate to Congress. José Manuel Gallegos was born on October 30, 1815, in the town of Abiquiu, Nuevo México, which is now in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico. He began his education at a parochial school, and studied theology in Durango, Mexico, where he was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1840. Upon his return to New Mexico, Gallegos began his political career. From 1843 to 1846 Gallegos served on the Legislative Assembly of the Department of Nuevo México. When the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican-American War (1847-1848), New Mexico became a territory of the United States. Gallegos was elected to the first Territorial council of New Mexico in 1851.