| Don
Benito Wilson
From Mountain Man to Mayor by Nat B. Read Don Benito Wilson (nee Benjamin Davis Wilson) is remembered as the namesake of Mount Wilson, but few know he was the second mayor of Los Angeles, that his landholdings become the sites of Pasadena, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Riverside and more. As Captain Wilson, he fought to defend Los Angeles in the Mexican War of 1846-1847, was taken prisoner and almost executed. True to his roots, Wilson's grandson, General George S. Patton Jr., was a warrior and statesman who was born to defend his homeland. Historian Nat Read tells the amazing story of Don Benito, complete with vintage photos and illustrations. Twenty-six State Senators divvy up the
district that Benjamin Wilson once represented. As a Los Angeles County
supervisor he oversaw a Los Angeles County that included what is today
Orange, San Bernardino and Kern Counties. His Wilson College was the
predecessor of the mighty University of Southern California. Many of
the railroads he helped bring to Southern California still haul freight
over the original rights of way that he helped determine. Southern
California will perhaps never again see a person who made such a mark
on so many different fields as Don Benito Wilson. Nat B. Read earned a history degree from Austin College in Texas and has written professionally all of his adult life, as an advertising copywriter, public relations executive and freelance contributor of historical, opinion and other articles to dozens of publications. |
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