John Nugent (U.S. government agent)
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John Nugent ( – March 29, 1880) was an Irish journalist and U.S. government agent. Nugent was born in
County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...
but travelled with his parents to the United States at an early age. He was educated at a Catholic college in New Jersey. In the 1840s, he worked as a journalist with the ''
New York Herald The ''New York Herald'' was a large-distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between 1835 and 1924. At that point it was acquired by its smaller rival the ''New-York Tribune'' to form the '' New York Herald Tribune''. His ...
''. In 1848, Nugent was leaked a copy of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which would end the Mexican–American War after it was amended and approved by the Senate. Nugent was questioned by senators but did not reveal his source. Subsequently, Nugent traveled with a party of Forty-Niners from New York, led by John Coffee Hays, that traveled to California from San Antonio, Texas, over the Southern Route, through El Paso across
New Mexico Territory The Territory of New Mexico was an organized incorporated territory of the United States from September 9, 1850, until January 6, 1912. It was created from the U.S. provisional government of New Mexico, as a result of ''Santa Fe de Nuevo México ...
to Fort Yuma. The party pioneered a shortcut on
Cooke's Wagon Road Cooke's Wagon Road or Cooke's Road was the first wagon road between the Rio Grande and the Colorado River to San Diego, through the Mexican provinces of Nuevo México, Chihuahua, Sonora and Alta California, established by Philip St. George ...
that saved a long journey to the south.Robert Eccleston, ''Overland to California on the Southwestern Trail 1849'', University of California Press, Berkeley, 1950, pp. 174-193 That route became known as the
Tucson Cutoff The Tucson Cutoff was a significant change in the route of the Southern Emigrant Trail. It became generally known after a party of Forty-Niners led by Colonel John Coffee Hays followed a route suggested to him by a Mexican Army officer as a shorte ...
. Later
Nugent's Pass Nugents Pass or Nugent's Pass is a gap at an elevation of in Cochise County, Arizona. The pass was named for John Nugent, who provided notes of his journey with a party of Forty-Niners across what became the Tucson Cutoff to Lt. John G. Parke ...
and Nugent's Springs on that route were named for Nugent, who gave his notes of the journey to aid Lt.
John G. Parke John Grubb Parke (September 22, 1827 – December 16, 1900) was a United States Army engineer and a Union general in the American Civil War. Parke's Civil War service was closely associated with Ambrose E. Burnside, often serving him as chi ...
in his expedition to find a railroad route from the Pima Villages to the
Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio G ...
. In 1851, Nugent became owner-editor of '' San Francisco Herald''. In 1856 he opposed the re-establishment of the San Francisco Committee of Vigilance, an extra-legal organization for the preservation of law and order. His failure to support it was an unpopular editorial decision that caused the paper to collapse a few years later in 1860. This was an event from which his career never recovered although he continued in journalism and an unsuccessful run for the U.S. Senate. In 1858, President
James Buchanan James Buchanan Jr. ( ; April 23, 1791June 1, 1868) was an American lawyer, diplomat and politician who served as the 15th president of the United States from 1857 to 1861. He previously served as secretary of state from 1845 to 1849 and repr ...
appointed Nugent special agent to New Caledonia (British Columbia). Buchanan wanted to see how Americans and their interests were faring in the area in light of the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush. Nugent quickly discovered that there was little tension and good relations between the Americans and the British. Nugent appears to have created a rift through a dispute with Governor James Douglas over the treatment of American citizens in the courts. He further suggested that the Americans would intervene quickly if conflict arose. This came out of the feeling he had that New Caledonia and Vancouver Island should and would be annexed to the United States. The diplomatic difficulties were not great and the negativity fell on John Nugent personally. Later in life John Nugent married and had children. He married Magdalena Estudillo on August 26, 1860. Magdalena was the daughter of Jose Joaquin Estudillo (1798–1852), the owner of the Rancho San Leandro. The Estudillos were the founders of the city of
San Leandro, California San Leandro (Spanish for " St. Leander") is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area; between Oakland to the northwest, and Ashland, Castro Valley, and Hayward to the sou ...
. John and his wife, lived with her mother at 550 West Estudillo Avenue which was later the site of
St. Leander's Church ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy ...
.California Historical Landmark #279
/ref> The couple had four children; Sybil G. (1862–1909), Maud (1866–1922), Elsie (1868–1942) and John (1871–1948).Nugents of Galway
/ref> Nugent tried to re-establish the ''Herald'' in 1868 but was unsuccessful. At the end of the 1870s, Nugent worked on his memoirs, and died on March 29, 1880, in San Leandro, California.


References


External links


Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nugent, John 1820s births 1880 deaths 19th-century Irish people People from County Galway Irish expatriates in the United States Irish emigrants to the United States (before 1923) Irish journalists American male journalists 19th-century American journalists 19th-century American male writers