Editing Thomas Fallon (section)

==Biography==
[[File:USA-San Jose-Thomas Fallon House-6.jpg|thumb|left|The Fallon House in [[San Pedro Square]], is now a museum.]]
[[File:Fallon equestrian monument (cropped).jpg|thumb|Thomas Fallon [[equestrian statue]] in the [[North San Pedro, San Jose|North San Pedro]] area of [[Downtown San Jose]]]]
Fallon's family moved to Canada when he was a child. At age 18, he was in St. Louis and joined the [[John C. Frémont#Third expedition|third expedition of John C. Frémont]] to [[The Californias|California]]. Early in 1846, Fallon stayed in [[Santa Cruz, California|Santa Cruz]] after Frémont visited the area. In June 1846, he raised a group of 22 Santa Cruz-area volunteers to join Fremont, appointing himself captain. When the [[Mexican–American War]] began in California with Commodore [[John D. Sloat]]'s capture of Monterey on July 7, Fallon's force crossed the [[Santa Cruz Mountains]] to capture the [[El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe]] (now the City of San José) without bloodshed, on July 11. On July 14, 1846 he received an [[Flag of the United States|American Flag]] from Sloat, which he raised over the ''juzgado'' of San Jose, the pueblo's administrative building. Fallon's volunteers then joined Fremont's [[California Battalion]] for the remainder of the war.

After the war, Fallon returned briefly to San Jose, then back to Santa Cruz where he established a business as a saddler. At the beginning of the [[California Gold Rush]] in 1848, Fallon took a cargo of iron picks made in Santa Cruz to sell to the gold miners. With his share of the profits, he built a combination residence/workshop/hotel on the [[Mission Santa Cruz|Mission plaza]] in Santa Cruz (where the mission chapel replica stands now). In 1849, he married María del Carmen Cota (1827–1923), commonly called Carmelita, daughter of local landowner Martina Cota Castro (1807–1890) and her first husband Corporal Simon Cota, owners of [[Rancho Soquel]]. Carmel inherited one-tenth of Rancho Soquel, 3400 acres of land.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://historysanjose.org/wp/plan-your-visit/peralta-fallon-historic-site/the-thomas-fallon-house/ |title=The Thomas Fallon House - History San Jose |website=historysanjose.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190510172244/http://historysanjose.org/wp/plan-your-visit/peralta-fallon-historic-site/the-thomas-fallon-house/ |archive-date=2019-05-10}}</ref>

In 1852, Fallon sold his plaza property to the County of Santa Cruz for use as a courthouse.<ref>[https://www.santacruzpl.org/history/articles/25/ Kimbro, Edna E. ''Construction Chronology of the Site of Holy Cross Church: Ex-Mission Santa Cruz became Holy Cross''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109081058/https://www.santacruzpl.org/history/articles/25/ |date=2017-11-09 }}, Santa Cruz Public Library Local History Articles</ref> Shortly thereafter, Thomas and Carmel moved their family to Texas. Following the death of their children, they returned to San Jose. In San Jose, Fallon began buying land in the area and built the Fallon House (1855) in [[Downtown San Jose]]. The house is preserved as a museum, across from the [[Peralta Adobe]]. In 1856, Fallon was elected to the San Jose Common Council. In 1857, he was elected to the city's Board of Trustees (which had replaced the Common Council) for one year. He was a council-elected Mayor of San Jose in 1859, and served a single one-year term.

According to one account, in 1876 (after 26 years of marriage) Carmel found Thomas and the family maid in a compromising position,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://friendsof1800.org/ARCHIVES/noereview_02-98.html |title=''A Battered Beauty'', The Noe Review |access-date=2009-10-03 |archive-date=2014-11-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141107072322/http://friendsof1800.org/ARCHIVES/noereview_02-98.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and filed for divorce. Carmel used the divorce settlement to build several hotels and other buildings, including the [[Carmel Fallon Building]] (1894) at 1800 [[Market Street (San Francisco)|Market Street]] in [[San Francisco]], now part of the [[San Francisco LGBT Community Center]]. Thomas Fallon died in San Francisco in 1885.