Miguel Antonio Otero

Miguel Antonio Otero (June 21, 1829 – May 30, 1882) was a prominent American politician of the New Mexico Territory and instrumental in the economic development of the territory. Early life Miguel Antonio Otero was born in Valencia, Nuevo México to Don Vicente Otero and Doña Gertrudis Aragón de Otero. Don Vicente had held prominent civic positions as judge and mayor in Valencia County, under both Spanish and Mexican Governments. Otero received his early education in Valencia. In 1841 he enrolled at St. Louis University in the state of Missouri and subsequently graduated from Pingree College in Fishkill, New York, where he taught while he began his study of law. In 1851 he returned to Missouri, where he studied law and was admitted to the bar. In 1852, he returned to New Mexico and led a herd of sheep, thought to belong to his brother, Antonio José Otero, overland to California. Returning from California, he practiced law for a short time.