Thomas Fallon (1825–1885) an Irish-born Californian politician, best known for serving as 10th Mayor of San Jose. Fallon remains a controversial figure in San Jose's history, owing to his role in the American Conquest of California. Biography Fallon's family moved to Canada when he was a child. At age 18, he was in St. Louis and joined the third expedition of John C. Frémont to California. Early in 1846, Fallon stayed in 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 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 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. In 1852, Fallon sold his plaza property to the County of Santa Cruz for use as a courthouse. 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