Félix Córdova Dávila
Félix Córdova Dávila | |
---|---|
Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico | |
In office August 7, 1917 – April 11, 1932 | |
Preceded by | Luis Muñoz Rivera |
Succeeded by | José Lorenzo Pesquera |
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico | |
In office 1932–1938 | |
Preceded by | Jacinto Texidor y Alcalá del Olmo |
Succeeded by | Angel de Jesús Sánchez |
Personal details | |
Born | Félix Lope María Córdova Dávila November 20, 1878 Vega Baja, Puerto Rico |
Died | December 3, 1938 San Juan, Puerto Rico | (aged 60)
Political party | Unionist |
Spouse(s) | Mercedes Díaz Collazo Patria Martínez |
Children | Jorge |
Education | Howard University National University School of Law (LLB) |
Félix Lope María Córdova Dávila (November 20, 1878 – December 3, 1938) was a political leader and judge from Puerto Rico who served as Puerto Rico's fourth Resident Commissioner in Congress and later as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico.
Early years
Félix Córdova Dávila was born in
In 1906, Córdova married Mercedes Díaz Collazo, with whom he had several children:
Public office
Córdova Dávila then took on a succession of local offices in Puerto Rico. He was appointed by Governor William Hunt as judge of the municipal court of Caguas in 1904 and then served as judge of the municipal court of Manati from 1904 to 1908. He served as district attorney for Aguadilla in 1908, as judge of the district court of Guayama from 1908 to 1910; judge of the district court of Arecibo from 1910 to 1911; and judge of the district court of San Juan, Puerto Rico, from 1911 to 1917. (These courts were part of Puerto Rico's local court system, and should not be confused with the United States District Court.) On January 12, 1912, Córdova was one of nine attorneys and judges who founded Puerto Rico's first law school under US rule, operating out of the Ateneo Puertorriqueño, serving as its first Civil Code professor. This first school was eventually transformed into the University of Puerto Rico School of Law.
On July 16, 1917, Córdova Dávila was elected as the
As he opened his congressional office, his predecessor's son, Luis Muñoz Marín, asked to be hired as his clerk. Feeling duty-bound to Muñoz Rivera, Córdova Dávila hired him immediately. In his memoirs, Puerto Rico's future first elected Governor wrote pleasantly about his two months working in Congress. The Resident Commissioner, on the other hand, wrote to his friend Epifanio Fernández Vanga, that Muñoz Marín "has natural talent but lacks the education to perform at this task...everything was disorganized...and my office's image was being affected".
Trials and tribulations
In 1918, his wife and three children were infected with the influenza that American soldiers brought back from the battlefields in Europe. While his children recovered, his wife died in October of that year, and he married his second wife, Patria Martínez, in 1919, with whom he became estranged over time.
On April 11, 1932, Córdova Dávila resigned as Resident Commissioner after having been appointed by President Herbert Hoover as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico. He held that office until March 31, 1938, when he retired from the court to rest and prepare for his death from prostate cancer on December 3, 1938.[citation needed]
Dr. Loretta Phelps de Córdova, the wife of one of Córdova Dávila's descendants, has published information concerning Córdova Dávila's service as Resident Commissioner. A series of Córdova Dávila's letters is being published under collaboration between Dr. Phelps de Córdova and the
Death
He died on December 3, 1938, in San Juan, Puerto Rico at age 60.
See also
- List of Puerto Ricans
- List of Hispanic Americans in the United States Congress
References
- ^ See [1] Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine.
1. See Official Historian of Puerto Rico website.
2. La Obra de Félix Córdova Dávila, Volume 1, Dr. Loretta Phelps de Córdova, Office of the Official Historian of Puerto Rico, 1999
- United States Congress. "Félix Córdova Dávila (id: D000090)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.