Abraham González

Abraham González de Hermosillo y Casavantes (June 7, 1864 – March 7, 1913) was the provisional and constitutional governor of the Mexican state of Chihuahua during the early period of the Mexican Revolution. He was the political mentor of the revolutionary Pancho Villa, whom he had met and befriended before the revolution.

Family Abraham González de Hermosillo y Casavantes was born on his family's estates in Basúchil, in Guerrero Municipality, Chihuahua. He was a member of one of the richest and best-educated families in the state (the González de Hermosillo family was believed to be descended from European nobility). He was educated at the University of Notre Dame, in South Bend, Indiana. His paternal line is from Teocaltiche, Jalisco, belonging to the González de Hermosillo y Gómez Rendón family with Y-DNA matches with other González de Hermosillo families of Jalisco.

As with Francisco Madero, the scion of one of the richest landowning families in Coahuila and also educated abroad, Abraham González had suffered under the favoritism of Porfirio Díaz's political system. In Chihuahua, the dominant political clique was the Creel-Terrazas family, which had vast land holdings and strong political connections to Díaz. González "was unable to hold out against the competition of the large haciendas, primarily those belonging to the Terrazas-Creel clan." After Madero wrote his book, The Presidential Succession of 1910 and the political movement of elites against Díaz's election grew, González became the head of the Anti-Re-electionist Club in Chihuahua. González was president of the Benito Juárez Anti-Re-electionist Club and met with Francisco Madero in Chihuahua. At the time, Madero had not yet chosen his running mate, and when González asked who he preferred, Madero said Francisco Vázquez Gómez. González declared for Vázquez Gómez. When Madero issued his Plan de San Luis Potosí, calling for rebellion against Díaz after the fraudulent 1910 election, he counted on González, among others, to rise up.

During the early phases of the Revolution, González was appointed provisional governor of the State of Chihuahua in October 1910 by Francisco Madero. After the success of the Madero revolution in 1911, González was appointed interim governor in June 1911, pending elections. He was elected governor in his own right in August 1911. He served in this capacity until February 1912, when he returned to Chihuahua due to the seriousness of the Pascual Orozco rebellion against Madero. He served as governor of the state until his arrest and murder by officials of the Victoriano Huerta regime in March 1913. On 7 March, he was taken aboard a train on the pretense of being transferred to Mexico City. He was then removed from the train and murdered in Bachimba Canyon, about south of Chihuahua, on direct orders from Huerta, who had been responsible for ordering the murders of Madero and Pino Suárez in order to assume power.

His nephew, Colonel Fernando González y González, along with Pancho Villa, later recovered González's remains and gave him a hero's funeral in the city of Chihuahua. He is buried in the Rotunda of Illustrious Chihuahuans under the Angel of Liberty monument in the Plaza Mayor in Chihuahua City.