Entrepreneur, Mayor of Los Angeles. He was an American-Mexican politician who had traveled thousands of miles from Tennessee to settle in California at age 30 when the land was part of the Republic of Mexico. Known as Don Benito Wilson, he became a naturalized Mexican citizen. His first California ranch home was on a 6,500-acre Rancho Jurupa land grant. Escaping death more than once, he was known for fighting bears as a fur trader, as well as Native Americans such as the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Apache, Pueblo, Ute, and Navajo. During the American-Mexican War, he was appointed a brevet Captain, who multi-tasked for the United States Army. After the United States acquired California at the end of the war, he became political. Following serving on the city council, he was elected the second mayor of Los Angeles in 1851 and obtained thousands of acres of land, which was developed for cattle, fruit trees, and vineyards. He served as a justice of the peace and clerk of the court for several years. As a real estate investor, he became one of the five richest citizens of southern California. He was appointed as an Indian Agent by United States President Benjamin Hayes and supported Indian Reservations. Starting in 1859, he served in the California State Senate for three terms. He married twice and had three daughters who lived to adulthood. He was the maternal grandfather of General George S. Patton, Jr., of World War II fame. To name only a few, he donated land for churches, the San Gabriel Cemetery, and the City of Pasadena City Hall and Library. After his death, his last land holdings in the downtown Pasadena area were given for a high school. He is the namesake for Mount Wilson, which is near Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Mountains. His and his wife's portraits are displayed at the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. A more-than-life-sized statue of him stands in Alhambra's Renaissance Plaza.