Frederico Degetau

A Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico; born in Ponce, P.R., December 5, 1862; attended the common schools and Central College of Ponce; completed an academic course at Barcelona, Spain, and was graduated from the law department of Central University of Madrid; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Madrid, Spain; returned to Puerto Rico; one of the four commissioners sent by Puerto Rico to ask Spain for autonomy; settled in San Juan and continued the practice of law; member of the municipal council of San Juan in 1897; mayor of San Juan in 1898; deputy to the Spanish Cortes of 1898; appointed by General Henry secretary of the interior of the first American cabinet that was formed in Puerto Rico in 1899; appointed by General Davis a member of the insular board of charities; writer and author; first vice president of the municipal council of San Juan in 1899 and 1900; president of the board of education of San Juan in 1900 and 1901; elected as a Puerto Rican Republican a Resident Commissioner to the United States in 1900; reelected in 1902, and served from March 4, 1901, until March 3, 1905; was not a candidate for renomination in 1904; resumed the practice of law; died in Santurce, Puerto Rico, January 20, 1914; interment in the Cemetery of San Juan.

Published works by Federico Degetau:
El A.B.C. del sistema froebel (1896); El fondo de Alijibe (1885); El secreto de la domadora (1886); ¡Qué Quijote!, Cuentos para el camino (1894); Juventud (1895); La Injuria (1893).

For further reading:
Rosa-Nieves, Cesáreo and Esther M. Melón. Biografías puertorriqueñas: perfil histórico de un pueblo. Sharon, Connecticut: Troutman Press, 1970.

Figueroa, Javier. Diccionario histórico biográfico. Madrid: Ediciones R Madrid, 1976.

Ribes Tovar, Federico. 100 biografías de puertorriqueños ilustres. New York: Plus Ultra, 1973.

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