He was also the presidente for several years.

As a loyal Spaniard he declined to take the oath of allegiance to the Mexican Republic, and was nominally under arrest for about five years, or subject to exile; but so greatly was he revered and trusted as a man of integrity and as a business manager of great ability that the order of exile was never enforced.

The last years of his life were spent at the Mission of Our Lady of Solitude.

When devastation began and the temporal prosperity of the Mission quickly declined, this faithful pastor of a fast thinning flock refused to leave the few poverty-stricken Indians who still sought to prolong life in their old home.

One Sunday morning, while saying mass in the little church, the enfeebled and aged padre fell before the altar and immediately expired.
As it had been reported that he was "leading a hermit's life and destitute of means," it was commonly believed that this worthy and devoted missionary was exhausted from lack of proper food, and in reality died of starvation.
There were still a few Indians at Soledad in 1850, their scattered huts being all that remained of the once large rancherias that existed here.
The ruins of Soledad are about four miles from the station of the Southern Pacific of that name.