Ulises Espaillat
15th President of the Dominican Republic
In office April 29, 1876 – October 5, 1876
Preceded by	Council of Secretaries of State
Succeeded by	Superior Governing Junta
Personal details
Born	February 9, 1823 Saint-Yague, Cibao Department, Haiti (now Santiago, Santiago Province, Dominican Republic)
Died	April 25, 1878 (aged 55) Santiago, Santiago Province, Dominican Republic
Nationality	Dominican
Spouse	Eloísa Espaillat
Children	6
Relatives	Francisco Espaillat (grandfather) Santiago Espaillat (uncle) Rhina Espaillat (1st cousin, 5x removed)
Occupation	Druggist/apothecary, spirits brewer, baker, politician

Ulises Francisco Espaillat Quiñones (February 9, 1823 – April 25, 1878) was a 19th-century Dominican Republic liberal politician and author. He served as president of the Dominican Republic from April 29, 1876, to October 5, 1876. Espaillat Province is named after him.

Early life

Ulises Francisco Espaillat Quiñones was born on 9 February 1823 in Santiago, officially known from 1822 to 1844 as Saint-Yague, into a wealthy family of French, Canarian, Aragonese and Genovese descent; he was the only son of Pedro Ramón Espaillat Velilla (Santiago, 1796−idem, 1882) and María Petronila Quiñones Tavares (1804−1874). His father was the tenth and junior child of Francisco Espaillat y Virol —a Frenchman native to Masclat that settled in Santiago in 1758 in an epoch where one-third of the population was of French origin— and Petronila Velilla Sánchez —whose father was born in Aragon. He was described by his contemporaries as a tall, pale-complexioned, blue-eyed, dark blond-haired man.

In his early childhood and adolescence he received lessons in English, French, music, mathematics and other disciplines, within the limited possibilities of school education that the country lived under the Haitian occupation. He later received medical lessons from a paternal uncle, Dr. Santiago Espaillat (who later became President-elect in 1849). Ulises Espaillat established a pharmacy in the early 1840s.

In 1845, he married his first cousin, Eloísa Espaillat Rodríguez, the daughter of his uncle Juan José Espaillat Velilla.^[1]

Politics

Espaillat served in many offices, including Senator, member of the House of Representatives, Customs Inspector of Puerto Plata, and member of the Provincial Deputation of Santiago.^[2] He opposed the 1861 Spanish colonial restoration, and as a result, he was exiled; he returned to his country in 1863. He served as Vice President in 1864.^{[citation needed]}

With the support of Gregorio Luperón, Espaillat won the March 24, 1876, presidential election. Espaillat was a political and economic liberal who wished to broaden the personal freedoms of the Dominican people and improve the country's economy by taking from the producers of the society in order to pay for his ideas. However, he was forced to resign (on December 20, 1876) before he could set in motion any plan of action, due to rebellions in the south and east.^[3]

Legacy

Espaillat Province, as well as the Ulises Francisco Espaillat metro station in Santo Domingo are named after him.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Ulises Francisco Espaillat

8. Jean Espailhac 4. Francisco Antonio Espaillat y Virol (né François Antoine Espailhac; 1734–1807) 9. Marguerite Virol Lamargot 2. Pedro Ramón Espaillat Velilla (1796–1882) 10. Francisco Antonio Velilla de Torres 5. Petronila Velilla y Sánchez Moreno (1767–?) 11. María Sánchez Moreno Filpo (1740–1805) 1. Ulises Francisco Espaillat Quiñones (1823–1878) 6. Tomás Quiñones 3. María Petronila Quiñones Tavares (1788–1874) 7. Francisca Tabares

Offspring

President Espaillat has been identified as the most recent common ancestor for most of the Dominican oligarchy and aristocracy, since his offspring managed to establish bonds with the most prominent families from Santiago, who became later the richest families of the country.^[4]