José María González Valencia

José María González was born in Pamplona, then the Republic of New Granada, on June 25, 1840, into a middle-class family from the Norte de Santander region. González obtained his bachelor's degree from the Pío IX school in Pamplona, from where he earned a doctorate in law. González began his political career at the end of the 19th century, on behalf of the Colombian Conservative Party, to which one of his brothers also belonged.

President Carlos Holguín Mallarino appointed him Minister of Government, between August 8, 1890, and January 3, 1891, and almost simultaneously he was appointed Minister of Justice, between October 15, 1890, to May 11, 1891, being the first in office in the history of the country. Among his first and new functions as Minister of Justice, González had to direct access to justice, the prison system, Church-state relations, legislation and accounting.^[6]

In January 1899, González was elected rector of the Universidad del Rosario,^[4] and months later, during the administration of the nationalist Manuel Antonio Sanclemente, at the height of the Thousand Days' War, he served briefly as Minister of Finance since May 28, 1900, until the overthrow of Sanclemente, on July 31 of the same year.^[6]

Years later he served as Minister of Public Instruction during the brief government of Jorge Holguín, between June 10 and August 3, 1909, until his brother Ramón assumed the presidency. José María took up arms trying in vain to get Holguín back into the government and in the end he had to accept the legitimacy of Ramón in the presidency, who had been Reyes' vice president between 1904 and 1906.

He served as minister of public instruction from June 17 to November 23 and then became chancellor for the republican government of the conservative Carlos Eugenio Restrepo, between November 23, 1911, and December 10, 1912. In 1911 he was also elected by Congress as Second Presidential Designate for the period 1911–1913, being the first to hold the position since its abolition in 1885.

Between August 7 and October 7, 1918, that is, for exactly two months, he held his last public position, being Minister of Public Instruction for the third time, this time for President Marco Fidel Suárez.

José María was the eldest son of the marriage of Rafael González Rodríguez and Susana Valencia Bautista. He was the brother of Ramón, Cecilia, María Antonia, Matilde, Víctor, Luis Eusebio, Gertrudis and Mariana González Valencia. His older brother, Ramón, was a prominent soldier and became Vice President of Colombia during the government of Rafael Reyes, and was then named president in 1909.

González was married twice. The first was with Ana Josefa Concha Ferreira, sister of the conservative politician José Vicente Concha, who was president of the country between 1914 and 1918; and aunt of the priest Luis Concha Córdoba (son of José Vicente). With Ana, José María had 7 children: Juan Ernesto, María Ignacia, José María, Julio, Paulina, Rafael and Josefina González Concha.

His second wife was Tomasa Álvarez Moreno, with whom he had no children.