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- WILLIAM ALEXANDER LEIDESDORFF by Sue Bailey Thurman
WITH THE NAME OF William Alexander Leidesdorff, we begin the documentary history of pioneers of Negro origin in California. No nationality or racial minority migrating to the state could wish to have a more distinguished antecedent. Born in the Virgin Islands, the gifted son of William Leidesdorff, a Danish sugar planter, and Anna Marie Spark, a native woman having Negro blood, Leidesdorff found his way to California as early as 1841.
He left the Virgin Islands as a youth, journeying to New Orleans, to engage in maritime trade. With time, his fortunes increasing, he became a master of vessels, sailing between New Orleans and New York. However, he soon felt the lure of the West, and selling his personal effects in New Orleans, bought the 106-ton schooner, "Julia Ann," in which he would make the now famous trading voyage to the Pacific. After long months in passage he brought his vessel into San Francisco Bay, landing at the point known as Yerba Buena Cove. Leidesdorff came ashore and the sleepy little town that awaited him was never the same again.
For the intrepid newcomer threw himself into the making of California history, finding the innumerable demands of a community experiencing birth pains completely to his liking. Among the several business ventures claiming his attention, he has the distinction of launching the first steamboat to sail on San Francisco Bay.
Bancroft, the recognized historian of the period, refers to this event in Volume 4 of his celebrated History of California: "In maritime annals of this period, the appearance of the first steamer in California(r)s waters merits a passing notice. The steamer had no name but has ever since been called the [ANSEL Import: either degree sign or ayn (looks like a left quote)] Sitka.(r) Her dimensions were: length, 37 feet; breadth of bow, 9 feet; depth of hold, 3 1/2 feet; drawing, 18 inches of water, and having side wheels moved by a miniature engine. She was built by an American at Sitka, as a pleasure boat for the officers of the Russian Fur Company and was purchased by Leidesdorff, being brought down to San Francisco in October, 1847. She made a trial trip on November 15 and returned later to Santa Clara and then to Sonoma. Finally on the 28th of November she started on the great voyage of her career to Sacramento, carrying ten or a dozen souls, including George McKinstry, L. W. Hastings, and the owner as far as Monterey. She returned to Yerba Buena and was wrecked at her anchorage in a gale but was saved, hauled inland by oxen and transformed into a launch or schooner.
FROM "SITKA" TO "RAINBOW"
As the "Rainbow" she ran on the Sacramento River even after the discovery of gold. A notice of arrival from Sitka is even found in the San Francisco, California Star, October 23, 1847, also a notice of the steamer at Sonoma, November 25, when there was a celebration with toasts to the rival towns of Sonoma and San Francisco, December 1, 1847.
But the owner of the "Sitka" had engaged in a half dozen other fascinating pursuits since becoming a California citizen. He was naturalized in 1844, and obtained thereafter a grant of thirty-five acres of land, to which he gave the name the "Rio De Los Americanos" ranch, located on the left bank of the American river. The decree confirming the boundary of this tract reads: "Beginning at an oak tree on the bank of the American river, marked as a boundary to the land granted to John A. Sutter, and running thence South to the line of Sutter(r)s two leagues, thence easterly by lines parallel to the general direction of the American river and at a distance of as near as maybe two leagues therefrom: thence along the southerly bank of said river and boundary thereon to the place of beginning." With such vast holdings he continued to establish himself as a business man of amazing acumen when he bought a lot on the corner of Clay and Kearny and built the town(r)s first hotel, which with prophetic insight, he called the "City Hotel." Later, extending his import-export trade (particularly in tallow and hides), he built a warehouse on the corner of California and Leidesdorff streets, the latter being the short street on the waterfront of the Embarcadero of the day, which was named for him. He had a flair for politics, and in 1845 was appointed Vice Consul to Mexico by Consul Thomas Oliver Larkin, serving under the jurisdiction of Commodore Stockton, then military governor of California. In this capacity Leidesdorff gave aid to Fremont and the Americans raising the Bear flag in the historic rebellion at Sonoma in 1846. His official report of this incident to Consul Larkin, not published until 1939, remains an important document of the period. A bachelor to the end of his days, Leidesdorff nevertheless established himself in a commodious home on the corner of California and Montgomery Streets, a step from the present high-storied Russ Building, and from this vantage point won international fame as one of the city(r)s most genial hosts. Whenever government officials, American or Mexican, came to town, Leidesdorff(r)s home, the largest and most impressive in the area, was always chosen as the scene for lavish state entertainment. He had the urbanity of a seasoned diplomat, politician, and man of affairs. His cuisine offered the finest foods and wines and he could boast the only flower garden in all Yerba Buena.
On the local level, he held civic positions of honor and trust. He was a member of the town(r)s first council; he was town treasurer, and one of the three members of the first school board which supervised the building of the first public school erected for children in the community. In a lighter vein, he found occasion in the field of sports, to indulge the lively spirit of speculation and daring which he brought with him into California. Among his last ventures, in 1847, was the staging of the state(r)s first horse race, on a "meadow" near Mission Dolores, especially improvised for this unprecedented event.
Leidesdorff died of brain fever in 1848 at the early age of thirty-eight. In his death he was accorded the highest recognition a bereaved community could tender a beloved and honored citizen. Flags hung at half-mast from all military barracks and vessels in the port.
Minute guns were fired as the funeral procession made its way through the winding streets to Mission Dolores, where with imposing ceremonies his body was laid to rest.
But the Leidesdorff story did not end here. For years afterward, the history of the man was linked with the history of his estate. At the time of his death, his property was encumbered with debts amounting to some $50,000, but the discovery of gold in that same year, later increased its value to nearly a million dollars.
Joseph Libby Folsom, captain in the U. S. Army and at one time collector of the port, set himself the task of finding the Leidesdorff heirs and securing from them the right and title to their kinsman(r)s California estate. He journeyed all the way to the Virgin Islands in search of Anna Marie Spark, the mother, who still lived in the islands with her other children. Folsom paid her the sum of $75,000, which gave him absolute title to the whole of the Leidesdorff property. The various business transactions that followed in the ultimate sale and disposition of this property became a cause celebre straight through to the end of the century.
But Folsom himself lived only a short time to enjoy the wealth obtained from the Leidesdorff estate. He died at Mission San Jose, in July, 1855, at the same age as Leidesdorff, at the time of his death.
His memorial was the town of Folsom, which stood on the site of "Rio De Los Americanos" ranch, and the old Montgomery Block in San Francisco, built by Halleck in 1863, on a very small portion of the property owned by Leidesdorff, and later by Folsom.
There is magic in the names of the streets in San Francisco. "Larkin," "Stockton," "Sutter," "Leidesdorff," "Folsom." Streets, which as "men in the flesh" were once closely associated. Some of them run parallel or across each other, as the blending of a dream. They serve to remind the city of those men who gave it its beginning. Robert Ernest Cowan connects two of them in a brilliant comparison of Leidesdorff and Folsom, published in the Quarterly of the California: Historical Society, June, 1928: Both men were ambitious, venturesome, clear in vision, wide in mental perspective, firm in their conviction, and capable in their many undertakings. Both had an unbounded faith in the future of the beloved city, wherein they had lived and toiled and died." Greater tribute may not be given the first pioneer of Negro origin who came to San Francisco, made his contribution and passed on. But the citizen of today-of whatever racial, creed or national origin, migrant like himself-may walk "The City(r)s" streets with dignity, knowing that Leidesdorff helped immeasurably to establish this right, a hundred years ago.
In: Pioneers of Negro Origin in California by Sue Bailey Thurman.
San Francisco : Acme Pub. Co., 1952.
Courtesy of the San Francisco African American Historical Society.
- From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
William Alexander Leidesdorff, Jr. (October 23, 1810 – May 18, 1848) was born in Christiansted, Danish West Indies, now the United States Virgin Islands. He was one of the earliest mixed-race U.S. citizens in California and a highly successful, enterprising businessman. He was a West Indian immigrant of African Cuban, possibly Carib, Danish and Jewish ancestry. William Alexander Leidesdorff, Jr. became a United States citizen in New Orleans in 1834. He migrated to California in 1841, then under Mexican rule, settling in Yerba Buena (San Francisco), a village of about 30 European-Mexican families.
He became a Mexican citizen in 1844 and received a land grant from the Mexican government, 8 Spanish leagues, or 35,500 acres (144 km2) south of the American River, known as Rancho Rio de los Americanos. He served as US Vice Consul to Mexico at the Port of San Francisco beginning in 1845. Leidesdorff was Presdident of the San Francisco school board and also elected as City Treasurer. Shortly before Leidesdorff's death, vast amounts of gold were officially reported on his Rancho Rio De los Americanos. By the time his estate was auctioned off in 1856, it was worth more than $1,445,000, not including vast quantities of gold mined upon his land.
International Leidesdorff Bicentennial Celebrations will feature the "Golden Legacy of William Alexander Leidesdorff, Jr." On October 22, 2011 on his native isle of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, a special event will highlight the season of celebrations.
Early life and education
Born in St. Croix, Virgin Islands when it was under Danish rule, William Leidesdorff, Jr. was the oldest son of four children of Danish sugar plantation manager Wilhelm Alexander Leidesdorff (who used Alexander Leidesdorff as his name) and his common-law wife Anna Marie Sparks, reportedly of African and Spanish descent. Wilhelm Leidesdorff Sr. was reportedly of Jewish descent from the community of Altona, Hamburg. It was part of the Danish Schleswig-Holstein, then across the river from but now part of today's port of Hamburg, Germany. He migrated to North America and later the Caribbean to further his career as a merchant. Leidesdorff and Anna Marie lived in New Orleans under Spanish rule before the Louisiana Purchase, and he worked as a sugar factor.
Leidesdorff, Jr.'s mother Anna Marie Sparks, was described in one account as a Carib Indian woman; she was believed also to have had African and European ancestry. Her race was noted in a census report. Many people observed that what were called "Carib" people had skin of various hues that likely reflected mixed ancestry, ranging from dark brown to lighter shades of brown, resulting in a Virgin Islands Creole, to which she may have belonged. Other sources said the mother Marie Anne Spark (as she was also known) was a mixed-race woman of African and Spanish heritage, thought to have been born in Cuba. In census records, Marie Anne Spark was classified as a free Carib Indian, but few Carib survived into the late 18th century, according to Gary Palgon's biography of Leidesdorff. Other sources document tens of thousands of Caribs, most of mixed heritage, living in the Windwards and Trinidad at the time of Leidesdorff's birth. Together the accounts describe Spark as a light-skinned woman of mixed-race ancestry, yet classified as black by the 1850s California Court System, where blacks were restricted from testifying in court. According to Sue Bailey Thurman, "With the name of William Alexander Leidesdorff, we begin the documentary history of pioneers of Negro origin in California."
Today, William Alexander Leidesdorff, Jr. is recognized as the "African Founding Father of California", as noted by the California State Legislature. 2011 is the United Nations International Year for People of African Descent.
As an infant, William Leidesdorff, Jr. was baptized as a Lutheran, as all the Leidesdorff children were, the adopted faith which his father and many other people of Jewish ancestry in Europe assumed to avoid conflict. In 1837 Leidesdorff, Sr. officially "adopted" all four of his own children from Anne Marie Sparks to give them legal standing by Danish Law.
Leidesdorff, Jr. was said to leave St. Croix at about fifteen years of age to be educated in Denmark.
Career
Afterward, he migrated to New Orleans, where he operated as a master of shipping vessels after he was naturalized as a United States citizen. He held posts with firms associated with his father or perhaps his mentors. Ship manifest documents show Leidesdorff's working as Ship Captain and/or Master, 1834–1840, out of the Port of New Orleans. William Alexander Leidesdorff, Jr. was thought the last black ship captain in Louisiana after strict enforcement of the Negro Seamen Acts began at the Port of New Orleans.[citation needed]
Leidesdorff traveled to New York to become the Master of the schooner Julia Ann that sailed from New York to Yerba Buena (later San Francisco) in Alta California, then part of Mexico, in 1841. His route was via Panama, St. Croix, Brazil, Chile the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), Sitka, Alaska, and on to California following the Pacific Ocean currents during the "Age of Sail".
In San Francisco
On arriving at Yerba Buena, Leidesdorff, Jr. began to re-build his businesses. The village cove then only had thirty European-Mexican families, so it did not take long for the ambitious man to make an impact. He launched the first steamboat to operate on San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento River; it was 37 feet (11 m) long and purchased in Alaska. He built the City Hotel, the first hotel in San Francisco, and the first commercial shipping warehouse, the latter on what became Leidesdorff Street off the Embarcadero.
In 1844 Leidesdorff obtained a vast land grant through favor from the Mexican government for 35,521 acres (143.75 km2) on the south bank of the American River, near today's City of Sacramento. He named the property Rancho Rio de los Americanos. During this period, Mexico encouraged leading Americans to settle in its territory by granting large land grants; in exchange the government required Americans to convert to Catholicism, the state religion; learn to speak Spanish; and accept Mexican citizenship. He went on to establish extensive commercial relations throughout Hawaii, Alaska and Mexican California.
During the eight years of his residence, Leidesdorff served as one of six aldermen or town councilors of the Ayuntamiento. After the United States took over California following the Mexican-American War, he was one of three members on the first San Francisco school board, which organized the first public school in the city; later he was elected City Treasurer. His house was one of the largest, and he donated land for the first public school.
In 1845, during the President James Polk administration, Leidesdorff accepted the request from US Consul Thomas O. Larkin to serve as the US Vice Consul to Mexico at the Port of San Francisco, a measure of his political standing in region. Larkin was the first and last U.S. Consul appointed to serve in California.[13] Before the American flag was raised over San Francisco (July 1846), Leidesdorff had the U.S. Declaration of Independence read for the first time in California on the veranda at his home in celebration of Independence Day.
Leidesdorff, Jr. achieved a high reputation for integrity and enterprise; he is said to have been "liberal, hospitable, cordial, confiding even to a fault. "Leidesdorff became one of the wealthiest man in California. The value of his property near Sacramento began to rise dramatically just before his death, when gold was discovered along the American River just above his Leidesdorff Ranch, in the Gold Mining District of California.
In March 1848, the California Star reported the total non-Native population of San Francisco as only 812: 575 males, 177 females and 60 children. In May 1848, the vast majority of men departed for the American River gold fields in hopes of striking it rich. Other towns were nearly emptied in the frenzy of the Gold Rush.
Marriage and family
Leidesdorff never married. According to the explorer John C. Fremont, he lived with a Russian woman while maintaining diplomatic relationships with the Russian community in Sitka, Alaska.
William Alexander Leidesdorff, Jr. died of brain fever on May 18, 1848. Other accounts noted the cause as pneumonia, typhus or murder. On the day of his burial, the town was in mourning, flags were at half-mast, business was suspended, and the schools were closed. His remains were interred near the front entrance of Mission Dolores on the same day, May 18, 1848.
Legacy and honors
Leidesdorff Street in San Francisco, California and Leidesdorff Street in Folsom, California were named for him.
15 miles (24 km) of U.S. Highway 50 was dedicated the William Alexander Leidesdorff, Jr. Memorial Highway along the boundary of "Historic Leidesdorff Ranch", his 35,000-acre (140 km2) cattle and wheat ranch along the southern banks of the American River Parkway, Sacramento County.
25th Anniversary of the Federal Holiday for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the CORE New York City, New York Gala honoring the Leidesdorff Legacy.
Leidesdorff Exhibit, Mission Delores Basilica, San Francisco, California, May 1–31, 2010
Leidesdorff Bicentennial Celebration - "Golden Legacy of William Alexander Leidesdorff, Jr.," October 23, 2010, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands.
Leidesdorff estate and controversy
The California pioneer died intestate, with no living relatives in California or the United States. In 1848 his estate was assumed devalued and in debt. The public discovery of gold in the American River valley and upon his extensive land holdings increased the actual value of his estate dramatically. His waterfront property in today's financial district of San Francisco would be valuable today. A complete inventory of his estate has yet to be quantified. The court appointed temporary administrators of his estate because there no Probate laws in California at that time. By 1854, when the California State Legislature considered escheat to take control of the property, Leidesdorff's estate was worth well over one million dollars and multiple of millions of dollars in gold was mined off his land. When the Leidesdorff-Folsom partitioned estate was auctioned off in 1856, the property brought more than $1,445,000.
Settlement of the estate was complicated by the actions of Folsom. As Customs Collector and Harbor Master for San Francisco in 1848, he had become familiar with Leidesdorff's business dealings with the U.S. Army.
In 1849, Folsom took leave from the U.S. Army and located Leidesdorff's mother and some of his siblings in the West Indies. Folsom signed a note to purchase from Anna Spark title to her son's estate for $75,000, title which included all of Leidesdorff's real estate holdings in San Francisco as well as the 35,000-acre (140 km2) Rancho Rio de los Americanos near Sacramento. He paid her a deposit, with the promise of two more installment payments.
By the time Folsom returned to San Francisco, land prices were rising. The government challenged his purchase of Leidesdorff's title, as Anna Spark legally had no claim to it. A California State government "claim was brought because under old Mexican law that foreigners could not inherit property. The dispute was brought to the courts, where legal entanglements over the conflicts of Mexican, American and Danish laws kept it for over ten years. "The uncertainty of new probate laws, combined with the fact that William Leidesdorff, though he had held federal offices, held dual Mexican and U.S. citizenship, further complicated the property issues.
Leidesdorff's St. Croix relatives, mother and siblings, challenged title through Danish officials because of Folsom's false evaluation of the estate. Both the US and Mexican national governments had interest in the large estate. The high value and reach of the Leidesdorff estate made Folsom's "purchase" extremely controversial. In 1854, Governor Bigler, recommended the escheat of the estate, then worth a million and a half, to the state legislature, and suggested that proceedings be commenced for its recovery from Folsom. The courts refused to admit the title of the West Indian mixed-race relatives because there may have been "other heirs, who had never conveyed away their rights in the estate", from Europe. These "other heirs" from Leidesdorff's father's family lived in Europe at Altona and Copenhagen, and in the Caribbean Islands.
Ultimately the following happened:
(1) The claims of Leidesdorff's West Indian relatives were thrown out of court; their evidence of relationship was rejected. As they were not American citizens, they were not considered to have standing.
(2) No recognized Danish family or individual of the name of Leidesdorff appeared to claim the estate of William Leidesdorff of San Francisco. Other Danish members of the family lived on St. Croix for some time after the American's death.
(3) The statute of limitations covered and protected every title obtained from Joseph L. Folsom and others who later acquired possession.
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1810 - 1848 (37 år)
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