William Leidesdorff, first in everything
William A. Leidesdorff
William Alexander Leidesdorff lived only 38 years, but he fit more in those years than many others in a century.
Through investing in the growth of San Francisco Leidesdorff became America's first Black millionaire1Mary Ellen Pleasant, also of San Francisco was the second. Your school textbook and the Guinness Book of Records may have told you that this distinction belonged to Madam CJ Walker. They lied.. He was also the first English-speaking alderman of San Francisco and, as far as I know, the first Black Jewish person to hold public office on behalf of either Denmark or USA, having been Consul for Denmark to California and then U.S. Vice Consul to Mexico2That was in 1845, 16 years before the Civil War. That's San Francisco for you..
He built the first hotel in San Francisco, the first horse racing track, and the first shipping warehouse. He launched the first steamboat on San Francisco Bay. He donated land to open the first public school, sat on the first School Board and the first City Council. And he did all that in a mere 7 years, while recovering from a loss of his sailing career and a tragic heartbreak.
Leidesdorff was born in 1810 the island of Saint Croix in the Danish West Indies. His father was a Danish Jew passing as Lutheran, and his mother, Anne Marie Spark, a woman of mixed Black, Carib, and European ancestry. In 1824 Leidesdorff moved to New Orleans to work in his father's shipping business and became an American citizen.
His ship was Julia Ann, a fine schooner that he took on trading voyages from New York to Yerba Buena by way of Panama, St. Croix, Brazil, Chile, Hawaii, and Alaska.
Not only were Captain Leidesdorff's travels very successful, but he was also in love. She loved him back. They were engaged.
Leidesdorff loved his bride so much that he could not bear starting their life together with a lie. He confessed his mother's ancestry. The lady (or so it is said) answered that she loved him whatever color his mother was, but could not lie to her parents. Her father... Well, her father had exactly the kind of views on his daughter marrying a Black man as you'd expect from a Louisiana plantation owner in 1840.
The wedding was off. William Leidesdorff had to leave town quickly. It is said that just before he left, he found out that his beloved died of a broken heart3I personally do not believe that a teenager can die overnight of a broken heart, but her father was never arrested. There's definitely no evidence at all to suggest a suicide or an honor killing..
Leidesdorff was the last Black captain to sail out of New Orleans for almost a generation, until slave owners lost the Civil War.
He settled in Yerba Buena, a small town of thirty families and proceeded to grow it into a city almost single-handed. His knowledge of at least six languages, including Spanish probably helped, but so did his open-handed generosity.
By 1844 the Mexican government granted him 35,521 acres extending from Sacramento to Folsom, which he called Rancho Río de los Americanos after American River that flows there. That land was later found to have some of the richest gold deposits mined during the Gold Rush.
In 1845 the government changed, but USA valued Leidesdorff as much as Mexico ever had. He was the first to notify U. S. Consul Thomas O. Larkin when the California Republic had been established in Sonoma and provided a lot of valuable information on the California Revolution.
In 1846 the Declaration of Independence was read publicly for the first time in California - on the veranda of one of the largest houses in town, Leidesdorff's house.
Success followed Leidesdorff's every undertaking, and then, suddenly, after a very short illness, he died.
William Leidesdorff was so loved in San Francisco that on May 19, 1848, the day of his burial, all business in town was suspended, all schools were closed, and all flags flew at half-mast.
Perhaps because he did not expect to die of a fever at thirty eight Mr. Leidesdorff left no will. Joseph Folsom, the Harbor Master, who knew the particulars of the estate traveled to St. Croix and offered Leidesdorff's widowed mother a paltry $75,000 for her inheritance. Folsom's enjoyment of this deal was spoiled by a prolonged law suit the stress of which contributed to his own untimely death4Folsom died at the same age as Leidesdorff, thirty eight. Besides Mrs. Spark the land was disputed by its former Californio owners and a number of squatters. The case was decided in Folsom's favor a month after his death..
1Mary Ellen Pleasant, also of San Francisco was the second. Your school textbook and the Guinness Book of Records may have told you that this distinction belonged to Madam CJ Walker. They lied.Mary Ellen Pleasant, also of San Francisco was the second. Your school textbook and the Guinness Book of Records may have told you that this distinction belonged to Madam CJ Walker. They lied.
2That was in 1845, 16 years before the Civil War. That's San Francisco for you.That was in 1845, 16 years before the Civil War. That's San Francisco for you.
3I personally do not believe that a teenager can die overnight of a broken heart, but her father was never arrested. There's definitely no evidence at all to suggest a suicide or an honor killing. I personally do not believe that a teenager can die overnight of a broken heart, but her father was never arrested. There's definitely no evidence at all to suggest a suicide or an honor killing.
4Folsom died at the same age as Leidesdorff, thirty eight. Besides Mrs. Spark the land was disputed by its former Californio owners and a number of squatters. The case was decided in Folsom's favor a month after his death.Folsom died at the same age as Leidesdorff, thirty eight. Besides Mrs. Spark the land was disputed by its former Californio owners and a number of squatters. The case was decided in Folsom's favor a month after his death.
Through investing in the growth of San Francisco Leidesdorff became America's first Black millionaire1Mary Ellen Pleasant, also of San Francisco was the second. Your school textbook and the Guinness Book of Records may have told you that this distinction belonged to Madam CJ Walker. They lied.. He was also the first English-speaking alderman of San Francisco and, as far as I know, the first Black Jewish person to hold public office on behalf of either Denmark or USA, having been Consul for Denmark to California and then U.S. Vice Consul to Mexico2That was in 1845, 16 years before the Civil War. That's San Francisco for you..
He built the first hotel in San Francisco, the first horse racing track, and the first shipping warehouse. He launched the first steamboat on San Francisco Bay. He donated land to open the first public school, sat on the first School Board and the first City Council. And he did all that in a mere 7 years, while recovering from a loss of his sailing career and a tragic heartbreak.
Leidesdorff was born in 1810 the island of Saint Croix in the Danish West Indies. His father was a Danish Jew passing as Lutheran, and his mother, Anne Marie Spark, a woman of mixed Black, Carib, and European ancestry. In 1824 Leidesdorff moved to New Orleans to work in his father's shipping business and became an American citizen.
His ship was Julia Ann, a fine schooner that he took on trading voyages from New York to Yerba Buena by way of Panama, St. Croix, Brazil, Chile, Hawaii, and Alaska.
Not only were Captain Leidesdorff's travels very successful, but he was also in love. She loved him back. They were engaged.
Leidesdorff loved his bride so much that he could not bear starting their life together with a lie. He confessed his mother's ancestry. The lady (or so it is said) answered that she loved him whatever color his mother was, but could not lie to her parents. Her father... Well, her father had exactly the kind of views on his daughter marrying a Black man as you'd expect from a Louisiana plantation owner in 1840.
The wedding was off. William Leidesdorff had to leave town quickly. It is said that just before he left, he found out that his beloved died of a broken heart3I personally do not believe that a teenager can die overnight of a broken heart, but her father was never arrested. There's definitely no evidence at all to suggest a suicide or an honor killing..
Leidesdorff was the last Black captain to sail out of New Orleans for almost a generation, until slave owners lost the Civil War.
He settled in Yerba Buena, a small town of thirty families and proceeded to grow it into a city almost single-handed. His knowledge of at least six languages, including Spanish probably helped, but so did his open-handed generosity.
By 1844 the Mexican government granted him 35,521 acres extending from Sacramento to Folsom, which he called Rancho Río de los Americanos after American River that flows there. That land was later found to have some of the richest gold deposits mined during the Gold Rush.
In 1845 the government changed, but USA valued Leidesdorff as much as Mexico ever had. He was the first to notify U. S. Consul Thomas O. Larkin when the California Republic had been established in Sonoma and provided a lot of valuable information on the California Revolution.
In 1846 the Declaration of Independence was read publicly for the first time in California - on the veranda of one of the largest houses in town, Leidesdorff's house.
Success followed Leidesdorff's every undertaking, and then, suddenly, after a very short illness, he died.
William Leidesdorff was so loved in San Francisco that on May 19, 1848, the day of his burial, all business in town was suspended, all schools were closed, and all flags flew at half-mast.
Perhaps because he did not expect to die of a fever at thirty eight Mr. Leidesdorff left no will. Joseph Folsom, the Harbor Master, who knew the particulars of the estate traveled to St. Croix and offered Leidesdorff's widowed mother a paltry $75,000 for her inheritance. Folsom's enjoyment of this deal was spoiled by a prolonged law suit the stress of which contributed to his own untimely death4Folsom died at the same age as Leidesdorff, thirty eight. Besides Mrs. Spark the land was disputed by its former Californio owners and a number of squatters. The case was decided in Folsom's favor a month after his death..
1Mary Ellen Pleasant, also of San Francisco was the second. Your school textbook and the Guinness Book of Records may have told you that this distinction belonged to Madam CJ Walker. They lied.Mary Ellen Pleasant, also of San Francisco was the second. Your school textbook and the Guinness Book of Records may have told you that this distinction belonged to Madam CJ Walker. They lied.
2That was in 1845, 16 years before the Civil War. That's San Francisco for you.That was in 1845, 16 years before the Civil War. That's San Francisco for you.
3I personally do not believe that a teenager can die overnight of a broken heart, but her father was never arrested. There's definitely no evidence at all to suggest a suicide or an honor killing. I personally do not believe that a teenager can die overnight of a broken heart, but her father was never arrested. There's definitely no evidence at all to suggest a suicide or an honor killing.
4Folsom died at the same age as Leidesdorff, thirty eight. Besides Mrs. Spark the land was disputed by its former Californio owners and a number of squatters. The case was decided in Folsom's favor a month after his death.Folsom died at the same age as Leidesdorff, thirty eight. Besides Mrs. Spark the land was disputed by its former Californio owners and a number of squatters. The case was decided in Folsom's favor a month after his death.
