California Gold Rush History ~ William Alexander Leidesdorff, Jr.

From the Headquarters of the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association, Tillery North Carolina on the 120th Birthday Weekend Celebration of Marcus Mosiah Garvey, we begin to celebrate our 10th Year Anniversary and mark the preparation toward the 30th Year Celebration of the Concerned Citizens of Tillery, watching an advance showing of "We Shall Not Be Moved" in the Historic Tillery Community Center.

William Alexander Leidesdorff, Jr. was born on a family farm in 1810, St. Croix, Virgin Islands, to his African-Cuban mother, Anna Marie and Danish-Jewish father, William Leidesdorff, Sr. a citizen of Demark. Leidesdorff was naturalized a U.S. citizen in 1834, New Orleans, Louisiana and obtained Mexican citizenship in 1843, Monterey, Alta California. Leidesdorff died very suddenly in 1848, a day before a very public announcement that began the California Gold Rush.

Honorable William Alexander Leidesdorff, Jr. was a successful maritime captain who owned many profitable businesses and held valuable real estate holdings throughout Louisiana, Alaska, New York, Hawaii, and California. Leidesdorff was reported to be the wealthiest man in all of California by any tangible method of measuring wealth. He was elected San Francisco Treasurer, President of the School Board and U.S. Vice Consul to Mexican California. Most of his personal and official records are “hidden” however; partial records are dispersed at universities, public libraries and private collections throughout the world.

In 1844, Honorable William Alexander Leidesdorff, Jr. received an official land grant he called Rancho Rio de Los Americanos from Mexican authorities and built an enormous cattle and wheat ranch compound. Unique to his land grant was an added stipulation to allow the native Maidu community was to remain undisturbed on a significant portion of his 35,000-acre Leidesdorff Ranch.

Today, ancient Maidu acorn grinding holes remain present among the mile long portion of the American River once known as Negro Bar, Sacramento County. This area was an early Gold Rush mining community 4 miles downstream from Negro Hills, El Dorado County. Very rich gold deposits were found at Negro Bar by Negro settlers to the region. Centuries of snow melt river current created a natural swirling pattern facilitated by a 250 foot limestone bluff on the northern bank of the American River. This wondrous geographical landmark contains layers of oceanic life forms and peaks cultural archeological interest, since the Pacific Ocean is 100 miles away.

Captain Leidesdorff navigated the first steamship in California, showcasing the desire to develop overnight steam transportation to obtain fresh agricultural products from the Sacramento Valley. His most famous steamship voyage of, The Sitka, is seen on our California State Seal.

It is the support from Gary R. Grant and the Concerned Citizens of Tillery our Leidesdorff Project is being officially recognized highlighting his greatest historical legacy, a founder of Public Education in California; he organized construction, built and opened the first public school in California, at Portsmouth Square, San Francisco.

In 1848, William Alexander Leidesdorff Jr. commissioned a survey to verify vast quantities of reported gold on his land. He received favorable Official Gold reports while murder, lawlessness and hysteria ruled the early Gold Rush experience. Prior to his death from “brain fever” and quick burial inside of the Catholic Mission Delores, San Francisco, Leidesdorff built an amazing empire and represents an unsurpassed legacy in Gold Rush California History.