Posted on 12/07/2003 6:45:32 PM PST by farmfriend
Edited on 04/12/2004 6:01:55 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
He was a debonair seafarer who became a business and civic leader in San Francisco, where he threw parties for high society in the 1840s.
He led U.S. troops to secure the Presidio against Mexican forces and once served as vice consul to Mexico, becoming the first African American diplomat.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
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After his death, Leidesdorff's mother sold the rights to the land to Joseph Folsom for $75,000. A few months later, pioneers discovered gold in the region, raising the value of Leidesdorff's former land holdings to $1.5 million.Things that make you go hmmmmm.
That's true. Even when I lived in California, I never heard of William Alexander Leidesdorff Jr. He was a half-Dutch Californian, I gather. Well, what's one more half-Dutch American?
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