20 Facts About William Leidesdorff

William Leidesdorff became a United States citizen in New Orleans in 1834.

William Leidesdorff migrated to Alta California in 1841, then under Mexican rule, settling in Yerba Buena, a village of about 30 Mexican and European families.

William Leidesdorff became a Mexican citizen in 1844 and received a land grant from the Mexican government, 8 Spanish leagues, or 35,500 acres south of the American River, known as Rancho Rio de los Americanos.

William Leidesdorff served as US Vice Consul to Mexico at the Port of San Francisco beginning in 1845.

William Leidesdorff was President of the San Francisco school board and elected as City Treasurer.

William Leidesdorff migrated to North America and later the Caribbean to further his career as a merchant.

In 1834, William Leidesdorff immigrated to New Orleans where he became a naturalized American citizen and a ship captain.

William Leidesdorff held posts with firms associated with his father or perhaps his mentors.

William Leidesdorff traveled to New York to become the Master of the schooner Julia Ann that sailed from New York to Yerba Buena in Alta California, then part of Mexico, in 1841.

William Leidesdorff's route was via Panama, St Croix, Brazil, Chile, the Sandwich Islands, Sitka, and on to California following the Pacific Ocean currents.

William Leidesdorff launched the first steamboat to operate on San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento River; it was 37 feet long and purchased in Alaska.

William Leidesdorff 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 William Leidesdorff obtained a vast land grant through favor from the Mexican government for 35,521 acres on the south bank of the American River, near today's Californian City of Sacramento.

William Leidesdorff named the property Rancho Rio de los Americanos.

William Leidesdorff went on to establish extensive commercial relations throughout Hawaii, Alaska and Mexican California.

William Leidesdorff's house was one of the largest, and he donated land for the first public school.

In 1845, during the President James Polk administration, William Leidesdorff accepted the request from United States 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.

William Leidesdorff died of brain fever on May 18,1848 after receiving last rites from a Catholic priest.

William Leidesdorff paid her a deposit, with the promise of two more installment payments.

The high value and reach of the William Leidesdorff estate made Folsom's "purchase" extremely controversial.