William Alexander Leidesdorff Jr.

In 2011 the OBMG honored William Alexander Leidesdorff Jr., (1810 –1848), he was one of the earliest Black U.S. citizens of California and a highly successful, enterprising businessman and millionaire. Born in the Virgin Islands and journeying to New Orleans at a young age he engaged in the maritime field. As Master of the 106-ton schooner named Julia Ann he would make the famous trading voyage to the Pacific. His route would include destinations to ports in Panama, St. Croix, Brazil, Chile the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) and Alaska.  After several years, his route brought him and his vessel into San Francisco Bay, landing at the point known as Yerba Buena Cove. On arriving at Yerba Buena, Leidesdorff Jr. began to build his businesses.  He launched the first steamboat to operate on San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento River.  He built the City Hotel, the first hotel in San Francisco, and the first commercial shipping warehouse. William A. Leidesdorff has also been officially recognized as the, African Founding Father of California, as founder of Public Education in California; he organized construction, built, and opened the first public school in California, at Portsmouth Square, San Francisco.

Becoming a Mexican citizen in 1844 he received a land grant of 35,000 acres on the American River that encompassed what is today Folsom, California located outside of Sacramento. After his untimely death in 1848, William’s trading partner, John Sutter, announced the discovery of gold on the land owned by Leidesdorff.  Values of Leidesdorff’s holdings increased to more than $1.5 million in 1856, which would equate to somewhere in the billion-dollar range in today’s dollars.