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WESTSIDESTORY NEWSPAPER

California 175 - Honorable William Alexander Leidesdorff Jr. - 2026 Black History Month

As we ramp up celebrations for the 100th Anniversary of Negro History Week and 50th Anniversary of Black History Month, Honorable William Al- exander Leidesdorff, Jr. legacy provides an example of what is possible today. Honorable William Alexander Leides- dorff, Jr. was born October 1810 at Spring Garden Estates, Danish Isle of St. Croix, today's U.S. Territory of the Virgin Islands. He was the first born of five children of his parents, Anna Ma- rie Sparks, of African Cuban ancestry and his father, Wilhelm Leidesdsdorff of Danish Jewish ancestry.

Trained as a highly educated, skilled and experienced Ship Captain, Leides- dorff global travels during the Age of Sail ended as he was elected initial Trea- surer for today's City of San Francisco, establishing high culture standards as the leading businessman operating the Downtown San Francisco City Hotel in pre-Gold Rush San Francisco.

Leidesdorff was the esteemed venture capital financing expansion of Sutter's Fort in the Sacramento Valley. In 1844, Leidesdorff acquired 8 Mexican leagues or 35,521 acres and established Rancho Rio de Los Americanos as a thriving cattle and wheat enterprise along the American River.

Leidesdorff's Ranch Farmhouse is a part of today's City of Rancho Cordo- va. Leidesdorff Ranch supplied fresh fruits, vegetables, beef and tallow to US Army Stevenson's NY Volunteers who were given orders to "conquer and colonize" Alta California as part of "Manifest Destiny" for the United States of America, July 1846.

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• By Khubaka, Michael Harris
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