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List of people associated with the California Gold Rush

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Not to be confused with Bonanza Kings.

See also Category:People of the California Gold Rush

This is a list of people associated with the California Gold Rush in Northern California, during the period from 1848 to 1855.

List of people associated with the California Gold Rush
Name Image Birth, death Birthplace Profession Notes
John "Grizzly" Adams 1812–1860 Medway, Massachusetts, U.S. mountain man, trainer of grizzly bears [1]
Elihu Anthony 1818–1905 Greenfield, New York, U.S. alcalde, blacksmith, industrialist, abolitionist, postmaster, Methodist minister one of the founding fathers of the city of Santa Cruz, California[2]
Philip Danforth Armour 1832–1901 Stockbridge, New York, U.S. meatpacking industrialist started his meat packing business with funds from success in the Gold Fields[3]
Josiah Belden 1815–1892 Connecticut, U.S. politician, rancho grantee first mayor of San Jose, California
Charles H. Bennett (soldier) 1811–1855 Walla Walla, Washington, U.S. soldier, hotelier present at the first discovery of gold
John Bidwell 1819–1900 Chautauqua County, New York, U.S. politician, soldier founder of the city of Chico, California
Samuel Brannan 1819–1889 Saco, Massachusetts (now Maine), U.S. politician, businessman, journalist first to publicize the California Gold Rush, and California's first millionaire
Juana Briones de Miranda c. 1802 – 1889 Villa de Branciforte (modern day Santa Cruz), California Californio ranchera, medical practitioner, merchant founding mother of San Francisco, California, and Mayfield, California (now Palo Alto, California)[4][5]
R. C. Chambers 1832–1901 Lexington, Ohio, U.S. businessman, politician, minerals miner, banker
Jean Baptiste Charbonneau 1805–1866 Fort Mandan, North Dakota, U.S. Shoshone–French explorer, guide, fur trapper, and military scout
Belle Cora c. 1827–1862 Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. madam of the Barbary Coast of San Francisco [6]
Lotta Crabtree 1847–1924 New York City, New York, U.S. actress, entertainer, comedian, philanthropist [7]
William D. Bradshaw 1826–1864 Buncombe County, North Carolina, U.S prospector, explorer
Charles Crocker 1822–1888 Troy, New York, U.S. railroad executive, businessman
Alonzo Delano 1806–1874 Aurora, Erie County, New York, U.S. writer, forty-niner
George Washington Dennis c. 1825–1916 Mobile County, Alabama, U.S. African American businessperson, real estate developer, abolitionist one of San Francisco's wealthiest Black men in the late 19th-century
Charles S. Fairfax 1829–1869 Vaucluse Plantation, Virginia, U.S. politician from nobility
Thomas Fallon 1825–1885 Ireland Irish-born politician 10th Mayor of San Jose, California
Joseph Libbey Folsom 1817–1855 Meredith, New Hampshire, U.S. real estate investor, military personnel founder of Folsom, California
John C. Frémont 1813–1890 Savannah, Georgia, U.S. explorer, military officer, politician namesake of Fremont, California
John White Geary 1819–1873 Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, U.S. lawyer, politician, military leader
Domingo Ghirardelli 1817–1894 Rapallo, Kingdom of Sardinia (now Italy) Italian-born chocolatier founder of the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company in San Francisco, California.
Mifflin Wistar Gibbs 1823–1915 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. African American politician, businessman, publisher, abolitionist During the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, he led a migration of African Americans from San Francisco to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Thomas Gilman (miner) 1830–1911 Tennessee, U.S. African American freedman, miner, farmer was an enslaved African American who self–purchase freedom during the mid-19th-century
Daniel Govan 1829–1911 Northampton County, North Carolina, U.S. miner, planter, soldier served as a Confederate general during the American Civil War
Ulysses S. Grant 1822–1885 Point Pleasant, Ohio, U.S. 18th president, soldier served in the Mexican–American War; led the Union Army to victory in the American Civil War
Alvinza Hayward 1821–1904 Vermont, U.S. mine-owner, capitalist, businessman, financier made his fortune during the California Gold Rush, as a gold miner
George Hearst 1820–1891 Sullivan, Missouri Territory (now Missouri), U.S. businessperson, politician used slight mining knowledge from Missouri to succeed in 1850s gold rush investment
Albert W. Hicks c. 1820–1860 Foster, Rhode Island, U.S. thief, murderer, mutineer, pirate
Frederick A. Hihn 1829–1913 Duchy of Brunswick (now Germany) politician, industrialist, real estate investor leading land developer in Santa Cruz County, California
John Wesley Hillman 1832–1915 Albany, New York, U.S. prospector, explorer
Sherman Otis Houghton 1828–1914 New York City, New York, U.S. politician, miner
William B. Ide 1796–1852 Rutland, Massachusetts, U.S. politician commander of the California Republic
Frank James 1843–1915 Kearney, Missouri, U.S. soldier, thief part of the James–Younger Gang, former Confederate soilder
Seth Kinman 1815–1888 Union County, Pennsylvania, U.S. mountain man, hunter, chair maker, entertainer early settler of Humboldt County, California
William Leidesdorff 1810–1848 St. Croix, Danish West Indies (now United States Virgin Islands) Afro-Caribbean businessman, politician founder of the city of San Francisco, thought to have been the first black millionaire in the United States[8][9]
Peter Lester (abolitionist) c. 1814–c. 1897 South Carolina, U.S. African American businessman, abolitionist early Black settler in San Francisco
James Lick 1796–1876 Stumpstown (now Fredericksburg), Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, U.S. businessman, piano builder
Heinrich Lienhard 1822–1903 Bilten, Canton of Glarus, Switzerland Swiss–born memoirist
James W. Marshall 1810–1885 Hopewell Township, New Jersey, U.S. carpenter, sawmill operator discoverer of the first gold
Richard Barnes Mason 1797–1850 Lexington Plantation, Fairfax County, Virginia, U.S. military officer
Lola Montez 1821–1861 Grange, County Sligo, Connacht, Ireland Irish-born dancer and courtesan famous as a "Spanish" dancer, and mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria[10]
James McClatchy 1824–1883 Ireland Irish-born newspaper editor
Benjamin McCulloch 1811–1862 Rutherford County, Tennessee, U.S. politician
Joaquin Miller 1837–1913 Union County, Indiana, U.S. poet, frontiersman
Joaquin Murrieta 1829–1853 Álamos, Sonora, Mexico Mexican outlaw, gold miner, vaquero "Robin Hood of the West"
Isaac Murphy c. 1799–1882 Pennsylvania, U.S. teacher, lawyer, politician, failed miner 8th Governor of Arkansas
Joshua Norton 1818–1880 Deptford, England English-born commodities trader and real estate investor also known as Emperor Norton
Lester Allan Pelton 1829–1908 Vermilion, Ohio, U.S. inventor, mechanical engineer inventor of the "Pelton Runner," considered to be the "Father of Hydroelectric Power"
Pío Pico 1801–1894 Mission San Gabriel Arcángel

San Gabriel, Alta California, New Spain

Californio politician, ranchero, entrepreneur last governor of Alta California under Mexican rule from 1845 to 1846.[11][12]
Mary Ellen Pleasant c. 1814–1904 U.S. African American entrepreneur, real estate investor, abolitionist, financier first self-made millionaire of African-American heritage
Addison Pratt 1802–1872 Winchester, New Hampshire, U.S. missionary, farmer, whaler
Benjamin B. Redding 1824–1882 Yarmouth, Colony of Nova Scotia (now Nova Scotia, Canada) British North America-born politician Mayor of Sacramento, secretary of the State of California
Moses Rodgers c. 1835–1900 Missouri, U.S. African American mining engineer, metallurgist
John Howell Sears 1823–1907 Sullivan County, New York, U.S. prospector early pioneer of Searsville and La Honda[13]
William Tecumseh Sherman 1820–1891 Lancaster, Ohio, U.S. soldier, businessman, educator, author
Claus Spreckels 1828–1908 Lamstedt, Lower Saxony, Prussian Saxony (now Germany) Prussian Saxony-born sugar industrialist involved himself in several California and Hawai'i enterprises
Leland Stanford 1824–1893 Watervliet, New York, U.S. politician, railroad tycoon
Elijah Steele 1817–1883 New York, U.S. politician, attorney, jurist
Levi Strauss 1829–1902 Buttenheim, Kingdom of Bavaria, German Confederation (now Germany) German Confederation-born entrepreneur founder of Levi Strauss & Co. of San Francisco, California
John Studebaker 1833–1917 Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, U.S. businessman built wheelbarrows in Placerville in the early 1850s and contributed his earnings to the family Studebaker Wagon Corporation
Marie Suize 1824–1892 Savoy, France French-born gold miner and businesswoman known for wearing pants, and arrested several times for it.
John Sutter 1803–1880 Kandern, Margraviate of Baden, Holy Roman Empire (now Germany) German-born Swiss businessman, explorer established Sutter's Fort
A. A. Townsend 1810–1888 Sussex County, New Jersey, U.S. miner, prospector, politician
Ah Toy 1829–1928 Canton, Guangdong, Qing China sex worker, madam the first Chinese sex worker in San Francisco
George Treat 1819–1907 Frankfort, Maine, U.S. businessman, abolitionist pioneer in the Mission District, San Francisco
Matthew Turner (shipbuilder) 1825–1909 Geneva, Ohio, U.S. shipbuilder considered "the 'grandaddy' of big time wooden shipbuilding on the Pacific Coast"
Mark Twain 1835–1910 Florida, Missouri, U.S. writer, humorist, and essayist
Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo 1807–1890 Monterey, Alta California, Viceroyalty of New Spain (now California, U.S.) Californio politician, military leader
William Waldo (California politician) 1812–1881 politician
Bela Wellman 1819–1887 entrepreneur founder of Wellman, Peck and Company
Luzena Wilson c. 1820–1902 entrepreneur founder of the El Dorado hotel in Nevada City
Edwin B. Winans (politician) 1826–1894 politician

See also

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References

[edit]
  1. ^ Dillon, Richard H. "Adams, Grizzly". American National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.2001658.
  2. ^ "Elihu Anthony, Pioneer of 1847 Was God Fearing Man and Santa Cruz' First Progressive Business Leader". Santa Cruz Evening News. 1937-01-02. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "P. D. Armour Dead. Chicago Millionaire Yielded to Long Illness. Fever Rallied After Son's Death". The Republican (Laport, PA.). January 7, 1901. p. 8 – via Chronicling America.
  4. ^ "Briones, María Juana (1802?–1889)". Latinas in History, Department of Puerto Rican and Latino Studies, Brooklyn College, The City University of New York (CUNY). 2009.
  5. ^ Kamiya, Gary (August 24, 2013). "Juana Briones - San Francisco's founding mother". SFGate.
  6. ^ Jensen, Vickie (2012). Women Criminals: An Encyclopedia of People and Issues. ABC-CLIO. p. 360. ISBN 978-0-313-33713-0.
  7. ^ "Rebel Girls From Bay Area History: The Bay Area Child Actress Who Donated Millions to Veterans and Animals". KQED. 2019-03-25.
  8. ^ Savage, W.S. (July 1953). "The Influence of William Alexander Leidesdorff on the History of California". The Journal of Negro History. 38 (3): 322–332. doi:10.2307/2715738. JSTOR 2715738. S2CID 150288502.
  9. ^ Sue Bailey Thurman, 1952, Pioneers of Negro Origin in California, San Francisco: Acme Pub. Co.
  10. ^ Seymour, Bruce (1996-01-01). Lola Montez: A Life. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-07439-0 – via Google Books.
  11. ^ "1836 Ley sobre la division del territorio mexicano en Departamentos" (in Spanish). Government of Mexico, archived at Memoria Política de México. December 30, 1836.
  12. ^ de Valdes y Cocom, Mario (2014). "The blurred racial lines of famous families: Pico". PBS.
  13. ^ History of San Mateo County, California. Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center. San Francisco, Cal.: B.F. Alley Publishers. 1883.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
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