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William Alexander Leidesdorff, Jr. (October 23, 1810 – May 18, 1848) was one of the earliest mixed-race U.S. citizens in California and a highly successful, enterprising businessman. He was a West Indian immigrant of African Cuban, possibly Carib, Danish and Jewish ancestry. William Alexander Leidesdorff, Jr. became a United States citizen in New Orleans in 1834. He migrated to Alta California in 1841, then under Mexican rule, settling in Yerba Buena (now San Francisco), a village of about 30 Mexican and European families. He became a Mexican citizen in 1844 and received a land grant from the Mexican government, 8 Spanish leagues, or south of the American River, known as ''Rancho Rio de los Americanos''. He served as US Vice Consul to Mexico at the Port of San Francisco beginning in 1845. Leidesdorff was President of the San Francisco school board and also elected as City Treasurer. Shortly before Leidesdorff's death, vast amounts of gold were officially reported on his ''Rancho Rio De los Americanos.'' By the time his estate was auctioned off in 1856, it was worth more than $1,445,000, not including vast quantities of gold mined upon his land. International Leidesdorff Bicentennial Celebrations featured the "Golden Legacy of William Alexander Leidesdorff, Jr." On October 22, 2011 on his native isle of Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, a special event will highlight the season of celebrations. ==Early life and education== Born in Christiansted in Saint Croix when the Virgin Islands was under Danish rule (Danish West Indies), William Leidesdorff, Jr. was the oldest son of four children of Danish sugar plantation manager Wilhelm Alexander Leidesdorff (who used Alexander Leidesdorff as his name) and his common-law wife Anna Marie Sparks, reportedly of African and Spanish descent. Wilhelm Leidesdorff Sr. was reportedly of Jewish descent from the community of Altona, Hamburg. It was part of the Danish Schleswig-Holstein, then across the river from but now part of today's port of Hamburg, Germany. He migrated to North America and later the Caribbean to further his career as a merchant. Leidesdorff and Anna Marie lived in New Orleans under Spanish rule before the Louisiana Purchase, and he worked as a sugar factor.〔(John N. Ingham, ''Biographical Dictionary of American Business Leaders'', p. 787, Greenwood Press, Westport, Conn., 1983 )〕 Leidesdorff, Jr.'s mother Anna Marie Sparks, was described in one account as a Carib Indian woman; she was believed also to have had African and European ancestry. Her race was noted in a census report. Many people observed that what were called "Carib" people had skin of various hues that likely reflected mixed ancestry, ranging from dark brown to lighter shades of brown, resulting in a Virgin Islands Creole, to which she may have belonged.〔Sue Bailey Thurman, 1952, ''Pioneers of Negro Origin in California'', San Francisco : Acme Pub. Co.〕 Other sources said the mother Marie Anne Spark (as she was also known) was a mixed-race woman of African and Spanish heritage, thought to have been born in Cuba. In census records, Marie Anne Spark was classified as a free Carib Indian, but few Carib survived into the late 18th century, according to Gary Palgon's biography of Leidesdorff.〔(Gary Palgon, ''William Alexander Leidesdorff: First Black Millionaire, American Consul and California Pioneer'', Lulu.com, 2005, ISBN 1-4116-4625-8 )〕 Other sources document tens of thousands of Caribs, most of mixed heritage, living in the Windwards and Trinidad at the time of Leidesdorff's birth. Together the accounts describe Spark as a light-skinned woman of mixed-race ancestry, yet classified as black by the 1850s California Court System, where blacks were restricted from testifying in court.〔("William Alexander Leidesdorff, 1810-1848" ), BlackPast.org, accessed 1 Dec 2009〕 According to Sue Bailey Thurman, "With the name of William Alexander Leidesdorff, we begin the documentary history of pioneers of Negro origin in California." 〔(Sue Bailey Thurman, "William Alexander Leidesdorff" ), ''Pioneers of Negro Origin in California'', San Francisco: Acme Pub. Co., 1952, excerpt at Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco, accessed 22 Nov 2009〕 Today, William Alexander Leidesdorff, Jr. is recognized as the "African Founding Father of California", as noted by the California State Legislature. 2011 is the United Nations International Year for People of African Descent. As an infant, William Leidesdorff, Jr. was baptized as a Lutheran, as all the Leidesdorff children were, the adopted faith which his father and many other people of Jewish ancestry in Europe assumed to avoid conflict.〔 In 1837 Leidesdorff, Sr. officially "adopted" all four of his own children from Anne Marie Sparks to give them legal standing by Danish Law.〔 Leidesdorff, Jr. was said to leave St. Croix at about fifteen years of age to be educated in Denmark. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「William Leidesdorff」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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