2026 Leidesdorff Birthday: Christiansted, Virgin Islands to the Landing at Leidesdorff, SF

October 23, 1810, Anna Marie Sparks gave birth to her eldest son, William, named after his father Wilhelm Leidesdorff Sr. The couple earlier met in New Orleans, Louisiana and relocated to the West Indies, to safely live together as man and wife, raising a large family just outside of the Port of Christiansted, Danish Virgin Islands. All five of their children were christened and legitimized under Danish law.

William Leidesdorff Jr. became a seasoned "Black Jack" and became a US Citizen to facilitate his advocation as a Ship Captain during the "Age of Sail" operating out of the Port of New Orleans. He was very successful and was forced to leave the Port of New Orleans because of the very restrictive "Negro Seamen Acts" imposed upon Creole freeborn citizens throughout the Southern Ports.

Leidesdorff relocated from New Orleans, became the master of the Julia Ann, in New York and sailed around the horn to Yerba Buena, Alta California, Republic of Mexico in 1841. He continued his maritime career throughout the Pacific Rim.

In 1844, Honorable William Alexander Leidesdorff, Jr. reportedly joined the Catholic Church and became a Mexican Citizen to facilitate acquiring a vast Mexican land grant. Rancho Río de Los Americanos, 8 Mexican leagues or 35,521-acres, headquartered in present-day Rancho Cordova, Sacramento County, California given in 1844 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to William Alexander Leidesdorff, Jr. with very unique stipulations.

The grant takes its name from Río de Los Americanos, the name of the American River during the Mexican-rule era. The grant originally extended from the eastern border of John Sutter's New Helvetia (east of Sacramento) 4 leagues along the south bank of the American River, to the eastern end of present-day Folsom, and included present-day cities of Rancho Cordova and Folsom.

William Alexander Leidesdorff, Jr. U.S. Vice Consul at the Port of San Francisco, hired a farm manager Willard Buzzell and financed construction of four adobe dwellings near the site of today's River Bend Park, near Bradshaw Road and Folsom Blvd, in the city of Rancho Cordova.

Leidesdorff died suddenly three years later, on May 18, 1848, at the age of 37. He was not married and had no family in California, leaving a very large estate of property at the dawn of the California Gold Rush.

His death came just after the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the cession of Alta California to the United States at the close of the Mexican-American War.

Leidesdorff's vast estate passed to his mother, Anna Marie Spark, and surviving siblings, who resided in and were citizens of St. Croix, Danish West Indies, today's U.S. Virgin Islands.

US Army Captain Joseph Libbey Folsom (1817–1855), a graduate of West Point had come to California in 1847 as Captain and Assistant Quartermaster of Jonathan D. Stevenson's 1st Regiment of New York Volunteers.

He became the first Collector of the Port of San Francisco under American rule in 1848. Folsom was familiar with Leidesdorff's vast holdings and knew of his family in St. Croix.

December 1849, Folsom took leave from the U.S. Army, and after stopping in New York to arrange bond financing, went to St. Croix, where he located some of Leidesdorff's relatives, including his mother. Anna Sparks who signed a note authorizing Folsom to purchase the title to her son's estate, including Leidesdorff's extensive real estate holdings along the San Francisco Waterfront as well as the vast Rancho Río de Los Americanos, for $75,000, with a $5,000 down payment and the remainder to be paid in two installments.

When Sparks was told and later realized the true value of the estate, she refused to accept further payments or to give title to Folsom. Folsom hired the law firm of Halleck, Peachy & Billings to help resolve the very complicated transactions.

The State of California Senate in 1854 made an attempt to control the estate, contending that, because Anna Marie Spark was not an American citizen, among other legal questions, she could not inherit property in California, and hence could not transfer it to Folsom.

In 1855, the California Supreme Court ruled that Sparks could inherit the properties; and therefore, the title legally passed to US Army Captain Folsom.

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided that the land grants could be honored. As required by the Land Act of 1851, Folsom filed a claim for the grant with the Public Land Commission in 1852. The claim was confirmed by the Commission in 1855 and the District Court in 1857.

Although clear title was tied up in court, Folsom continued to develop the grant. In 1854, Folsom began to sell much of the vast parcels of Rancho Rio de Los Americanos

Folsom proposed to rename the Negro Bar townsite Granite City, and had lots surveyed and sold, summer 1855. When Folsom died suddenly at the age of 38. In December 1855, the town plans were submitted in Sacramento County, renaming the town Folsom.

Folsom's estate was handled by his executors, the law firm Halleck, Peachy & Billings. A survey of the grant, known as the Hays survey, was completed and approved by the Surveyor General of California.

Folsom had been dead three years, when, in 1858, the Department of Interior disapproved the survey. Jacob Thompson, the US Secretary of the Interior, determined that the survey did not conform to either the description of the land granted by the Mexican government, the land as shown on the Diseño, or to the decree of the Court.

The District Court ordered a new survey, known as the Mandeville survey; but in 1852, it reversed itself and approved the original Hays survey. However, the United States appealed this ruling to the United States Supreme Court.

In 1857 the Natoma Water and Mining Company, founded in 1851 and engaged in granite quarrying, agriculture, gold mining and hydro-electric power, purchased 5,000 acres (20.2 km2) from the Folsom estate. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Hays survey valid, and the grant was patented to Joseph L. Folsom in 1864, during the US Civil War.

May 1966, the Negro Museum and Library Association dedicated Leidesdorff Plaza, this Diamond Jubilee Year, our collective journey continues, Happy Birthday Honorable William Alexander Leidedorff, Jr. .