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William Alexander Leidesdorff was born October 1810, Danish Virgin Islands, naturalized as a U.S. Citizen in 1834.
Accurate documentation of his complete financial legacy remains largely an incomplete study, however his California estate on May 18, 1848, the day of his death and burial was thought to be the largest in the entire Alta California U.S. Territory.
Leidesdorff's official records, his accountant and "fiance" written accounts will one day become part of the public record of William Alexander Leidesdorff.
Legal testimony from the Leidesdorff Ranch Farm Manager gives an estimated inventory that itself would exceed a million 1848 U.S. dollars.
A rushed inventory and valuation of his estate during rapid esculation of prices during the Gold Rush of 1848 and California U.S. Statehood in 1850 facilitated early probate laws in California.
It was Negro Seamen Acts that forced Leidesdorff from lucrative trade and commerce from the Port of New Orleans in 1840. It was Negro Exclusion Laws in enacted during early California statehood that prevented the Leidesdorff family heirs from testifying in court to retain an measure of the Leidesdorff estate.
Many of the leading Military, Politicians and Merchants became millionaires utilizing extreme wealth obtained utilizing assets from the Leidesdorff estate.
Even today, gold is still mined within his original 35,000 acre Leidesdorff Ranch, Sacramento County and Leidesdorff St., City of San Francisco remains a "Wall St." in the heart of the Financial District.
Leidesdorff certainly accumulated well over a million U.S. dollars in tangible assets, the question remains was he the first African American in U.S. History?
Today, the answer is yes, however, truth crushed to earth will rise and African American Economic History is a very young science.
African Americans in the Age of Sail had amazing opportunity, especially before the Civil War and the decade of Reconstruction.
Keep searchin and seeking answers to the difficult past questions, they often bear fruit to finding answers to today's problems.
Michael Harris, Leidesdorff Project Director
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First African American millionaire?
Alonzo Herndon
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