Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Bryant, Dolores Waldorf, b. 1896
- Abstract:
- The folder includes the biographical account of Alexander Badlam, Jr.'s life during and after his voyage from Cambridge, MA across the Plains to Sacramento, CA in 1850 (some discrepancy in sources on this date). Note: Creator is listed as Dolores Waldorf Bryant, who might also be the donor of the manuscript.
- Extent:
- 1 folder 1 biography (typewritten, 2 pages)
- Language:
- English
- Preferred citation:
-
Alexander Badlam Jr. Biography. The Society of California Pioneers.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
Alexander Badlam, Jr. was born in Boston, Massachusetts. When he was 15, he and his family traveled to California in a covered wagon. They settled in Sacramento, where Badlam, Jr. "studied in either an academy or high school." Badlam, Jr. moved to Amador County at age 18 or 19, where he worked as one of the proprietors of a mine and co-founded the Empire Ditch Company. He ran for a seat in the state legislature in 1863, and served as a legislator until his exodus to San Francisco in 1869. In San Francisco he served on the Board of Supervisors and was elected to the post of Assessor in 1875. in 1878, he announced his financial difficulties, due to "...endorsing the notes of the goodfello s [sic.] with whom he chummed and who were poor stock market guessers. He died on January 26th, 1898 at the age of 63 and was survived by his three children. The manuscript also mentions the former town of Quincy in Amador County, where Badlam, Jr. was thought to have lived, and "which is as much a thing of the past as Babylon or Nineveh." An early newspaper from the town describes it as a thoroughfare with numbered houses and businesses, but this source may have been printed as a form of satire for the entertainment of the miners in the area.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Alexander Badlam was born in Boston, Massachusetts. When he was 15, he and his family traveled to California in a covered wagon. They settled in Sacramento, where he attended high school. At age 18 or 19, he moved to Amador County and worked as a miner and proprietor of the Empire Ditch Company. He became a state legislator in 1863, and held positions on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and the post of Assessor in San Francisco throughout the 1870s. He died on January 26th, 1898, at the age of 63 and was survived by his three children.
- Physical facet:
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Access and use
- Preferred citation:
-
Alexander Badlam Jr. Biography. The Society of California Pioneers.
- Location of this collection:
-
300 Fourth StreetSan Francisco, CA 94107, US
- Contact:
- (415) 957-1849 ext. 160