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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Society of California Pioneers
Title: Alexander Badlam Jr. Biography
creator:
Bryant, Dolores Waldorf, b. 1896
Identifier/Call Number: C057706
Physical Description:
1 folder
1 biography (typewritten, 2 pages)
Date (inclusive): 1928
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.
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.
Alexander Badlam Jr. Biography. The Society of California Pioneers.
Existence and Location of Originals
The Society of California Pioneers, 101 Montgomery St., Suite 150, Presidio of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94129
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.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Amador County (Calif.) - History
Politics - Northern California - 19th Century
Sacramento (Calif.) - History - 19th century.
Bryant, Dolores Waldorf, b. 1896
Badlam, Alexander, Jr., 1853-1898
Badlam, Alexander, Sr., 1809-1894