Finding Aid of the Alexander Badlam Jr. Biography C057706

H. VanHorn
Society of California Pioneers
07/12/2019
101 Montgomery Street, Suite 150
Presidio of San Francisco
San Francisco, CA 94129
pkeats@californiapioneers.org

Note

B001393 / 1-28b


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.

Scope and Contents

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.

Preferred Citation

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

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.

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