George Henry Sanderson (1824 – February 1, 1893) was a politician of the

United States Republican Party The Republican Party, also referred to as the GOP ("Grand Old Party"), is one of the Two-party system, two Major party, major contemporary political parties in the United States. The GOP was founded in 1854 by Abolitionism in the United Stat ...

. Sanderson was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and traveled to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

during the 1849 Gold Rush in California. He served as the 22nd

Mayor of San Francisco The mayor of the City and County of San Francisco is the head of the executive branch of the San Francisco city and county government. The officeholder has the duty to enforce city laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by t ...

from January 5, 1891, to January 3, 1893. At the age of 19, Sanderson worked in a dry goods business in Boston according to his own account. He married Sarah Dyer Rowe in 1844; they had a son, George Rowe Sanderson, who was two years old when Sanderson departed Boston in 1849. At age 26, he sailed to San Francisco around Cape Horn, arriving in March 1850, and left in August of that year for the gold mines. He settled in

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. Stockton was founded by Carlos Maria Weber in 1849 after he acquir ...

, the gateway to the

Southern Mines The Stanislaus River is a tributary of the San Joaquin River in north-central California in the United States. The main stem of the river is long, and measured to its furthest headwaters it is about long. Originating as three forks in the high ...

, establishing a general merchandise store. His wife and son had stayed behind in Boston when he came to California, and they joined him in Stockton in 1852. The couple had three more sons, including the twins Henry Ellis ("Harry") and William Webster ("Will") Sanderson. For two years, Sanderson served as the Chief of the Stockton Fire Department (Protection Hook and Ladder Co. #1, established November 15, 1851). He served as the Controller/Auditor of Stockton in 1853 and Alderman in 1854. He also served as Secretary of the Executive Committee of the 1857 State Fair and was appointed Secretary of the State Agricultural Society in 1863. He belonged to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) in Stockton; the charter number is unknown. In 1865, he moved to San Francisco, joining the firm of Weaver, Wooster & Co. He later founded the firm of Root and Sanderson in 1875. He was president of the Merchants Club, a member of the California Academy of Sciences, the Olympic Club, Art Association, and Mercantile Library Association. He was a trustee of the Chamber of Commerce and Director/President of the Board of Trade of San Francisco, as served as Mayor of that city in 1891–92. He died February 1, 1893, shortly after completing his second term in office.''Memorabilia from the Life of George Henry Sanderson 1824-1893, Stockton Pioneer and San Francisco Mayor'', Jean Sanderson and Gwen Sanderson, with format and layout by Angela Smidt, Published by Lulu.con, October, 2012.

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