Stephen Randall Harris (1802–1879) was an American politician, physician, a city

comptroller A comptroller (pronounced either the same as ''controller'' or as ) is a management-level position responsible for supervising the quality of accounting and financial reporting of an organization. A financial comptroller is a senior-level executi ...

, and city coroner. He served as the 3rd mayor of

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 ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, from January 1 – November 9, 1852.

Biography

Stephen Randall Harris was born in 1802 in

Poughkeepsie, New York Poughkeepsie ( ), officially the City of Poughkeepsie, separate from the Town of Poughkeepsie around it) is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsi ...

. After his father was killed in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

, he went to live with relatives. He was then apprenticed to a surgeon and entered New York's College of Physicians and Surgeons. After graduating in 1826, he began his own practice in New York City, where he lived until 1849. During this time, he earned a good reputation within the medical community there, enabling him to be health commissioner of New York, the surgeon for the Ninth Military Regiment, and as the surgeon for the New York almshouse. He later worked without pay for many hundreds of hours, fighting the cholera epidemic of 1832–1834. He also got his first taste of political life while in private practice. After moving to California in 1849, he went to the gold mines to pan gold. After panning enough gold to earn money to open a drug store, he moved to San Francisco. He also became involved in politics, first being elected as city

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

, and then to the common council (the city council as it was then known). Dr. Harris fell on hard times, however, when his drugstore was destroyed by fire, and two subsequent drugstores that he established were also destroyed by fire. He returned to the gold fields to pan more gold and then returned to San Francisco to open a fourth drugstore. He ran for mayor in 1851 and was elected unanimously as the only official candidate. As mayor, Harris battled the common council over budget and attempted to control the city budget. He also faced Chinese immigration and rising crime. After losing to Charles J. Brenham in the 1852 election, Harris took a brief respite from politics. He would ultimately serve as city

for several years and then as city

coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into Manner of death, the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...

before returning to his medical practice. He died on April 27, 1879.

References

Mayors of San Francisco 1802 births 1879 deaths 19th-century American politicians {{California-mayor-stub