Benjamin Barnard Redding (January 17, 1824 – August 21, 1882) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

-born

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

; after joining the

gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New ...

as a young man, he served in the state house, as mayor of Sacramento, Secretary of State for California, and Fish Commissioner. He also worked as a journalist and editor in northern California and Sacramento. As a businessman, he worked as a land agent with the Central Pacific Railroad, which named the town of Redding, California after him.

Biography

Born in Yarmouth,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

in 1824, Redding was educated at Yarmouth Academy. In 1840 at the age of 16, he immigrated to Boston, Massachusetts, where he worked as a

clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record keeping, filing, staffing service ...

. He entered the retail

grocer A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, a ...

y and

ship chandler A ship chandler is a retail dealer who specializes in providing supplies or equipment for ships. Synopsis For traditional sailing ships, items that could be found in a chandlery include sail-cloth, rosin, turpentine, tar, pitch, linseed oil, ...

y business in 1843. In the 1840s he married Mary P. from Boston; their children were William Redding (born ca. 1848 in Massachusetts); J. Albert Redding (born ca. 1850 in Massachusetts). The family later joined him in California after his first mining work was finished. His sons George H. Redding (born ca. 1856; and Joseph D. Redding (born 1859 in Sacramento) were both born there. In 1849, Redding organized a company of young men and sailed from Yarmouth for the

in California. They reached San Francisco on May 12, 1850. Redding went to the

Yuba River The Yuba River is a tributary of the Feather River in the Sierra Nevada and eastern Sacramento Valley, in the U.S. state of California. The main stem of the river is about long, and its headwaters are split into three major forks. The Yuba Rive ...

diggings and afterward to the Pittsburg bar, working as a

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

laborer A laborer (or labourer) is a person who works in manual labor types in the construction industry workforce. Laborers are in a working class of wage-earners in which their only possession of significant material value is their labor. Industries e ...

. He subsequently was

associate editor An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

of the ''Shasta Journal'', was employed in drawing up papers for the sale of

claims Claim may refer to: * Claim (legal) * Claim of Right Act 1689 * Claims-based identity * Claim (philosophy) * Land claim * A ''main contention'', see conclusion of law * Patent claim * The assertion of a proposition; see Douglas N. Walton * A righ ...

, and acted as arbitrator. Having established a local reputation, Redding was elected as a member of the California State Assembly, 1853–1854, from Yuba and Sierra counties. During the session, he wrote for the ''San Joaquin Republican'' and

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

's ''Democratic State Journal'', of which he was an editor and proprietor. His family joined him from Massachusetts when he could provide a more settled life, and his two younger sons were both born in California. In 1856, Redding was elected

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

of Sacramento. From 1863 to 1867, he served as Secretary of State, appointed by the governor. With a change in administrations, Redding left state government in 1868, becoming a land agent of the Central Pacific Railroad. When the Central Pacific reached

Shasta County Shasta County (), officially the County of Shasta, is a county in the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its population is 182,155 as of the 2020 census, up from 177,223 from the 2010 census. The county seat is Redding. Shasta ...

in the summer of 1872, the railroad company named the town of Redding, California, in his honor. In other public service, Redding was appointed a

regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

of the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Franci ...

to fill the unexpired term of Regent Frank M. Pixley, 1880-1882. He was reappointed in 1882. He was a member of the

California Academy of Sciences The California Academy of Sciences is a research institute and natural history museum in San Francisco, California, that is among the largest museums of natural history in the world, housing over 46 million specimens. The Academy began in 1853 ...

, and of the Geographical Society of the Pacific. He was interested in all scientific work, especially in the

paleontology Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

of the coast. He collected numerous prehistoric and aboriginal relics, which he presented to the museum of the academy. He contributed a large number of papers to various California journals. He was also appointed as California Fish Commissioner, holding this office at the time of his death. Benjamin B. Redding died at age 58 of

apoplexy Apoplexy () is rupture of an internal organ and the accompanying symptoms. The term formerly referred to what is now called a stroke. Nowadays, health care professionals do not use the term, but instead specify the anatomic location of the bleedi ...

(stroke) in San Francisco. His funeral service took place at the First Congregational Church on August 23, 1882, with a large number of friends and acquaintances present, including a delegation from the offices of the Central Pacific Railroad Company and the Academy of Sciences, besides a number of regents from the State University. Redding is interred in the Sacramento Historic City Cemetery in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

References

External links

Redding.CA.US - Benjamin B. Redding
at the

Political Graveyard The Political Graveyard is a website and database that catalogues information on more than 277,000 American political figures and political families, along with other information. The name comes from the website's inclusion of burial locations of ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Redding, Benjamin B. 1824 births 1882 deaths Pre-Confederation Canadian emigrants to the United States Members of the California State Assembly Mayors of Sacramento, California Secretaries of State of California Politicians from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia Politicians from Boston 19th-century American politicians