James Buskirk Larue (February 6, 1800 – January 7, 1872) was a California businessman and politician who founded the village of

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

in what is now

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

Life and work

Larue was born James Buskirk Larue in

Franklin, New Jersey Franklin is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Sussex County, New Jersey, Sussex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 4,912, a decrease of 133 (−2.6%) from the 2010 United ...

, on February 6, 1800. In 1835, Larue migrated from New Jersey to

Pipestone Township, Michigan Pipestone Township is a civil township of Berrien County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,177 at the 2020 census. The township was organized on February 16, 1842. History The first settler in the township was James Kirk, who ...

, where he purchased land and built a sawmill. From 1840 to 1841, Larue served as a representative in the Michigan legislature. In 1850 he left Michigan for the

California gold rush The California gold rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the U ...

. Once in California, Larue purchased part of the Rancho San Antonio lands from

Luis Maria Peralta Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...

in 1851, building a wharf and store at the same location. In 1857, Larue was elected to the

California State Senate The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature (the lower house being the California State Assembly). The state senate convenes, along with the state assembly, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. ...

representing the county of

Alameda An alameda is a street or path lined with trees () and may refer to: Places Canada * Alameda, Saskatchewan, town in Saskatchewan ** Grant Devine Dam, formerly ''Alameda Dam'', a dam and reservoir in southern Saskatchewan Chile * Alameda (Santi ...

. In 1858, Larue began the Oakland and San Antonio Steam Navigation Company, operating a cut-rate passenger ferry between Oakland and San Francisco. Larue was sued by his competitor Minturn, who claimed an exclusive contract with the city of Oakland to operate the Oakland-San Francisco ferry route. The case was appealed to the

U.S. Supreme court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

, with Minturn's exclusivity claims being rejected. Larue died January 7, 1872, in Alameda County.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Larue, J California state senators 1800 births 1872 deaths History of Oakland, California Politicians from Oakland, California People of the California Gold Rush 19th-century members of the California State Legislature