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

United States Republican Party The Republican Party, also known as the Grand Old Party (GOP), is a Right-wing politics, right-wing political parties in the United States, political party in the United States. One of the Two-party system, two major parties, it emerged as t ...

. Sanderson was born in

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, and traveled to

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

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 Government of San Francisco, San Francisco city and county government. The officeholder has the duty to enforce city laws, and the power to either appro ...

from January 5, 1891, to January 3, 1893. According to his own account, Sanderson worked in a dry goods business in Boston at the age of 19. 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 for the gold mines in August of that year. 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. It is the most populous city in the county, the List of municipal ...

, 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 hig ...

, 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 Stockton's Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF); 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, the Art Association, and the Mercantile Library Association. He was a trustee of the Chamber of Commerce and Director/President of the Board of Trade of San Francisco and 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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