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Leland Stanford

Republican

Picture of Leland Stanford
Library of Congress
Date Party Office Votes Result
09-02-1857 Nonpartisan Treasurer 16529 Loss
09-02-1857 Nonpartisan Treasurer 4390 Loss
09-07-1859 Republican Governor 10110 Loss
09-04-1861 Republican Governor 56036 Win
01-28-1885 Republican Senate3 0 Win
01-14-1891 Republican Senate3 0 Win
Website: bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=S000793
 

Candidate Biography:

Born: March 9, 1824 in Watervliet, New York
Married: Jane Elizabeth Lathrop (m. 1850)
Child: Leland Stanford Jr.
Died: June 21, 1893 in Palo Alto, CA

1850: [Whig] Candidate for Washington County District Attorney [Wisconsin] (Lost)
1856: Cofounder of the California Republican Party (one of 7)
1860: Delegate, Republican National Convention
1861: Became one of four principal investors in the Central Pacific Railroad (with Mark Hopkins, Collis Huntington and Charles Crocker)
1862: Signed legislation establishing the California State Normal School (now San Jose State University)
1885: Founded Stanford University (opened in 1891)

  • QUOTABLE: "It is a reproach to any State that it fails to be liberal in its protection of the unfortunate, who are proper objects of public charity, and dangerous to neglect the education of the rising generation. Let our appropriations for charitable and educational purposes be of that munificent character that will reflect credit upon us as a people benevolent and wise." (1862)
  • Honor: In 1944, the United States Postal Service issued a 3¢ postage stamp depicting Stanford.

Source: California's Stately Hall of Fame by Rockwell D. Hunt (1950)
Source: "Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present" (U.S. Library of Congress) [http://bioguide.congress.gov/]