San Francisco Mayor. A native of Pennsylvania, Dr. Townsend came to California in 1844 as a member of the Stephens-Townsend-Murphy Party. The party would become known as being the first to cross the Sierra Nevada Mountains following the Truckee River, a route which two years later became infamous as being where the Donner Party became snowed in. Arriving during a period of Civil War in California, Townsend was one of several Americans who volunteered to serve under Capt. John Sutter backing Mexican Governor of California Manuel Micheltorena against the forces of former governor Juan Bautista Alvarado and Gen. José Castro. When hostilities ended, he moved to San Francisco where in April 1848 he was appointed to serve as the 4th American Alcalde, or Mayor, of the city. He held the post until September 1848 when he was replaced after having left to try his luck in the Gold Rush. The first licensed doctor in California, he was living in San Jose at the outbreak of the 1850 cholera epidemic. Both he and his wife would help treat victims until they themselves succumbed to the disease in December of 1850.
San Francisco Mayor. A native of Pennsylvania, Dr. Townsend came to California in 1844 as a member of the Stephens-Townsend-Murphy Party. The party would become known as being the first to cross the Sierra Nevada Mountains following the Truckee River, a route which two years later became infamous as being where the Donner Party became snowed in. Arriving during a period of Civil War in California, Townsend was one of several Americans who volunteered to serve under Capt. John Sutter backing Mexican Governor of California Manuel Micheltorena against the forces of former governor Juan Bautista Alvarado and Gen. José Castro. When hostilities ended, he moved to San Francisco where in April 1848 he was appointed to serve as the 4th American Alcalde, or Mayor, of the city. He held the post until September 1848 when he was replaced after having left to try his luck in the Gold Rush. The first licensed doctor in California, he was living in San Jose at the outbreak of the 1850 cholera epidemic. Both he and his wife would help treat victims until they themselves succumbed to the disease in December of 1850.
Bio by: G.Photographer
Inscription
Dr. JOHN TOWNSEND
Born in Pennsylvania. Died in San Jose Dec 8, 1850. A leader of the Stephens-Townsend-Murphy Party of 1844. First American M.D. to settle in California. Served as physician, alcalde and councilman in San Francisco before moving to a
farm north of San Jose. He and his wife contracted cholera and died while attending patients in the 1850 epidemic.
CA NV HI Chapter-Oregon-California Trails Assn. April 16 1994
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