William Sturgis Hinckley

William Sturgis Hinckley (died 1846) was alcalde and captain of the port of Yerba Buena, California — present day San Francisco, at the time a part of Mexico — from 1844 to 1846. He was born in Hingham, Massachusetts, and was a nephew of William F. Sturgis, a Boston merchant.[1] In the 1830s he was owner and captain of ships plying the California hide trade with the Hawaiian Islands.[2][3] After his first wife died in Massachusetts in 1840,[4] he became a permanent resident of Yerba Buena, taking Mexican citizenship in 1842 and marrying Ygnacio Martinez's daughter Susana.[5][1] He enjoyed a close friendship with Juan Bautista Alvarado, and helped him in his efforts to secure the governorship of Alta California against a competing claim from Carlos Antonio Carrillo.[1]

He was elected alcalde in 1844, and in that year ordered the construction of a bridge across the creek between San Francisco Bay and a small saltwater lagoon lying at what is now the intersection of Montgomery and Jackson Streets. This modest construction was regarded as a novelty by many residents at the time, who had formerly had to wade tidal muds or jump across the creek to travel between the settled area to the south and ship embarkments to the north.[6][7]

His term as alcalde ended January 1, 1846, and he died in June of that year.[6]

References
  1. Davis, William Heath (1889). Sixty Years in California: A History of Events and Life in California; Personal, Political and Military, Under the Mexican Regime; During the Quasi-military Government of the Territory by the United States, and After the Admission of the State Into the Union, Being a Compilation by a Witness of the Events Described. A.J. Leary. pp. 205.
  2. Hart, James David (1987). "Hide trade of Mexican era". A Companion to California: Newly Revised and Expanded with Illustrations. University of California Press. p. 215. ISBN 9780520055438.
  3. Ogden, Adele (1975). The California Sea Otter Trade, 1784-1848. University of California Press. p. 178. ISBN 9780520028067.
  4. Atherton, Faxon Dean (1964). California Diary, 1836-1839. California Historical Society. pp. 194.
  5. Egan, Ferol (1977). Frémont, Explorer for a Restless Nation. University of Nevada Press. p. 544. ISBN 9780874170962.
  6. Hittell, Theodore Henry (1898). History of California. N. J. Stone. pp. 181–182.
  7. Evanosky, Dennis (2013-11-28). "Yerba Buena Cove". Lost San Francisco. Pavilion Books. ISBN 9781909815247.
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