What Did Andrew Smith Hallidie Know About Joshua Norton's Original Funding?
The conventional “wisdom” is that Joshua Norton arrived in San Francisco in 1849 with a $40,000 bequest from the estate of his father, John Norton, who had died in 1848.
But, if Norton arrived with $40,000, he almost certainly didn’t get it from his father — who had died insolvent and broke.
So, what was the source of Joshua Norton’s original funding — $40,000 or otherwise?
Andrew Smith Hallidie, the “father of the cable car,” knew Joshua Norton as Emperor — and probably before that as well.
In 1888, Hallidie published an article suggesting that Norton had arrived in San Francisco as a “representative and confidant” of English backers.
This is quite different from the account one often hears.
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