Capt. Joseph Libbey Folsom

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Libbey_Folsom

Explorer, Businessman, City Founder. Surveyor of early San Franciso, first Collector of the Port of San Francisco under American rule from 1847 to 1849. Founder of Folsom, California, originally named Granite City. Many California icons are named after him, including Folsom St, Folsom Prison, and Folsom Lake. Although he was popular with women, he was never married and had no children. He died suddenly while visiting friends at Mission San Jose.

Capt. Joseph Folsom was originally buried at Laurel Hill Cemetery in San Francisco. All those buried there were later moved to Cypress Lawn, Colma, CA. At some point the tombstone for Capt. Folsom ended up in Santa Clara, CA in a field of weeds, almost unreadable. After the efforts of several individuals, the tombstone (or at least a portion of it) was taken to the Folsom History Museum at 823 Sutter Street in Folsom, CA where it is installed in a nice little niche dedicated to Capt. Joseph Libbey Folsom.

(His parents were Abraham Folsom and Mary Libbey.)

• Updated from Find A Grave Memorial by SmartCopy: Oct 25 2014, 17:50:10 UTC