Dr. John Townsend

• Fourth American Alcalde (mayor) of San Francisco, April 1848 - September 1848
• Served under Capt. John Sutter, backing Mexican Governor of California Manuel Micheltorena against the forces of former governor Juan Bautista Alvarado and Gen. José Castro
• First licensed doctor in California
• Townsend Street in San Francisco named in his honor

Dr. John Townsend (1800 - 1850), son of John Townsend and Sarah McNamee was born 3 April 1800 near Uniontown, Fayette County, Pennsylvania. His parents were Quakers, and were among the first settlers of Fayette County, emigrating from England in the late eighteenth century. He had an older brother, Thomas (1787 - 1851 Wheeling, West Virginia).

Dr. Townsend received his medical degree from Transylvania University Medical School in Lexington, Kentucky circa 1826. In 1828 he joined his brother's medical practice in Massillon, Ohio. In 1832 he married Elizabeth Louise Schallenberger of Stark County, Ohio. During the twelve years following, he practiced in Fayette County, Pennsylvania; Greene County, Indiana; Harrison County, Ohio and Buchanan County, Missouri.

In 1844, John, Elizabeth and her brother, Moses Schallenberger, traveled overland to California with the Murphy party, the first party to successfully bring their wagons across the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Cabins built in the Sierras by the Murphy party were inhabited two years later by members of the ill-fated Donner party. In California John served as garrison surgeon to the Mexican Army detachment in Monterey; participated in the Bear Flag Revolt; and dabbled in real estate.

In 1847 he built his residence and physician’s office on the south side of California Street between Montgomery and Sansome, where the Merchants’ Exchange Building now stands. He was president of the town council for some months under Governor Richard B. Mason. In 1848, he became San Francisco's fourth American alcalde (a Spanish title, analogous to a mayor, which was given to the towns chief administrator of legislative and judicial affairs). He even briefly tried his hand at mining after the discovery of gold. His son, John Henry Moses Townsend, was born 26 November 1848.

Two years later, Dr. Townsend moved his family to Santa Clara County where he established his home in an adobe house 2 miles from San Jose near Coyote Creek. He bought and improved 195 acres of land in the surrounding area, including lands on the Pueblo of San Jose. Soon after this, John and Elizabeth succumbed to the cholera epidemic that was sweeping California and died within hours of each other in December 1850. In Dr. Townsend's will, Elizabeth's brother, Moses Schallenberger, was appointed executor of Townsend's sizeable estate and guardian of his only son.

Sources

• Townsend Family Papers, Courtesy of the San Jose Public Library, California Room Library.
• Find A Grave Memorial# 19727246
• William Wade Hinshaw. The Encyclopedia of Quaker Genealogy, 1740-1930.

Bibliography

• Foote, H.S. Pen pictures from the garden of the world, or Santa Clara County, California. (Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1888).
• Hall, F. The history of San Jose and surroundings with biographical sketches of early settlers. (San Francisco: A. L. Bancroft and Company, 1871).
• Sawyer, E. T. History of Santa Clara County, California. (Los Angeles: Historic Record Company, 1922).