Leland Stanford
Amasa Leland Stanford was an American tycoon, industrialist, politician, and a cofounder of Stanford University. Migrating to California from New York at the time of the Gold Rush, he became a successful merchant and wholesaler, and continued to build his business empire. He served one twoyear term as governor of California after his election in 1861, and later eight years as senator from the state. As president of Southern Pacific Railroad and, beginning in 1861, Central Pacific, he had tremendous power in the region and a lasting impact on California. He is widely considered a robber baron.
Stanford was born in 1824 in what was then Watervliet, New York . He was one of eight children of Josiah and Elizabeth Phillips Stanford. Among his siblings were New York State Senator Charles Stanford and Australian businessman and spiritualist Thomas Welton Stanford . His immigrant ancestor, Thomas Stanford, settled in Charlestown, Massachusetts, in the 17th century. Later ancestors settled in the eastern Mohawk Valley of central New York about 1720.
Source: Wikipedia