Music Had Charms for the Emperor Norton

September 10, 2024 / John Lumea

Emperor Norton's reign in San Francisco coincided with the advent and growth of opera in his adopted city.

In one of the Emperor's earlier Proclamations, published in December 1865, he enjoins his subjects to attend and support the opera, writing: "The man that has no music in his soul is fit for Treason, Strategem, and Spoils. Let no such man be trusted....The Nation that supports music shows an advancement in Civilization and Refinement."

In April 1872, Emperor Norton returns to these themes in a Proclamation that focuses on a specific company, the Bianchi troupe, that had been identified with opera in San Francisco for nearly 15 years — but now was failing.

Several episodes in the Bianchi story illustrate the challenges that beset the enterprise of opera in San Francisco during this period — challenges that lay at the heart of the Emperor's recognition that, in order for any opera troupe to nourish the public soul, it first must succeed as a business enterprise.

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categories / Research, Proclamations, Places, Original sources
tags / music, opera, theater, Bianchi, Eugenio Bianchi, Giovanna Bianchi, Maguire's Opera House, Academy of Music (Oakland), Tom Maguire, John Maguire, 1858, 1859, 1860, 1861, 1862, 1865, 1872

Joshua Norton On His Way Out of the Democratic (Or Any Other) Party

July 26, 2024 / John Lumea

Throughout and beyond the period, 1853–56, of Joshua Norton’s bruising legal and financial trials prompted by his rice contract dispute with the firm of Ruiz Hermanos — even as a succession of creditors were suing Joshua to recover their debts and the lower courts were resolving these lawsuits by foreclosing on Joshua’s properties — Joshua remained politically engaged.

In May 1855, Joshua ran as a Democratic candidate for San Francisco tax collector.

In August 1858, he presented himself as an independent candidate for U.S. Congress.

New information has surfaced showing that, in between these two moments — in February 1856 — Joshua Norton joined nearly 1,000 other members of San Francisco Democratic Party in signing a public statement protesting corruption in the local party; “refus[ing] further allegiance to the General Committee,” i.e., the local party leadership; and pledging to re-establish the local party according to its original ideals.

Joshua’s action sheds light on his pivot away from party politics towards engaging as a political independent.

It is an important, previously unreported episode in Joshua’s evolution towards becoming the figure who, as Emperor, critiqued public institutions as one who once was inside them but now stood outside.

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categories / Research, Original sources, Proclamations
tags / Joshua Norton, Democratic Party, Democratic General Committee, Democratic Central Committee, protest, reform, statement, signature, Purifiers, Julius K. Rose, Milton Slocum Latham, Sacramento, People's ticket, independent, San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin, Daily Alta California, 1855, 1856, 1858, 1859

Joshua Norton, Eternal Optimist

November 28, 2023 / John Lumea

Between 1853 and 1859 — a period during which the courts handed him a series of crushing legal defeats that ultimately forced him to declare bankruptcy in 1856 — Joshua Norton engaged in a pattern of making bold public moves that belied — and defied — the harsh facts on the ground.

We recently discovered two early markers in this pattern that appear to have gone undocumented before now:

1) In August 1853 — on the eve of his first major court loss — Joshua offered himself as a Whig candidate for California State Assembly.

2) Under the terms of the Fourth District Court’s ruling of August 1853, the Court ordered the San Francisco sheriff to seize and sell two of Joshua Norton’s properties. In November 1853 — three days before the sale — Joshua took out a newspaper ad seeking a loan for $7,500, possibly part of a gambit to buy back the properties.

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categories / Research, Places, Original sources
tags / Joshua Norton, Joshua Norton & Co., William Sim, Ruiz v. Norton, Fourth District Court, California Supreme Court, candidate, Whig, California State Assembly, property, Sheriff's Sale, William R. Gorham, Pacific Street, Bush Street, Taylor Street, loan, 1853, 1854, 1855, 1856, 1857, 1858, 1859

Joshua Norton, Pioneer

August 08, 2023 / John Lumea

In Colville’s San Francisco directory of 1856, Joshua Norton listed his “office” address as Pioneer Hall — the Society of California Pioneers’ headquarters and clubhouse on Portsmouth Square, San Francisco.

Joshua declared bankruptcy in 1856, so his living arrangements might have been unstable. But, he was affiliated with a Masonic lodge during this period — while he was not a member of the Pioneers.

So why did he list himself at Pioneer Hall rather than Masonic Hall (on Montgomery Street)?

Here’s a closer look at this episode, in which — apparently — Joshua Norton and the Pioneers were drawn into one anothers’ orbits and revealed things about one another in the process.

Includes a rarely seen 1861 photograph of Pioneer Hall after the Society had added “Pioneers” signage to the top of the building.

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categories / Research, Places, Original sources
tags / Society of California Pioneers, Pioneer Hall, Portsmouth Square, James Lick, Samuel Colville, address, directory, photograph, Overland Monthly, George R. Fardon, 1850, 1855, 1856, 1857, 1858, 1862, 1863

Emperor Norton vs. the Rev. Mr. Hammond

July 12, 2023 / John Lumea

Edward Payson Hammond was a celebrity preacher — a Billy Graham of his day.

Today, Hammond is much less well-known in the annals of American religion than his crusading contemporary, Dwight Lyman Moody.

But, in the 1860s and 1870s, E.P. Hammond was a phenomenon.

In February 1875, Hammond brought his traveling revival road show to San Francisco for what turned out to be a two-month stand.

To get preaching gigs like this, Hammond claimed to produce hundreds — even thousands — of “conversions” everywhere he went.

To gin up these numbers, Hammond’s stock-in-trade was badgering tiny children into believing that they were evil sinners in danger of hellfire.

Emperor Norton was not down with this — and, he found a way to say so in a Proclamation that was published on both sides of San Francisco Bay in March 1875.

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categories / Research, Proclamations, Original sources
tags / Edward Payson Hammond, preacher, revival, conversion, children, child, San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento, Oregon, Andrew L. Stone, Peter Anderson, Pacific Appeal, Oakland Tribune, 1858, 1859, 1860, 1861, 1862, 1863, 1867, 1868, 1874, 1875

Emperor Norton Abolished the Democratic and Republican Parties — Twice

April 28, 2023 / John Lumea

Students of Emperor Norton are familiar with his August 1869 Proclamation to “abolish and dissolve the Democratic and Republican parties.”

The Emperor Norton Trust has uncovered a previously unreported second Proclamation, from September 1876, in which the Emperor commands “the dissolution of the Republican and Democratic parties” — although for different reasons than he gave in 1869.

This second Proclamation further reinforces Emperor Norton’s longstanding antipathy to the major parties and to the U.S. party system — a posture which led Joshua Norton to declare himself an “independent candidate” for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1858 and to deliver a brief speech at a public “No Party” forum in 1875.

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categories / Research, Proclamations, Original sources
tags / independent politics, independent candidate, No Party movement, political parties, Democratic Party, Republican Party, San Francisco Herald, Oakland Daily News, 1858, 1869, 1875, 1876

Emperor Norton at Swimley's

February 24, 2023 / John Lumea

Joshua Norton made many visits to Sacramento in the early 1850s.

But, after declaring himself Emperor in 1859, his first imperial visit to California’s capital was in December 1863.

By 1863, Emperor Norton already was becoming a legend.

And, on this 1863 visit, he is reported to have dined at a restaurant run by someone who was becoming a legend of his own.

The restaurant was the Cincinnati. The proprietor was William Swimley. And the eatery — known locally as “Swimley’s” — was half-way through a 20-year run as “oldest, neatest, best and cheapest” food spot in Sacramento.

The building where Swimley’s was located from c.1861 until its closing in 1871 occupies a fascinating place in the history of early Sacramento.

In the course of researching this wonderful story, we’ve found evidence that the building is older than has been believed.

Deep documentation and rare photographs included.

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categories / Research, Original sources, Places
tags / Sacramento, Cincinnati Restaurant, Charles Franklin Swimley, Charles F. Swimley, Swimley's, Swimley's Boarders, 21 K Street, 25 K Street, Second Street, Verandah Hotel, Union Hotel, James Lansing, Union Hotel annex, restaurant, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, 1850, 1852, 1853, 1855, 1856, 1858, 1859, 1861, 1863, 1864, 1865, 1866, 1867, 1871, 1873, 1879, 1940, 1960, 1980s

The Mixed Economy of the Eureka Lodgings Building of Commercial Street

October 28, 2022 / John Lumea

When one reads that Emperor Norton lived in "the Eureka Lodgings" at "624 Commercial Street," it's tempting to imagine that the Eureka was in a building with one address and one use — and that the Eureka was it.

In fact: There were two buildings on the Eureka site between c.1850 and Emperor Norton's death in 1880, with the Eureka building arriving in 1857. Both buildings had three addresses and a variety of business tenants — with the second of the two buildings hosting the Eureka and two previous hotel/lodging establishments that each occupied only a portion of the top two floors.

At various times during the 1860s ― including while the Emperor was living here between 1864/65 and 1880 — the second building was home to some of the best-known and -respected businesses in early San Francisco history.

Both of the buildings on the Eureka site were located between Montgomery and Kearny Streets, with frontages on both Commercial and Clay Streets.

What follows is, we believe, the first published attempt to establish a "tenant timeline" of the Commercial Street frontages of these buildings between c.1850 and 1880.

Read on for some fascinating history — and some terrific advertisements!

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categories / Research, Places, Original sources
tags / Commercial Street, Montgomery Street, Kearny Street, Eureka Lodgings, Arcade, Arcade Saloon, Hotel Richelieu, Benton House, Aaron Babcock, David Hutchinson, John Cabaniss, A.C. Gamble, Pierre Trapet, Felix Hanlon, Meussdorffer, hatter, Lawrence & Houseworth, John W. Cherry, Contra Costa Laundry, Kohler Chase & Co., directories, advertising, advertisement, Daily Alta California, San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin, San Francisco Daily Herald, 154 Commercial, 156 Commercial, 158 Commercial, 624 Commercial, 626 Commercial, 628 Commercial, 1851, 1852, 1853, 1854, 1855, 1856, 1857, 1858, 1859, 1860, 1861, 1864, 1865, 635 Commercial, 637 Commercial, 175 Clay, 177 Clay, 637 Clay

Emperor Norton's Friend the Butcher

June 20, 2022 / John Lumea

There are many contemporaneous references to Emperor Norton’s associations with various people and places.

But, the Emperor was a public character. And, the accounts of his engagements with particular people mostly are accounts of conversations and sightings in public places: libraries, lecture halls, churches, saloons, parks, resorts, trains, ferries, streets.

Much rarer are eyewitness reports of Emperor Norton in more intimate settings, such as someone’s home.

Herein, a trace memoir of the Jewish friend who had the Emperor home for dinner on more than one occasion — and documentation of who the friend was.

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categories / Research, Places, Original sources
tags / Abraham Yehl, Josephine Yehl Groeschel, Josephine Groeschel, dinner, butcher, San Francisco directory, U.S. census, business card, Gradwohl & Cohen, Congregation Emanu-El, Temple Emanu-El, Home of Peace, Fanny Yehl, San Francisco Chronicle, 1854, 1858, 1862, 1868, 1915, 1953

“A New State of Things?” A Pre-Imperial Proclamation from Joshua Norton in July 1859

March 08, 2022 / John Lumea

On 5 July 1859, Joshua Norton took out a paid ad in the San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin. The ad was a brief “Manifesto” addressed to the “Citizens of the Union.” It outlined in the broadest terms the national crisis as he saw it and suggested the imperative for action to address this crisis at the most basic level.

This was a little more than two months before Joshua issued his Proclamation — published in the same paper — declaring himself Emperor of the United States on 17 September 1859.

Together with what we already knew — that Joshua Norton continued to run business ads for nearly a year after his insolvency of August 1856; that the San Francisco directories of 1858 and possibly 1859 included listings for him...

The Manifesto is one of three additional pieces of evidence that Joshua Norton remained on the scene — and in San Francisco — in the period between his insolvency and his installation as Emperor.

One of these three traces is an historical “rescue” — reported by Allen Stanley Lane in his 1939 biography of Emperor Norton but apparently forgotten and possibly never documented before now.

The other two — including the Manifesto — are, we believe, discovered, documented and published here for the first time.

This new information should put to rest the conventional wisdom that Joshua Norton "disappeared" for X number of years only to "reemerge" fully transformed on a beatific day in September 1859.

No, there was a process and a path from fall to rise — from Point A to B.

These are three more of that path's public signposts.

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categories / Research, Original sources, Proclamations
tags / manifesto, advertisement, ad, candidate, candidacy, Congress, independent, tax collector, Democratic Party, jury, juror, I. Ferris Waldron, Wells Fargo, directory, San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin, 1855, 1857, 1858, 1859

Joshua Norton in Occidental Lodge No. 22 of Free and Accepted Masons

June 08, 2021 / John Lumea

Popular accounts of Emperor Norton — including the respected 1986 biography by William Drury — have Joshua Norton as a “charter member” of Occidental Lodge No. 22 of Free and Accepted Masons.

This is inaccurate. It also is not the point.

For what bears real consideration is that Joshua sought and was granted membership in the Occidental Lodge between May 1854 and May 1855, the very moment when — at every professional, legal, financial and personal level — he was approaching the depths of his instability, vulnerability and failure.

Also documented here: Two illustrious San Franciscans who were members of the Occidental Lodge at the same time that Joshua Norton was.

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categories / Research, Original sources
tags / Joshua Norton, Mason, Masonic, Occidental Lodge, Joseph Eastland, Frank Soulé, 1852, 1854, 1855, 1858, 1859, 1860, 1861

Did Joshua Norton Really Leave San Francisco Between Declaring Himself Bankrupt in 1856 and Emperor in 1859?

May 15, 2017 / John Lumea

Here's a "mystery" about Emperor Norton that may be less mysterious than many seem to think. Despite persistent speculation that Joshua Norton left San Francisco for a period of months or years just before declaring himself Emperor in 1859, the available evidence points to a narrative in which, most likely, the eventual Emperor remained a resident of the City from his arrival until his death.

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categories / Open Questions, Research
tags / 1856, 1857, 1858, 1859, 1860, 1861, Tehama House, 255 Kearny, Metropolitan Hotel, business ads, directories, Daily Alta California, Henry Langley

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