January 26, 2009
San Francisco Timecapsule: 01.26.09
San Francisco history blog, San Francisco history podcasts » [12] comments1847: Thanks to a Spanish noblewoman and the quick thinking of Yerba Buena’s first American alcalde, San Francisco gets its name.
January 30, 1847:
Yerba Buena becomes San Francisco
Yerba Buena
That was the name given to the tiny bayside settlement back in 1835, a name taken from the wild mint growing on the sand dunes that surrounded it. And if it hadn’t been for the lucky first name of an elegant Spanish noblewoman, that’s what the city of San Francisco would still be called today.
Our magnificent bay had already worn the name of San Francisco since 1769 — but though some in Yerba Buena apparently used it as a nickname, it never occurred to its motley population to make “San Francisco” official.
In July of 1846 Yerba Buena was just 11 years old, a sleepy hamlet in Mexican territory with just about 200 residents. The place woke up some when Captain John B. Montgomery sailed into the harbour, marched into the center of town and raised the Stars and Stripes.
The Mexican alcalde and other officials split town before Montgomery’s marines arrived, so — at least as far as Yerba Buena was concerned — the annexation of California in the Mexican-American war took place without a fight.

Don Mariano Vallejo, Dr. Robert Semple and the Bear Flag connection
A couple of weeks earlier up in Sonoma, the rancho of Comandante General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo had been invaded by a ragtag collection of American frontiersman. They were attempting to strike a blow for California’s independence from Mexico. Don Vallejo, one of the most powerful and wealthy men in the Mexican territory of Alta California, was arrested — kidnapped, perhaps — and transported to Sutter’s Fort on the Sacramento River.
You’ll undoubtedly recognize this as a scene from the infamous “Bear Flag Revolt” — a terrific story, but I’m in grave danger of digressing here. In fact, I mention it only because the route taken by Vallejo’s captors led them across some of the General’s considerable Mexican land-grant holdings, specifically those around the convergence of the Sacramento River and San Francisco Bay.
One of the more civilized members of that Bear Flag group was one Doctor Robert Semple, an energetic, well-educated and nearly seven-foot-tall Kentuckian. Doctor Semple was also a man with vision, and he carefully noted the beauty — and strategic potential — of this location.
About six months later, once hostilities had settled down a bit, Doctor Semple and his one-time prisoner Don Vallejo struck an agreement to found a new city on that spot — right on the northern shore of the Carquinez Straits.
“Francisca”, new metropolis of the West
On January 19th, 1847, Vallejo deeded a five-square-mile tract of his lands to Semple. Don Vallejo made one important stipulation to this deal; that the new city be named for his beloved wife: “Doña Francisca Benicia Carrillo.”
Doctor Semple agreed.
The name would honour Señora Vallejo, but also — and more importantly to the enterprising Semple — associate itself with the great San Francisco Bay. The city he envisioned as the new metropolis of the West would be dubbed “Francisca”.
Lt. Bartlett sees the future
The agreement was officially recorded in Yerba Buena by the new American alcalde — Captain Montgomery’s second in command, Lieutenant Washington Bartlett. Though Bartlett’s position in Yerba Buena was only temporary, he had apparently already fallen under the patriotic influence of his new surroundings.
Washington Bartlett, like Semple, realized that names carry symbolic weight. Association with the already well known San Francisco Bay — and the mission — would help the upstart “Francisca” attract shipping, commerce, and national renown.
Yerba Buena had grown to a population of barely 500 at this point, and there was absolutely nothing that guaranteed its future as the primary city of the West — or even of the Bay Area. The formation of “Francisca” right across the bay had real potential to eclipse the little town altogether.
As one writer tells it, “Alcalde Bartlett went into executive session with himself”, and solved the problem by scratching out the following decree:
AN ORDINANCE WHEREAS, the local name of Yerba Buena, as applied to the settlement or town of San Francisco, is unknown beyond the district; and has been applied from the local name of the cove, on which the town is built: Therefore, to prevent confusion and mistakes in public documents, and that the town may have the advantage of the name given on the public map;
IT IS HEREBY ORDAINED, that the name of SAN FRANCISCO shall hereafter be used in all official communications and public documents, or records appertaining to the town.
– Washington Bartlett, Chief magistrate January 30, 1847
Doctor Semple, who in addition to his city-planning activities had launched California’s first newspaper a few months earlier, used it to splutter, bloviate and cry foul in a hundred different ways.
But the deed was done, and “Francisca” was out.
The new town would have to settle for Señora Vallejo’s second name: “Benicia“. And that, of course, is the name it bears to this day … as well as a long-standing grudge against the city across the bay.
California’s hidden Gold Fever infection wouldn’t erupt for another year and a half, but when it did, it would be the name of San Francisco that would echo around the world.
January 26, 2009 at 6:51 pm
I just found your site for the first time just now. Great work. I’ll look forward to coming back for a close look when I get a chance.
January 26, 2009 at 7:23 pm
Welcome, Dean! Feel free to subscribe to the RSS feed … saves all that time and trouble remembering to swing back by.
January 26, 2009 at 8:46 pm
Great bit of history. I live in Benicia and had no idea “we” bear a grudge against San Francisco! Of course, I’m a relative new-comer.
January 26, 2009 at 10:56 pm
Deborah – I confess, I invented the bit about the grudge. To put it another way, I imagined how I’d feel if I were a dyed-in-the-wool Benician … grudge city, all the way.
Anyway, glad you enjoyed that tiny slice of history!
January 27, 2009 at 7:19 pm
My understanding is that Benicia’s real grudge is against Sacramento. Benicia was the State capital until the legislature voted to move to Sacramento. However, the vote to do so passed with a simple majority while a larger vote (absolute majority, 2/3s, ?) was required. I’m not sure if this is fact or fiction, but that’s what I heard during a tour of the old capitol building there.
January 27, 2009 at 7:32 pm
You’re probably right about that grudge, Joe — I hadn’t heard about the closeness of the vote, but I did know that Benicia was unhappy to lose the honour! It’s a distinction that moved around quite a bit in the early days, too … from San Jose to Vallejo, to Benicia, to Sacramento, to San Francisco, and then back to Sacramento again.
January 28, 2009 at 3:26 pm
By the way, I just can’t help mentioning that Bartlett’s decision to name San Francisco had even further repercussions …
After the town of Benicia was finally established, Doña Francisco Vallejo actually gave up her first name!
She dropped Francisca and was known simply as “Benicia” for the rest of her life.
January 30, 2009 at 7:46 pm
Awesome, I just found your site today. Loved the time capsule on Jan 30th. I referenced a link to your site in my group, SF Bay Friends on Eons.
Thanks so much for the info and please keep up the great work.
February 4, 2009 at 5:18 pm
@ Niki: Thanks for the kind words, and you’re absolutely welcome. Nice to be discovered …
May 18, 2009 at 12:15 am
I live in Benicia and have for 5 years and i cant believe i never knew about the grudge. hahaha oh well i guess.
April 5, 2010 at 4:07 pm
At the time, of course, San Francisco and Benicia really did compete to see which would be the premier city of Northern California, especially after the new state legislature left from the fledgling city of Vallejo in 1853. The legislature did not go to San Francisco at that time but went to nearby Benicia, which had built a stately building to house it. That building is still standing and is now part of a state historic park! But Benicia is the place where word of the gold strike first reached the Bay Area, and Benicia is the place where sailors abandoned their ships to join the gold rush! Many of the derelict ships still lie in the waters off Benicia!
September 10, 2010 at 10:33 pm
The route taken by Dr. Semple and General Vallejo on June 14, 1846 did not take them by “the convergence of the Sacramento River and the San Francisco Bay” but inland via Vaca’s adobe near the present-day Pena adobe. Semple first visited the Carquinez Strait on July 3. Vallejo’s land on the south side of the Carquinez Strait was not his initial choice. Although Semple was already promoting the site in November, it was on December 22, 1846 (not Jan. 19 1847) that Vallejo deeded 5 square miles to Semple.