Talk:Leland Stanford Jr.

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Significance

This article was created 9 months ago with a stub msg, and has gained 15 words (17%) in 7 edits by 4 contributors. His only significance seems to be being eponymous. Why should it not be merged with Stanford University, which already has 10 words on him in the 1st 'graph of its History section; this text and that 'graph could be refactored as the 1st 2 'graphs of that section. --Jerzy (t) 21:20, 2004 Nov 17 (UTC)

Did Leland Jr attend Harvard?

Did he ever attend Harvard university as referenced in the story told by Malcomb Forbes? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.208.8.29 (talk) 16:26, August 22, 2007 (UTC) 0

It's false. [[1]] --189.152.99.159 (talk) 18:06, 11 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Can't be a person from Palo Alto

I've reverted the recent Category edit - again.

During Leland Stanford Jr's life, the family lived primarily in Sacramento. He died in 1884. Three years later in 1887, as part of the process of establishing the university, his father bought land adjacent to the site. This land became the location for the new city of Palo Alto, which was incorporated in 1894 - ten years after LSJ's death; see [2] jxm (talk) 23:21, 15 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I guess Leland Stanford Jr. could be from Sacramento, San Francisco, and Santa Clara County since his parents had houses in all three locations and he spent time in all three locations. I think the site of his parent's house in Santa Clara is within the present day boundaries of the City of Palo Alto (much Stanford land is within the city boundaries [e.g., the shopping center, the research park, the hospital] though the university proper is not). --Erp (talk) 03:34, 16 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I agree that it's quite plausible that LSJ spent some time on the farm residence, which was on land that eventually became part of the City of Palo Alto 60+ years after he died. But, to be consistent, shouldn't we also add this entry to the WP lists of people from Sacramento and San Francisco as well? Furthermore, the entries for his parents would also need be included in all three lists. I'm not sure what WP policy is about qualifying for such lists but, taken in isolation, this case seems a bit far-fetched. jxm (talk) 16:55, 16 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I'm inclined to list him as from Santa Clara County (not Palo Alto since the town didn't exist then) as well as Sacramento and possibly San Francisco. The land and house was bought in 1876 so Junior would have lived (at least part time) there for about 8 years (they probably bought it so he would have open space away from a city and they had a model train built for him among other things so he spent considerable time there). Sacramento and San Francisco for 16 years. The Palo Alto Stock Farm house was important enough to them that they had him buried next to it before even deciding where to build the university (or possibly even to build an university); his body was later transferred to its current location. They also had their massive (1878) family portrait painted with the Palo Alto Stock Farm as a setting.--Erp (talk) 03:43, 18 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Also strictly speaking the original town of Palo Alto (now the downtown) was on landed owned by Timothy Hopkins, adopted son of Mary Hopkins widow of Mark Hopkins and a trustee of the new University, not Leland Stanford. --Erp (talk) 03:56, 18 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, I think the Santa Clara County item is indeed the way to go. I unsuccessfully poked around WP guidelines for more info on this, so I've raised the issue here. We will see.... jxm (talk) 22:09, 18 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]