Biography
Leland Stanford Jr was born 14 May 1868 in Sacramento, Sacramento County, California, United States to Amasa Leland Stanford (1824-1893) and Jane Elizabeth Lathrop (1828-1905) and died 13 March 1884 Grand tour of Europe of typhoid fever.
Leland DeWitt Stanford (aka: Leland Stanford Jr.) is the namesake of Stanford University, adjacent to Palo Alto, California. He was the only child of Governor Amasa Leland Stanford (1824-1893) of California and his wife Jane Elizabeth Lathrop (1828-1905).
Leland caught typhoid two months before his 16th birthday, while on a Grand Tour of Europe with his parents. He originally fell ill in Athens. His parents rushed him to Italy for medical treatment, first to Naples, then to Rome, and eventually to Florence, where he died after weeks of alternately improving and worsening.
Stanford University
Leland Stanford Sr. told his wife that "the children of California shall be our children." To honor their son upon returning to the United States, the Stanfords devoted their fortune to a memorial in his name, Leland Stanford Junior University. The university opened its doors in 1891.
Leland Stanford Jr. is interred beside his parents at the Stanford family mausoleum on the Stanford campus. After the death of his father on June 21, 1893, his mother guided the development of the university until her death on February 28, 1905. Nomenclature
Although the university is generally referred to as "Stanford University" or "Stanford", its official name is still "Leland Stanford Junior University", as seen on the university seal.
Siblings
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| Leland DeWitt Stanford (1868-1884) | 14 May 1868 Sacramento, Sacramento County, California, United States | 13 March 1884 Firenze, Tuscany, Italy | |
References
Leland Stanford's death mask on display at the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts
- Stanford Founders
- wikipedia:en:Leland Stanford Jr. - Wikipedia
- Mirielees, Edith R., Stanford:The Story of a University, G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1959, page 20
- The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II, p. 129. New York: James T. White & Company, 1899. Reprint of 1891 edition.
- Dictionary of American Biography, Vol. XVII, p. 504. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1935.
- Cleveland Amory, Who Killed Society?, pp. 432-433. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1960.
- Leland Stanford Jr at Find A Grave #8158237