Anson Burlingame

Anson Burlingame's ancestors arrived in America from England in Puritan times and settled in Rhode Island. They were strong, church-loving Methodists. Anson's grandfather, Reverend Daniel Burlingame, established his home in New Berlin, New York. Anson's father, Joel, a Methodist lay minister, was born there, married Miss Freelove Angell when he was 19 and in the same town, their first child, Anson, was born November 14, 1820. Four sisters and three brothers followed his arrival.

When he was three years old, the family moved to a farm in Ohio – by age 14 they had moved to Michigan. They were not wealthy in material things, but as farmers on the frontier they enjoyed nature and the company of family and friends.

After attending common schools as a child, Burlingame matriculated at the Detroit campus of the University of Michigan, where he began showing a great talent for debating. Graduating in 1841, he then attended Harvard law School from 1843 until his graduation in 1846. He then practiced law in Boston, Massachusetts, with the son of George Briggs, a former governor of Massachusetts.

His marriage in 1847 to Miss Jane C. Livermore, member of an old family in Cambridge, increased his sphere of influence tremendously. The couple settled down in Cambridge Port, Massachusetts, to raise a family. They had three children: Edward, Walter and Gertrude. The older son, Edward, served as his fathers secretary in his mission to (and later from) China, though he could not have been much older than 15 at the time. Edward was later editor of Scribner's Magazine from its inception in 1886 until 1914.

With his personal magnetism, speaking ability and leadership growing steadily, Anson Burlingame entered politics in Massachusetts. He first associated politically with the Free Soil party, proving to be an effective orator for the Van Buren-Adams national ticket in 1848. He was elected to the State Senate in 1852. The following year he served as a delegate to the state constitutional convention. In 1854, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives on the American party ballot. During 1855-56, he changed his partisan affiliation again to help establish the new Republican party in Massachusetts. He served as a Congressman in Washington for three terms 1855-1861, distinguishing himself in oratory and his anti-slavery position before being defeated in the 1860 campaign. The most notable incident of his congressional career was sparked by his chastisement of fellow-Congressman Preston Brooks for his caning of Senator Charles Sumner in 1856. In response, Brooks challenged Burlingame to a duel. Burlingame accepted and chose rifles as the weapons and the Navy Yard on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls as the site. Brooks, fearing it unsafe to pass through "the enemy's country," declined, allowing Burlingame to be honored as a hero in the North.

After Burlingame's electoral defeat in 1860, President Abraham Lincoln appointed him as the U.S. minister to Austria. The Austrian imperial government objected, however, because of Burlingame's previous outspoken support of Sardinian and Hungarian independence. Burlingame was sent, instead, as the American minister to China, where he was able to earn the trust and respect of the Chinese government.

In 1866, while involved with the Chinese government, we know that Burlingame, his wife and two sons made a trip to California. In April of that year a 12-member group, including the Burlingame family, endured the rigors of a late winter to travel to Yosemite Valley. They were the earliest group of travelers ever to attempt such a visit, but they had the expert guidance of Galen Clark, the famous Yosemite pioneer.

In the same year, 1866, Anson Burlingame purchased a tract of land on the San Francisco Peninsula. The following year, he surprised everyone by resigning from his position as Minister to China to become China's first ambassador to the United States and leading European nations.

Burlingame and the Chinese mission first visited the United States in March 1868. During this tour Burlingame stressed equal treatment of the Chinese and he negotiated a treaty between the two nations that was signed on July 28, and was known thereafter as the Burlingame Treaty. Among its terms, both nations agreed to respect the territorial sovereignty of the other, to protect the privileges and immunities of citizens of the other country who resided in the host country, to guarantee the practice of religious liberty, and to recognize the principle of free immigration. It was under the immigration provision of this treaty that thousands of Chinese laborers were permitted to enter the United States, a controversial event with far reaching effect.

It was in this same year that a town bearing his name was planned and surveyed on the Peninsula. He may have intended to make this his retirement home, however that was not to be. After leaving Washington, Burlingame and the Chinese delegation then proceeded to meet with representatives of several European nations, England, France, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, and Prussia, negotiating treaties with all except France. Burlingame had just begun negotiations with the Russian government when he took ill with pneumonia. After only a few days, he died on February 23, 1870.

In 1893, 23 years after Burlingame's death, a group of wealthy young men from San Francisco set about organizing a country club on the Peninsula. In casting about for a suitable designation they were inspired by the nice sounding name still found on county maps of the area. They decided to call it “The Burlingame Country Club”.

The village that was developing nearby, around the railroad station, was known as “Burlingame”, reflecting some of the prestige of the glamorous club, but it was not until 1908 that the town was incorporated. From one perspective, Burlingame, California, can be seen as an on-going tribute to a persistent and sensitive man, our nation's famous diplomat and China's first ambassador to the United States.