Benjamin B. Redding

Benjamin Barnard Redding
Born	1824 Yarmouth, Nova Scotia
Died	1882 San Francisco, California.
Cause of death	Apoplexy
Nationality	Canadian
Spouse(s)	Mary P.
Children	William, J. Albert, George, and Joseph.

Benjamin Barnard Redding (January 17, 1824 – August 21, 1882) was a Canadian-born politician of California; after joining the gold rush as a young man, he served in the state house, as mayor of Sacramento, Secretary of State for California, and Fish Commissioner. He also worked as a journalist and editor in northern California and Sacramento. As a businessman, he worked as a land agent with the Central Pacific Railroad, which named the town of Redding, California after him.

Born in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia in 1824, Redding was educated at Yarmouth Academy. In 1840 at the age of 16, he immigrated to Boston, Massachusetts, where he worked as a clerk. He entered the retail grocery and ship chandlery business in 1843.

In the 1840s he married Mary P. from Boston; their children were William Redding (born ca. 1848 in Massachusetts); J. Albert Redding (born ca. 1850 in Massachusetts). The family later joined him in California after his first mining work was finished. His sons George H. Redding (born ca. 1856; and Joseph D. Redding (born 1859 in Sacramento) were both born there.

In 1849, Redding organized a company of young men and sailed from Yarmouth for the gold rush in California. They reached San Francisco on May 12, 1850. Redding went to the Yuba River diggings and afterward to the Pittsburg bar, working as a mining laborer. He subsequently was associate editor of the Shasta Journal, was employed in drawing up papers for the sale of claims, and acted as arbitrator.

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