George Treat
| George Treat | |
|---|---|
| Born |
April 16, 1819 Frankfort, Maine |
| Died | May 1907 San Francisco, California |
| Nationality | United States |
| Occupation | Businessperson Abolitionist |
George Treat (1819–1907) was an early Gold Rush-era pioneer in the Mission District, of San Francisco, a businessman, abolitionist, a member of the first Committee of Vigilance of San Francisco, and horse racing enthusiast. He was influential to the early physical development of the Mission District and its eventual shift to urbanization. Treat was responsible for the construction and management of the Pioneer Race Course, a horse racing track built in San Francisco in 1851 and in helping with the creation of the San Francisco-San Jose Railway when he sold the land.
Born in Frankfort, Maine, on April 16, 1819, the son of Joshua and Sarah (née Sweetser) Treat, he left the state of Maine in his early youth. In 1835 he settled in New Orleans and remained there until 1847, when he and his brother John Treat enlisted in the United States Army and went to Mexico shortly before the Mexican-American War ended. George Treat was married on April 19, 1857, to Clarinda Littlefield, daughter of Rufus Batchelder, of Prospect, Maine. They had five children: May Benton (the late Mrs. Alexander F. Morrison), Clara Littlefield, Sara Batchelder (Mrs. George R. Child, who lives in San Francisco), Rosa, and Frank Livingston Treat.
After his discharge he came to California, reaching San Francisco on August 10, 1849 and the brothers settled in the a remote corner of the southeastern Mission valley (in the neighborhood now called the Mission district) and raised food for the city markets.
In the 1850s George Treat acquired much of the Mission District south of 24th Street and the western portion of the Potrero District from the heirs of the Californio (ranching villages featuring adobe and wood structures) and Mexican families that had owned it since the secularization of Mission Dolores in 1834. Many of the land dealings were underhand or coercive and ultimately resulted in the demise of the vast Mexican-era cattle ranches that encompassed the Potrero and Mission districts.
In 1867, George Treat provided testimony at the U.S. Board of Land Commissioners’ that ultimately resulted in the denial of the De Haro family’s longstanding land claims and his action caused the De Haro family to lose their ranch named Rancho Potrero Viejo, effectively opening it for residential and industrial development.
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