Lesbian and gay San Franciscans may fondly remember Jose Sarria as the Widow Norton, Empress I of San Francisco. But if she was the widow of San Francisco’s first Emperor, who was her Emperor?
Many today have the impression of Emperor Norton as a colorful, insane homeless man with two dogs. In fact, though his clothes were tattered and he lives largely on the largess of his friends, he did have a place to live, it’s not clear whether he was mad or very shrewd, and the dogs attributed to him were actually owned by the City of San Francisco.
Early Years
Joshua Abraham Norton was born to John and Sarah Norton in England about 150 miles north of London. In 1820, the family emigrated to Algoa Bay, South Africa, and then to Cape Town in 1841.
By 1848, Norton’s entire family had died, leaving him with an inheritance of about $40,000. The following year, gold was found in California and Norton decided to strike off to San Francisco to make his fortune — not through the Gold Rush but rather through real estate.
By 1852, Norton had amassed a fortune of about $250,000, the modern equivalent of about $5 million. He invested a large sum trying to corner the market on rice when a famine in China had driven the price up, only to be undermined days later when ships laden with better-quality rice drove the price down. At the same time, San Francisco’s economy was collapsing as the wealth from the Gold Rush dried up. Norton faced foreclosures, and by 1856 declared bankruptcy.
Emperor Norton the First
On September 17, 1859, Joshua Norton delivered a message to the editor of the San Francisco Bulletin, who decided to print Norton’s proclamation:
At the pre-emptory request of a large majority of the citizens of these United States, I Joshua Norton, formerly of Algoa Bay, Cape of Good Hope, and now for the last nine years and ten months past of San Francisco, California, declare and proclaim myself the Emperor of These United States, and in virtue of the authority thereby in me vested do hereby order and direct the representatives of the different States of the Union to assemble in Musical Hall of this city, on the 1st day of February next, then and there to make such alterations in the existing laws of the Union as may ameliorate the evils under which the country is laboring, and thereby cause confidence to exist, both at home and abroad, in our stability and integrity.
Norton I, Emperor of the United States
From that day, he never used the name Joshua ever again. It was forevermore Emperor Norton or Norton the First.
More proclamations came, dissolving Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court, abolishing the Democratic and Republican parties, and declaring himself “Protector of Mexico” when Napoleon III invaded it in 1863.
Norton was now living off the generosity of his friends and former business acquaintances, carefully recording their gifts in a notebook as a “tax.” He became a tourist attraction in his own right. Tourists would buy promissory notes from him, which he promised to repay with 7% interest in the year 1880. Merchants sold Emperor Norton dolls, picture postcards, and other merchandise with his seal.
Among his proclamations was abolishing the word Frisco in 1872:
Whoever after due and proper warning shall be heard to utter the abominable word “Frisco”, which has no linguistic or other warrant, shall be deemed guilty of a High Misdemeanor, and shall pay into the Imperial Treasury as penalty the sum of twenty-five dollars.
In early 2014, the western span of the Bay Bridge was named after Willie Brown, a former Speaker of the California State Assembly and Mayor of San Francisco. Critics argued that it should instead be named after Emperor Norton, noting his 1872 decree that the bridge be built (though suitable technology didn’t exist at the time, and the bridge wouldn’t be built for another 60 years):
The following is decreed and ordered to be carried into execution as soon as convenient: I. That a suspension bridge be built from Oakland Point to Goat Island and thence to Telegraph Hill; provided such bridge can be built without injury to navigable waters of the Bay of San Francisco. II. That the Central Pacific Railroad Company be granted franchises to lay down tracks and run cars from Telegraph Hill and along the city front to Mission Bay.
Goat Island was the name then given to Yerba Buena Island, which the Bay Bridge passes through.
On January 8, 1880 — coincidentally the year his promissory notes were due to be paid — Emperor Norton collapsed and died while walking up California Street to Nob Hill. Local headlines proclaimed Le Roi est Mort (the King is Dead), and newspapers throughout the country reported on his death. Over 10,000 people came to see him lying in state, and a two-mile cortege followed him to his resting place at the Masonic Cemetery.
In 1934, more than 50 years after his death, San Francisco closed its cemeteries and he was reinterred with military honors at Woodlawn Memorial Park in Colma. Jose Sarria, later the Widow Norton, was 11 or 12 at the time.
The Gay Connection
There’s no reason to believe that Joshua Norton was gay. In fact, in 1874 when he was about 56 years old, he became infatuated with Minnie Wakeman, a 16-year-old high school girl. His attentions were politely rejected on the grounds that she was already engaged.
There’s also no reason to believe he was supportive of gay rights at a time when homosexuality was largely hidden. But he was a strong advocate for the rights of minorities, and there’s no reason to believe he was homophobic, either.
In 1964, when Jose Sarria was named Queen of the Beaux Arts Ball, she declared that she was already a queen and proclaimed herself Her Royal Majesty, Empress of San Francisco, José I, The Widow Norton. This led to the founding of the Imperial Court which has become an international drag philanthropic organization.
When Sarria died in 2013, he was given a state funeral in Grace Cathedral and laid to rest in a plot at the foot of Joshua Norton’s grave.
Sources
Drury, William, Norton I, Emperor of the United States, Dodd, Mead, 1986, 978-0396085096.
“Emperor Norton,” Encyclopedia of San Francisco, accessed August 29, 2014.
“Emperor Norton,” Wikipedia, accessed August 29, 2014.
