Charles Stetson Wheeler
Encyclopedia
Charles Stetson Wheeler was an American attorney, working in Northern California
. He served as a Regent of the University of California
, and was a member of the Committee of Fifty
working to maintain order after the devastating fire following the earthquake of 1906 in San Francisco
. Wheeler was active in Republican Party
politics.
, on December 12, 1863. His parents were Charles C. Wheeler from Norridgewock, Maine, and the former Angelina (or Angeline) Stetson from Kingston, Massachusetts
. The parents were married in the gold rush
town of Columbia, California
, on April 17, 1859. Wheeler was raised in Oakland and attended public schools. In 1879 while he was in high school, his sister Gertrude Wheeler was born; she later married John W. Beckman and became a singing teacher, phonologist and inventor. Wheeler was raised alongside a brother who never sought higher education. In 1884, Wheeler graduated with a Bachelor of Laws
degree from the University of California
, and began working in Oakland in the law office of John Henry Boalt
. Concurrently, he studied advanced law at Hastings College of the Law
in San Francisco and graduated in 1886, the same year he advanced to the bar
.
, the Barron Estate Co., and the First Federal Trust Co. of San Francisco. He specialized in probate law, mining claims, corporate law and real estate law; the office was on 14 Montgomery Street. From 1920 to 1923, Wheeler partnered with his son.
Wheeler was attorney to Phoebe Apperson Hearst
, and to Elizabeth Boalt after the death of her husband, Wheeler's mentor John H. Boalt. Wheeler advised the two women in their gifts to the University of California School of Law, instituting the Hearst architectural plan including Hearst Memorial Mining Building
and Boalt Hall of Law
. When the plans were celebrated in early 1906, Wheeler announced a gift of $250,000 that he would use to endow a law professorship.
When Wheeler died on April 27, 1923, a number of memorial motions were made in various courts. These motions were combined into the 1924 book Memorial motions in court upon the death of Charles Stetson Wheeler. One of them was as follows: "Mr. Wheeler was a man, in every sense of the word. A stranger coming within our gates meeting him on the street and observing him, his wonderful physique, his wonderful bearing, at once would exclaim, 'What man is this?
and was later given honorary membership in Phi Delta Phi
. He joined the San Francisco Art Association
, the Bohemian Club
, the Pacific-Union Club
, the Olympic Club
, and the Commonwealth Club
, among others.
Wheeler served as a Regent of the University of California from 1892 to 1896, from 1902 to 1907, and again from 1911 to 1923.
After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake
, Wheeler served on the Committee of Fifty
, a group of prominent citizens who quickly took control of reconstruction when it became clear the San Francisco Board of Supervisors
was unable. Wheeler held the position of secretary of the Relief Committee. In December 1908, he reported that the Relief Committee, because of its success in carrying out its mission, would be dissolved at the first of the year. He noted that $9.5 million had been distributed to those in need, and that the committee's administration costs had been 2% of that. The relief work had provided approximately 8,000 homes for 30,000 people.
Prior to the United States presidential election, 1912
, Wheeler publicly debated the former California governor James N. Gillett on the question of which Republican nominee deserved the backing of his party, to be decided at the primary elections. Wheeler spoke for Theodore Roosevelt
while Gillett argued for incumbent William Howard Taft
. Wheeler said Taft was "blind to the signs of the times", the candidate of "men satisfied with the old political methods." In the event, Taft won the primary but Roosevelt ran anyway as a third party candidate, splitting the Republican vote to allow Woodrow Wilson
to gain the presidency. In 1920, Wheeler traveled to Chicago to serve as alternate delegate for California at the Republican National Convention
. The California delegation put Wheeler on the podium to give a rousing speech for the nomination of California-born candidate Hiram Johnson
who had been Roosevelt's running mate in 1912.
in San Francisco in the 1890s. She lived in that city all her life. After her husband's death, she took up residence at the Fairmont Hotel. She died in 1952.
Wheeler's offspring include son Charles Stetson Wheeler, Jr., and daughters Elizabeth, Jean, Lilias and Olive B.; all spending summers together with their parents in remote Northern California as reported in 1910.
A grandson, outdoorsman Charles Stetson Wheeler III, married into the Irvine family of Southern California. He headed cattle operations for the Irvine Company
from 1953 to 1977, then became the company's corporate secretary until his death in 1993. His granddaughter Kathryn Wheeler (1920–2003) joined the board of the James Irvine Foundation
in 1950, guiding its decisions in making grants for the next half century. An Orange County Public Library
branch in Irvine was built to memorialize her: The Katie Wheeler Branch Library.
south by southeast of Mount Shasta
on the McCloud River
. He called this holding the Wheeler Ranch, and he built a hunting lodge on the river at Horseshoe Bend—its cornerstone laid in 1899. The lodge was designed by San Francisco architect Willis Polk
, and included an 800-book library with room for hundreds of Native American baskets. Wheeler directed Polk to give the lodge a "fish tower"—a high study with a view, and two windows which were aquariums containing local trout. A Latin inscription over the entrance indicated this room was a temple to fishing: piscatoribus sacrum. The Wheeler family stayed at the ranch many a summer.
In 1900, Wheeler invited his client Phoebe Hearst to visit Wheeler Ranch with his family for the summer. Hearst asked if she could purchase the land, but Wheeler declined. Insistent, Hearst came to an arrangement whereby she would purchase a 99-year lease on part of the land, and she also purchased adjoining land held by Edward Clark who called it Wyntoon
. Hearst applied the name Wyntoon to her new lease and in 1901 contracted for a magnificent seven-story house to be built, one designed by Bernard Maybeck
in the Gothic
style of a Rhine River castle. Wheeler was "privately furious" with the extravagant plans, as he and Hearst had previously agreed her building would be modest. She built other structures including a cottage for overflow guests, another "honeymoon cottage", and a separate building housing the kitchen facilities. The castle was finished in 1904.
Wheeler retained the part of Wheeler Ranch that was not leased to Hearst, including the hunting lodge. In 1911, Wheeler invited Austro-Hungarian artist and naturalist Edward Stuhl and his wife Rosie to live on the property; they made extensive studies of plant and animal life in the area, and collected many hundreds of specimens. Stuhl, an avid mountain climber, published Wildflowers of Mount Shasta from his base at Wheeler Ranch. After Wheeler's death, Stuhl served as custodian of the ranch. William Randolph Hearst
bought Wyntoon outright from Wheeler Ranch in 1929, and in 1934 bought Wheeler Ranch.
Northern California
Northern California is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The San Francisco Bay Area , and Sacramento as well as its metropolitan area are the main population centers...
. He served as a Regent of the University of California
Regents of the University of California
The Regents of the University of California make up the governing board of the University of California. The Board has 26 full members:* The majority are appointed by the Governor of California for 12-year terms....
, and was a member of the Committee of Fifty
Committee of Fifty (1906)
This Committee of Fifty, sometimes referred to as Committee of Safety, Citizens' Committee of Fifty or Relief and Restoration Committee of Law and Order, was called into existence by Mayor Eugene Schmitz during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake...
working to maintain order after the devastating fire following the earthquake of 1906 in San Francisco
1906 San Francisco earthquake
The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was a major earthquake that struck San Francisco, California, and the coast of Northern California at 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906. The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude of the earthquake is a moment magnitude of 7.9; however, other...
. Wheeler was active in Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
politics.
Early career
Wheeler was born in Oakland, CaliforniaOakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
, on December 12, 1863. His parents were Charles C. Wheeler from Norridgewock, Maine, and the former Angelina (or Angeline) Stetson from Kingston, Massachusetts
Kingston, Massachusetts
Kingston is a coastal town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. According to the 2010 Census, it had a population of 12,629.-History:Before European settlers arrived in Kingston it was within the tribal home to the Wampanoag people...
. The parents were married in the gold rush
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
town of Columbia, California
Columbia, California
Columbia is a former California Gold Rush boomtown located in the Sierra Nevada foothills. The central portion of the town is preserved as a California state historic park and a National Historic Landmark that preserves the original, gold-rush-town flavor of the town, once dubbed the "Gem of the...
, on April 17, 1859. Wheeler was raised in Oakland and attended public schools. In 1879 while he was in high school, his sister Gertrude Wheeler was born; she later married John W. Beckman and became a singing teacher, phonologist and inventor. Wheeler was raised alongside a brother who never sought higher education. In 1884, Wheeler graduated with a Bachelor of Laws
Bachelor of Laws
The Bachelor of Laws is an undergraduate, or bachelor, degree in law originating in England and offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree...
degree from the University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
, and began working in Oakland in the law office of John Henry Boalt
John Henry Boalt
John Henry Boalt was an attorney who resided in Oakland, California in the late 19th century. His widow, Elizabeth Josselyn Boalt, donated funds to the University of California in 1906 to construct the original Boalt Hall on the Berkeley campus...
. Concurrently, he studied advanced law at Hastings College of the Law
University of California, Hastings College of the Law
University of California, Hastings College of the Law is a public law school in San Francisco, California, located in the Civic Center neighborhood....
in San Francisco and graduated in 1886, the same year he advanced to the bar
Admission to the bar in the United States
In the United States, admission to the bar is the granting of permission by a particular court system to a lawyer to practice law in that system. Each U.S. state and similar jurisdiction has its own court system and sets its own rules for bar admission , which can lead to different admission...
.
Attorney
As an attorney, Wheeler took up residence in San Francisco and continued with the law firm Garber, Boalt and Bishop. In 1892, Wheeler was made partner. After the deaths of Boalt and Judge John R. Garber, the firm was reconstituted as Bishop, Wheeler and Hoefler. In 1904, Wheeler headed his own firm, with no partners. In 1912 he took on a partner: attorney John F. Bowie, some fifteen years younger. By 1918, Wheeler worked occasionally with his son, Charles S. Wheeler Jr, as co-counsel. Wheeler's clients included the First National Bank, the Bank of British North AmericaBank of British North America
The Bank of British North America was founded in 1835 in London, England with offices in Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City, Saint John, New Brunswick, Halifax and St. John's, Newfoundland. It also operated agencies in New York City and San Francisco. Like the other Canadian chartered banks, it issued...
, the Barron Estate Co., and the First Federal Trust Co. of San Francisco. He specialized in probate law, mining claims, corporate law and real estate law; the office was on 14 Montgomery Street. From 1920 to 1923, Wheeler partnered with his son.
Wheeler was attorney to Phoebe Apperson Hearst
Phoebe Hearst
Phoebe Apperson Hearst was an American philanthropist, feminist and suffragist. She was also the mother of William Randolph Hearst.-Biography:...
, and to Elizabeth Boalt after the death of her husband, Wheeler's mentor John H. Boalt. Wheeler advised the two women in their gifts to the University of California School of Law, instituting the Hearst architectural plan including Hearst Memorial Mining Building
Hearst Memorial Mining Building
The Hearst Memorial Mining Building at the University of California, Berkeley is currently home to the university's materials science department. The Classical Revival style building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is also designated as part of California Historical...
and Boalt Hall of Law
UC Berkeley School of Law
The University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, commonly referred to as Berkeley Law and Boalt Hall, is one of 14 schools and colleges at the University of California, Berkeley. Berkeley Law is consistently regarded as an elite and prestigious law school...
. When the plans were celebrated in early 1906, Wheeler announced a gift of $250,000 that he would use to endow a law professorship.
When Wheeler died on April 27, 1923, a number of memorial motions were made in various courts. These motions were combined into the 1924 book Memorial motions in court upon the death of Charles Stetson Wheeler. One of them was as follows: "Mr. Wheeler was a man, in every sense of the word. A stranger coming within our gates meeting him on the street and observing him, his wonderful physique, his wonderful bearing, at once would exclaim, 'What man is this?
Society and politics
In college, Wheeler joined the fraternity Beta Theta PiBeta Theta Pi
Beta Theta Pi , often just called Beta, is a social collegiate fraternity that was founded in 1839 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, USA, where it is part of the Miami Triad which includes Phi Delta Theta and Sigma Chi. It has over 138 active chapters and colonies in the United States and Canada...
and was later given honorary membership in Phi Delta Phi
Phi Delta Phi
Phi Delta Phi, ΦΔΦ, is the world's second largest legal fraternity. Phi Delta Phi is the second oldest legal organization in continuous existence in the United States and third oldest in North America...
. He joined the San Francisco Art Association
San Francisco Art Association
The San Francisco Art Association was an organization that promoted California artists, held art exhibitions, published a periodical, and established an art school. Over its lifetime, the association helped establish a Northern California regional flavor of California Tonalism as differentiated...
, the Bohemian Club
Bohemian Club
The Bohemian Club is a private men's club in San Francisco, California, United States.Its clubhouse is located at 624 Taylor Street in San Francisco...
, the Pacific-Union Club
Pacific-Union Club
The Pacific-Union Club is a private social club located at 1000 California Street in San Francisco, California, at the top of Nob Hill. It was founded in 1889 as a merger of two earlier clubs: the Pacific Club and the Union Club ....
, the Olympic Club
Olympic Club
The Olympic Club is a San Francisco, California, athletic club and private social club with three golf courses located at San Francisco's border with Daly City, California. The club's main "City Clubhouse" is located in downtown San Francisco. The club's "Lakeside Clubhouse" is located just north...
, and the Commonwealth Club
Commonwealth Club of California
The Commonwealth Club of California is a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization based in Northern California. Founded in 1903, it is the oldest and largest public affairs forum in the United States...
, among others.
Wheeler served as a Regent of the University of California from 1892 to 1896, from 1902 to 1907, and again from 1911 to 1923.
After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was a major earthquake that struck San Francisco, California, and the coast of Northern California at 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906. The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude of the earthquake is a moment magnitude of 7.9; however, other...
, Wheeler served on the Committee of Fifty
Committee of Fifty (1906)
This Committee of Fifty, sometimes referred to as Committee of Safety, Citizens' Committee of Fifty or Relief and Restoration Committee of Law and Order, was called into existence by Mayor Eugene Schmitz during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake...
, a group of prominent citizens who quickly took control of reconstruction when it became clear the San Francisco Board of Supervisors
San Francisco Board of Supervisors
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is the legislative body within the government of the City and County of San Francisco, California, United States.-Government and politics:...
was unable. Wheeler held the position of secretary of the Relief Committee. In December 1908, he reported that the Relief Committee, because of its success in carrying out its mission, would be dissolved at the first of the year. He noted that $9.5 million had been distributed to those in need, and that the committee's administration costs had been 2% of that. The relief work had provided approximately 8,000 homes for 30,000 people.
Prior to the United States presidential election, 1912
United States presidential election, 1912
The United States presidential election of 1912 was a rare four-way contest. Incumbent President William Howard Taft was renominated by the Republican Party with the support of its conservative wing. After former President Theodore Roosevelt failed to receive the Republican nomination, he called...
, Wheeler publicly debated the former California governor James N. Gillett on the question of which Republican nominee deserved the backing of his party, to be decided at the primary elections. Wheeler spoke for Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
while Gillett argued for incumbent William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...
. Wheeler said Taft was "blind to the signs of the times", the candidate of "men satisfied with the old political methods." In the event, Taft won the primary but Roosevelt ran anyway as a third party candidate, splitting the Republican vote to allow Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
to gain the presidency. In 1920, Wheeler traveled to Chicago to serve as alternate delegate for California at the Republican National Convention
1920 Republican National Convention
The 1920 National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States nominated Ohio Senator Warren G. Harding for President and Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge for Vice President...
. The California delegation put Wheeler on the podium to give a rousing speech for the nomination of California-born candidate Hiram Johnson
Hiram Johnson
Hiram Warren Johnson was a leading American progressive and later isolationist politician from California; he served as the 23rd Governor from 1911 to 1917, and as a United States Senator from 1917 to 1945.-Early life:...
who had been Roosevelt's running mate in 1912.
Personal life
Wheeler married fine artist Lillian Marsh, a few months his senior. She studied art with William KeithWilliam Keith (artist)
William Keith was a Scottish-American painter famous for his California landscapes.-Early life:Keith was born in Oldmeldrum, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and emigrated to the United States in 1850. He lived in New York City, and became an apprentice wood engraver in 1856...
in San Francisco in the 1890s. She lived in that city all her life. After her husband's death, she took up residence at the Fairmont Hotel. She died in 1952.
Wheeler's offspring include son Charles Stetson Wheeler, Jr., and daughters Elizabeth, Jean, Lilias and Olive B.; all spending summers together with their parents in remote Northern California as reported in 1910.
A grandson, outdoorsman Charles Stetson Wheeler III, married into the Irvine family of Southern California. He headed cattle operations for the Irvine Company
Irvine Company
The Irvine Company is a privately held real estate development company based in Newport Beach, Orange County, Southern California. The corporate center of the company lies in Newport Center. A large portion of its operations are centered in and around the City of Irvine, a planned city of 250,000...
from 1953 to 1977, then became the company's corporate secretary until his death in 1993. His granddaughter Kathryn Wheeler (1920–2003) joined the board of the James Irvine Foundation
James Irvine Foundation
The James Irvine Foundation is a philanthropic nonprofit organization established to benefit the people of California. It seeks to promote social equity and enrich the cultural and civic life of America’s most populous state through its grants in three areas: the arts, youth and education, and...
in 1950, guiding its decisions in making grants for the next half century. An Orange County Public Library
Orange County Public Library
The OC Public Libraries is a network of communitylibraries in Orange County, California. With 34 branches covering the countyfrom the Pacific Coast to the inland canyons of Southern California,...
branch in Irvine was built to memorialize her: The Katie Wheeler Branch Library.
Wheeler Ranch
In 1899 from innkeeper Lydia Sisson, the widow of landowner and outdoorsman Justin Sisson, Wheeler bought extensive land called "The Bend" in Siskiyou County, in the Cascade RangeCascade Range
The Cascade Range is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, and the notable volcanoes known as the High Cascades...
south by southeast of Mount Shasta
Mount Shasta
Mount Shasta is located at the southern end of the Cascade Range in Siskiyou County, California and at is the second highest peak in the Cascades and the fifth highest in California...
on the McCloud River
McCloud River
The McCloud River is a river that flows east of and parallel to the Sacramento River, long, in northern California in the United States. It drains a scenic mountainous area of the Cascade Range north of Redding...
. He called this holding the Wheeler Ranch, and he built a hunting lodge on the river at Horseshoe Bend—its cornerstone laid in 1899. The lodge was designed by San Francisco architect Willis Polk
Willis Polk
Willis Jefferson Polk was an American architect best known for his work in San Francisco, California.-Life:He was born in Jacksonville, Illinois and was related to United States President James Polk....
, and included an 800-book library with room for hundreds of Native American baskets. Wheeler directed Polk to give the lodge a "fish tower"—a high study with a view, and two windows which were aquariums containing local trout. A Latin inscription over the entrance indicated this room was a temple to fishing: piscatoribus sacrum. The Wheeler family stayed at the ranch many a summer.
In 1900, Wheeler invited his client Phoebe Hearst to visit Wheeler Ranch with his family for the summer. Hearst asked if she could purchase the land, but Wheeler declined. Insistent, Hearst came to an arrangement whereby she would purchase a 99-year lease on part of the land, and she also purchased adjoining land held by Edward Clark who called it Wyntoon
Wyntoon
Wyntoon is the name of a private estate on the McCloud River in rural Siskiyou County, California, owned by the Hearst Corporation. Famous architects Willis Polk, Bernard Maybeck and Julia Morgan all designed structures for Wyntoon....
. Hearst applied the name Wyntoon to her new lease and in 1901 contracted for a magnificent seven-story house to be built, one designed by Bernard Maybeck
Bernard Maybeck
Bernard Ralph Maybeck was a architect in the Arts and Crafts Movement of the early 20th century. He was a professor at University of California, Berkeley...
in the Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
style of a Rhine River castle. Wheeler was "privately furious" with the extravagant plans, as he and Hearst had previously agreed her building would be modest. She built other structures including a cottage for overflow guests, another "honeymoon cottage", and a separate building housing the kitchen facilities. The castle was finished in 1904.
Wheeler retained the part of Wheeler Ranch that was not leased to Hearst, including the hunting lodge. In 1911, Wheeler invited Austro-Hungarian artist and naturalist Edward Stuhl and his wife Rosie to live on the property; they made extensive studies of plant and animal life in the area, and collected many hundreds of specimens. Stuhl, an avid mountain climber, published Wildflowers of Mount Shasta from his base at Wheeler Ranch. After Wheeler's death, Stuhl served as custodian of the ranch. William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father...
bought Wyntoon outright from Wheeler Ranch in 1929, and in 1934 bought Wheeler Ranch.
External links
- A slashed and punctured portrait painting of Wheeler is stored at Boalt Hall
- Studio photograph portrait of Wheeler, Online Archive of California