| Oliver Meredith Wozencraft | |
| Birth Date: | July 26, 1814 |
| Birth Place: | Clermont County, Ohio, US |
| Death Date: | November 22, 1887 |
| Death Place: | Washington, D.C., US |
| Occupation: | Physician, United States Indian Agent, Land Developer |
| Spouse: | Lamiza A. Ramsey |
| Children: | 7 |
Oliver M. Wozencraft (July 26, 1814 - November 22, 1887) was a prominent early American settler in California. He had substantial involvement in negotiating treaties between California Native American Indian tribes and the United States of America.[1] [2] Later, Wozencraft promoted a plan to provide irrigation to the Imperial Valley.[3]
Wozencraft was born in Clermont County, Ohio, June 26, 1814.[4] He graduated with a degree in medicine from St. Joseph's College in Bardstown, Kentucky. Wozencraft married Lamiza A. Ramsey (June 13, 1818 - August 30, 1905) in Nashville, Tennessee on February 23, 1837.[5] [6] In 1848, leaving his wife and three small children in New Orleans directly after a cholera epidemic,[7] he relocated to Brownsville, Texas.[8]
After the cholera epidemic swept Brownsville in February through April 1849,[9] upon hearing news of gold being discovered, Wozencraft decided to seek his fortune in California.[10] [7] Wozencraft arrived at Yuma, Arizona in May 1849, crossed the Colorado Desert in difficult circumstances, then arrived in California.
Wozencraft settled in Stockton, California and was elected as delegate to the California Constitutional Convention in Monterey in 1849 representing the district of San Joaquin.[11]
Wozencraft spoke against the admission of African Americans to California:
He also moved that a two term limit apply to the position of Governor of California. That question was debated then rejected.[12]
Wozencraft's signature appears on the handwritten parchment copy of the constitution signed by the delegates on October 13, 1849.[13]
On July 8, 1850, President Millard Fillmore appointed Wozencraft as an Indian Agent of the United States.[10] [14] Salary and expenses were not provided to Wozencraft for this appointment. On October 15, 1850, his title as Indian Agent was suspended and he, Redick McKee and George W. Barbour were appointed "commissioners 'to hold treaties with various Indian tribes in the State of California,' as provided in the act of Congress approved September 30, 1850." In that role Wozencraft was paid eight dollars per day plus ten cents per mile travelled.[15]
Between March 19, 1851, and January 7, 1852, Wozencraft, McKee and Barbour traversed California and negotiated 18 treaties with Native American tribes.[2] The treaties were submitted to the United States Senate on June 1, 1852. They were considered and rejected for ratification by the Senate in closed session. The treaties were then sealed from public record until January 18, 1905.[16] [17]
Fillmore removed Wozencraft's standing as an Indian Agent on August 28, 1852.[17]
Wozencraft was an advocate for creating a gravity-fed canal from the Colorado River to provide irrigation to the Salton Sink area of the Colorado Desert (now known as the Imperial Valley). Around 1854 to 1855 he hired Ebenezer Hadley, County Surveyor of Los Angeles and Deputy County Surveyor of San Bernardino, to survey a route for the canal.[18] In 1859 Wozencraft successfully lobbied the California State Legislature to provisionally allocate 3000000acres of the Colorado Desert to himself for the scheme.[3] [18]
Wozencraft required passage of federal legislation (e.g. H.R.3219[19]) to finalize the land allocation approved by the state legislature. This would allow him to secure capital to complete the project. He unsuccessfully lobbied the United States Congress for this allocation for the remainder of his life.[20] [18]
Wozencraft died of a heart attack on November 22, 1887, in a boardinghouse in Washington, D.C.[20] He had been in Washington to again present a Colorado Desert irrigation scheme bill to Congress. Just prior to his death the bill had been killed in committee. In committee the bill was described as a "fantastic folly of an old man".[20]
Work began on the Alamo Canal 13 years after Wozencraft's death, ultimately providing irrigation to the Imperial Valley in a manner similar to that first proposed by Wozencraft almost 50 years earlier.[21] He has been declared the "Father of the Imperial Valley."[3] [4] [22]
Modern evaluations of the treaties he negotiated with California Native Americans are critical:
Nineteenth century evaluations are likewise scathing:
Wozencraft is buried at the San Bernardino Pioneer Memorial Cemetery.[23]