Oscar L. Shafter Explained

Oscar Lovell Shafter
Office1:Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court
Term Start1:January 2, 1864
Term End1:December 11, 1867
Appointer1:Direct election
Predecessor1:Elections under 1862 amendment to California constitution and 1863 enabling law
Successor1:Joseph B. Crockett
Birth Date:19 October 1812
Birth Place:Athens, Vermont, U.S.
Death Place:Florence, Italy
Relations:James McMillan Shafter, brother; William Rufus Shafter, nephew
Alma Mater:Wesleyan University (BA)
Harvard Law School
Signature:Signature of Oscar Lovell Shafter.png

Oscar Lovell Shafter (October 19, 1812 – January 22, 1873) was an American attorney and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California from January 2, 1864, to December 11, 1867.

Biography

Shafter was born in Athens, Vermont to Mary and William R. Shafter.[1] His father was an attorney, judge and member of the Vermont Legislature.[2] [3] His grandfather, James Shafter, fought in the American Revolution, was one of the founders of the town of Athens in Vermont in 1779, and served in the Vermont Legislature for 20 years.[4] Shafter attended Wilbraham Wesleyan Academy in Massachusetts, and in 1834 graduated from Wesleyan University.[5] After graduation, he returned to Vermont and commenced reading law. He entered Harvard Law School and in 1836 graduated with a LL.B. He returned to Wilmington, Vermont, and entered into private practice for the next 18 years. He was elected to the state Legislature, and ran as the Free Soil Party and Liberty Party candidate for the United States House of Representatives, Senate, and Governor of Vermont.[5] While practicing in Wilmington, the prospective attorneys who studied under him included Charles N. Davenport.[6]

In 1854, at the invitation of a Vermont friend, Trevor Park, Shafter came to California and practiced law in San Francisco with Halleck, Peachy, Billings & Park. His brother, James McMillan Shafter, also attended Wesleyan University, and graduated from Yale Law School. Arriving in San Francisco in 1855, James joined his brother Oscar in forming the firm of Shafter, Shafter, Park and Heydenfeldt with Trevor Park and Solomon Heydenfeldt, who was the first elected Jewish member of the California Supreme Court, serving from 1852 to 1857.[7] Oscar was renowned as a real estate attorney and expert in quieting title.[7] [8] [9]

In 1857, a complex real estate litigation resulted in Shafter winning a victory for his client, Dr. Robert McMillan, of a large tract of land at Point Reyes in Marin County.[10] [11] McMillan sold the 75,000 acre property at a discount to the Shafters, who paid roughly $85,000 for the parcel.[7] In turn, they leased land to dairy farmers who provided milk and butter to an ever-growing San Francisco and prospered.[12] The families of Oscar and James Shafter owned large portions of Point Reyes from 1857 to 1919, when the land was sold in parcels.[13]

In 1863, a constitutional amendment meant all of the seats of the Supreme Court of California were open for election.[14] In October 1863, Oscar Shafter was elected as a justice on the Republican Party ticket, and begin his term in January 1864.[15] The justices drew lots for term length and Shafter was assigned the long, 10-year term as an associate justice.[14] [16] [17] In December 1867, he resigned due to ill health.[17] Governor Henry Huntly Haight appointed Joseph B. Crockett to Shafter's seat.[16]

Seeking to recover his health, Shafter traveled to Europe. He died at Florence, Italy, on January 22, 1873.

Journals of early California

Shafter kept a journal which describes the natural environment, social customs and living conditions of the California pioneers.

Personal life

He married Sarah Riddle in Wilmington, Vermont, in 1840 and the couple had eleven children: ten daughters and one son. Four daughters and the son died at an early age, the son while Shafter had moved to San Francisco in 1854 before his wife and two of their surviving daughters joined him in 1855.[18] His nephew was William Rufus Shafter, who was a general in the American Civil War and recipient of the Medal of Honor.[19]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Johnson. J. Edward. History of the California Supreme Court: The Justices 1850-1900, vol 1. 1963. Bender Moss Co. San Francisco, CA. 101–103. August 14, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20161227124913/http://library.courtinfo.ca.gov/included/docs/SCJC_Vol_1.pdf. December 27, 2016. dead.
  2. Book: Journal of the House of Representatives of the State of Vermont. 1846. 240. House. Vermont. General Assembly. List of justices of the peace: William R. Shafter, Townshend, Vermont.
  3. Book: Acts and Laws Passed by the Legislature of the State of Vermont. 1857. J. Padock & A. Spooner, printers to the General Assembly. 166. July 18, 2017. Act No. 128, to pay William R. Shafter the sum of $15.02, "being the expense of an inquest held by him."
  4. Book: Wyman, Lora M. . History of Athens Vermont . Edwards Brothers . 1963 . Ann Arbor, Michigan . 2–3 .
  5. Book: Wilmington, Vermont. 1900. Times Press. 21. William R. Shafter vermont.. July 18, 2017. Biography of Oscar L. Shafter.
  6. Book: Child, Hamilton . 1884 . Gazetteer and Business Directory of Windham County, Vt., 1724-1884 . Syracuse, NY . Syracuse Journal . 138–139 . Google Books.
  7. Web site: Tippin. Brenda L.. History Lesson: Past and Present: Pt. Reyes Morgan Horse Ranch. National Park Service. July 18, 2017. 27. May 2016. Senior partner Oscar Lovell Shafter was, at that time, considered the foremost title lawyer in California.
  8. News: Our Sacramento Correspondence. July 18, 2017. Daily Alta California. 62. California Digital Newspaper Collection. 4 March 1858. 10. 1. Tenth. --To allow and order paid out of the General Fund to O. L. Shafter, James Shafter and Solomon Heydenfeldt, as a law firm, for the defense of suits brought against the Tax Collector of the city and county of San Francisco...a sum not exceeding $1,000..
  9. News: Collection of Taxes. July 18, 2017. Daily Alta California. 2. California Digital Newspaper Collection. 3 January 1858. 10. 2. We are informed that all the official acts of Mr. Patch as Tax Collector have been done under the advice of Mr. O. L. Shafter, his legal adviser, who has been retained by the State, as well as the city and county, to defend the suits brought against him..
  10. Book: Kyle. Douglas E.. Historic Spots in California: Fifth Edition. 2002. Stanford University Press. Palo Alto, CA. 0804778175. 192. July 19, 2017.
  11. Web site: Point Reyes Station, California: 1857-1919: The Shafter Empire. SeeCalifornia.com. July 18, 2017.
  12. Pranka. Carol A.. Good as Gold: The Marin-Sonoma Artisan Cheese Cluster . Ph.D. dissertation. University of California, Berkeley. December 7, 2022. 20. Spring 2014. soon after a group of San Francisco lawyers, led by brothers Oscar and James Shafter and son-in-law Charles Webb Howard, acquired much of the land in the Point Reyes area.
  13. News: Big Marin Estate Sold to Operator. July 19, 2017. Healdsburg Tribune. 27. California Digital Newspaper Collection. 4 December 1929. 1. The sale was made by Mrs. Julia Shafter Hamilton, daughter of the late Judge James McMillan Shafter, who bought the tract in 1876..
  14. News: The Supreme Court. July 18, 2017. San Francisco Call. Library of Congress, Chronicling America. June 22, 1895. 5. Under the constitutional provision, on October 21, 1863, Oscar L. Shafter, Lorenzo Sawyer, Silas W. Sanderson, John Curry and A. L. Rhodes were elected Supreme Court Justices. The new court organized January 2, 1864, and in accordance with law, the Judges drew lots to determine the tenure of their official terms, with the following result: Shafter drew for ten years, Rhodes for eight. Sawyer for six, Curry for four and Sanderson for two..
  15. News: State Government, Judicial Department, Supreme Court. July 8, 2017. Sacramento Daily Union. 3988. California Digital Newspaper Collection. 1 January 1864. 26. 1.
  16. McClain. Charles J.. Book review: Oscar T. Shuck, ed., History of the Bench and Bar of California: Being Biographies of Many Remarkable Men, a Store of Humorous and Pathetic Recollections, Accounts of Important Legislation and Extraordinary Cases. Cal. Legal History. 2010. 5. 399–422, 414–415.
  17. Book: Bancroft. Hubert Howe. History of California: 1860-1890. 1890. History Company. 235–236. Oscar L. Shafter harvard law school..
  18. Book: Wyman, Lora M. . History of Athens Vermont . Edwards Brothers . 1963 . Ann Arbor, Michigan . 151 . m. 1840 Sarah Riddle. 1 ch. 10 dau. 1 son. 4 dau. and the s. d. in early childhood. See poem ‘Lament’ by O. L. Shafter, Part III, Chap. 2. Rem. to Calif. via Cape Horn 1854 leaving his family in Wilmington, Vt. until a year later. In 1855, his wife and daughters Emma and Mary joined him in San Francisco where they made their permanent home. . wyman.
  19. Book: Forbes. Charles Spooner. Cummings. Charles R.. The Vermonter: The State Magazine, Volumes 3-6. 1897. C.S. Forbes. 271. July 18, 2017. An uncle of the general, the late Oscar L. Shafter...became a judge of the (California) Supreme Court..

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