Oscar L. Shafter

Oscar Lovell Shafter
Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court
In office
January 2, 1864 – December 11, 1867
Appointed by Direct election
Preceded by Elections under 1862 amendment to California constitution and 1863 enabling law
Succeeded by Joseph B. Crockett
Personal details
Born (1812-10-19)October 19, 1812
Athens, Vermont, U.S.
Died January 22, 1873(1873-01-22) (aged 60)
Florence, Italy
Spouse(s) Sarah Riddle (m. 1841)
Relations James McMillan Shafter, brother; William Rufus Shafter, nephew
Alma mater Wesleyan University (BA)
Harvard Law School

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. His father was an attorney, judge and member of the Vermont Legislature.[1][2] His grandfather, James Shafter, had fought in the American Revolution and then served in the Vermont Legislature. Shafter attended Wilbraham Wesleyan Academy in Massachusetts, and in 1834 graduated from Wesleyan University.[3] 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.[3]

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.[4] Oscar was renowned as a real estate attorney and expert in quieting title.[4][5][6]

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.[7][8] McMillan sold the 75,000 acre property at a discount to the Shafters, who paid roughly $85,000 for the parcel.[4] In turn, they leased land to dairy farmers who provided milk and butter to an ever-growing San Francisco and prospered.[9] The families of Oscar and James Shafter owned large portions of Point Reyes from 1857 to 1919, when the land was sold in parcels.[10]

In 1863, a constitutional amendment meant all of the seats of the Supreme Court of California were open for election.[11] In January 1864, Oscar Shafter was elected as a justice on the Republican Party ticket. The justices drew lots for term length and Shafter was assigned the long, 10-year term as an Associate Justice.[11][12][13] In December 1867, he resigned due to ill health.[13] Governor Henry Huntly Haight appointed Joseph B. Crockett to Shafter's seat.[12]

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

On September 30, 1841, he married Sarah Riddle in Wilmington, Vermont, and the couple had eight children. Two of the children died at an early age, and six daughters lived to adulthood.[14] His nephew was William Rufus Shafter, who was a general in the American Civil War and recipient of the Medal of Honor.[15]

References

  1. ↑ Journal of the House of Representatives of the State of Vermont:. 1846. p. 240. List of justices of the peace: William R. Shafter, Townshend, Vermont.
  2. ↑ Acts and Laws Passed by the Legislature of the State of Vermont. J. Padock & A. Spooner, printers to the General Assembly. 1857. p. 166. Retrieved 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."
  3. 1 2 Wilmington, Vermont. Times Press. 1900. p. 21. Retrieved July 18, 2017. Biography of Oscar L. Shafter.
  4. 1 2 3 Tippin, Brenda L. (May 2016). "History Lesson: Past and Present: Pt. Reyes Morgan Horse Ranch" (PDF). National Park Service. p. 27. Retrieved July 18, 2017. Senior partner Oscar Lovell Shafter was, at that time, considered the foremost title lawyer in California
  5. ↑ "Our Sacramento Correspondence". Daily Alta California (10 (62)). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 4 March 1858. p. 1. Retrieved July 18, 2017. 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.
  6. ↑ "Collection of Taxes". Daily Alta California (10 (2)). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 3 January 1858. p. 2. Retrieved July 18, 2017. 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.
  7. ↑ Kyle, Douglas E. (2002). Historic Spots in California: Fifth Edition. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press. p. 192. ISBN 0804778175. Retrieved July 19, 2017.
  8. ↑ "Point Reyes Station, California: 1857-1919: The Shafter Empire". SeeCalifornia.com. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  9. ↑ Pranka, Carol A. (Spring 2014). "Good as Gold: The Marin-Sonoma Artisan Cheese Cluster, a Ph.D. dissertation" (PDF). University of California, Berkeley. p. 20. Retrieved July 18, 2017. 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
  10. ↑ "Big Marin Estate Sold to Operator". Healdsburg Tribune (27). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 4 December 1929. p. 1. Retrieved July 19, 2017. The sale was made by Mrs. Julia Shafter Hamilton, daughter of the late Judge James McMillan Shafter, who bought the tract in 1876.
  11. 1 2 "The Supreme Court". San Francisco Call. Library of Congress, Chronicling America. June 22, 1895. p. 5. Retrieved July 18, 2017. 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.
  12. 1 2 McClain, Charles J. (2010). "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. 5: 399–422, 414–415.
  13. 1 2 Bancroft, Hubert Howe (1890). History of California: 1860-1890. History Company. pp. 235–236.
  14. ↑ "Former Resident Dies in Berkeley". Marin Journal (52 (5)). Former Resident Dies in Berkeley. 1 February 1912. p. 4. Retrieved July 18, 2017. He married a daughter of Mr. Oscar Shafter of this place, who survives him with two daughters.
  15. ↑ Forbes, Charles Spooner; Cummings, Charles R. (1897). The Vermonter: The State Magazine, Volumes 3-6. C.S. Forbes. p. 271. Retrieved July 18, 2017. An uncle of the general, the late Oscar L. Shafter...became a judge of the (California) Supreme Court.

See also

Political offices
Preceded by
Elections under 1862 amendment to California constitution and 1863 enabling law		 Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court
1864–1867 		Succeeded by
Joseph B. Crockett
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