Francis Kittredge Shattuck (March 6, 1824 – September 9, 1898) was the most prominent civic leader in the early history of

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

, and played an important role in the creation and government of

Alameda County Alameda County ( ) is a List of counties in California, county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 1,682,353, making it the 7th-most populous county in the state and List ...

as well. He also served as the fifth mayor of the city of

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

in 1859, and represented the 4th District in the

California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature, the upper house being the California State Senate. The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The A ...

from 1860-61. He also represented Oakland Township for many years on the Board of Supervisors of Alameda County, starting in 1857. He was elected to the board of trustees of the Town of Berkeley in 1884. He was instrumental in founding the First Congregational Church of Oakland.

Biography

Shattuck was born in Crown Point, Essex County in northern

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

state. His mother was Betsy Mather, a descendant of

Increase Mather Increase Mather (; June 21, 1639 Old Style – August 23, 1723 Old Style) was a New England Puritan clergyman in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and president of Harvard College for twenty years (1681–1701). He was influential in the administrati ...

who was the president of

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

from 1685 to 1701. His father Weston Shattuck, a native of

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, was a farmer who died when Francis was 12. Francis earned a teaching certificate by age 18 and was a schoolteacher for four years. He then moved to a small town in

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

and worked as a store clerk, until he heard of the discovery of gold in California. He and a friend, George Blake, by then also his brother-in-law, took off for California. In 1852, Shattuck and Blake, and two partners they met in the gold fields, William Hillegass and James Leonard, claimed four adjoining strips of land in the area that became the central part of Berkeley. (''See'' Kellersberger's Map) Shattuck was instrumental in getting the

Central Pacific Railroad The Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) was a rail company chartered by Pacific Railroad Acts, U.S. Congress in 1862 to build a railroad eastwards from Sacramento, California, to complete the western part of the "First transcontinental railroad" in N ...

to construct a

branch line A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Industrial spur An industri ...

into Berkeley in 1876, which connected the community and

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

with the main line and the railroad's

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. Shattuck died after he was knocked down by a man exiting from a train that Shattuck was trying to board on Shattuck Avenue. He was buried with his wife Rosa M. Shattuck, his sisters, and their husbands George Blake, Henry H. Havens and Benjamin F. Lee at the Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland.

Legacy

Shattuck had four sisters, Millicent K. Blake, Elizabeth Havens, Mary A. Shattuck, and Eliza L. Lee. Millicent married Shattuck's original partner, George Blake. Shattuck, though married (wife: Rosa Maria Morse, b. 6/12/1834, d. 9/12/1908), died childless. His estate, including several Berkeley properties, went to his wife and to his nephew, John W. Havens, the son of his sister Elizabeth Helen Shattuck Havens. The principal avenue in the city of Berkeley,

Shattuck Avenue Shattuck Avenue is a major city street running north–south through Berkeley, California, and Oakland, California. At its southern end, the street branches from Telegraph Avenue in Oakland's Temescal district, then ends at Indian Rock Park i ...

, is named for him, as is a smaller street, Kittredge. The

Hotel Shattuck Plaza Shattuck Hotel is a historic building that was built as a hotel, located on the corner of Shattuck Avenue and Allston Way in Downtown Berkeley. Opened in December 1910 with the consent of Rosa Shattuck, wife of prominent gold seeker and builder Fr ...

occupies the site of his original home.

References

*''Berkeley, California: the story of the evolution of a hamlet into a city of culture and commerce'' by William Warren Ferrier, Imprint Berkeley, Calif. (1933) *''Berkeley Gazette'', September 10, 1898, page 1 *''Berkeley: The Town and the Gown of It'', by George A. Pettitt, Howell-North Books, Berkeley (1973)

External links

Hotel Shattuck Plaza historyAdvertisement in the 1919 Automobile Blue Book (publ. 1918)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shattuck, Francis K. 1824 births 1898 deaths People from Crown Point, New York Mayors of Oakland, California Members of the California State Assembly Burials at Mountain View Cemetery (Oakland, California) 19th-century American politicians