William Cary Van Fleet (March 24, 1852 – September 3, 1923) was an associate justice of the California Supreme Court and a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...

of the

United States District Court for the Northern District of California The United States District Court for the Northern District of California (in case citations, N.D. Cal.) is the federal United States district court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties of California: Alameda, Contra Costa, Del ...

Education and career

Born in Maumee,

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, in 1869 Van Fleet came to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. He

read law Reading law was the method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship under the ...

in the offices of H. O. Beatty, and entered the bar in 1873. He was an assistant district attorney of

Sacramento County Sacramento County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,585,055. Its county seat is Sacramento, which has been the state capital of California since 1854. Sacramento County is the ...

, California from 1878 to 1879. He was a

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 ...

man from 1881 to 1882, and was the Director of California State Prisons from 1883 to 1884. He was a Judge of the Superior Court of California from 1884 to 1892, and was appointed by Governor Henry Markham an associate justice of the

Supreme Court of California The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacra ...

, serving from May 7, 1894, to January 3, 1899. In November 1898, he ran on the Republican and United Labor Party ticket for another term but lost the election to Democratic

Walter Van Dyke Walter Van Dyke (October 8, 1823 – December 25, 1905) was a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge and a justice of the California Supreme Court in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Biography Van Dyke was born on October 8, 1823, in ...

. After stepping down from the court, he practiced in the firm of Mastic, Belcher, Van Fleet & Mastick.

Federal judicial service

On April 2, 1907, Van Fleet received a recess appointment from President

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

to a new seat on the

created by 34 Stat. 1253. Formally nominated to the same position by President Roosevelt on December 3, 1907, he was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on December 17, 1907, and received his commission the same day. Van Fleet served until his death on September 3, 1923, in

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 ...

, California.

Personal

Van Fleet married twice. On April 12, 1877, he married Mary Isabella Carey, who died in Sacramento on February 14, 1878. They had a son, Ransom. After her death, he married Lizzie Eldridge Crocker (sister of Henry and niece of

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...

and

Edwin The name Edwin means "rich friend". It comes from the Old English elements "ead" (rich, blessed) and "ƿine" (friend). The original Anglo-Saxon form is Eadƿine, which is also found for Anglo-Saxon figures. People * Edwin of Northumbria (died ...

of the prominent Crocker family) in San Francisco on January 19, 1887. They had four children, Alan, William, Clark, and Julia.

References

Sources

External links