William Franklin Herrin (August 7, 1854 – February 28, 1927) was an American lawyer, businessman, banker and real estate developer.

Biography

Herrin assisted

William Sharon William Tang Sharon (January 9, 1821November 13, 1885) was a United States senator, banker, and business owner from Nevada who profited from the Comstock Lode. Early life Sharon was born in Smithfield, Ohio, January 9, 1821, the son of Willi ...

(1821-1885) in his acrimonious divorce from his wife Sarah. He subsequently became Chief Counsel for the Sharon estate and the Spring Valley Company. Later, he served as Chief Counsel of the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

, where he was critical of government overregulations. He allegedly nominated gubernatorial candidates, supreme court justices, and appellate court judges. In 1908, in the ''

San Francisco Call ''The San Francisco Call'' was a newspaper that served San Francisco, California. Because of a succession of mergers with other newspapers, the paper variously came to be called ''The San Francisco Call & Post'', the ''San Francisco Call-Bulletin ...

'', James W. Rea, a former associate, accused him and Jere Burke of corruption over bonds of the San Jose and

Los Gatos Los Gatos (, ; ) is an List of municipalities in California, incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population is 33,529 according to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is located in the San Franci ...

Interurban Railroad Company. In 1900, together with Burton E. Green (1868-1965), Charles A. Canfield (1848-1913),

Max Whittier Max H. Whittier (1867–1925) was an American real estate developer and a pioneer in the early California petroleum industry. Biography Max Whittier (born Mericos Hector Whittier), was born to Charles G. Whittier and Ruth Keech, came to California ...

(1867–1928),

Frank H. Buck Frank Henry Buck (September 23, 1887 – September 17, 1942) was an American heir, businessman and politician. He served as U.S. Representative from California from 1933 to 1942. Biography Early life Frank Buck was born on a ranch near Vac ...

(1887-1942), Henry E. Huntington (1850-1927), William G. Kerckhoff (1856–1929), W.S. Porter and Frank H. Balch, known as the Amalgamated Oil Company, he purchased

Rancho Rodeo de las Aguas Rancho Rodeo de las Aguas was a land grant in present day Beverly Hills, Los Angeles County, California given to María Rita Quinteros Valdez de Villa in 1838. Rancho Rodeo de las Aguas (Ranch of the Gathering Waters), is named for the streams t ...

from

Henry Hammel and Andrew H. Denker Andrew Henry Denker (October 17, 1840 – November 13, 1892) was a German-born American businessman and politician was a business parter of Henry Hammel. He and Hammel, his brother-in-law, ran hotels and owned an extensive spread of agricultural ...

and renamed it Morocco Junction. After drilling for oil and only finding water, they reorganized their business into the Rodeo Land and Water Company to develop a new residential town later known as

Beverly Hills, California Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. B ...

. He served on the Board of Directors of

Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California; operational headquarters in Manhattan; and managerial offices throughout the United States and intern ...

from 1904 to 1918. From 1904 to 1906, he worked with

John Muir John Muir ( ; April 21, 1838December 24, 1914), also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the National Parks", was an influential Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologist, a ...

to convince Congress to include the

Yosemite Valley Yosemite Valley ( ; ''Yosemite'', Miwok for "killer") is a U-shaped valley, glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada mountains of Central California. The valley is about long and deep, surroun ...

as part of the

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ar ...

. He was a member of the

Bohemian Club The Bohemian Club is a private club with two locations: a city clubhouse in the Nob Hill district of San Francisco, California and the Bohemian Grove, a retreat north of the city in Sonoma County. Founded in 1872 from a regular meeting of journal ...

and the

Committee of Fifty (1906) This Committee of Fifty, sometimes referred to as Committee of Safety, Citizens' Committee of Fifty or Relief and Restoration Committee of Law and Order, was called into existence by Mayor Eugene Schmitz during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. T ...

Personal life

Herrin resided at 2530 Broadway at Scott Street in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " 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 fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, in a house designed by architect Julius E. Krafft.

Bibliography

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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Herrin, William F. 1854 births 1927 deaths Southern Pacific Railroad people American real estate businesspeople Wells Fargo employees 19th-century American lawyers