Timothy Guy Phelps

Timothy Guy Phelps

Timothy Guy Phelps (born December 20, 1824 in Oxford , Chenango County , New York , †  June 11, 1899 in San Carlos , California ) was an American businessman and politician . Between 1861 and 1863 he represented the state of California in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Timothy Phelps attended public schools in his home country. He then moved to New York City , where he worked in commerce. He later returned to Chenango County, where he began but did not graduate from law school. During the gold rush , Phelps moved to San Francisco and Tuolumne County in 1849 , where he worked as a gold digger. He then returned to San Francisco to work in commerce. From 1853 he was also active in the real estate business. Politically, he became a member of the Republican Party founded in 1854 . In 1854 he ran unsuccessfully for the California State Assembly . But between 1855 and 1857 he was a member of this committee. From 1858 to 1861 Phelps was a member of the State Senate . In 1861 he unsuccessfully applied for the office of governor of California .

In the state-wide held congressional elections of 1860 Phelps was elected for the first seat of California in the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC , where he succeeded John C. Burch on March 4, 1861 . Since he renounced another candidacy in 1862, he could only complete one legislative period in Congress until March 3, 1863 . This was shaped by the events of the civil war . Phelps was a friend of President Abraham Lincoln and one of his West Coast advisers during the Civil War.

After his time in the US House of Representatives, Phelps returned to the real estate business until 1870. At that time he helped found the Southern Pacific Railroad and was its first president until 1868. Between 1870 and 1872 and again from 1890 to 1893 he acted as head of the customs authorities in the port of San Francisco. In the meantime he worked in agriculture. In 1875 he ran again unsuccessfully for the office of governor of his state. From 1880 Timothy Phelps was on the board of directors of the University of California at Berkeley . For 19 years he was also chairman of the board of the Lick Observatory . He died on June 11, 1899 near San Carlos after an accident with a tandem bicycle controlled by two boys.

Web links

• Timothy Guy Phelps in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Timothy Guy Phelps in the database of Find a Grave (English)