John W. Dwinelle
Union
Candidate Biography:
John Whipple Dwinelle
Born: September 9, 1816 in Cazenovia, New York
Married: ?????, Caroline McLean (in 1877)
Family: Son of Congressman Justin Dwinelle of New York
Died: January 28, 1881 at Port Costa (near Crockett), CA
1844-1849: City Attorney of Rochester [New York]
184?-1849: Master in the Chancery and Injunction
1850: Member, "Broderick's" San Francisco City Council
1866-1867: Mayor, City of Oakland
- LEGISLATION: Author, AB 583 (1868), which created the University of California.
- PLACENAME: Dwinelle Hall and Dwinelle Annex at the U.C. Berkeley campus are named in his honor.
- On his mother's side he was a descendent of William Whipple, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. [Source: New York Times]
- Death: Dwinelle died after running off the end of the pier at Port Costa in an attempt to jump aboard the ferry "Solano" to Benicia. It was a stormy evening when he fell into the rough waters of the Carquinez Straits and took three weeks before his body washed ashore. Yuck.
Source: History of Political Conventions in California, 1849-1892 by Winfield J. Davis (1893)
Source: The Centennial of The University of California, 1868-1968
Source: "Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present" (U.S. Library of Congress) [http://bioguide.congress.gov/]