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. There were a total of sixteen state legislators (four in the Senate and 12 in the Assembly) who voted against the bill (evenly divided with eight each members of the Union Party and Democratic parties opposed).
- 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/]