Timothy Guy Phelps

{{short description|American politician (1824–1899)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2011}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Timothy G. Phelps | image = Timothy G. Phelps 1892.jpg | caption = Phelps {{circa}} 1892 | birth_name = Timothy Guy Phelps | state1 = [[California]] | district1 = [[California's at-large congressional district|at-large]] | term_start1 = March 4, 1861 | term_end1 = March 3, 1863 | predecessor1 = [[John Chilton Burch]] | successor1 = [[Cornelius Cole]] | state_senate2 = California | district2 = [[California's 5th senatorial district|5th]] | term_start2 = January 2, 1860 | term_end2 = January 7, 1861 | predecessor2 = ''Multi-member district'' | successor2 = ''Multi-member district'' | term_start3 = January 4, 1858 | term_end3 = January 3, 1859 | predecessor3 = ''Multi-member district'' | successor3 = ''Multi-member district'' | office4 = Member of the [[California State Assembly]] | term_start4 = January 7, 1895 | term_end4 = January 4, 1897 | predecessor4 = [[James Thomas O'Keefe]] | successor4 = [[S. G. Goodhue]] | constituency4 = [[California's 52nd State Assembly district|52nd district]] | term_start5 = January 5, 1857 | term_end5 = January 4, 1858 | predecessor5 = ''Multi-member district'' | successor5 = ''Multi-member district'' | constituency5 = [[California's 5th State Assembly district|5th district]] | birth_date = {{birth date|1824|12|20}} | birth_place = [[Oxford, New York]], U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1899|6|11|1824|12|20}} | death_place = Near [[San Carlos, California]], U.S. | resting_place = [[Cypress Lawn Memorial Park]] | spouse = {{marriage|Sophronia J. Jewell|1853|1869|end=died}}<br>{{marriage|Josephine A. McLean|1870}} | party = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] }} '''Timothy Guy Phelps''' (December 20, 1824 – June 11, 1899) was an American politician, businessman, and government official. He was the first president of the [[Southern Pacific Railroad]] from 1865 until 1868 and saw the railroad build its first tracks south of [[San Francisco, California]].

==Biography==

===Early years=== Phelps was born in [[Oxford, New York]] on December 20, 1824, and completed preparatory schooling there before moving to [[New York City]] in 1845. He worked in mercantile there for a short time, then returned to [[Chenango County, New York|Chenango County]] to study law.<ref name=BioGuide>{{cite web |title=PHELPS, Timothy Guy |url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=P000300 |author= |website=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress |accessdate=August 1, 2014 |url-status = live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808052455/http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=P000300 |archivedate=August 8, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref name=SFC />

=== Mining === As soon as word reached New York that [[California gold rush|gold was found in California]] in 1848, Phelps took a boat to the west coast.<ref name=BioGuide /> He arrived in San Francisco, California via [[Panama]] on December 14, 1849<ref name=SFC /> and moved to [[Tuolumne County, California]], where he tried his hand at [[mining]].<ref name=BioGuide /> Failing to find a fortune in gold, he moved to San Francisco to resume a career in the mercantile,<ref name=BioGuide /> starting a merchant house in August 1850.<ref name=SFC />

===Career=== Phelps took substantial business losses in the [[San Francisco Fire of 1851|great fire of 1851]], but he rebuilt and soon recovered.<ref name=SFC /> It was during this period of recovery that he purchased {{convert|3500|acres}} of land in what is now [[San Mateo County, California]].{{citation needed|date=August 2014}} He used the land for farming and soon decided to make the area, now the city of [[San Carlos, California|San Carlos]], his home.<ref name=Alexander-Hamm />

In 1851, while living in San Carlos, Phelps became involved in the local [[vigilance committee]] in an effort to uphold the law.<ref name=Alexander-Hamm />

=== State assembly === Following a failed state assembly bid in 1854 (where he ran with Col. [[Edward D. Baker|E. D. Baker]])<ref name=SFC /> Phelps was elected to the [[California State Assembly]] in 1855 and served until 1857<ref name=SFC /> as the first [[United States Republican Party|Republican]] from [[San Francisco County|San Francisco]] and [[San Mateo County|San Mateo]] Counties.<ref name=BioGuide /> During his term, he served on the first [[Grand Jury]] on August 1, 1856.<ref name=Alexander-Hamm /> He introduced "An Act to reorganize and establish the [[San Mateo County, California|County of San Mateo]]" in March 1857.<ref name=Alexander-Hamm />

He then served in the [[California State Senate]] from 1858 to 1861.<ref name=SFC /> During the 1859 Republican California state convention, his name was advanced as a potential nominee for [[Governor of California]], but he withdrew in favor of [[Leland Stanford]].<ref name=SFC />

In the subsequent 1861 Republican state convention, he ran for the Republican nomination for governor, but was defeated by Stanford, 197 votes to 104.<ref name=SFC />

=== Congress === Following the 1861 convention, he was elected to the [[37th United States Congress]] where he served from March 4, 1861, until March 3, 1863.<ref name=BioGuide /> When the [[San Francisco and San Jose Railroad]] was built in the 1860s, the right of way from Redwood City to Belmont was granted from Phelps's land.<ref name=Alexander-Hamm />

=== Later career === His next job was in real estate until 1870 when he became the [[United States Customs Service|customs collector]] for the [[port of San Francisco]] (until 1872).<ref name=BioGuide /> In [[1875 California gubernatorial election|1875]], he won the Republican nomination for governor, but he was defeated by the Democratic candidate [[William Irwin (California politician)|William Irwin]],<ref name=BioGuide /> in part aided by disgruntled Republicans who ran [[John Bidwell]] as an independent candidate.<ref name=SFC /> In 1888, Phelps ran for Congress again, but was defeated by the Democrat [[Thomas J. Clunie]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SDU18990612.2.8 |title=Hon. Timothy Guy Phelps dead |author= |date=12 June 1899 |newspaper=Sacramento Daily Union |volume=97 |number=111 |accessdate=13 August 2016 |url-status = live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818001728/http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SDU18990612.2.8 |archivedate=August 18, 2016 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> He was elected to the State Assembly again in 1894, serving one term.

Phelps also served as a [[Regents of the University of California|regent of the University of California]] at Berkeley from 1878 until his death.<ref name=BioGuide /><ref name=Alexander-Hamm />

===Personal life=== Phelps married Sophronia J. Jewell (born Nov 13, 1824), of [[Guilford, New York]], on September 13, 1853.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/jewellregisterc00jewegoog |title=The Jewell register: containing a list of the descendants of Thomas Jewell, of Braintree, near Boston, Mass |date=1860 |page=[https://archive.org/details/jewellregisterc00jewegoog/page/n56 50] |publisher=Case, Lockwood and Company |location=Hartford |accessdate=13 August 2016 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> Sophronia died on {{death date and age|1869|09|12|1824|11|13}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.newhorizonsgenealogicalservices.com/cem-ny-chenango-guilford-sunset-hill-cemetery.htm |title=Sunset Hill Cemetery Records, Town of Guilford, Chenango County, New York |author= |date=2010 |website=New Horizons Genealogical Services |accessdate=13 August 2016 |url-status = live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160702070216/http://newhorizonsgenealogicalservices.com/cem-ny-chenango-guilford-sunset-hill-cemetery.htm |archivedate=July 2, 2016 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> and Phelps was remarried to Josephine A. McLean in 1870.<ref name=Alexander-Hamm>{{cite book |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/011725171 |title=History of San Mateo County: from the earliest times with a description of its resources and advantages; and the biographies of its representative men |author1=Alexander, Philip W. |author2=Hamm, Charles P. |publisher=Burlingame Publishing Company |location=Burlingame, California |date=1916 |pages=186–189 |accessdate=5 August 2016 |url-status = live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160819115543/https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/011725171 |archivedate=August 19, 2016 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

=== Death === [[File:Cypress Lawn cemetery, Colma, California 18.jpg|thumb|right|Phelps's grave at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park]]

Phelps died at age 74 on June 11, 1899, near San Carlos, after he was struck by two boys on a [[tandem bicycle]].<ref name=BioGuide /><ref name=SFC>{{cite news |url=http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC18990612.2.31 |title=Career of T.G. Phelps is closed |author= |date=12 June 1899 |newspaper=San Francisco Call |volume=86 |number=12 |accessdate=13 August 2016 |url-status = live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818011259/http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC18990612.2.31 |archivedate=August 18, 2016 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> The cyclists turned themselves in after learning of his death,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH18990613.2.11 |title=Slayers of Phelps Give Themselves Up to the San Francisco Police |author= |date=13 June 1899 |newspaper=Los Angeles Herald |accessdate=13 August 2016 |url-status = live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818003232/http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH18990613.2.11 |archivedate=August 18, 2016 |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC18990613.2.136 |title=Caused the death of Timothy Guy Phelps (ill.) |author= |date=13 June 1899 |newspaper=San Francisco Call |volume=86 |number=13 |accessdate=13 August 2016 |url-status = live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818000021/http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC18990613.2.136 |archivedate=August 18, 2016 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> and charges against them were dropped on June 20, 1899, after they related their account of the crash.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC18990621.2.56 |title=Charge against cyclers dropped |author= |date=21 June 1899 |newspaper=San Francisco Call |volume=86 |number=21 |accessdate=13 August 2016 |url-status = live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160817230721/http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC18990621.2.56 |archivedate=August 17, 2016 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

Phelps was buried at [[Cypress Lawn Memorial Park]] in Colma.

==References== {{reflist |30em}} * Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=P000300 Phelps, Timothy Guy]. Retrieved January 13, 2005. * [https://web.archive.org/web/20041229141408/http://www.cagenweb.com/archives/Biographies/sanmateo/sanm-mart.htm San Mateo County Biographies - Timothy Guy Phelps]. Retrieved January 13, 2005.

==External links== *[http://www.joincalifornia.com/candidate/7303 JoinCalifornia - Timothy G. Phelps]

{{s-start}} {{s-ppo}} {{s-bef|before=[[Newton Booth]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] nominee for [[Governor of California]]|years=[[1875 California gubernatorial election|1875]]}} {{s-aft|after=[[George Clement Perkins]]}} {{s-par|us-hs}} {{US House succession box | state=California | district=AL | before=[[John Chilton Burch|John C. Burch]] | after=[[Cornelius Cole]] | years=1861–1863}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phelps, Timothy Guy}} [[Category:1824 births]] [[Category:1899 deaths]] [[Category:American railway entrepreneurs]] [[Category:19th-century American business executives in rail transportation]] [[Category:American vigilantes]] [[Category:Southern Pacific Railroad people]] [[Category:People of California in the American Civil War]] [[Category:People from San Carlos, California]] [[Category:Pedestrian road incident deaths]] [[Category:Road incident deaths in California]] [[Category:University of California regents]] [[Category:Republican Party United States representatives from California]] [[Category:Republican Party members of the California State Assembly]] [[Category:Republican Party California state senators]] [[Category:Burials at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park]] [[Category:19th-century members of the California State Legislature]] [[Category:19th-century United States representatives]]