HON. WILLIAM CARY VAN FLEET

 

Hon. William Cary Van Fleet, Judge of the Superior Court of Sacramento, California, was born March 24, 1852, in Maumee City, Ohio, near which place his father still resides, now at an advanced age. Upon the father’s side he is of an old family that emigrated from Holland, while on the mother’s side he is connected with the historical American families of Boone and Lincoln, his grandmother’s father being a Boone, while her mother was of the family from which sprang Abraham Lincoln. He was brought up and educated to the point of leaving school, in his native town, and in the city of Toledo. In 1869 he came to California, remaining in Sacramento, where he immediately began the study of law in the office of Messrs. Beatty & Denson, the former of whom (his uncle by marriage), the well-known and universally esteemed Judge H.O. Beatty, was formerly Chief Justice of the State of Nevada, but has now retired from active practice. Judge Denson, the other member of the firm, formerly occupied a seat upon the bench as Judge of the District and Superior Courts of this county. In 1873 Judge Van Fleet was admitted to the bar, and in the following year commenced to practice at Elko, Nevada. He remained there only two years, however, returning to Sacramento in 1876, and has since that time been actively identified with the history of this city. In 1880 he was elected a member of the State Assembly from Sacramento, upon the Republican ticket, in which party Judge Van Fleet has always taken an active and intelligent part. During his term he held the chairmanship of the Military Committee, and also of that of the Committee on the Yosemite Valley and Big Trees, being the only member who was chairman of two committees. In 1883 Judge Van Fleet was appointed by Governor Stoneman one of the Board of State Prison Directors, which position he resigned on his election to the bench. He was elected to his present position upon the bench of the Superior Court in the year 1884, holding office for the long term. Judge Van Fleet is an active member in high standing of the Knights of Honor, the order of Odd Fellows, of the Masons, and of the Knights Templar. In 1882 he went East to Baltimore as Grand Representative of the Knights of Honor. Judge Van Fleet has the reputation of being a good lawyer, sound in practice, active and diligent in his attention to the interests of clients, and deeply read in all branches of the law. As a judge he is fair and impartial, firm and fearless in his determinations, bringing to bear upon all points an accurate knowledge of the minuter technicalities, as well as the broader principles of the science of law. Personally he is a highly popular man, commanding the esteem and confidence of all circles to the fullest extent, and is regarded as a man who has open before him the highest walks of judicial life, being fitted by birth and personal characteristics to fill any position to which he may be called. He has been married twice, the first time in 1877, to Mary Isabella Carey, the daughter of Hon. R.S. Carey, of Sacramento; his wife died, however, during the first year of their marriage, leaving an infant son. He was married the second time in January, 1887, to Miss Lizzie Eldridge Crocker, daughter of Clark W. Crocker, of San Francisco, by whom he also has a son.