Horace Carpentier

Horace Walpole Carpentier (1824-1918) was a lawyer and the first mayor of Oakland, California. He also served as president of the Overland Telegraph Company which oversaw the construction of the western portion of the first transcontinental telegraph in the United States. [http://www.telegraph-history.org/transcontinental-telegraph/index.html]

Carpentier was born in New York in 1824. He graduated with the Class of 1848 at Columbia University. [http://books.google.com/books?id=hLAWAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA92&lpg=PA92&dq=%22hw+carpentier%22+general&source=web&ots=EaQeBk8AGW&sig=uzhnvvrHMbvsPCa8CPqGNGCvz6I#PPA92,M1] He came to California during the gold rush, as he is listed as a passenger on the ship Panama in the "New York Herald", February 6, 1849. [http://www.pt5dome.com/NYHShips02061849.htm]

On May 4, 1852 Horace Carpentier persuaded the new California state legislature to incorporate Oakland as a town. Then, on May 17th, he persuaded the new town's trustees to pass an ordinance "for the disposal of the waterfront belonging to the town of Oakland." That ordinance gave complete, lucrative control of Oakland's waterfront to Carpentier. He was ousted as mayor by an angry citizenry and replaced by Charles Campbell who became Mayor on March 5, 1855.

Before heading the Overland Telegraph Company, Carpentier presided over the California State Telegraph Company. The Overland was formed in order to construct the western portion of the transcontinental telegraph. On October 24, 1861, Carpentier sent the first telegram from the west to the east over the newly-completed transcontinental telegraph line. The telegram was addressed to President Abraham Lincoln: "I announce to you that the telegraph to California has this day been completed. May it be a bond of perpetuity between the states of the Atlantic and those of the Pacific." [http://www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/history_center/t_telegraph.html]

Carpentier notoriously represented members of the Peralta family, the original Spanish land grant owners of the entire region now encompassing Oakland and Berkeley, in various legal proceedings ostensibly initiated to protect their holdings. The end result of these proceedings was that Carpentier himself received large chunks of what remained of their holdings as compensation for his "services".

Carpentier remained single his entire life, although he seems to have shared a household with his sister Harriet for many years in Oakland. Their brother Edward also lived with them for a time. The Carpentier home was located in the oldest section of Oakland at Alice and Third Streets. [http://books.google.com/books?id=5fUBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA93&lpg=PA93&dq=%22horace+w+carpentier%22&source=web&ots=1wUde0UZKU&sig=sXHSdtd8tVlC-O30u4BvzNvdPYI]

By 1888, Carpentier had moved back to New York City. [http://supreme.justia.com/us/127/70/case.html] [http://books.google.com/books?id=F39SJn66jF0C&pg=PA219&lpg=PA219&dq=%22horace+w+carpentier%22&source=web&ots=U645lo8E49&sig=HSQ9BC8WWFLjH2FFMDshvG_7koY#PPA220,M1] He had a second home in Galway in Saratoga County, New York. [http://www.historycooperative.org/btw/Vol.10/html/438.html] [http://www.co.saratoga.ny.us/cc/twww/GalwayV.html] He was elected to the Board of Trustees of Columbia University, his alma mater, in 1906, serving until his death. [http://beatl.barnard.columbia.edu/cuhistory/archives/TrusteesTalk.htm] He was by this time referred to as "General", but there's no record indicating why. He died at his home on January 31, 1918. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B0DE1DD113FE433A25752C2A9649C946996D6CF]

External links

* [http://www.waterfrontaction.org/learn/league/ch4.htm Oakland Waterfront Action]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=e_H6lQWiY8wC&pg=PA101&lpg=PA101&dq=horace+carpentier+telegraph&source=web&ots=SgagqXysPE&sig=QMWNLoaxGurkTFNdnl1yNPnIWVU The Story of Communications - The Telegraph, at Google Books]
* [http://www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/history_center/t_telegraph.html IEEE Transcontinental Telegraph]
* [http://www.usacitiesonline.com/cacountymoragahistory.htm History of Moraga]