Charles Frederick Crocker (December 26, 1854 – July 17, 1897) was

vice president A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

of the

Southern Pacific Railroad Company The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the names ...

and a member of the wealthy

Crocker family The Crocker family was a wealthy American family based in California. Its fortune was primarily earned through the entrepreneurship of Charles Crocker, a tycoon who co-founded the Central Pacific Railroad and acquired a controlling interest in t ...

Biography

He was born in

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

on December 26, 1854, the eldest son of Mary Ann and

Charles Crocker Charles Crocker (September 16, 1822 – August 14, 1888) was an American railroad executive who was one of the founders of the Central Pacific Railroad, which constructed the westernmost portion of the first transcontinental railroad, and took ...

. He was educated in Sacramento public schools, graduated from Oakland Military Academy in 1872 and attended the Brooklyn Polytechnic School (1875), but did not graduate as a result of poor eyesight. After taking a trip to Japan, Crocker entered the family railroad business at the age of 22 as a clerk in the Fourth and Townsend Streets office of Southern Pacific. When George C. Perkins was elected governor in 1879, he appointed Crocker as a colonel in the National Guard. By 1888, Crocker was president of the San Joaquin and Sierra Nevada Railroad. Crocker purchased the 'Uplands' estate (then part of San Mateo and later incorporated into Hillsborough) from William Henry Howard in 1894. Crocker died at 'Uplands' on July 17, 1897, from complications of

Bright's disease Bright's disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that are described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. It was characterized by swelling and the presence of albumin in the urine. It was frequently accompanied ...

following a brief, acute paralysis. His wife, the former Jennie Marine Easton, had died during the birth of their third child.

Legacy

Crocker was survived by three children: Mary Crocker (who would later marry the congressman

Francis Burton Harrison Francis Burton Harrison (December 18, 1873 – November 21, 1957) was an American-Filipino Politics of the United States, statesman who served in the United States House of Representatives and was appointed Governor-General of the Philippines ...

Charles Templeton Crocker Charles Templeton Crocker (September 2, 1884 – December 12, 1948) was an American philanthropist, art patron and yachtsman. He was a past president of the California Historical Society and a member of the board of directors for over twenty year ...

(who became a noted scientist), and Jennie Adeline Crocker. Crocker was notably active in public affairs, serving as one of the

Regents of the University of California The Regents of the University of California (also referred to as the Board of Regents to distinguish the board from the corporation it governs of the same name) is the governing board of the University of California (UC), a state university sys ...

(appointed in 1888 by Governor Waterman), as president of the

California Academy of Sciences The California Academy of Sciences is a research institute and natural history museum in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, that is among the largest List of natural history museums, museums of natural history in the world, housing over ...

, and as a trustee of

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

Family members

Crocker's brothers were banker and investor William H. Crocker, president of the Crocker Bank and George Crocker, second vice-president of the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...

. His cousin was the mystic, princess and author

Aimée Crocker Aimée Isabella Crocker (December 5, 1864 – February 7, 1941) was an American mystic, Bohemianism, bohemian, author, and member of the wealthy Crocker family. She was known for her cultural exploration of the Far East, for her extravagant parti ...

. His uncle Edwin B. Crocker built Sacramento's

Crocker Art Museum The Crocker Art Museum is the oldest art museum in the Western United States, located in Sacramento, California. Founded in 1885, the museum holds one of the premier collections of Californian art. The collection includes American works dating f ...

Family tree

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crocker, Charles Frederick 1854 births 1897 deaths Southern Pacific Railroad people Wells Fargo employees Crocker family 20th-century American businesspeople 19th-century American businesspeople Deaths from kidney failure in California