Samuel Merritt

Dr.
Samuel Merritt
Dr. Samuel Merritt
13th Mayor of Oakland
	In office; November 3, 1867 – February 18, 1869
Preceded by	William Watrus Crane, Jr.
Succeeded by	John B. Felton
Personal details
Born	March 30, 1822; Harpswell, Maine
Died	August 17, 1890 (aged 68); Oakland, California
Education	Bowdoin College

Samuel Merritt (1822–1890)^[1] was a physician and the 13th mayor of Oakland, California, from 1867 to 1869.^[5] He was a founding Regent of the University of California, 1868-1874. He was also a shipmaster and a very successful businessman. He died in 1890 at age 68, with a reputation as the richest man in Oakland.^[6]

Early years

Merritt was born in 1822 in Harpswell, Maine, within Casco Bay. As the youngest of five children of Stephen and Joanna (Purington) Merritt, in addition to schooling, he learned some fishing, helped to build ships, and helped in other functions of a mariner. In 1844 he graduated from the Medical School of Maine at Bowdoin College. After practising medicine in Plymouth, Massachusetts, for three years, Dr Merritt, at Daniel Webster's urging, decided to join the California gold rush. He borrowed heavily from his brother Isaac, bought a 140-ton brig Reindeer, filled it with general supplies, and embarked on his voyage in 1849 as the navigator.^[2]^[4]^[7]

According to the Port of San Francisco, the brig Reindeer arrived on 5 May 1850, 153 days from New York, with assorted cargo for Merritt. Because of a fire in San Francisco days prior to his arrival, he sold his consignment quickly for a handsome profit. Moreover, he chartered his brig for $800 a month, carrying passengers and cargo to and from Humboldt Bay, which started his trading business. Meanwhile, he continued through the 1850s his medical practice near the San Francisco berths, with his physician's office listed for six years at Room No. 7 in the Express Building at the corner of Montgomery and California Streets.^[2]^: 12–14

Insurance Co. established by Samuel Merritt in 1861; he was its 1st president and remained a director for the rest of his life.^[9]

He went back to Bath, Maine, a center for shipbuilding, to visit family in 1853, and commissioned two new barks (including his namesake, Samuel Merritt, 1855),^[8] built to his model designed specifically for the coastal lumber trade. When he was called back to Bath, Maine, in 1862 to settle his brother Issac's estate, he contracted for three more sailing ships (Deacon, 1863; Vidette, 1865; Oakland, 1865), all built to his design for trading. After running each ship for a handsome profit, he sold them at prices greater than their costs.^[9]

In 1852 Merritt began a series of lucrative real estate transactions in San Francisco.^[9] He also bought land in what is now the city of Oakland and moved there in 1863.^[10]^[11]

Later years

As mayor of the rapidly growing town of Oakland (1867-1869), Merritt knew that it was crucial to establish the West Coast railhead of the Pacific Railroad in Oakland itself to secure its future economic viability. To achieve this goal, he and his contemporaries resolved complicated and long-standing disputes over tideland ownership through legal maneuvering, negotiated with the railroads, and navigated a series of compromise waterfront arrangements in spring 1868.^[12] As the compromise took place on April 1, cynics called it an April Fool's Day trick.^[13]^: 51 As Oakland was an across-the-bay suburb of San Francisco, the press dubbed it the "future Jersey City of the Pacific Coast."^[14]

In 1867, he donated 155 acres (627,000 m²) of tidal water from the headwaters of Indian Slough to the Bay. As part of his mayoral waterfront compromises in Spring 1868,^[12]^: 90 he orchestrated (and donated $18,000 toward) a public work dam across the San Antonio Slough estuary at 12th Street, turning the tidal lagoon into a lake at the high-tide level, which became known first as "Merritt's Lake" and later as Lake Merritt.^[15] Lake Merritt is historically significant as the United States' first official wildlife refuge, designated in 1870 at his urging. It also has been listed as a National Historic Landmark since 1963, and on the National Register of Historic Places since 1966.^[16]

As mayor, "he introduced or supported many progressive ideas: the city's first municipal water supply; its first public health department; and a subscription library that was the forerunner of Oakland's first public library..." --Beth Bagwell (1982)^[13]

In May 1868, Merritt was appointed as a regent by Governor Haight to the founding Board of Regents of the then-nascent University of California.^[17] He served as a regent until June 1874.^[18] Merritt resigned from the board after a two-month investigation by the California State Assembly's public building committee which held him responsible for the young university's very first corruption scandal. The committee concluded that Merritt had profited financially from selling an inferior building to the university at an exorbitant cost, at $24,000 over its reasonable value.^[19] Even though the Board of Regents had enacted a resolution against self-dealing in the construction of campus buildings in June 1872, Merritt in his capacity as chair of the regents' building committee had awarded the contract for the construction of the original College of Letters building (North Hall) at the Berkeley campus to his preferred contractor, Power and Ough—who then obtained most of the needed lumber and cement from a lumber company in Oakland owned by Merritt.^[20]

With the sea in his blood, Dr. Merritt launched in 1878 his 72-ton keel schooner yacht, Casco, built under his supervision after a model of his own and named for the Casco Bay of his boyhood. It was the largest pleasure craft on the Pacific.^[22]^[23] In 1880 Merritt undertook a four month voyage in Casco to the South Seas, visiting the Hawaiian islands and Tahiti.^[24]^[25] His yacht was commanded by Captain Colcord and his party included a photographer, J. W. Taber, a journalist, T. T. Dargie of the Oakland Tribune, and four lady guests.^[26] Two years later, he launched onto his Lake the first sharpie on the Pacific coast.^[27] Robert Louis Stevenson, who chartered Merritt's Casco ($750/month plus expenses) from Summer 1888 to Spring 1889, was delighted with the sailing qualities of the schooner yacht in the South Seas.^[21]^[28]

"I was the showman of the Casco. She, her fine lines, tall spars and snowy decks, the crimson fittings of the saloon, and the white, the gilt, and the repeating mirrors of the tiny cabin, brought us a hundred visitors. The men fathomed out her dimensions with their arms, as their fathers fathomed out the ships of Cook; the women declared the cabins more lovely than a church..." --Robert Louis Stevenson, on his first encounter with the Marquesans (July 1888)^[29]^: 10–11

In early August 1890, Merritt sailed to Sausalito one last time in his yacht Casco, but he was too weak and had to return to Oakland in a steamer.^[30]

Death and legacy

Dr Merritt died in August 1890 at age 68, in his Oakland residence in the block bounded by Madison, Jackson, Fourteenth and Fifteenth streets, with an estate of over $2,000,000 and the reputation of being the most affluent man in Oakland.^[6] He was buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland.

His namesake Lake Merritt "stands as the jewel of Oakland, even crowned with lights."^[31]

He left plans for a hospital and nursing school to be built in his name after his death. In 1909, Samuel Merritt University and Merritt Hospital opened.^[32]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "OBITUARY. — DR. SAMUEL MERRITT". cdnc.ucr.edu. San Francisco Call, Volume 68, Number 79, 18 August 1890. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c Koford, Henning (1938). Dr. Samuel Merritt: His Life and Achievements. Oakland, California: The Kennedy Co. Printers.
^ Garcelon, David C. (April 22, 2019). "Samuel Merritt: A Harpswell Man of Distinction and Success". ancestoryarchives.com. Archived from the original on 2022-11-10.
^ ^a ^b Garcelon, David C. (5 April 2022). "Samuel Merritt: A Harpswell man of distinction and success". harpswellanchor.org. The Harpswell Anchor. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
^ "Dr. Samuel Merritt | Samuel Merritt University". www.samuelmerritt.edu. Retrieved 2024-01-11.
^ ^a ^b "Death of Dr. Samuel Merritt, the Well-Known Capitalist". cdnc.ucr.edu. Daily Alta California, Volume 83, Number 49, 18 August 1890. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
^ "Dr. Samuel Merritt". samuelmerritt.edu. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
^ ^a ^b "Clipper bark Samuel Merritt". cdnc.ucr.edu. Daily Alta California, Volume 6, Number 72, 16 March 1855. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c The Bay of San Francisco: The Metropolis of the Pacific Coast and Its Suburban Cities : a History, Volume 1. Chapter 21: City of Oakland... Samuel Merritt Deceased. Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company. 1892. p. 378-384.
^ "Samuel Merritt". Camron-Stanford House. Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Archived from the original on 2005-02-19. Erratum: 1950 should be 1850.
^ "Daniel Webster Tells Dr. Samuel Merritt to Go West. He Does, With No Regrets". newenglandhistoricalsociety.com. 7 September 2014. Archived from the original on 2022-11-10.
^ ^a ^b Daggett, Stuart (1922). Chapters on the History of the Southern Pacific: Chap. V. The Search for a Terminal (1966 ed.). Augustus M. Kelley, Publishers. pp. 86–91.
^ ^a ^b Bagwell, Beth (1982). OAKLAND: The Story of a City. Novato, California: Presidio Press. p. 127. ISBN 0891411461.
^ "LOCATION OF THE TERMINUS OF THE WESTERN PACIFIC RAILROAD AT OAKLAND: The future Jersey City of the Pacific Coast". cdnc.ucr.edu. Daily Alta California, Volume 20, Number 6593, 3 April 1868. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
^ Martinez, Al. "The Swamp That's Now Lake Merritt". cdnc.ucr.edu. Oakland Tribune, Volume 167, Number 49, 18 August 1957.
^ McFerrin, Linda Watanabe (2001-01-01). "A Natural History of Oakland's Lake Merritt". Bay Nature. Archived from the original on 2022-11-10. Retrieved 2013-12-29.
^ "State Agricultural College [University of California]". cdnc.ucr.edu. Stockton Independent, Volume XIV, Number 96, 22 May 1868. Retrieved 10 October 2022. Governor Haight yesterday, by virtue of the same Act, appointed the following persons Regents in addition to those [ex-officio] above named : S. R. McKee, Judge of the Third District ; Lawrence Archer, Judge of Santa Clara county ; Rev. Horatio Stebbins, John T. Doyle, John W. Dwinelle and Richard P. Hammond of San Francisco county ; Dr. Samuel Merritt of Oakland ; William Watt of Grass Valley.
^ "Brief Reference". cdnc.ucr.edu. Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 47, Number 7245, 24 June 1874. Retrieved 10 October 2022. Governor Booth yesterday commissioned D. O. Mills as a Regent of the University oi California, vice Samuel Merritt, resigned.
^ Stadtman, Verne A. (1970). The University of California, 1868–1968. New York: McGraw-Hill. p. 70.
^ Stadtman, Verne A. (1970). The University of California, 1868–1968. New York: McGraw-Hill. p. 43.
^ ^a ^b Bland, Henry Meade. "Stevenson and the Casco". cdnc.ucr.edu. Oakland Tribune, Volume 96, Number 120, 30 April 1922. Oakland Tribune Magazine, 30 April 1922. Retrieved 24 September 2024.
^ "THE "CASCO." Trial Trip of Dr. Merritt's Yacht -- The Fastest Sailing Craft on the Bay". cdnc.ucr.edu. Oakland Tribune, Volume 15, Number 137, 27 May 1878. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
^ "THE CASCO. A Beautiful Yacht—A Voyage of Pleasure along the California Coast". cdnc.ucr.edu. Santa Barbara Weekly Press, Volume X, Number 6, 10 August 1878. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
^ Dargie, Thomas T. "THE "CASCO." Yachting Across the South Sea Islands. The log of a Modern Mariner -- The Arrival at Hawaii -- Blrd's-Eye View of Hilo -- Visit to a Noted Volcano -- Sights and Scenes in Ka-naka-Land". cdnc.ucr.edu. Oakland Tribune, Volume 17, Number 146, 19 June 1880. Retrieved 24 September 2024.
^ "RETURN OF THE "CASCO." Dr. Merritt and Party Arrive Safely Home -- Thirty-two days from Tahiti -- A Rather Stormy Passage". cdnc.ucr.edu. Oakland Tribune, Volume 17, Number 191, 12 August 1880. Retrieved 24 September 2024.
^ "The Casco, which left San Francisco on May 8th, arrived at Hilo on the 23rd". cdnc.ucr.edu. Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 11, Number 102, 18 June 1880. Retrieved 24 September 2024.
^ "THE "DAISY." A Minute Description of Dr. Merrltt's Sharpie -- A New Type of Yacht Architecture Built for Speed and Graceful Sailing". cdnc.ucr.edu. Oakland Tribune, Volume 19, Number 116, 19 May 1882. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
^ "Robert Louis Stevenson". cdnc.ucr.edu. Daily Alta California, Volume 42, Number 14328, 27 November 1888. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
^ Stevenson, Robert Louis (January 1896). In the South Seas: being an account of experiences and observations in the Marquesas, Paumotus and Gilbert Islands in the course of two cruises, on the yacht "Casco" (1888) and the schooner "Equator" (1889). New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
^ "The yacht Casco with her owner, Dr. Samuel Merritt, of Oakland, paid Sausalito a visit last week". cdnc.ucr.edu. Sausalito News, Volume 6, Number 27, 15 August 1890. Retrieved 22 October 2022.
^ "Lakeside Park/Lake Merritt". City of Oakland Parks and Recreation. Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Archived from the original on 2005-03-15.
^ "MERRITT HOSPITAL TO OPEN FORMALLY". cdnc.ucr.edu. San Francisco Call, Volume 105, Number 56, 25 January 1909. Retrieved 10 October 2022.