Timothy Guy Phelps

Timothy Guy Phelps ( born December 20 1824 in Oxford, Chenango County, New York, † June 11, 1899 in San Carlos, California ) was an American businessman and politician. Between 1861 and 1863 he represented the state of California in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

Timothy Phelps attended the public schools of his home. He then moved to New York City where he worked in the trade. Later he returned to the Chenango County, where he studied law, but did not finish. During the Gold Rush, Phelps moved in 1849 to San Francisco and then in the Tuolumne County, where he worked as a gold digger. He then returned to San Francisco, to work in the trade. Since 1853 he was also active in the real estate business. Politically, he was a member of the Republican Party, founded in 1854. In 1854 he ran unsuccessfully for the California State Assembly. Between 1855 and 1857 he was then but a deputy in this body. From 1858 to 1861 Phelps was a member of the State Senate. In 1861 he applied unsuccessfully for the office of Governor of California.

In the state- wide discharged congressional elections of 1860 Phelps was the first seat of California in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC chosen, where he became the successor of John C. Burch on March 4, 1861. Since he resigned in 1862 to further candidacy, he was able to complete only one term in Congress until March 3, 1863. This was marked by the events of the Civil War. Phelps was a friend of President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War and one of the advisers for the West Coast.

After the end of his time in the U.S. House of Representatives Phelps worked until 1870, again in the real estate industry. At that time, he participated in the founding of the Southern Pacific Railroad and was its first president until 1868. Between 1870 and 1872, and again from 1890 to 1893, he served as head of the customs authority at the port of San Francisco. In the meantime, he worked in agriculture. In 1875, he ran again unsuccessfully for the governorship of his state. Since 1880 Timothy Phelps was on the board of the University of California at Berkeley. For 19 years he was also chairman of the Lick Observatory. He died on June 11, 1899 near San Carlos after an accident with one of two boys controlled tandem bicycle.