William Cary Van Fleet

William Cary Van Fleet (March 24, 1852 – September 3, 1923) was an associate justice of the California Supreme Court and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

Education and career

Born in Maumee, Ohio, in 1869 Van Fleet came to California. He was a California State Assemblyman from 1881 to 1882, and was the Director of California State Prisons from 1883 to 1884. He was a Judge of the Superior Court of California from 1884 to 1892, and was appointed by Governor Henry Markham an associate justice of the Supreme Court of California, serving from May 7, 1894, to January 3, 1899. In November 1898, he ran on the Republican and United Labor Party ticket for another term but lost the election to Democratic Walter Van Dyke. After stepping down from the court, he practiced in the firm of Mastic, Belcher, Van Fleet & Mastick. Formally nominated to the same position by President Roosevelt on December 3, 1907, he was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 17, 1907, and received his commission the same day. They had a son, Ransom. After her death, he married Lizzie Eldridge Crocker (sister of Henry and niece of Charles and Edwin of the prominent Crocker family) in San Francisco on January 19, 1887. They had four children, Alan, William, Clark, and Julia.