Woolsey Family Papers, 1875-1990, bulk 1935-1959

Summary

Creators:

Woolsey Family

Abstract:

The collection represents the personal, familial, and business activities of three generations of the Woolsey family, a family influential from the late 19th to mid-20th centuries in Berkeley, California. The bulk of the correspondence in the Woolsey family papers is addressed to or from William Harold Woolsey and his wife, Mary Catherine Woolsey.

Extent:

4 cartons, 3 oversize folders 6.25 linear feet

Language:

Collection materials are in English

Background

Scope and content:

The collection represents the personal, familial, and business activities of three generations of the Woolsey family, a family influential from the late 19th to mid-20th centuries in Berkeley, California. The bulk of the correspondence in the Woolsey family papers is addressed to or from William Harold Woolsey and his wife, Mary Catherine Woolsey. Materials also include the correspondence of their son William H. Woolsey, Jr. (often referred to as "Bill”) and their daughter Sally. Nellie G. Hart was the mother of Mary Catherine Woolsey and figures prominently in much of the personal correspondence. The collection provides detailed genealogical information for the Woolsey family as well as the Shattuck, Livingstone and Robson families.

Business records, including those of the Shattuck Hotel Association and Berkeley Tract Maps as well as records from Stanford Vina Ranch in Tehama County, California, are included in the Family Business Papers Series. Records of the Woolsey family properties in Berkeley contain financial, legal and narrative reports, documenting their important influence on the city of Berkeley.

Biographical / historical:

William Edgar Woolsey was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1854 to Ezra Woodhull and Martha Ann Woolsey. The E.W. Woolsey family moved to California in 1868, renting homes and land in Oakland and Berkeley until 1877 when they purchased 200 acres in Sonoma County, 9 miles from the city of Santa Rosa. W. E. Woolsey graduated from Oakland High School and attended the University of California, Berkeley (then the College of California) for three years. W. E. Woolsey married Rosa Livingstone (born 1861) the niece of Francis Kittredge and Rosa Morse Shattuck in 1884. The couple settled on the Woolsey family ranch in Sonoma County where W.E. Woolsey was instrumental in organizing the first Prune Growers Association in Sonoma County as well as the first fruit growers cooperative in the State - the California Cured Fruit Association.

After the death of Francis K. Shattuck in 1906, W. E. and Rosa Woolsey sold the Sonoma ranch and moved to Berkeley to manage the Shattuck estate for Rosa M. Shattuck. The Woolseys inherited the Shattuck home at 2216 Shattuck Avenue after the death of Rosa M. Shattuck in 1908. The estate’s grounds were bounded by Shattuck Avenue, Allston Way, Milvia Street, and Kittredge Street. As president of the Shattuck Hotel Association, incorporated in 1907, W.E. Woolsey carried out Francis K. Shattuck’s plans to build a magnificent hotel in Berkeley, erecting the Shattuck Hotel at Shattuck Avenue and Allston Way. Construction on the hotel began in 1909 and was completed in 1913. In 1910, W.E. and Rosa Woolsey donated the land at Allston Way and Milvia Street for the construction of the YMCA building. In 1919, W.E. and Rosa Woolsey sold the Shattuck Hotel – and the block bounded by Shattuck Avenue, Allston Way, Harold Way, and Kittredge Street – to Wallace W. Whitecotton for one million dollars and purchased 2,000 acres of the Leland Stanford Ranch at Vina, in Tehama County, California.

W.E. Woolsey was director of the First National Bank of Berkeley, first clerk and charter member of the First Congregational Church of Berkeley, and member of the Rotary Club, the Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Association, the Elks Lodge, Durant Lodge of Mason No. 248, Berkeley Commmandery No.42 Knights of Templar, charter member of the Berkeley Country Club and the San Francisco Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. W.E. Woolsey died at his Berkeley home at 52 Oakvale Avenue in 1939.

W.E. and Rosa Woolsey had three children: Mrs. Florence May Heidt (born 1893), Mrs. Frances Shattuck Robson (born 1885), and William Harold Woolsey (born 1900). In 1924, after graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, William Harold Woolsey (a.k.a. “Hap” and “Hatch”) took charge of the family ranch in Vina, California. He also managed the Woolsey family land corporation, Woolsey, Robson, and Heidt. (Frederick T. Robson and Horace Heidt were W.H. Woolsey’s brothers-in-law).

William Harold Woolsey married Mary Catherine Hart (born 1897) in 1928. They had two children: William Harold Woolsey Jr. (born 1931) and Mrs. Sally Young (born 1929). The Woolsey family papers were donated to the Bancroft Library by Helene S. Woolsey, the wife of William H. Woolsey Jr.

Acquisition information:

The Woolsey Family Papers were given to The Bancroft Library by Helene Woolsey on August 27, 1998.

Rules or conventions:

Finding Aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

Location of this collection:

UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library

University of California, Berkeley, The Bancroft Library

Berkeley, CA 94720-6000, US

Contact:

510-642-6481

bancref-library@berkeley.edu

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