Edwin B. Crocker
American judge (1818-1875)
title: "Edwin B. Crocker" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1818-births", "1875-deaths", "businesspeople-from-california", "politicians-from-sacramento,-california", "american-art-collectors", "burials-at-sacramento-city-cemetery", "california-republicans", "rensselaer-polytechnic-institute-alumni", "u.s.-state-supreme-court-judges-admitted-to-the-practice-of-law-by-reading-law", "justices-of-the-supreme-court-of-california", "lawyers-from-sacramento,-california", "indiana-free-soilers", "abolitionists-from-california", "people-from-dewitt,-new-york", "activists-from-new-york-(state)", "activists-from-california", "19th-century-california-state-court-judges", "crocker-family", "19th-century-american-businesspeople", "19th-century-american-lawyers"] description: "American judge (1818-1875)" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_B._Crocker" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary American judge (1818-1875) ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Edwin B. Crocker |
| image | E_B_Crocker_by_Stephen_W_Shaw.jpg |
| caption | Edwin B. Crocker, c. 1872 |
| office1 | Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court |
| term_start1 | May 21, 1863 |
| term_end1 | January 2, 1864 |
| appointer1 | Governor Leland Stanford |
| predecessor1 | Stephen Johnson Field |
| successor1 | Elections under 1862 amendment to California constitution and 1863 enabling law |
| birth_name | Edwin Bryant Crocker |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Jamesville, New York, US |
| death_date | |
| death_place | Sacramento, California, US |
| known_for | Crocker Art Museum |
| occupation | Lawyer |
| California Supreme Court Justice | |
| spouse | {{plainlist |
| * {{marriage | Mary Norton |
| children | 7 |
| resting_place | Sacramento Historic City Cemetery, Sacramento, California |
| :: |
| name = Edwin B. Crocker | image = E_B_Crocker_by_Stephen_W_Shaw.jpg | caption = Edwin B. Crocker, c. 1872 | office1 = Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court | term_start1 = May 21, 1863 | term_end1 = January 2, 1864 | appointer1 = Governor Leland Stanford | predecessor1 = Stephen Johnson Field | successor1 = Elections under 1862 amendment to California constitution and 1863 enabling law | birth_name = Edwin Bryant Crocker | birth_date = | birth_place = Jamesville, New York, US | death_date = | death_place = Sacramento, California, US | known_for = Crocker Art Museum | occupation = Lawyer California Supreme Court Justice | spouse = {{plainlist|
| children = 7 | partner = | website = | resting_place = Sacramento Historic City Cemetery, Sacramento, California Edwin Bryant Crocker (26 April 1818 – 24 June 1875) was a California Supreme Court Justice and founder of the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, California.
Biography
Crocker was born in Jamesville, New York, to Isaac and Elizabeth Crocker. He earned a degree in civil engineering at Rensselaer Institute in Troy, New York. He went on to read law in South Bend, Indiana. While there, he started a practice that earned him a reputation as an abolitionist. In June 1850, Crocker lost a civil case brought by a slave owner for helping four slaves escaping from Kentucky. In July 1850, Crocker attended the Liberty Party convention in Syracuse, New York, where he retold the story of helping the slaves. In June 1851, he spoke at the Christian Anti-Slavery State convention in Indianapolis, Indiana. In August 1852, he was named a delegate from Indiana to the Free Soil Party convention. In 1852, he and his second wife Margaret Ellen Rhodes Crocker moved to Sacramento, California.
When they arrived in Sacramento, Crocker resumed his legal career. He was also involved in politics. On March 8, 1856, he chaired the state's first meeting of the Republican Party. In 1863, Governor Leland Stanford appointed Crocker as an associate justice of the California Supreme Court, which position he held from May 21, 1863, to January 2, 1864. In 1863, elections were held for all seats on the Supreme Court due to an 1862 amendment to California constitution and 1863 enabling law, and Crocker chose to step down rather than seek re-election.
The next year, Crocker agreed to be legal counsel for the Central Pacific Railroad, a company run by the Big Four, which included Edwin's younger brother, Charles Crocker. Crocker was the Central Pacific's attorney during the building of the First transcontinental railroad, culminating in the ceremony for the driving of the golden spike at Promontory, Utah, on May 10, 1869.
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Crocker_Art_Museum_main_entrance.jpg" caption="quote=Charles Crocker, a large, stout florid man, is Vice President of the Central Pacific and worth $6,000,000. E. B. Crocker, ex-State Justice, brother to the above, is worth $1,000,000.}} His family renovated their home to include an art gallery. Their home and the art that they had acquired would eventually become the [[Crocker Art Museum]]."] ::
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Gravesite_of_EB_Crocker_&_Family.jpg" caption="archive-date=2017-12-09}}"] ::
Personal life
On September 3, 1845, Crocker married Mary Norton in Mishawaka, Indiana. She died on April 12, 1847, in South Bend, Indiana. They had a daughter, also named Mary. On July 8, 1852, he remarried to Margaret Rhodes in New York in a ceremony performed by Henry Ward Beecher. They had four daughters: Aimée Crocker, Jennie Louise Crocker Fassett, Nellie Margaret and Kate Eugenie Gunn; and two sons: Edwin Clark, who died as a baby, and Elwood Bender, a relative whom they adopted.
References
References
- (September 17, 1851). "Commissioners and Sheriff's Sale". The Plymouth Pilot (Plymouth, IN).
- (November 2, 1846). "Liberty Paper at Washington City". Library of Congress Historic Newspapers.
- (June 20, 1850). "E. B. Crocker (advertisement)". Library of Congress Historic Newspapers.
- (April 1, 1849). "Movements for California". Library of Congress Historic Newspapers.
- (June 20, 1850). "Important Decision". Library of Congress Historic Newspapers.
- (July 9, 1850). "Liberty Party Convention at Syracuse". Library of Congress Historic Newspapers.
- (June 5, 1851). "The Christian Anti-Slavery Convention". Library of Congress Historic Newspaper.
- (July 10, 1851). "Anti-Slavery Christian Convention". Library of Congress Historic Newspapers.
- (August 7, 1852). "Delegates to the National Free Soil Convention". Library of Congress Historic Newspapers.
- (14 September 1896). "First Republican Club". California Digital Newspaper Collection.
- (9 March 1906). "A History of Long Ago, First Republican Club in This State Was Organized in Sacramento Fifty Years Ago Yesterday—Three Survivors". California Digital Newspaper Collection.
- (1963). "History of the California Supreme Court: The Justices 1850-1900, vol 1". Bender Moss Co.
- (October 12, 1909). "To the Pacific Coast". Library of Congress Historic Newspapers.
- (June 22, 1871). "San Francisco. It's Men.". Library of Congress Historic Newspapers.
- (June 25, 1875). "Latest Telegrams". Library of Congress Historic Newspapers.
- (June 26, 1875). "Judge Crocker Dead". Library of Congress Historic Newspapers.
- (January 2006). "Self Guided Tour". Old City Cemetery Committee, Inc..
- (2010). "Judge Edwin B. Crocker (1818-1875)". Crocker Art Museum.
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