Jennie F. Bliss
1859-1959
William T. Jeter and Jennie
F. Bliss
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The third son and the eighth child of William Griffin Jeter
and Elizabeth McCutchen Berry, William Thomas "Will"
Jeter was born 10/19/1850 on the family farm between Petersburg
and Atterbury in Menard County, Illinois and remained there until
the age of six. In a letter to a 
cousin,
Anderson Bell Berry, in August of 1921, Will recalls "Father
sold the farm...outfitted with teams,
wagons, etc. for and with (the) intention of crossing the plains
to California and started on the first lap of the long trail soon
after sister Harriet's marriage in 1857....It was the plan to
stop a year in Missouri, the custom at that time, to get an early
start across the plains in the spring. The removal from Illinois
covered something over 200 miles to where father stopped in Livingston
County near Chillicothe, Missouri. He was so well pleased with
that part of the country that he bought land and improved the
farm on which he lived until his death.[in 1867]"
Will was to remain in Missouri until 1876, the year after the
death of his mother. In the intervening years he worked on the
farm and began his education ...."[I] was educated in the
public schools, attending an excellent grade school, with five
or six members in the faculty"....and then later started
to read the law and engage in business activities.
Deciding to take a vacation from his business activities and budding
law practice, Will headed west to see the sights and to
visit with his uncle, Thomas Horatio Jeter, who had arrived in
California from Illinois just prior to the Civil War. He
stopped initially in Virginia City, Nevada and was caught up in
the excitement of the silver strikes,but with the full intention
of returning after a few months to his law studies and business
activities back in Missouri. He did not return to Missouri, but
pushed on in 1877 to California and Hastings Law College in San
Francisco.
Completing his studies, Will decided to settle and begin his practice
in Santa Cruz, California. It is thought that his sister, Harriet
and her attorney-husband, Zack Goldsby were also living in Santa
Cruz at the time and that Will entered into practice with his
brother-in-law. He married Jennie Fuller Bliss on 3/2/1885
at the First Methodist Church in Santa Cruz. They had no children.
In the ensuing years, Will would:
| - become a well-known member of the Santa Cruz
Bar - be admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of California - become, in 1882, chairman of the Democratic Central Committee of Santa Cruz County - be elected in 1884, and then twice re-elected district attorney in a heavily Republican county. - serve as a member of the Santa Cruz City Council and as the Mayor of Santa Cruz. - accept the position of president of the Santa Cruz County Bank in 1893 and would hold that position for the next 37 years. - upon the death of the incumbent Lt. Governor, be named on 10/25/1895 as Lt. Governor of California and serve most of his term as "de-facto" governor because of the ill-health of Governor Budd. - be admitted to practice on 10/20/1908 before the Supreme Court of the United States at Washinton, D.C. |
Submitted by C. Victor Jeter, August 10, 1999
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