Biography

David Olcott Shattuck (1800-1892) was a judge, educator, and Methodist minister. Born in Colchester, Connecticut, he was the son of David Shattuck (1758-1840) and Dorothy Olcutt Shattuck (1767-1838). In the early 1820s, Shattuck taught school in North Carolina and Connecticut. He then became a Methodist Episcopal Church minister serving churches in the Virginia Conference (1824-1827), Tennessee Conference (1832-1833), and Mississippi Conference (1836-1839). During this time, he also worked as a lawyer in Brownsville, Tennessee (1829-1833) and Carrolton, Mississippi (1833-1837). From 1837 to 1841, Shattuck served as judge of the 2nd Judicial District of Mississippi. In 1841, he made an unsuccessful run for governor of Mississippi.

In 1842, Shattuck became a law professor at Centenary College (Brandon Springs, Miss.). He then served as the college’s president from 1844 to 1848; this included the transition of moving and renaming the institution Centenary College of Louisiana (Jackson, La.). After resigning as president, he served on Centenary’s board of trustees from 1849 to 1850.

In 1849, Shattuck visited San Francisco, California, and subsequently moved with his family to the nearby town of Sonoma. From 1854 to 1857, he served as a judge in the Superior Court of California. Next, he returned to work as a lawyer. From 1862 to 1863, Shattuck served as presiding elder of the Santa Rosa District of the Pacific Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. In 1864, he moved to Mexico to cultivate cotton, then returned to California in 1867. For the remainder of his life, Shattuck managed his Sonoma farm and vineyard.

In 1824, Shattuck married Lydia Watrous (1791-1824). In 1827, he married Elizabeth Ann Sanders (1803-1875); they had ten children.

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