The Charles M. and Martha Hitchcock Professorship

The Hitchcock Endowment Fund was established from a bequest made by Dr. Charles M. Hitchcock in 1885 to institute a professorship at the University of California.

Dr. Hitchcock was a physician in the United States Army Medical Corps. In 1851, after serving at West Point, on the Canadian frontier, in the Indian Territory, and in Mexico, he took up residence in San Francisco in as medical director for the Pacific Coast. Two years later he resigned his commission and established a private practice in the city, which was then bustling with activity generated by the influx of gold-seekers.

His daughter Lillie grew up in San Francisco and took great interest in the volunteer fire companies, becoming mascot and later an honorary member of Knickerbocker Engine Company No. 5. At the end of her life Lillie donated funds to erect Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill, in memory of the volunteer fire fighters of the 1850’s and 1860’s.

Because both Lillie and her mother Martha were ardent Confederate sympathizers, Dr. Hitchcock arranged to have them spend part of the Civil War period in Paris. Before the war’s end, they returned to San Francisco, and Miss Hitchcock quickly became one of the belles of the day. She married Benjamin Howard Coit in 1868, and their San Francisco home became a meeting place for those who were then actively building the state. At Larkmead, their country residence near St. Helena, Mr. and Mrs. Coit entertained many distinguished intellectual figures, including Professor Joseph LeConte of the University of California, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Joaquin Miller.

In 1903, following several tragic experiences, including the deaths in 1886 of both her father and her husband, Mrs. Coit returned to Europe, where she lived for more than twenty years. Much of the time she resided in Paris, but she also traveled to Africa and made many trips around the world. In 1924 she returned to San Francisco, where she spent the last five years of her life.

In 1930, through a generous bequest from Mrs. Coit, the Hitchcock Endowment Fund was enlarged considerably, allowing the University to liberalize the terms of the professorship and to extend the period of residence of its holders. The Hitchcock Fund has become one of the most cherished endowments of the University of California, sustaining and encouraging recognition of the highest distinction in scholarly thought and achievement.

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