Oh don’t you wish it was free! Then everyone would want to live on Fremont. The truth is that Fremont Avenue was named for John Charles Fremont, an American general and explorer, popularly known as “The Pathfinder of the Rocky Mountains.”
Fremont was born in Savannah, Georgia on January 31, 1813, of a mixed French and Virginian parentage. In 1838-1839 he undertook the exploration of the country between the Missouri River and the British frontier, and in 1838 received a commission as 2nd lieutenant in the corps of topographical engineers. Shortly afterward, he proposed to the government to undertake the exploration of the Rocky Mountains–at that day a terra incognita.
His plan being approved, Fremont, in 1842, started with a handful of picked men, and reached and explored the South Pass. Not only did Fremont fix the locality of that great defile through which thousands have since found their way to California, but he defined the astronomy, geography, botany, geology and meteorology of that region, described the route since followed, and designated the points upon which a line of United States forts were subsequently erected.
In 1845 he cleared the northern part of California of Mexican troops, and then seeking a broader field of activity, planned an expedition to the distant territory of Oregon. He approached the Rocky Mountains by a new line, scaled the summits south of the South Pass, deflected to the Great Salt Lake, pushed investigations right and left his entire course, and at the same time connected his survey with that of Commodore Wilkes’ exploring expedition.
In this daring expedition he crossed 3,500 miles of country in sight of eternal snows, discovering the grand features of Alta, California, its great basin the Sierra Nevada, the valleys of San Joaquin and Sacramento, and determined the geographical position of the west portion of the North America continent.
In 1846 he was promoted lieutenant-colonel and also military commandant and civil governor of the Territory of California, in which capacity he, in 1847, concluded those articles of capitulation by which Mexico conceded exclusive possession of that territory to the United States. In the same year he purchased in California the valuable Mariposa estate upon which he settled in 1849.
In 1853 he undertook a fifth expedition across the continent, made new discoveries, and reached California after enduring almost incredible hardships. In 1856 he was the first candidate of the Republican party for the presidency; and in 1861, on the outbreak of the Civil War, was appointed major-general of volunteers. He then, as commandant of the western Union army , marched into Missouri with the view of encountering General Price’s Confederate force then in possession of that State, but an unfortunate dispute with a subordinate officer caused the War Department to relieve him of his command.
He was governor of Arizona in 1878-1881. He died in New York City, July 13, 1890.
Note: Taken from the Times Encyclopedia and Gazetter, 1936.