William Pinkney Toler

William Pinkney Toler (1826–1899) was born in Caracas, Gran Colombia on December 23, 1826, the son of a United States diplomat.

As a midshipman on the USS United States under the command of Commodore Thomas Gatsby Jones, he hoisted the first American flag up the flagpole of the Custom House at Monterey in 1842.

He made a two- or three-day round trip on horseback to sketch Mount Kilauea.

Toler resigned from the Navy in 1848 and accepted a position as assistant to the alcalde, or chief executive officer, in San Francisco.

In 1853, he married Maria Peralta, whose family owned the large land grant that is now the city of Oakland, California.