Freeland, William C.

William C. Freeland was a highly capable, self-made financier and civic leader born in Ayrshire, Scotland, in 1877. After arriving in California with his parents at age ten, he completed his education in Santa Cruz County and Selma, graduating from Selma High School in 1895. He initially applied his commercial training as a bookkeeper for the Kutner-Goldstein Company before entering the First National Bank of Selma as a clerk in 1897, where his precision and executive capability led to his promotion as head cashier by 1905.

In addition to directing Selma’s foremost allied financial institutions—including the Selma Savings Bank—Freeland was a highly successful agriculturalist, developing a prime 100-acre orchard and vineyard east of town specialized in peaches, apricots, and raisins. He committed much of his time to public service, serving eight years on the Selma Board of City Trustees (including four as chairman) and five years as City Treasurer. Alongside his wife, Joanna, he remained an influential figure in the Presbyterian Church and was deeply prominent in California’s Masonic circles, attaining the rank of a 32nd-Degree Scottish Rite Mason.