William Joseph Nesbitt was elected Town Marshall in 1882, one year after bringing his bride to his new home on Capitol Street. From 1902 until 1923, he served Salinas as Sheriff.

His well-to-do neighbors, the Steinbecks, had a boy, John, who would have known Sheriff Nesbitt well. Literary scholars maintain that Sheriff Nesbitt was John Steinbeck's model for Sheriff Horace Quinn in East of Eden.