USA > California > A history of the new California, its resources and people; Vol I > Part 33
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At the time the Knight family took up their residence in California
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George A. was a small child. His education was obtained in the public schools of Humboldt county and in Oakland College. During his school days he sold newspapers and worked in the printing office of the Humboldt Times, which paper was then edited by Judge Van Dyke, now associate justice of the supreme court. Leaving school at the age of eighteen, he entered the of- fice of Judge J. E. Wyman in Eureka .and took up the study of law. He was admitted to practice in the supreme court in 1872 and that same year was elected district attorney of Humboldt county, an office to which he was twice re-elected, and served in all six years. At an early age his interest in political affairs was most enthusiastic, and as he grew older his influence was directed along lines that helped materially to advance the interests of his party. The campaign of 1879 was one in which he made no less than sixty- two Republican speeches. He visited many places on his campaign tour that year in company with Senator Perkins, who was at the election which fol- lowed made governor of the state of California.
Mr. Knight practiced law in Eureka until 1880, when he removed to San Francisco. That year he was the Republican nominee for Congress in the northern district, but, as 1880 was a year of Democratic victory in Cali- fornia, he was defeated by Campbell P. Berry. After his removal to San Francisco Mr. Knight formed a partnership with General Thomas J. Clunie, under the firm name of Clunie & Knight, which association continued for a period of five years, since which time Mr. Knight has practiced with Charles J. Heggerty, the firm being Knight & Heggerty. In 1882 he was appointed state insurance commissioner, under Governor Perkins, which office he filled four years. In 1888 he was honored by Governor Markham with appoint- ment to the position of judge advocate on his staff, with rank of lieutenant colonel. Also by Governor Markham he was appointed attorney for the state board of health, a position to which he was also appointed by Governor Gage. Five times Mr. Knight has been a delegate to the Republican national con- vention, first, in 1884, when James G. Blaine was nominated, and again in 1892, 1896, 1900, and 1904. The last-named year he was chairman of the convention, and when President Mckinley was nominated Mr. Knight, at the request of Mr. McKinley, seconded the nomination. He was likewise one of the foremost orators at the convention of 1904.
Mr. Knight has a wife and two sons. He married, in 1870, Miss Frances H., daughter of Judge J. E. Wyman. Judge Wyman came to Cali- fornia in 1850, from Woburn, Massachusetts, his native place, and was for many years judge of the superior court at Eureka. The Wymans, like the Knights, are descended from Revolutionary stock, and Mrs. Knight is a member of the Daughters of the Revolution and the Colonial Dames. She is a native of Humboldt county, California. Their two sons are Fred S. and Charles E., the former a stock and bond broker of San Francisco, and the lat- ter a national bank examiner.
Fraternally Mr. Knight is identified with the Pacific Union Club, the Bohemian Club, all the branches of Masonry and the Odd Fellows. He is past grand of the I. O. O. F.
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CHARLES J. HEGGERTY.
Charles J. Heggerty, of San Francisco, stands to-day as one of the foremost representatives of the bar of California. From humble surround- ings he has made his way to large success through the open door of personal opportunity which is the pride of our American life. Choosing as the field of his labors a profession wherein advancement depends entirely upon indi- vidual merit and ability, he has worked his way upward until, entrusted with most important litigated interests, he has won for himself the admiration and respect of the general public as well as of the members of the profession who judge his work from a more strictly technical standpoint.
Mr. Heggerty is one of California's native sons, his birth having oc- curred in Smartsville, Yuba county, December 27, 1860. His father, Mor- ris Heggerty, was a native of Ireland and in 1849 crossed the Atlantic to New York. whence in 1853 he came to California, settling in Yuba county. He was a blacksmith, having learned the trade in Paisley, Scotland. His death occurred in 1873, when he was forty-five years of age. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary O'Donnell, was born in County Donegal, Ire- land, and emigrated to America with three sisters, arriving in New York in 1851. Three years later she started for California and took up her abode in Smartsville, Yuba county, where she gave her hand in marriage to Morris Heggerty. She survived her husband for about a year and died at the age of forty-five. There were but two children in the family. One died in in fancy.
Charles J. Heggerty, the surviving member of the family, was but fourteen years when left an orphan. He acquired his early education in the public schools of Yuba county and in St. Mary's College of San Fran- cisco, and completed a course in both the commercial and collegiate depart- ments, the former in 1878, the latter in 1880. In the latter year he won the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Following his graduation Mr. Heggerty took up the study of law with Geo. A. Knight in 1881, and later read with the firm of Clunie & Knight. He was admitted to the bar before the supreme court of the state in 1889, and the following year entered into partnership relations with Geo. A. Knight under the firm name of Knight & Heggerty, a relation that has since been maintained. In 1903 he was admitted to prac- tice before the United States supreme court. He has engaged in a general law practice, and the legal interests entrusted to his care have been of a very important character. The first important case with which he was connected was that involving the right of the hydraulic mining claims of Yuba county to work their mines by the hydraulic process and deposit the mining debris in the Yuba river. Mr. Heggerty represented the Golden Gate Consolidated Hydraulic Mining Company, whose mine was situated at Smartsville, about a mile and a half from the Yuba river. His next im- portant case concerned the estate of Judge Solomon Heydenfeldt, who was one of the justices of the supreme court of the state of California and a very celebrated mining lawyer. He left an estate valued at seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and his will, being contested by some of his chil-
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dren, the estate became involved in a mass of litigation which was in the courts from 1890 until 1902, when it was finally decided in favor of Mr. Heggerty's clients.
At the time of the death of Senator James G. Fair, in December, 1894, Mr. Heggery was representing the son, Charles L. Fair; for seven and a half years the litigation over that estate was pending in the various courts of California and was finally concluded in May, 1902. Upon its settlement Charles L. Fair and his wife, Caroline D. Fair, left California for a trip to Europe and both were killed in an automobile accident near Paris, France. Upon their death the estate again became involved in extensive litigation, which is now pending in the courts of California and New York. In this litigation Mr. Heggerty represents Herman Oelrichs as administrator of the estate of Charles L. Fair and Joseph Harvey and Charles S. Neal, as administrators for the estate of Caroline D. Fair. The Fair case involved the most extensive probate and general litigation that has ever come before the courts of California, the estate of Senator Fair being valued at thirty millions of dollars.
In September, 1890, Mr. Heggerty was united in marriage to Miss Annie M. Cashin, a daughter of John and Grace Cashin, who were pioneer residents of Nevada City, Nevada county, California, coming to this state about 1850. Her father was interested in mining in early days and subse- quently in banking and stock-raising in Nevada county. The only child of Mr. and Mrs. Heggerty died in infancy. Their home is at No. 2319 Scott street, which was completed in the spring of 1903. His politcal allegiance is given the Democracy, and he is a popular representative of several local or- ganizations of a social nature, including the Native Sons of the Golden West, the Young Men's Institute, the Hibernians, the Press Club and the Olympic Club. Of strong mentality, developing his talents through use and adding to his native ability that which comes as the result of thorough preparation. he has made for himself an enviable name in legal circles and his name is to-day by no means limited by the boundaries of city or county, but extends beyond the limits of the state.
HON. S. D. WOODS.
Hon. S. D. Woods, a leading lawyer of the San Francisco bar and ex- congressman from the second California district, has also the distinction of being one of the pioneers to the state, having come among the original for- ty-niners during the days of his childhood. He has followed out a most able and honorable career, having established a solid reputation as a lawyer of integrity and unusual qualifications for his profession, and has acquitted himself well in all his relations as a private citizen and in public station.
Mr. Woods was born in Maury county, Tennessee, in 1845, a son of Rev. James and Eliza (Williams) Woods, the latter a daughter of a promi- nent South Carolinian. The history of the Presbyterian church in Cali- fornia could not be written without recording the prominent part taken in its establishment and organization by the late Rev. James Woods, one of
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the most conspicuous of those pioneer figures, who, in the face of many obstacles and the indifference of hurrying commercialism and gain-seek- ing, sought to bring the power of religion to the new western seats of civ- ilization and give to the church of the Pacific coast the same power and influence it had in the east. He was a descendant of a sturdy Welsh fam- ily that came to Massachusetts during the Puritan times. He had espoused the ministry as his profession, and in 1849 he was one of the three chosen by the Presbyterian church to go as missionaries and establish churches in the Eldorado of the west. He left New York with his wife and three chil- dren, on May 17, 1849, on the sailing vessel Alice Tarlton, which, on ac- count of storms and head winds, was eight months in rounding the Horn and reaching San Francisco. He and his two fellow ministers formed the first presbytery of California, and he took a foremost part in all the church work of the state during those early days. He preached the first installa- tion sermon in this state, was the first moderator of the synod on the Pa- cific coast, and he preached in every town of California. The first Pres- byterian church of the state was organized by him. His ministerial labors were carried on in Stockton for many years, and his death occurred in 1882. His work entitled "Recollections of Pioneer Work in California" is one of the most interesting books dealing with the pioneer times of Califor- nia and contains much valuable information from an historical standpoint.
Mr. S. D. Woods was reared in California, and after his common school training began the study of law with Hon. John Saterlee, the first superior judge of San Francisco. Since his admission to the bar he has risen rapidly to a front rank among the eminent jurists of the common- wealth, and at the same time he has given without stint his influence and untiring effort for the upbuilding and development of his state, in which he has done as much as any other man. He has organized and helped build a number of railroads, and is now counsel for the Sierra Railway Company of California.
Mr. Woods is a stanch Republican, but is in no sense a politician. In 1890 he was prevailed upon to accept the nomination to Congress from the second district, to fill out an unexpired term and a full term and in the face of a normal majority of six thousand for the opposite party was elected with twelve hundred votes to spare. He refused to become a can- didate for election at the next congressional election.
M. H. DE YOUNG.
M. H. de Young, editor and proprietor of the San Francisco Chronicle, is one of the best-known newspaper men in the country. In his chosen voca- tion he has achieved a success such as has fallen to the lot of but few men. Mr. de Young was born in St. Louis in 1849, and when a lad removed with his family to San Francisco. In that city he grew up and very early mani- fested a predilection for journalism. He and his brother Charles made sev- eral essays, more or less amateurish in character, and finally started a paper known as the Dramatic Chronicle. It made its first appearance on the 16th of January, 1865, and was a success from the beginning. It was a diminu-
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tive four-page sheet, but the news instinct asserted itself in the first issue, which, in addition to a record of affairs theatrical, contained several inter- esting bits of intelligence and some well-written comment on current matters.
The first publication office of the Chronicle was a cramped room on a narrow down-town street, but after a short career of prosperity a suitable building was erected on Kearny street, which was the leading thoroughfare of the city in 1879.
In 1880 the death of his brother, Charles, left M. H. de Young the sole editor and proprietor of the Chronicle, positions which were assumed with so much ability and such readiness to successfully cope with every problem, that before the decade had passed it became evident that the quar- ters at Bush and Kearny streets would soon prove inadequate, and that more extensive accommodations were an imperative necessity. Steps were ac- cordingly taken to meet the emergency, the result being that in June, 1890. the present magnificent building at Market, Kearny and Geary streets was occupied, thus giving the Chronicle the finest newspaper building west of Chicago, and affording ample room for the rapid growth that now, as al- ways, rewards the energy and enterprise with which it has been conducted, and which has made the Chronicle the universally acknowledged leader in Pacific Coast journalism.
But besides devoting himself to the upbuilding of his great journal Mr. de Young has found time to render many public services of no small impor- tance. A thorough-paced Republican from principle, and believing that the principles of his party are best adapted for the welfare and growth of his country, he has at all times, both through his paper and by personal endeav- or, sought to advance the best interests of the party. He was chosen as delegate-at-large to two national Republican conventions, and served twice as a member of the Republican national committee. He was vice-chairman of the latter body during one term, and was greatly esteemed by his asso- ciates for his energy and suggestiveness.
At the session of the California legislature in 1892 Mr. de Young's political services were recognized by the bestowal upon him of the honor of the nomination for the United States senatorship, as successor of the late George Hearst. His friends stood stanchly by him, but after balloting for nearly two weeks Mr. de Young withdrew his name from the contest and gave his strength in support of Charles N. Felton, thus ending the prolonged deadlock and giving that gentleman the coveted honor.
In 1889 he was appointed commissioner from California to the Paris Exposition, and he devoted much time to a study of that affair. His criti- cism of the manner in which this country was represented, or rather mis- represented there, attracted much attention, and at the same time enabled him and others to perceive what would be necessary to make our own expo- sition a success. He left no detail of construction, arrangement or plan un- studied, and consequently, when appointed a member of the National World's Fair Commission, he brought to the task a thorough knowledge of what was essential. This was quickly recognized, and he was made a member of the board of control, and subsequently chosen vice-president of
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the National Commission. In 1900 President Mckinley appointed him as a national commissioner to represent the United States at the French expo- sition in that year. He was chosen as president of the commission by his associates and at the conclusion of the fair received the decoration of the Legion of Honor from the president of the French Republic.
He made his mark at the outset when the question of classification came up. He saw at a glance the fatal defects of the system proposed and that was on the point of being adopted by his colleagues, and lost no time in pointing them out and exposing their faults. Challenged to produce a better system of classification, he quickly did so, and so successfully ex- plained its valuable features that it was adopted. California can, therefore, claim with just pride that the classification system of the fair is due to one of her own citizens, and to him should be awarded the honor of having been primarily instrumental for whatever success was achieved.
The next matter that engaged his attention was the grouping and ar- rangement of the various principal buildings. It is now a matter of his- tory that this, too, as originally proposed, was defective in the extreme. The experience of Mr. de Young enabled him to suggest a remedy in this direction also, and his plans were adopted and carried out.
The California Midwinter International Exposition owed its concep- tion to M. H. de Young. On May 31, 1893, he disclosed his plan to a number of leading Californians in the California Club at Chicago. It met with instant favor. Reports of the meeting were sent all over the continent. Organization was begun at once. The project was looked upon as a daring piece of impudence, and found at first the least encouragement where it was to do the most good. It was revived in Chicago by the originator of the idea. Thousands of dollars were raised at once. The people of San Fran- cisco took it up again. Mayor Ellert appointed preliminary committees of organization, and after a few weeks of active work a permanent board of directors was chosen, with M. H. de Young as president and director-gen- eral of the exposition.
He was then in Chicago, but went at once to San Francisco. where he assumed control of the great enterprise. Aided by his experience in sim- ilar undertakings, particularly as vice-president of the Columbian Exposi- tion, he soon had the Winter Exposition well on the road to realization. All the great mass of details necessary to the administration of an interna- tional exposition was at his command, and advancement was made more rapidly than had been done in any other similar enterprise ever undertaken.
The director-general drafted the rules and regulations to govern the exposition, made the classification of all exhibits, and superintended every step in the enterprise, which proved successful in every particular. The exposition was opened on the ist of January. 1894, in Golden Gate Park, 3co acres of which were set aside for the purpose, and over 150 buildings for the housing of exhibits and other uses were erected at a cost of nearly $2,000,000. The exposition lasted six months, and during the time it was in progress it was visited by 904,018 persons. On some days the attendance reached 90,000. The total receipts from all sources were $1,260, 112.19.
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FANCY GO
Photo by Taber
THE NEW CHRONICLE BUILDING CORNER MARKET AND KEARNY STREETS, SAN FRANCISCO
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At the conclusion of the exposition, when all accounts were settled, the director-general was able to turn over to the park authorities property valued at $194,051.49. This surplus served to create an enduring monument in the shape of the Midwinter Fair Memorial Museum, which is now one of the attractions of the city.
It was the verdict of competent critics that the California Midwinter Exposition took high rank as a world's fair, meeting all the requirements of such an undertaking. Its exhibits represented the best productions of the leading nations of the globe. There were 758 medals awarded to foreign- ers, in addition to a large number obtained by domestic exhibitors, and the enterprise enjoys the unique distinction of being the only affair of the kind which absolutely paid its way, and left a surplus to forward a project de- signed to benefit the people who had given the exposition their encourage- ment and support.
The success achieved by Mr. de Young in his conduct of the Midwin- ter Exposition caused him to be selected by Governor Budd as commission- er-general to represent the state of California at the Omaha Transmissis- sippi Exposition.
Mr. de Young has for over twenty years been a director of the Asso- ciated Press, and has always since his active connection with that body de- voted a great deal of attention to its workings and contributed not a little to its successes.
Besides his phenomenally successful newspaper business, Mr. de Young has been fortunate in other ventures in which he has engaged, and long since had earned the right to be classed among the millionaires of the Pa- cific Coast. But the possession of large wealth has not divorced him from the energy and attention to detail which gave him that wealth, and every department of his great business is still subject to his personal attention. He exercises close supervision over the columns of the great journal which he has built up, and every issue bears the impress of his individuality and strength of character. That it will continue so to do, and that it will grow in importance and influence under his management for many years to come, is as certain as is the fact that it has attained its present unrivaled position under his control.
JAMES HERBERT BUDD.
James Herbert Budd, loyal in citizenship, is one of the distinguished citizens of California whose life record forms an integral part of the history of the state, and his energy and genius have left an impress upon its rapidly developing civilization. He stands as a high type of American manhood, having attained success in his profession which is indicative of close appli- cation and superior ability, while at the same time he has found opportunity to devote to the public welfare, to thoroughly inform himself concerning the vital questions and issues of the day and to spread in effective manner those principles which he believes contain the best elements of good government.
Mr. Budd was born at Janesville, Wisconsin, on the 18th of May, 1851,
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and is descended from an honorable ancestry. On both the paternal and ma- ternal sides he belongs to families that were represented in the Revolutionary war and the war of 1812. His parents were Joseph H. and Lucinda M. (Ash) Budd, both of whom were natives of New York. The ancestors were of English and French extraction in the paternal line, and Mr. Budd was also descended from one of the old Knickerbocker Dutch families of the Empire state. His father was a graduate of Williams College, Massachu- setts, and after practicing law for a number of years in Wisconsin came to California in 1858, making the journey by way of the Isthmus of Panama. Settling in San Joaquin county he resided there until his death, and for many years was a prominent and distinguished member of the Stockton bar. He was also elected judge of the superior court and held that position for a long period, up to the time of his demise, which occurred in 1902 when he was eighty-two years of age. His widow still survives him.
James Herbert Budd accompanied his mother and brother to Califor- nia not long after the arrival of Judge Budd, and in the public schools of Stockton pursued his early education. Subsequently he attended the Bray- ton school at Oakland, preparatory to entering the University of California, in which he completed a course by graduation with the class of 1873, the de- gree of Bachelor of Philosophy being then conferred upon him. The fol- lowing year his brother was graduated in the same institution with the de- gree of Bachelor of Arts. When his university course was terminated Mr. Budd took up the study of law in his father's office and in 1874 was ad- mitted to the bar. Of a family conspicuous for strong intellects, indomitable courage and energy, he entered upon his career as a lawyer, and such is his force of character and natural qualifications that he overcame all obstacles and wrote his name upon the keystone of the legal arch. He continued in active practice until 1882, when he was elected to Congress, and when he had served for one term he was unanimously renominated by his party, but declined to accept the renomination, desiring to confine his course to the law. Again he became a member of the Stockton bar, but in 1894 was called once more to public life, being elected on the Democratic ticket to the office of governor of California. He became the chief executive of the commonwealth in January, 1895, and served until January, 1899. His official record is a mat- ter of history and is creditable to the state. He retired from office as he had entered it-with the confidence and good will of the majority of California's citizens and then once more entered upon the practice of law, in which he has continued with excellent success. He has a large clientage, connecting him with much of the important litigation in the courts of the state, and he takes rank as an able and successful lawyer.
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