USA > California > A history of the new California, its resources and people; Vol I > Part 51
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Mr. Sargent left two children, Dr. J. P. Sargent, of Stockton, and Mrs. M. S. Wilberforce, the widow of Alex Wilberforce, a prominent San Fran- cisco business man.
J. P. Sargent was born in San Joaquin county, June 8, 1863, and after a high school education attended Bellevue Hospital Medical College and was graduated in the class of 1886. He is not in active practice but is devoting his attention to the management of the estate, the large interests absorbing most of his time.
WILLIAM ALEXANDER ANDERSON.
There are few men whose lives are crowned with the honor and respect which is universally accorded to William Alexander Anderson, but through more than half a century's connection with central California's history his has been an unblemished character. With him success in life has been reached by sterling qualities of mind and a heart true to every manly prin- ciple. He has never deviated from what his judgment indicated to be right and honorable between his fellow-men and himself. He has never swerved from the path of duty, and he has every reason to enjoy the consciousness of
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having gained for himself by his honorable, straightforward career the con- fidence and respect of the entire community in which he lives. He has attained a foremost position at the bar, and as a writer and dramatic critic is also well known. The public career of few other men of Sacramento has extended over a longer period, and none have been more faultless in honor, fearless in conduct and stainless in reputation.
Judge Anderson is a native of Wisconsin, his birth having occurred at Mineral Point, that state, on the 25th of February, 1846. He was a son of Hartford and Susan Anderson, who became pioneer residents of Cali- fornia, settling in this state at the period of its early mining development. His paternal grandfather was a resident of Edinburg, Scotland, in early life, and his wife was born in the north of Ireland. Having emigrated to America he established his home in Pennsylvania, where occurred the birth of his son, Hartford. The mother of our subject, Mrs. Susan (Atkins) Anderson, was a native of Kentucky. For some time the parents of the Judge resided in Wisconsin, where the father worked at the trade of wagon and carriage making. The business opportunities of the west, however, attracted him, and, hoping that he might readily obtain a fortune in the mining districts of California, he made his way across the plains accompanied by his family. They traveled over the stretches of hot sand, through the mountain passes until the days had lengthened into weeks and the weeks into months. At length they safely reached their destination. Mrs. Anderson, however, did not long survive her arrival on the Pacific coast, her death occurring during the cholera epidemic of 1852. Mr. Hartford Anderson, well known as one of the pioneer residents of Sacramento, continued to make his home in the capital city until his demise, which occurred in October. 1896. He took an active and interested part in the early development of this portion of the state, and his sympathy and support were always given to the measures and movements which contributed to the latter-day progress and improvement.
Judge Anderson was a lad of only four vears at the time of his parents' removal to the west. He began his education in the public schools and sup- plemented his early mental training by study in Santa Clara College, thus completing his literary course. His professional training was received in the Benicia Law College. His earlier studies, however, were directed in such a manner as to prepare him for the profession of civil engineering, but at a later date he determined to pursue the study of law, and entered the institution mentioned, completing there a thorough law course, after which he was graduated with the class of 1865.
Throughout his entire business career Judge Anderson has devoted his attention to the law, having been admitted to the bar of California by the supreme court of the state, in 1866, and to the United States circuit court in 1880. Admitted to the bar he at once entered upon the practice, and from the beginning has been unusually prosperous in every respect. The success which he has attained is due to his own efforts and merits. The possession of advantages is no guarantee whatever of professional advancement, which comes not of itself, nor can it be secured without integrity, ability and indus-
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try. These qualities he possesses to an eminent degree, and he is faithful to every interest committed to his charge. Throughout his whole life whatso- ever his hand has found to do, whether in his profession or in his official duties or in any other sphere, he does with all his might and with a deep sense of conscientious obligation. As a lawyer he is sound, clear-minded and well trained. He is at home in all departments of the law from the minutiæ in practice to the greater topics involving the consideration of the ethics and the philosophy of jurisprudence and the higher concerns of public policy. His success, however, affords the best evidence of his capabilities in this line. He is a strong advocate with the jury, and concise in his appeals before the court. Much of the success which has attended him in his pro- fessional career is undoubtedly due to the fact that in no instance will he permit himself to go into court with a case unless he has absolute confidence in the justice of his client's cause. Basing his efforts on this principle, from which there are far too many lapses in professional ranks, it naturally follows that he seldom loses a case in whose support he is enlisted.
Judge Anderson was first chosen to public office before he had attained his majority, being elected county auditor in 1866. His next public service was that of assistant adjutant general in the Fourth Brigade of the Cali- fornia National Guard from 1868 until 1879. In the meantime he was elected city attorney in 1875, and was continued in that office until 1886. In 1890 he was supervisor of the census, being one of three supervisors for the state. In 1893 legislative honors were conferred upon him, he being chosen to repre- sent the eighteenth district of California in the general assembly, where he gave careful consideration to every question that came up for settlement and espoused with ardor or opposed with equal earnestness the course which he believed would prove of benefit to the commonwealth or check its best interests. His service in the house won him the commendation of his con- stituents and the respect of his political opponents. In 1898 he was chosen police judge of Sacramento, and his decisions have been characterized by the strictest impartiality and equity.
Judge Anderson has always given his political allegiance to the Repub- lican party, and having made a close and earnest study of the issues and questions of the day he has become more strongly confirmed in his opinions that the party platform contains the best elements of good government. His campaign work has been effective and far-reaching, for he has visited various portions of California, advocating the doctrines of Republicanism and ex- pounding the basic elements upon which the political organization rests. He was one of the first champions of Major Mckinley in California and became a member of the executive committee during that campaign. He has been a delegate to nearly every Republican county and state convention for nearly thirty years, and his opinions carry weight in the councils of his party. In 1898 he was a delegate to the National Republican League Convention held in Omaha, Nebraska.
Judge Anderson has been twice married, and by the first union had one son, Osmer W. Anderson, who was born August 22, 1871, and who was for two years a volunteer soldier in the Philippines. On the 8th of Septem-
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ber, 1880, Judge Anderson married Miss Mary C. Cadwell. Theirs is an attractive home, the center of many an entertaining social function, and hos- pitality which is both gracious and generous is the pervading atmosphere of the household. In his fraternal relations Judge Anderson is a Mason and an Odd Fellow. He was reared in the Episcopal faith, but is a man of broad and liberal views in religious matters and is a communicant of no church organization at the present time.
A man of scholarly attainments and literary tastes, possessing broad general as well as classical information, he finds considerable enjoyment in giving his time to literary pursuits, and has been a frequent contributor to the daily papers. He was one of the founders of a literary journal called " Themis," which was noted for its historical merit and for its clear-cut and literary editorials. He is the author of some dramatic works and is well known as a dramatic critic and lover of the drama. He has studied from the art standpoint many of the most celebrated dramas of the world, and has had a personal acquaintance with most of the great dramatists of a generation ago, including Edwin Booth, John McCullough, Lawrence Barrett and other eminent actors and actresses. His writings are fluent and entertaining, elo- quent and versatile, and for a third of a century he has been known to the public as a lecturer whose addresses have created widespread interest. His influence upon literary and æsthetic culture of the state has been most potent, and at the same time he has given a practical support to the measures intended to advance the material interests of Sacramento. As a man and citizen he is honored and respected in every class of society. While undoubtedly he is not without that honorable ambition which is so powerful and useful as an incentive to activity in public affairs, he regards the pursuits of private life as being in themselves abundantly worthy of his best efforts. His is a char- acter that subordinates personal ambition to public good and seeks rather the benefit of others than the aggrandizement of self. His is a conspicuously successful career. Endowed by nature with high intellectual qualities, to which are added the discipline and embellishments of culture, his is a most attractive personality. Well versed in the learning of his profession, and with a deep knowledge of human nature and of the springs of human con- duct, with great shrewdness and sagacity and extraordinary tact, he is in the courts an advocate of great power and influence. Both judges and juries always hear him with attention and deep interest.
CHARLES O. BUSICK.
Charles O. Busick, one of the prominent young attorneys of Sacra- mento, being associated with J. W. S. Butler, at 4261/2 J street, is a lawyer of unusual ability, legal acumen and skill, and since his admission to the bar in 1898 has risen rapidly in public favor and confidence and taken rank among the leading men of his profession in the city. His career has been one of' self-achievement, and he may be proud that he has by his own efforts advanced from one stepping stone of progress to another, and yet is still only a young man and on the threshold of a career of large usefulness in public and pro- fessional life.
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Mr. Busick was born in Orange county, Indiana, March 16, 1874. His father, Samuel K. Busick, was also born in Indiana, of an old southern family, and he is now a farmer residing in Silver Lake, Oregon. He married Sarah Ann Chitty, also a native of Indiana, and she is still living. There were four daughters in the family besides Mr. Busick: Fannie W. Pierson resides in Cosumne, California; Nancy Thomason lives in Fresno, California; Ger- trude J. McLinn is at Silver Lake, Oregon; and Miss Agnes Busick is at home.
Mr. Busick was brought to Sacramento when he was one year old, and was educated in the public schools of that place and spent his boyhood days on his father's farm near the city, so that he is practically a native son of the state, and has always been identified with its interests and growth. In 1895 he took up the study of law in the office of Lincoln White. He was admitted to the bar in 1898, and at once opened an office and practiced alone until 1902, when he became associated with J. R. Hughes, which relation con- tinued until the election of the latter as assistant district attorney in Decem- ber, 1903, and since that time Mr. Busick has been in partnership with Mr. Butler. He has carried on a general law practice, and has been extraordi- narily successful in winning both friends and patronage. He was appointed a notary public in 1898 by Governor Gage. He is active in the interests of the Republican party, and his value as a party worker has already placed him in line for political promotion. In the session of 1903 he was secretary of the finance committee of the state senate.
Mr. Busick was married in Sacramento, April 30, 1902, to Miss Alice Cardinet, who was born in California and is a daughter of Emil Cardinet, a pioneer mining man, but now retired. Charles O., Jr., is the name of the one son of this marriage. Mr. Busick affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of the Maccabees and the Fraternal Brother- hood. In 1896 he was enrolled in Company E, Second Infantry of the California National Guard, and has been connected with the organization almost continuously since. He is now first sergeant of the sanitary corps, unattached, of the Second Regiment.
CHARLES N. POST.
Charles N. Post, assistant attorney general of California, has won dis- tinction at a bar numbering many leading and eminent lawyers. In no calling does advancement depend more largely upon individual merit. The basis of all success at the bar is strong mentality, continuous, coherent thought, careful preparation of cases and correct application of legal principles to the facts in litigation. All these have entered into the career of Charles N. Post, whose connection with the office of attorney general dates from January, 1895, and will continue until 1907.
Mr. Post was born in Eldorado county, California, in March, 1853. a son of Albert V. V. and Cornelia M. (Almy) Post. The father, a native of New Jersey, belonged to an old Holland Dutch family that was established on Staten island in the early part of the seventeenth century. The mother was
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a native of the Empire state and a daughter of George Washington Almy. whose father came with LaFayette from France to aid the American colonists in the struggle for independence, and after the war decided to make his home in the new republic. George W. Almy married a Miss Kettle, also a repre- sentative of an old American family. Albert V. V. Post was a machinist and brass founder by trade, and served his apprenticeship with Peter Dono- hue, founder of the great Union Iron Works in San Francisco. He came to California in 1849, when hundreds of others were making their way from the east to the gold fields of the Pacific coast, hoping to quickly realize for- tunes in this section of the country. He followed store-keeping and mining for a few years, but not meeting with the success he had anticipated he con- ducted the Rolling Hills Hotel in Eldorado county for several years, and it was during that time that his son Charles was born. Soon after the Central Pacific Railroad was started he entered its employ as a machinist, and when he severed his connection with the road he was superintendent of the Sacra- mento round-house. Later, in company with E. F. Perkins, who had also been in the employ of the railroad company, he went east, where he continued in railroad service up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1884. In his family were three sons and two daughters, but Belle M., the wife of J. M. Costegin, of Oakland, California, and Charles N. are the only ones now living.
At the usual age Charles N. Post became a pupil in the public schools of Sacramento and continued his studies until sixteen years of age, after which he served for four years in the Southern Pacific Railroad shops as a machin- ist. He then entered the employ of Adams-McNeil & Company, wholesale grocers, with whom he continued for two years, and his leisure hours during that period were devoted to the study of law. From 1876 until 1878 he served as deputy recorder of Yolo county, and then returning to Sacramento went into the law office of Creed Haymond, as a student, being admitted to practice before the supreme court in November, 1879.
His professional career began in January, 1880, when he was appointed deputy clerk of the supreme court, and when he had filled that position for three years he formed a partnership with Henry Edgerton, of Sacramento, with whom he continued until elected city justice of the peace, filling the office from 1885 until 1888, inclusive. He then resumed the private practice of law, in which he continued until January, 1895, and that he had won for him- self the favorable regard of the public and the profession is indicated by the fact that at that date he was appointed first deputy attorney general under Attorney General W. F. Fitzgerald. In 1899 he was appointed assistant attorney general and served for four years under Attorney General Tiery L. Ford, and in January, 1903, was reappointed by the present attorney general, U. S. Webb.
In 1880 Mr. Post was married to Miss Nellie M. Outten, a native of Sacramento county and a daughter of John Outten, who was born in Delaware and belonged to an old American family that was founded in America many generations ago. He became one of the pioneer mining men of Sacramento county. His wife, Lucy Cantlin, who was born in Philadelphia, also came of an ancestry of long and close connection with American interests. Both Mr.
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and Mrs. Post have spent their entire lives in California and he holds mem- bership with the Native Sons of the Golden West, being a past president of Sacramento Parlor No. 3. He is also a past exalted ruler of Sacramento Lodge No. 328, B. P. O. E., and is deeply interested in athletics, especially field sports. In 1883 he organized the Pacific Coast Field Trial Club, which is the second oldest of the kind in the United States. In politics he is a Re- publican and has for many years been closely identified with his party. He is a typical western man, possessing the ambition and spirit of progress which have been the dominant factor in the upbuilding of this section of the country. His business career, characterized by successive advance stages, has led him from humble service to a position of importance in connection with the judicial department of the state government, and his excellent qualifications have found recognition in a third appointment to office. Among his friends he is highly esteemed for his social nature, his genial disposition, and he has ratified strong friendships by his deference for the opinions of others and his kindly consideration.
JOSEPH CHARLES BOYD.
Joseph Charles Boyd, who is filling the position of county surveyor of Sacramento county, has in the line of his profession controlled many engi- neering projects which have been of much value to central California. He has attained precedence of many in his profession, having won an enviable position through marked ability and a thorough and comprehensive knowl- edge of the great scientific principles which must underlie all practical and successful work in this direction.
Mr. Boyd is a native son of San Francisco, his birth having occurred on the 19th of February, 1864. James L. Boyd, his father, was born in Montreal, Canada. He was a stevedore and died about 1876. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Sarah Martin Wallace, was born in the north of Ireland and was a representative of an old Protestant family of Scotch descent. She died in 1898 at the advanced age of eighty-two years. In their family were three children, the brother of Joseph C. being George W., who is a mechanical engineer of San Francisco. Her sister is now the wife of J. C. Pierson, city engineer of Sacramento.
Joseph C. Boyd having completed the work of the grammar schools in San Francisco continued his studies in the high school of that city, and on graduating put aside his text-books in order to enter upon the study of engi- neering under the direction of Mr. Pierson, who was then the engineer in charge of the construction of the Bear river dam and other works connected with the state engineer's office. This was in the year 1879, and Mr. Boyd has continuously followed engineering since that time. He remained with Mr. Pierson until 1887 and served as deputy county surveyor of Sacramento county, performing various duties in connection with the work of the office. From 1887 until 1889 he was associated with the engineering department of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company in the construction of its line between Raymond and Berenda and the coast line extension from Newhall. now Saugus, to San Luis Obispo. In 1889 he was elected county surveyor of Sacramento county, serving until 1891, during which time he did import-
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ant service as an engineer in the reclamation of several hitherto unimproved districts in and adjacent to Sacramento county. From 1892 until 1894 he was city engineer of Sacramento under Mayor Comstock, and in 1895 was chosen for the office of county surveyor by popular suffrage. He has since been continued in this position, serving there for the third term, which will expire in 1907. His work in this connection has been of an important char- acter, and that he has the entire confidence and support of the public is indi- cated by the fact that he has been three times chosen for the position. Not alone to the duties of the office, however, has his attention been given, although he never allows anything to interfere with the faithful perform- ance of the tasks which devolve upon him as a public official. He is a director of the Frederick Mier Company, and was one of its organizers and incorporators. This company was incorporated for one hundred thousand dollars, and does a general business in buying and selling real estate and loaning money. For a number of years he has been a director in the Elks Hall Association, which is capitalized for sixty thousand dollars, and he has been interested in a number of mining and canal projects in California, which have resulted in financial benefit to the stockholders and have been a marked source of good in the improvement of the state.
On the 25th of April. 1888, Mr. Boyd was united in marriage to Miss Julia L. Mier, a native of Sacramento and a daughter of Frederick Mier, a capitalist of this city, who was one of the pioneer residents of California, arriving in this state in 1849. He was at one time the owner of Sutter Fort, also of the Sacramento electric light plant, of an excelsior manufac- turing establishment and the Ione Coal Mine. He was likewise proprietor of the Capital Furniture Company of Sacramento, and the extent and import- ance of his business affairs made him one of the most prominent men of the city, his prestige, however, being won through individual capability and the strong purpose and excellent management which he displayed in the control of his business interests. The Mier family is of German descent. Through his marriage Mr. Boyd has become connected with several of the most prominent business men of central California. He is a brother-in-law of Robert White of the firm of White & Bauer, of the San Francisco News Company; of W. E. Palmer, cashier of the Humboldt Savings Bank, of San Francisco; and of J. R. Mier, assistant cashier of the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company of San Francisco. To Mr. and Mrs. Boyd have been born two children, Melvin D. and Lauretta, both in school.
Mr. Boyd belongs to the Native Sons of the Golden West, to the Benev- olent and Protective Order of Elks and to the Masonic fraternity. In his political views he is a Republican, active and earnest in support of the party. and it was upon the Republican ticket that he was elected to his present position. His entire life having been spent in California, he has witnessed much of its growth and improvement, and his own labors have been a material factor in the development and progress of the central section of the state. He is not only well trained in the line of his chosen profession, but is thor- oughly reliable and trustworthy, and his honor and integrity stand as an unquestioned fact in his business and political career.
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HENRY E. WRIGHT.
Henry E. Wright, whose residence is at 1205 North Hunter street, Stockton, is a typical California pioneer, representative of all the best ele- ments and qualities of that semi-romantic but withal very strenuous and enterprising individual. The veterans of the old vanguard who made set- tlement in the state fifty years ago are few and constantly decreasing in number, and the deeds done in their days of activity certainly deserve chron- icling before the actors themselves pass from the stage of life. Of the near- ly eighty years of his life, Mr. Wright has spent the last fifty-two in Cali- fornia, and a full half century has been passed within the confines of San Joaquin county, so that none have a more intimate acquaintance with the development and upbuilding of this portion of the state. And he has been interested in many lines of enterprise, and no one has a fund of experience richer and more fulsome of the days agone than Mr. Wright.
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