An illustrated history of Los Angeles County, California. Containing a history of Los Angeles County from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospective future and biographical mention of many of its pioneers and also of prominent citizens of to-day, Part 28

Author: Lewis Publishing Company. cn
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1092

USA > California > Los Angeles County > An illustrated history of Los Angeles County, California. Containing a history of Los Angeles County from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospective future and biographical mention of many of its pioneers and also of prominent citizens of to-day > Part 28

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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.

Lee University at Lexington, Virginia, in the fall of 1874. He took the degree of Bachelor of Arts, June 20, 1878; graduated from the Law School of the University of Louisiana, at New Orleans, May 8, 1880, and was at once admitted to practice in the Supreine and all other courts of Louisiana. He practiced two years at the New Orleans bar before coming to California in July, 1882. Upon arriving in Los Angeles he was employed as a reporter on the Los Angeles Times, then in the same capacity on the Los Angeles Herald for over a year. On May 14, 1884, he took editorial con- trol and management of the Los Angeles Even- ing Express, which paper he edited until the end of that year. In January, 1885, Mr. Denis resuined the practice of the law, and in Febru- ary, 1886, was appointed deputy district at- torney; afterward assistant district attorney for Los Angeles County, and on April 2, 1888, he was appointed by President Cleveland United States Attorney for the Southern District of California, his nomination being confirmed by the Senate on the 24th of the same month. He took the oath and assumed the duties of the office on the 8th of May, 1888.

HENRY A. BARCLAY, of the law firm of Bar- clay, Wilson & Carpenter, is the son of David Barclay, a distinguished lawyer of Western Pennsylvania, and was born in that State in 1849. Possessing a natural taste and talent for mathematics, he turned his attention in youth to the study of surveying and civil engineering and devoted some time to railroad surveying. Residing in the vicinity of the oil regions during the great development of that interest in West- ern Pennsylvania, Mr. Barclay engaged in oil business, and also turned his mathematical talent to account as ganger of oil tanks and cars; and his business increased to such an ex- tent that for some time he gauged nearly half the oil produced in the United States, averaging at times several hundred dollars a day. This business declining, he left it in the hands of his brother, and read law in his father's office, and was admitted to practice in 1871. After

practicing his profession in Armstrong and Clarion counties about a year, he moved to Pittsburg and continued the practice of law in that city until he came to California in 1874. Traveling extensively over the State, he selected Los Angeles as the best point outside of San Francisco in which to reside and practice his profession. He settled in Los Angeles in 1874 and opened a law office in 1875. The following year Mr. Barclay formed a partnership with Robert C. Wilson, one of the members of the present firin, under the firm name and style of Barclay & Wilson. In 1886 C. R. Redick came into the firm, but ill-health compelled him to retire in 1887, and ex-Judge R. B. Carpenter, late of Charleston, South Carolina, became a member of the firm. . Mr. Barclay has a fine reputation as a lawyer, and the firm has a large practice in the line of civil canses, an important feature of which is land law, embracing Spanish and Mexican grants, and the United States land laws, corporations' and mechanics' liens, and civil business generally. Politically Mr. Bar- clay is a stanch Republican, has been a mem- ber of the County Central Committee in several campaigns, and has twice served as chairman of that body. He was acting chairman during the Garfield-Hancock campaign in 1880, when Los Angeles County was carried for Garfield by sixty majority, being Republican for the first time in its history; was chairman of the com- mittee in the campaign of 1884, when the county was carried by a much larger majority for Mr. Blaine; has also participated in several State conventions.

JULIUS BROUSSEAU. Wherever on this conti- nent the realm of mind. dominates and directs the affairs of men, the representatives of New England and New York will be found in the front. The learned professions of Southern California are no exception to this rule. Promi- nent among the members of the bar of Los Angeles County is Julius Broussean, a native of the Empire State, born in Malone, Franklin County. Ile is the eldest of five children-two sons and three danghters-of Julius Brousseau

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and nee Marienne Jarvis, both of French nation- ality, and now residents of Los Angeles County, each being seventy-six years of age. When Mr. Brousseau was two years old his parents moved to Monroe County, New York, and there the succeeding twenty-three years of his life were passed. His literary education was obtained in the public schools and in Lima Seminary. Like many other young men of limited means who have fought life's battle successfully, Mr. Brous- sean started ont by teaching school, in which he was engaged about eight or nine years. On leaving his native State, he went to Michigan, and read law in the office of Hon. William New- ton, District Judge, in the city of Flint, that State. Being admitted to the bar of the Su- preme Court of Michigan in the fall of 1861, Mr. Brousseau commenced the practice of law in F.int. Two years later he moved to the city of Saginaw, and there conducted a large and successful legal business till his failing health compelled a change of location in the spring of 1870. While in Saginaw he served two terms of two years each as city attorney. Removing to Kankakee, Illinois, he there enjoyed a suc- cessful professional career of nearly seven years, when the delicate health of his family demanded another change of climate; and, resigning the office of eity attorney, in which he was serving his second term, he started with his family, early in January, 1877, for California. Arriving in Los Angeles the 16th of that month, they have since made that city their home. Shortly after settling here Mr. Broussean entered into a law partnership with Judge Volney E. Howard and his son, Frank Howard, under the firm style of Howard, Brousseau & Howard, which continned until Judge Howard went on the bench three years after. In 1880 Mr. Broussean removed his office into the Baker Block and practiced alone until May, 1886, when Judge David P. Hatch moved down from Santa Bárbara and the present firm of Brousseau & Hatch was formed, the firm being one of the ablest on this part of the Pa- cific Coast. This firm has had a very large civil practice in the State and the United States

conrts, and have all the partners and two or three assistants can attend to. In Michigan Mr. Broussean did considerable criminal practice, and became quite celebrated locally for his elo- quence and ability as a trial lawyer in criminal cases; but, finding that branch of practice not agreeable to his taste or wishes, he entirely abandoned criminal practice on leaving there.

In the fall of 1860 Mr. Broussean married Miss Carrie Yakeley in Ypsilanti, Michigan. She is a native of Seneca County, New York, of Ger- man parentage on her mother's side and English 0 : her father's side. Mr. and Mrs. Brousseau have four children-two sons and two daughters -ranging in age from twenty-six to thirteen years. Miss Kate, the eldest ehild, after gradn- ating from the State Normal School, spent a year and a half in Europe traveling and studying the French and German languages. Miss Ma- bel, the younger daughter, is devoting her at- tention to music. The sons, Eddie and Roy, are fifteen and thirteen years of age respectively. Mr. Brousseau has taken thirty-two Scottish Rite degrees in Masonry, and is now Master of Rose Cross Lodge of Los Angeles. Though a Democrat politically. he has never been an act- ive politician. Twice in his life he has yielded to the wishes of his friends and run for office ; while in Michigan he was a candidate for the Legislature, and since residing in Los Angeles was candidate for Superior Judge. He ran against large political odds in both cases, and, thongh receiving more than the vote of the party, was defeated in each instance,

HENRY T. GAGE was born near Geneva, in the State of New York, in November, 1853. At a very early age he moved with his parents to Michigan, He commenced the practice of the law in Los Angeles in 1877, and in a short time became recognized as one of the most careful, well-grounded and successful attorneys at the bar. The end of the first decade of his practice found him at the head of his profession.

In the appearance of his dress he does not at all fill the ideal of the lawyer, but, on the con- trary, he strikes one as a prosperons and thor-

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oughly content farmer. In stature he is above medium height, strongly and compactly built, with a face indicating great determination and strength of character.

In the trial of causes there is no lawyer at the bar more courteous, considerate and polite than is Mr. Gage. But those who have crossed swords with him have become convinced that when most polite he is professionally most dan- gerous. In the preparation of his cases, he leaves absolutely no point unexamined, but is as careful of the law as he is in the details of the trial; as a consequence, there perhaps is no lawyer in Southern California who has been more uniformly successful in the results of his professional efforts. It is a fact of which his friends feel proud, that of the great number of most important civil and criminal cases tried by him, he has lost a very small proportion,- so few, that were the number given, the correct- ness of the statement might be doubted.

His position at the bar necessarily gives him a prominence which would mean distinction in politics, were he disposed to such a career. But, notwithstanding many efforts to have him fill office, he has persistently declined such honors. In the field of politics his only office- holding, if such it may be termed, was that of being selected as a delegate at large from the State of California to the National Republican Con- vention at Chicago, which assembled in that city in 1888. He took a very prominent part in its deliberations, having been selected to second the nomination of Levi P. Morton for the Vice- Presidency.

Mr. Gage affords another illustration in the history of American men of mark, of the self- made man, inasmuch as mentally and profes- sionally his position is due exclusively to his own efforts.

HION. CHARLES SILENT, a member of the law firm of Houghton, Silent & Campbell, one of the most prominent and prosperous in the Los Angeles bar, was born in Germany, in 1843. In his childhood his parents immigrated to America and settled in Columbus, Ohio. His

parents being in indigent circumstances, the ambitious boy left home at twelve years of age and started out to fight the battle of life alone. Borrowing some money from a friend he em- barked at New York for California via the Isthmus of Panama, and arrived in San Fran- cisco in August, 1856. Taking up his residence in Drytown, Amador County, the adventurous youth worked at various occupations during the next four years in that place, and attended school one or two terms. Having formed a plan having for its ultimate object the practice of the law, he employed every spare hour in a system- atic course of study, and so thorough had been the work of the self-taught boy that in 1860 he passed an examination for teaching, receiving a first-grade certificate. After teaching three months in the country he was employed to take charge of the school in which he had been a pupil, and taught it with marked success till 1862, when he entered the University of the Pacific in Santa Clara. Meeting with a finan- cial loss he was obliged to quit college at the close of the first termn and was elected principal of the Santa Clara public schools. Continuing his studies while teaching, Mr. Silent received from the University of the Pacific the honorary degree of A. M. in 1872. While still teaching he studied law, and was admitted to the bar, and entered upon practice in the fall of 1868 as the junior member of the law firm of Moore, Laine & Silent in San José After two years of extensive and lucrative practice with that firm he severed his connection with it, and until 1878 divided his time between his profession and other pursuits. In February, 1878, he was appointed by President Hayes one of the Su- preme Judges of Arizona, which office he filled till 1880, then resigned to resume the law practice in Tucson, Arizona. At the close of three years of very profitable legal business Judge Silent retired for a rest. In 1886 he re- moved from San José to Los Angeles, and upon settling in the Southern metropolis became a member of the law firm before mentioned in this article, and which ranks among the first in

I.m. Sauvion

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ability and volume of business in the bar of the city. IIe has always been identified with out side business interests, which with the income from his practice have made him financially independent. Judge Silent's first wife was the daughter of Rev. John Daniel, of Santa Clara, whom he married in 1864. She died in 1870, and two years after he married the eldest daugh- ter of M. Tantau, an old citizen of Santa Clara County.

JAMES MONROE DAMRON, a prominent attorney at law, Los Angeles, is a native of Johnson County, Illinois, where he was born December 10, 1855, the son of Samuel Damron, whose ancestors came from France. James received his education and passed his minority in his native place. After studying law for a due time, he was admitted to the bar in 1879. Afterward he removed to Cairo, Illinois, where he was elected State's Attorney in 1880, he being the only one of the seventeen candidates on the Republican ticket who was elected. In 1883 he came to Los Angeles, where he has since practiced his profession, with the ex- ception of the time he was in the Legislature. During District Attorney Holton's incumbency, Mr. Damron acted as a deputy of that officer.

In the fall of 1888 he was elected on the Republican ticket to the Assembly, by about 1,500 majority. The constituency he represented in the Legislature-being about 85,000 people- is larger than that of any other member of the Assembly, and his prominence there as a gen- nine statesman has been marked. He was a member of the judiciary committee, the House being Democratic. He is a man of great energy, clear-headed and an eloquent debater. Among the important measures adopted by the Legis- lature is the law originated by Mr. Damron, and in which he takes justifiable pride, estab- lishing a reform school for Southern California, to be located in Los Angeles County, and ap- propriating $200,000 therefor. There has long been a demand in this State for an institution of this kind. Since the passage of the law a committee, consisting of Doctor Walter Lindley 12

-who is to be the superintendent of the in- stitution-Hons. J. Sims and J. M. Damron, and R. B. Young, architect, lias visited Eastern reformatory institutions for the purpose of be- coming acquainted with the very best system of juvenile penology to be found anywhere in the Union. This committee visited the State in- stitutions of Ohio, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Michigan, Illinois, etc. As a result of their studies of the question by actual inspection of the various Eastern re- formatories, it has been decided to adopt what is called the open cottage or family system, without prison walls; that is, to trust pupils and seek to build up in them self-respect, and eu- courage them to forget that they are criminals in any sense, and to stimulate in thein the belief that there is a future for them, as there is for all who seek to do well, -in other words, to make an honorable future possible for them. The school has been already located at Whittier, in this county; and it is expected that the necessary buildings will be erected aid realy for 03- cupancy by September, 1890. The first board of trustees consists of Hervey Lin lley, of Los Angeles, President; Hon. James R. Lowe, of San José; and Hon. Josiah Sims, of Neval City.

Mr. Damron was married in 1878 to Miss Florence Scott, a lineil descendant of Sir Wal- ter Scott, and they have three children-one son, Lloyd, and two daughters, Norinad and Florita.

HON. AURELIUS W. HUTTON, a prominent rep- resentative of and long practitioner in the Los Angeles bar, was born in Greene County, Ala- bama, July 23, 1847. His parents both dying in his early childhood-his father in 1852 and his mother in 1854-the orphan boy was reared in the family of his eldest sister, Mrs. D. H. Williams, whose husband was his guardian . Young Hutton's early education was obtained in the Old Field private schools; and in 1863 he entered the University of Alabama, a mili- tary school, becoming a member of the Ala- bama Corps Cade:s. He attended there until

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that institution was destroyed by United States troops in April, 1865. In Jannary, 1886, he began the study of law in the office of Bliss & Snedecor, in Gainesville, Sumter County, Ala- bama, the home of his guardian. Mr. Bliss was a distinguished lawyer from New England, the former partner of Hon. Joe Baldwin, the anthor of " Flush Times in Alabama and Mis- sissippi." At the close of a year and a half of office study, Mr. IIutton entered the law depart- ment of the University of Virginia, at the age of twenty, and completed the studies of both the junior and senior classes in one year. He gradnated with the degree of B. L., in June, 1868, a month before his twenty-first birthday. In January, 1869, he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Alabama, and Janu- ary 23, of that year, he sailed from New York, via the Isthmus of Panama, for California, ar- riving in San Francisco, February 15, 1869. Early in April he came to Los Angeles, and has been actively engaged in the practice of his profession ever since, except two years he was on the Superior Bench. In December, 1872, he was elected city attorney of Los Angeles, for a term of two years, and was re-elected in 1874. While serving in that capacity he drafted the first regular city charter for the government of Los Angeles, and also the re- vised charter of 1876, many of the principal features of which have been embodied in the revised charter of 1878. Two vacancies ocenr- ring on the Superior Bench of Los Angeles County, by an act of February 7, 1887, provid- ing an increased number of judges, a meeting of the bar was held to consider the comparative merits of the six candidates for the position. On the first ballot cast by that body, Mr. Hut- ton received eighty-two of the 104 votes cast; and upon this strong endorsement he was ap- pointed Superior Judge, in February, 1887, by Governor W. Bartlett, for the term of nearly two years. He was nominated on the Demo- cratic ticket to be his own successor; but, al- though he ran about 800 votes ahead of the party ticket, he could not overcome the Repub-

lican majority of more than 3,000, and retired from the bench to resume his law practice, in partnership with J. W. Swanwick, a rising young lawyer of this county, with some six years' practice. Judge Ilutton was one of the original incorporators of the San Gabriel Orange Grove Association-Indiana Colony -which founded the city of Pasadena.

In February, 1874, Judge Hutton married Miss Kate Travis, a native of the same town in which he was born, and who came with her parents to California on the same steamer with him. Seven children, five daughters and two sons, are the fruit of this union.

ALLEN P. BENTLEY, notary public and law practitioner in Compton, is a pioneer of 1875. When he first came to the State he lived two years at Santa Monica, and then came to Comp- ton, where he established the lumber business, which he carried on very successfully for ten years.

Mr. Bentley was born in Ontario County, New York, in 1816, and is a son of Preston D. and Sophia (James) Bentley. The former was a native of New York and the latter of Rhode Island, and both are of English origin. The subject of this sketch learned the trade of printing in Canandaigua, New York, and while yet a boy he went to Rochester, where he worked at the trade for five years. He then went to Michigan and worked two years on the Free-Press. From there he went to Mt. Clem- ens, Macomb County, where he was connected with a newspaper and was justice of the peace and county treasurer of that county for four years. In 1858 he moved to Council Bluff's, Iowa, and subsequently to Burlington, the same State, where he was editor and proprietor of the Gazette for two years, having for a partner George M. Todd.

In 1837 he was married to Eliza Bennett, in Rochester, New York, and to them have been born six children: Emlins A., who was killed by the Indians in Arizona; Tunis A., Dora, Sylvia, Allenette and Farina N. The mother of these children died in 1878, and in 1879

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Mr. Bentley married Mrs. Annie Sibley, a native of Niagara County, New York. She departed this life in October, 1884. Mr. Bent- ley again entered the marriage relation, this time with Mrs. Susan Clark, a native of Illi- nois, but principally reared in California.

Mr. Bentley is a member of the Masonic fraternity. During his residence at Burling- ton, Iowa, he was for five years Master of Bnr- lington Lodge, No. 20, and two years High Priest of Iowa Chapter, No. 1. He is also a Knight Templar at Compton. Politically he is an advocate of the principles of the Demo- cratic party, having cast his first Presidential vote for Van Buren in 1840. He has served as justice of the peace in Compton for six years, and is now city attorney. Mr. Bentley owns several houses and lots in Compton, and a neat residence on Main street. He is one of the true pioneers, and a man well thought of and highly respected by all who know him.

RICHARD R. TANNER, attorney at law, Santa Monica, is a native of California, born in 1858. His early life was spent in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties. In 1871 he went to Ven- tura County, and while there was engaged in the study of law and also in mercantile busi- ness.

He came to Santa Monica in 1885, and since then has devoted his time to the practice of his profession, in which he has been very success- ful, and is now enjoying an increasing law prac- tice. He is the attorney for the First National Bank of Santa Monica, for the Santa Monica Lumber Company, and has also recently been appointed deputy district attorney, and city attorney for Santa Monica.

In 1884 he was united in marriage with the daughter of Judge Henry Robinson, of Ventura County. Mr. Tanner is one of those genial kind of gentlemen with whom it is a pleasure to come in contact. Although a young man, he has, by his own energy, pushed his way to the front and enjoys an enviable position in both business and social circles. Like all trne Cali- fornians, he has great faith in the future pros-

perity and development of the Golden State, and especially is he enthusiastic over the future of Santa Monica.

HON. CORNELIUS COLE, ex-Senator, was born in Seneca County, New York, September 17, 1822. ITis father, David Cole, was a native of New Jersey, and his mother, nee Rachel Town- send, was a native of Dutchess County, New York. Mr. Cole attended the public schools, Geneva College, and the Wesleyan University in Connecticut, where he was graduated. After studying law at Auburn, he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of New York, at Oswego, May 1, 1848.

In company with a small party he crossed the plains, by way of Fort Laramie and Salt Lake, and arrived at Sacramento City, then called El Embarcadero, July 24, 1849. From there he went to the mines in El Dorado County, where he had good success, washing out often over $100 per day. Thence he went to San Fran- cisco, where, the following spring, he com- menced the practice of law. While he was in the East, in 1851, San Francisco was visited by destructive fires, in which his office and its con- tents were entirely consumed. Business calling him to Sacramento, he concluded to open an office there. Mr. Cole continued to be engrossed in his profession till the opening of the Presi- dential campaign of 1856 when he edited the Republican paper, the Sacramento Daily Times. After the election he returned to the law, but during the following four years he was the California member of the Republican National Committee. In 1859 he was elected district attorney for the city and county of Sacramento. In 1863 he was elected a member of Congress, and served the people of this State and of this coast faithfully and with great ability. In 1866 he was elected to the United States Senate, tak- ing his seat March 4, 1867, and occupying the place for six years, during which time he served on some of the most important commit- tees of that body, being chairman of the com- mittee on appropriations for four years of his term.

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CHAPMAN & HENDRICK .- Judge John S. Chap- man, of this firm, is one of the ablest lawyers on the Pacific Coast. His manner is earnest and impressive, and he has the happy faculty of always knowing what to say, how to say it, and when he has said it. It is a pleasure to listen to him address a jury or expound a legal prop- osition to a court. He makes no pretensions to oratory, as the term is generally understood, but he has a clear and forcible way of stating facts and presenting the law that carries convic- tion to his hearers. Like all great lawyers, he deals fairly with his adversary, and often states his opponent's case more forcibly than opposing counsel. Earnest, faithful, absolutely fearless, gifted with great physical endurance and an industry that knows no bounds, he has won for himself the gratitude of his clients, the admiration of the bar and the respect of the courts.

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Author: Lewis Publishing Company. cn Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1092

Author: Lewis Publishing Company. cn
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1092