Alameda
County
Biographies
GEORGE E. DE GOLIA
As
lawyer, politician and social leader, the Hon., George E. De Golia has held a
position of prominence and importance in the city of Oakland for more than a
quarter of a century, and is Mat Placerville May 3, 1857, the son of Darwin De
Golia, an early settler, and was reared throughout his boyhood in his native
locality. Ambitious and enterprising he
became a page in the assembly at the age of fourteen years, and with economy
and thrift unusual in one so young he saved his earnings, with which he contemplated
paying his way through college. At
sixteen years of age he entered the state university, and
upon his graduation four years later was fifth in a class of twenty-six members
standing first in the college of engineering, which course he took there as
well as a literary course. In 1878 he became
managing editor of the Oakland Daily Transcript, o which newspaper he remained
about a year. Upon the election for the
Hon. Henry Vrooman in March 1878, to the office of district attorney, Mr. De
Golia entered his office as clerk and student and with unusual application was admitted
to the bar in the following year. In 1879
he was chosen secretary of the senate judiciary committee, after which he
practiced law until 1883. He was then
appointed assistant district attorney of Alameda county, which position he held
for six years. Later he formed a
partnership with Mr. Vrooman which
continued until the death of the latter, when he succeeded to an extensive
practice.
From the
time he cast his first ballot, Mr. De Golia has been interested in the
political life of the community, continuing an active participant in public
affairs up to 1894, and after the death of Mr. Vrooman was considered the
Republican leader in Alameda county. He attended the National Convention at
Chicago in 1888, being actively interested in national affairs as well as
local. In the line of his profession he
has been a member and secretary of the Oakland Bar Association since its
organization, and e a charter member of the Athenian Club. Fraternally he is one of the most prominent
men in the city, holding membership with Oakland Commandery, K.T., as well as
the Scottish Rite branch of Masonry, and the Mystic Shrine. In 1890 he organized a lodge of Elks in
Oakland, of which he served as exalted ruler for several years, also
representing the order in the Grand Lodge in the east at several annual
sessions. He is a leading member of
Piedmont Parlor, Native Sons of the Golden West, and has been delegate to the
Grand Lodge of that order since 1892.
The
marriage of Mr. De Golia united him with Caroline Barroilhet Rabe, a daughter
of Dr. Rabe, distinguished in the early history of California and of this union
were born two children, a son and daughter, namely: Ellis and Noelle. Prominent in Oakland society Mr. De Golia has
long been a leading member of the Oakland Gold club, and is one of the
directing members of the Claremont Country Club, as well as taking an active
interest in athletics, being especially skillful with the foils. As a successful lawyer he has the respect and
esteem of both conferees and clients, both safely trusting their interests to
the honor and integrity of the man who has proved himself in their midst. It is justly a matter of pride with him that
no lawyer has ever asked him for a written stipulation. The work which he is now engaged in includes
both that of probate practice and the duties of a corporation attorney, the
latter position for several of the important corporations of the city.
Transcribed by Louise
E. Shoemaker April 16th 2015.
ญญญญSource: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Page
489. The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
ฉ 2015 Louise E.
Shoemaker.
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