Contra
Costa County
Biographies
ANDERSON CHESTER HARTLEY
Comparatively few of the men influential in professional and commercial
affairs in Antioch have been identified with the town for a longer period than
has Mr. Hartley, whose residence here dates from 1880, and who during the
intervening period has risen from poverty to independence, from obscurity to
influence. The profession of law, in
which he has engaged since becoming a resident of Antioch, is one for which his
talents especially qualify him. In its
practice he has been resourceful and capable.
While conducting a general practice he has made a specialty of probate
law. With the ambitious spirit
characteristic of him from childhood, he has never been satisfied with
knowledge previously acquired, but has ever striven forward, seeking to broaden
professional attainments and general information.
At the
family home on the Great Kanawha river, near Charleston, in that part of the
Old Dominion subsequently known as West Virginia, Mr. Harley was born September
19, 1850, being a son of Thomas B. and Susan (Carder) Hartley. In early boyhood he had two great
desires. The first was to see the state
of California. The second was to enter
the fraternity of Masons. These two
wishes were gratified in his early manhood.
When twenty-one years of age he was initiated into the Blue Lodge of
Masons in Virginia and ever since then has kept up his warm interest in the
order. At the age of twenty-three years
he made his first trip to the Pacific coast.
Previous to leaving the east he had taught four terms of school, and
after coming to California he was engaged as a teacher in the Humboldt county
schools for two terms. On his return to
his eastern home he took up the study of law, and at the expiration of the
required course of study was admitted to the bar. Immediately afterward, in 1880, he came a
second time to California and this time opened an office at Antioch. His entire capital consisted of $60, but he
had youth, health, energy and a fearless spirit, and it was not long until his
practice made him self-supporting. From
that time he began to save. The town has
been benefited by his success, for he has not only erected a comfortable
residence, but also in the fall of 1892 built a two-story brick structure, with
stores on the first floor and offices on the second.
For six
years after coming to Antioch Mr. Hartley engaged in practice alone, and then
for a time was associated with Hon. J.P. Abbott, but more recently has been
alone in practice. In politics he is a
Democrat, enthusiastic in the advocacy of party principles, yet conservative
and thoughtful. He was appointed city attorney several times and since 1899 has
also held office as justice of the peace, in which position his thorough
knowledge of the principles of law has proved a most invaluable aid. Education, as rendered possible by the public-school
system, has in him a stanch supporter.
Through his able service as school trustee he has been a contributor to
the improvement of the schools and the raising of the standard of education rendered
possible by the selection of efficient instructors and first-class
text-books. Shortly after his arrival in
Antioch he united himself with the Masonic Lodge of this place, of which he was
chosen master for two terms. Furthermore
he is connected with the Eastern Star at Antioch, of which he has acted a
patron for six terms, and in addition he has been honored with the office of
grand patron of the Grand chapter, Order of Eastern Star of California. His wife shares with him the esteem of
acquaintances, was Miss Annie J. Power, a native of St. Louis, Mo., and a
daughter of Philip and Anna (Durack) Power, her father at this writing being
engaged in the drug business in New York City.
Born of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Hartley are three children, Orma, Elva
and Homer. The older daughter was graduated
from the Antioch schools in 1904 at thirteen years of age completing the course
of study not only at an exceedingly youthful age, but also with credit to
herself and her teachers.
Transcribed
by Louise E. Shoemaker, March 23, 2015.
ญญญญSource: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 457-458. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
ฉ 2015 Louise E. Shoemaker.
Contra Costa County Biographies