Imperial
County
Biographies
ALEXIS
LOUIS SEBILLE
Alexis Louis Sebille
is the capable city attorney of Brawley, where he has been successfully engaged
in law practice since 1910. He was born on a farm in Tama county,
Iowa, August 10, 1862, his parents being Alexis and Pauline (Jacquot) Sebille, natives of
France. The father crossed the Atlantic to the United States when a young man
of thirty years, settling first in Massachusetts, where he operated charcoal
ovens for foundries. Subsequently he removed to Iowa, in which state he devoted
his attention to general agricultural pursuits throughout the remainder of his
life. To him and his wife, who is also deceased, were born six children, three
of whom survive.
Alexis L. Sebille
acquired his early education in the public schools of Iowa and afterward
entered Drake University of Des Moines, from which institution he was graduated
with the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1886. The following year he was admitted
to the bar of Kansas and thereafter engaged in practice for twelve months at
Downs, Osborne county, that state, while subsequently he spent some years as a
practicing attorney of Kansas City, Kansas, where he also served as police
judge. In 1892 he went back to Iowa and turned his attention to the newspaper
business at Bedford, that state, publishing the Bedford Republican for two
years. Next he spent a year in Helena, Montana, as assistant superintendent of
the Children’s Home Society and then entered civil service at Washington, D.
C., where he worked for three years on the 1900 census. Returning to Bedford,
Iowa, he was there identified with the Bedford Republican until the time when
he purchased the Albia Republican, which he published for two years. He was
also the publisher of the Cedar Falls Gazette for a period of four years. Mr. Sebille came to the Imperial Valley of California in 1909
and the following year was admitted to the bar of this state, having been an
active practitioner of law in the city of Brawley throughout the intervening
period of twenty-four years. He served as a member of the grammar and high
school boards of Brawley. He is accorded a gratifying and profitable clientele
and is also making a commendable record in the office of city attorney. His name
is on the membership rolls of the Imperial County Bar Association and the
California State Bar Association.
In 1890 Mr. Sebille
was united in marriage to Miss Minnie D. Dowden, of Prairie City, Iowa,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lemuel Dowden. Mr. and Mrs. Sebille became the parents of two sons: Harold L., who was
killed in an automobile accident; and Bruce G., a practicing attorney of Redlands,
California. Mr. Sebille is an ex-president of the
Brawley Kiwanis Club and belongs to the Christian Church, and has long ranked
with the prominent, representative and respected citizens of Imperial county. At the age of seventy-one years he still plays
tennis, being very fond of this sport.
Transcribed By:
Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: California
of the South Vol. V,
by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 81-82,
Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles,
Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 Cecelia
M. Setty.