Los Angeles
County
Biographies
MERTON
AUREL ALBEE
Admitted
to the California bar in May, 1912, Merton Aurel Albee has since been engaged
in the practice of his chosen profession in Los Angeles with the exception of
the period of his service in the World War.
He has specialized in probate work, in civil cases, in corporation and
real estate litigation, and he now maintains an office at 525 Fidelity Building
in association with Charles E. Watkinson.
Merton
A. Albee was born in Moscow, Idaho, November 16, 1887, his parents being
William R. and Ada V. (Wilson) Albee, the former a native of Henry, Illinois,
and the latter of Lynn County, Oregon.
William R. Albee is an old-time railroad man now living retired in Los
Angeles. At different period he was
connected with the Chicago & Rock Island, the Oregon Railway &
Navigation Company, the Southern Pacific, and finally with the Pacific Electric
Company. Captain Joseph Albee,
great-great-grandfather of Merton A. Albee, was an officer in the Massachusetts
colonial troops during the Revolutionary War.
In
the acquirement of an education, Merton A. Albee attended the public schools at
Redondo Beach and Los Angeles, California, the Los Angeles high school and the
University of California, being graduated from the last named institution with
the B. L. degree in 1910. Two years
later, in 1912, the University of California conferred upon him the degree of
Doctor of Jurisprudence. He was admitted
to practice in California in May, 1912, at San Francisco, and to the supreme
court of the United States at Washington, D. C., in 1923. His initial professional experience was
gained in association with the firm of Porter & Sutton in Los Angeles, with
which he was connected until entering military service.
On
the 25th of August, 1917, Mr. Albee joined the Officers Training
Camp at the Presidio of San Francisco and was commissioned a second lieutenant
November 27, 1917. For six months he was
with the ninety-first Division at Camp Lewis, Washington, and on August 28,
1918, was commissioned first lieutenant and was assigned to duty with Company
I, Seventy-fifth Infantry, in the Thirteenth Division. He received his
honorable discharge March 13, 1919, with the rank of first lieutenant, and is
now a member of the Reserve Officers Association and a captain in the Three Hundred
Sixty-fourth Infantry, Reserve Corps. In
addition to his infantry duties, he acted as counsel for the general court
martial prisoners at Camp Lewis with the Ninety-first Division, and was trial
judge advocate for the general court martials of the
Thirteenth Division, at Camp Lewis.
In
1919 Mr. Albee resumed his professional work in association with Judge William Hazlett, engaging in the general civil practice of law in
the Merchants National Bank Building in Los Angeles. For three years, in collaboration with Judge Hazlett, he taught the course in international law in the
law department of the University of Southern California. Mr. Albee is a member of the American,
California State and Los Angeles Bar Associations and the Lawyers Club, ranking
among the able and representative attorneys of his adopted city.
On
the 11th of December, 1917, Mr. Albee was united in marriage to Miss
Elizabeth White, who was born in Syracuse, New York, and
was educated in the public schools of that city, in Syracuse University and in
the University of Southern California.
Mrs. Albee is a member of the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority, also belongs
to the Palos Verdes Estates Woman’s Club and is active in Young People’s work.
A
prominent member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, Mr. Albee is director and
secretary of the Corporation of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the diocese
of Los Angeles and also a director and secretary of the Church Extension
Society of the diocese of Los Angeles.
He has membership in Redondo Beach Post, No. 184, American Legion, in
the Society of Sons of the Revolution, the Brotherhood of St. Andrew, the Los
Angeles Chamber of Commerce, Surf and Sand and L. A. A. C. clubs and other
similar organizations.
Transcribed
by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South
Vol. IV, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 687-689,
Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V.
Gerald Iaquinta.
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BIOGRAPHIES