Los Angeles County
Biographies
BENJAMIN
FRANKLIN BLEDSOE
High professional honors have been
conferred upon Benjamin Franklin Bledsoe, who served on the bench for many
years, occupying both state and federal offices, and is now engaged in general
practice in Los Angeles. He was born in
San Bernardino, California, February 8, 1874, a son of Robert Emmett and Althea
(Bottoms) Bledsoe and a descendant of Jesse Bledsoe, who served as United Sates
senator form Kentucky, and as a member of its Supreme Court. Casting in his lot with the pioneers of
California, Robert Emmett Bledsoe settled in San Bernardino and was long
numbered among its leading lawyers. Both
parents and grand parents on the paternal and maternal side are buried in San
Bernardino.
Benjamin Franklin Bledsoe attended
the grammar and high schools of his native city and his advanced studies were
pursued in Stanford University, which conferred upon him the Bachelor of Arts
degree in 1896. Admitted to the California bar in the same year, he began the
practice of law in San Bernardino in association with his father, whose partner
he remained for four years. He was first
called to the bench in 1900, when he was elected judge of the superior court of
San Bernardino county [sic} for a term of six years. He proved so well qualified for judicial
service that he was re-elected in 1906 and 1912 without opposition, but did not
complete his third term, resigning October 23, 1914, to accept from President
Wilson the appointment of United States district judge of the southern district
of California. For eleven years he ably
administrated the affairs of that court, dispensing justice with an even
hand. He resigned March 24, 1925, to
resume private practice and is now a member of the well known law firm of Hill,
Morgan & Bledsoe, with offices in the Roosevelt building [sic}, Los Angeles. Before his elevation to the bench, Mr.
Bledsoe was United States referee in bankruptcy for San Bernardino county [sic], occupying the office for two years, from 1898
to 1900. He was a director of the
Farmers Exchange National Bank of San Bernardino and following his removal to
Los Angeles became a member of the directorate of the West Coast-San Francisco
Life Insurance Company.
At Council Bluffs. Iowa, on
Christmas day of 1899, Mr. Bledsoe was married to Katherine Marvin Shepler, who was graduated from Stanford University in
1898. They have two daughters: Barbara Shepler, now Mrs. Glenn E. Pollard; and Frances Priscilla.
Mr. Bledsoe is a Congregationalist
in religious belief and gives his political support to the democratic [sic]
party [sic]. He is a member of the board
of directors of the Mission Play and has always been keenly interested in
movements for cultural advancement and for the uplift and benefit of the
individual. From 1899 to 1913 he was a
trustee of the public library of San Bernardino and served as president of the
board from 1905 to 1913. He was
president of the Young Men’s Christian Association of San Bernardino from 1911
to 1914 and in 1912 was made a member of the state executive committee of the Young
Men’s Christian Association of California.
He organized and from 1924 to 1926 was president of the Los Angeles
Grand Opera Association and from 1924 to 1927 served as vice president of the Community
Welfare Federation, operating the Los Angeles Community Chest. Prominent in fraternal affairs, he was Grand
Chancellor of the Knights of Pythias of California in 1911, and has taken the
thirty-second degree in the Masonic fraternity, in which he has also held high
offices. He was Grand Master of the Masons
of California in 1915 and Grand Commander of the Knights Templar of California
in 1919. He is a member of the Stanford
Alumni Association, which he represented as president in 1915. For two years he was president of the California
Society, Sons of the Revolution. His
college fraternities are Phi Beta Kappa, Delta Upsilon and Phi Delta Phi. He is also a member of the Los Angeles County
Bar Association, the California State Bar Association and the American Bar
Association. A man of high legal attainments and strict integrity, Mr. Bledsoe
has gained success and distinction in his profession, establishing a record
which reflects credit and honor upon his native state.
Transcribed by Jeanne Turner.
Source: California
of the South Vol. II, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages
493-495, Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 Jeanne Turner.
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