Los
Angeles County
Biographies
FRANKLIN P. BULL
For fifty-six years Franklin P. Bull
has been engaged in the practice of law in the state of California, and for
twenty years of this period has had his office in the city of Los Angeles. He has achieved marked success throughout his
career and has manifested a versatility and ability in his conduct of
litigation which has given him wide repute.
Franklin P. Bull was born in Racine,
Wisconsin, and in that excellent community resting on the western shore of Lake
Michigan he received his early education.
Mr. Bull is descended from a representative colonial family of America,
and his ancestors have held conspicuous positions in the various walks of life
in which they engaged. His maternal
grandmother, whose family name was Greene, was a relative of that Revolutionary
hero, Gen. Nathaniel Greene, and one of Mr. Bull’s uncles was J. I. Case, the
great agricultural implement manufacturer of Racine, Wisconsin.
Mr. Bull completed his academic education at
the New York State Normal School in Brockport, New York. He then came to California in 1878 and for a
time was a cowboy in Kern County.
Eighteen months later he began the study of law in the office of D. M. Delmas, famous lawyer of San Jose, and continued under this
same preceptorship after his removal to San Francisco in 1882, in which year he
was admitted to the practice by the state supreme court. In 1885 he was admitted by the Federal courts. Mr. Bull began active practice by forming a
partnership with Hon. W. H. Jordan, which arrangement lasted until January,
1889. This was a most satisfactory
partnership, and they had many clients of prestige and wealth, including among
others the San Francisco Lumber Company, the San Joaquin Lumber Company, Hanson
& Company, and Renton, Holmes & Company. Mr. Bull’s cases during his career have been
mostly of civil character, but he has had extraordinary success in litigation
of other types. Subsequently, on
dissolution of said partnership, he joined Hon. A. W. Crandall and remained a
member of said partnership until the death of Senator Crandall, when he came to
Los Angeles, and has since been engaged in the general practice of law, with
offices in the Paramount Building. He
was president of the Bear Club, a political organization of San Francisco and
helped organize the Progressive Party in that city as well as taking a leading
part in many forward movements.
Mr. Bull is a Republican in his
political allegiance. He has been very
prominent in Masonic circles, and was at one time worshipful master of
Excelsior Lodge, No. 166, and Sir Knight of Golden State Commandery of the
Knights Templar.
Transcribed
by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South
Vol. V, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 309-310,
Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V.
Gerald Iaquinta.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES
BIOGRAPHIES