Los Angeles County
Biographies
CHARLES W.
DEMPSTER
Charles W. Dempster, who has been engaged in the practice of law in Los Angeles for eighteen years and during the past six years has been a member of the law firm of Dempster & Dempster, with offices at 312 California building, has long figured prominently in public affairs and stands high in general esteem. He was born in Thurman, Fremont county, Iowa, August 24, 1879, being the only child born to Barton Warren and Alice May (Gish) Dempster. The father, who was a court reporter, died when Charles W. Dempster was very young, and the mother now makes her home with her son.
Charles W. Dempster first came to California in 1888, when nine years of age, and received his early education in the public schools of Shasta county, graduating from high school. He next attended Idaho Academy at Pocatello, Idaho, later continuing his studies at the University of Nevada. He taught school both in Montana and Nebraska and still holds a teacher’s life certificate in the former state. He was a resident of Montana from 1902 to1908 and during that period served two terms as a member of the state legislature and was a member of the judiciary committee which tried and acquitted Judge Harvey during the copper troubles. In 1908 Mr. Dempster moved to Soda Springs, Idaho, and in 1910 was elected to the state legislature, in which body he served as secretary of the senate. In 1912 he became the republican candidate for Lieutenant governor of Idaho but owing to the split in the party that year he was defeated. On the 22d of July, 1915, Mr. Dempster was admitted to the bar of California and entered upon the work of his profession in Los Angeles, where he practiced alone until 1927. In that year was formed the law firm of Dempster & Dempster, which has won a large and representative clientele in the general practice of law.
In 1911, in British Columbia, Mr. Dempster was united in marriage to Miss Grace Warner, of Pocatello, Idaho, whose family were pioneer settlers of that state. To this union have been born four children: Charles W., Jr., a high school student; Barton Warren; Wesley Fred; and Thomas L.
In his political views Mr. Dempster has always been a republican. In Masonry he has attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite and has crossed the sands of the desert with the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He also has membership in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; the Knights of Pythias; the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; the Woodmen of the World; the Modern Woodmen of America; the Fraternal Order of Eagles; the Royal Neighbors of America; the Fraternal Aid; the Fraternal Brotherhood, of which he was formerly national secretary; the Brotherhood of American Yeomen; and the Commercial Club of Los Angeles. Along strictly professional lines he is affiliated with the Los Angeles County Bar Association, the California State Bar Association and the American Bar Association. “A competent, resourceful and successful lawyer,” said a contemporary biographer, “Mr. Dempster is highly respected in his profession and throughout the range of his acquaintance is regarded as a citizen of high ideals.”
Transcribed
10-2-13 Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: California
of the South Vol. V, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages
728-729, Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2013 Marilyn R. Pankey.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES
BIOGRAPHIES