JAMES ALEXANDER GIBSON

Los Angeles County

Biographies

JAMES ALEXANDER GIBSON

GIBSON, JAMES ALEXANDER, Lawyer, Los Angeles, Cal., was born at Boston, Mass., August 21, 1852, the son of Thomas Gibson (killed in Battle of Bisland, La., April 13, 1863, in a Massachusetts regiment) and Mary (Berry) Gibson. Judge Gibson has been twice wed, his first wife being Sarah Waterman, whom he married at Colton, Cal., June 21, 1882, and who died in December, 1888. He married again July 18, 1894, at Los Angeles, Miss Gertrude Van Norman. By the first union there were two children, Mary and James A., Jr., and by the second two, Martha and Horace V. Gibson.

Judge Gibson received his primary education in the public schools of Massachusetts, where he made some preparation for a course in mechanical engineering for Cornell University, but did not enter. Instead, he took up the study of law, and in 1874 removed from Cambridgeport, Mass., to Colton, Cal., where he continued his readings under William Gregory, formerly a member of the Philadelphia Bar. He completed his studies in 1879, and on June 13 of that year was admitted to practice at San Bernardino, Cal., in the Eighteenth Judicial District. On June 28, 1880, he was admitted to practice by the Superior Court, and April 19, 1882, before the State Supreme Court of California. At a later date he received recognition by the Federal Courts and the United States Supreme Court.

Judge Gibson has practiced law continually with the exception of six years when he served in judicial positions. He was Superior Judge of San Bernardino County from January 1, 1884, to May 14, 1889, and was a member of the Supreme Court Commission, predecessor of the Appellate court, from the latter date until January 1, 1891, when he resigned and located at San Diego.

The career of Judge Gibson has been one of honor and accomplishment, and his exceptional talents have marked him as one of the most thorough exponents of the law in the entire State. He has served in some of the most important litigations that have arisen in California during the thirty odd years of his practice, including corporation, water, mining, maritime and commercial actions.

Judge Gibson has been associated always with men of reputation. At San Bernardino he was in partnership with Major H. S. Gregory, General J. D. Boyer and the Hon. Byron Waters; at San Diego he was in association with John D. Works, present U. S. Senator, and H. L. Titus, under the title of Works, Gibson & Titus. This alliance continued from January, 1891, until1892, when Judge Works, who had but previously finished a term as Justice of the Supreme Court, opened offices with his son. Judge Gibson and Mr. Titus remained together until 1897, when the former moved to Los Angeles, where he became associated with the late Hon. J. D. Bicknell and the late W. J. Trask, as Bicknell, Gibson & Trask, later merging with Messrs. Dunn & Crutcher under the firm name of Bicknell, Gibson, Trask, Dunn & Crutcher. On the withdrawal of Judge Bicknell, several years ago, Judge Gibson became senior member of the firm, which since the death of Mr. Trask has been known as Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.

Judge Gibson has held numerous positions of honor in his profession. He was at one time president of the Los Angeles Bar Association and vice president of the American Bar Association. He was recently a member of the General Council of the latter organization, and is chairman of the Section on Constitutional Amendments of the California Bar Association and is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the L. A. County Law Library Assn.; he ranks high in the councils of the Nat. Geographical Society and the Archaeological Society of America, Southwest Chapter. Despite professional activity, Judge Gibson has found time to aid in military and civic affairs, and was one of the organizers and builders of the famous Bear Valley Dam at San Bernardino, This, the first great dam and reservoir built in the West for irrigation purposes, was put up by the Bear Valley Land and Water Co., the predecessors of the present Bear Valley Mutual Water Co., and pointed the way for tremendous development in the Southwest. He is also interested in other large development projects.

Judge Gibson, in the eighties, served as Major and Assistant Adjutant General of the First Brigade, N. G. C., and Engineer Officer of the same. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, a Mystic Shriner and an Elk and holds memberships in the California Club, Union League Club, Jonathan Club and the Gamut Club, of Los Angeles, and the University Club of Redlands.

Transcribed 6-9-08 Marilyn R. Pankey

Source: Press Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 60, International News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta. 1913.

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