Los Angeles County
Biographies
BRADNER
WELLS LEE
LEE, BRADNER WELLS, Attorney-at-Law, Los Angeles, Cal., was born at East Groveland, N.Y., May 4, 1850, the son of David Richard Lee and Elizabeth Northrun (Wells) Lee. He is a great grandson of Captain Thomas Lee, of the Fifth New York Continental Line, War of the Revolution. He married Helena Farrar at Philadelphia, Pa., October 16, 1883, and to them there have been born two sons, Bradner Wells Lee, Jr., and Kenyon Farrar Lee, who were educated at Stanford University, admitted 1912 to practice and associated with their father. Mr. Lee is a nephew of Col. G. Wiley Wells, for many years a noted lawyer of the South and later of the Pacific Coast. Col. Wells served for two terms as U. S. Dist. Attorney for the Northern District of Mississippi, was a member of the Forty-fourth Congress from the 2nd Mississippi District and later was U. S. Consul-General at Shanghai, China. Mrs. Lee’s father was Col. William Humphrey Farrar, a celebrated lawyer of Washington, D.C., who received his legal training under Hon. Daniel Webster and Hon. Caleb Cushing. He was a descendant of one of the oldest Colonial families in Massachusetts, many of whose members achieved distinction in Colonial and Revolutionary affairs, at the Bar, upon the Bench and as college professors.
Mr. Lee received his preliminary education in the public schools of his native town and later under private tutors. He read law with Col. Wells, and was admitted to the Bar by the U. S. Dist. Court for the Northern Dist. Of Mississippi, in 1871, and in 1875 to the Bar of the Supreme Court, Dist. Of Columbia.
Following his admission, Mr. Lee was appointed Asst. U. S. Dist. Attorney for Northern Miss., and held this position until 1879, serving one year meantime (1875) as Acting U. S. Dist. Attorney. In the spring of 1879 he moved to Los Angeles and there entered the law office of Brunson & Wells as managing clerk, being admitted to practice in the California Supreme Court, April 30, that year.
In 1883 Mr. Lee became a member of the firm, which was styled Brunson, Wells & Lee, and two years later it was changed to Wells, Van Dyke & Lee. He practiced in the State courts until 1887, when he was admitted to Federal practice in the U. S. Circuit Court for the Southern Dist. of California. The following year he was admitted to the U. S. Dist. Court. In 1889 the firm of which he was a member became Wells, Guthrie & Lee, and in 1890 it became Wells, Monroe & Lee. In 1893 it was Wells & Lee and in 1896, upon the entry of Judge John D. Works (later U. S. Senator from California) it became Wells, Works & Lee. Col. Wells retiring in 1896, on account of ill health, it became Works & Lee, continuing as such until 1901, when the entry of Judge Works’ son, caused it to become Works, Lee & Works. In 1908 Mr. Lee withdrew from the firm and practiced alone. In 1912 his two sons became associated with him.
Mr. Lee has been one of the strong factors for progress. He joined the Chamber of Commerce in 1894 and has been one of its active members, serving for many years on its Law, and later on its Harbor Committee. Since 1910 he has been serving as a Director and Chairman of the Law Committee. He also represented the Chamber on various committees appointed to welcome and entertain Presidents McKinley, Roosevelt and Taft, Secretary of the Treasury Shaw and others.
In 1911 Mr. Lee was chosen Chairman of the Citizens’ Committee of one hundred business and professional men who joined in a non-partisan movement, when the Socialists threatened to gain control of the city government. He was the campaign leader and carried the allies to victory at the polls. In 1912-13 he served as head of a committee which mapped out a policy for the advancement of Los Angeles and So. Cal.
Mr. Lee owns the Wells Law Library of 6000 volumes (formerly owned by his uncle), the largest private one in the Southwest.
He has never sought and has consistently refused public office, one notable occasion being in 1895, when Gov. Pardee of California offered to appoint him to the Superior Branch of Los Angeles. In 1896 he was elected Chairman of the Republican County Central Committee of Los Angeles, serving until 1910. From 1902 to 1904 he was a member of the Executive Committee and the Campaign Committee of the Republican State Central Committee. In 1906 he was Chairman of the Los Angeles County Republican Convention.
Mr. Lee has served as a Trustee of the Cal. State Library since 1897, his present term expiring in 1914, and in 1900 was a delegate to the Natl. Forestry & Irrigation Convention at Chicago.
He is a Director of the Murphy Oil Company at Whittier, Cal.; served as Director of City and County Bank since its organization; Attorney for the executor of the estate of the late Elias J. Baldwin, and actively participated in all the litigation connected with the administration of the estate.
He is a member of the Union League Club and the Jonathan Club of Los Angeles, having been a charter member and Director of the latter for two terms. He is a Mason, Knight Templar and Shriner; charter member, Judge Advocate and Vice Commander of the California Commandery of the Military Order of Foreign Wars; Director, First Historian and Chancellor of the California Society of Colonial Wars; Director, Treasurer, Vice President and President of the California Society of Sons of the Revolution; member, Judiciary Committee of Los Angeles Bar Association; member of the California, and of the American Bar Assns., also Southwest Society Archaeological Institute of American, and N. Y. State Society of California.
Transcribed
10-11-10 Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: Press
Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 519, International News Service, New York, Chicago, San
Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta.
1913.
© 2010 Marilyn R. Pankey.
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