Los Angeles
County
Biographies
CHARLES A. A. McGEE
Since 1925 Charles A. A. McGee has
followed his profession in Los Angeles and is known not only in this city but
throughout the state as a lawyer of high attainments. He was born in Wisconsin, May 25, 1874, a son
of James and Anna (Juneau) McGee. The
father, a native of Canada, came to Wisconsin as a young man and entered the
lumber industry, in which he prospered, while later he was successfully engaged
in the printing business. He was a
prominent Mason, and his death occurred in September, 1922. For twelve years he had survived the mother,
who passed away November 10, 1910, and both were laid to rest in a cemetery at
Milwaukee. Mrs. McGee was a daughter of
Solomon Juneau, who founded Milwaukee, and as a memorial to him its citizens
placed a life size statue of Mr. Juneau in the heart of the city. At one time he had for a partner John Jacob
Astor, and like him, was noted as a pioneer of the great northwest.
His grandson, Charles A. A. McGee,
acquired his early instruction in a log school house, and following his
graduation from the Milwaukee high school was a student in the University of
Wisconsin at Madison, where he was awarded the degree of Bachelor of Laws in
1899. With his admission to the bar he
located for practice at Milwaukee and became intimately associated with its
civic and political life. In 1896 he was
one of the four authors of a book entitled “The Truth about Money,” which was
adopted by the Republican committee as the official textbook for speakers. Soon after retiring from the office of
district attorney for Milwaukee, Mr. McGee became
a member of the California bar and joined the legal fraternity of San Diego,
where he formed a partnership with Judge E. J. Hemming, who remained his
associate for seven years. With the
cultural life of the city Mr. McGee was also closely identified as president of
the San Diego Public Library. In
January, 1919, he established his home in Oakland, California, but opened an
office in San Francisco, where he practiced for six years, and at that time
came to Los Angeles, bringing with him the entire law firm of which he was the
senior member. His is considered one of
the strongest legal organizations in the city and is located at 530 West Sixth
Street.
In
October, 1905, Mr. McGee was married in Milwaukee to Miss Anna Meyer and four
children were born to them: Betty, now
Mrs. Paul Stewart, of San Francisco; Theiline, the
wife of Paul Pigot and a resident of Seattle,
Washington; Annele, who is attending Leland Stanford
University, and Barbara Jean.
Mr.
McGee worships in the Episcopal Church, and in politics is a strong
Republican. In 1908 he presented the
name of Robert M. La Follette for president of the
United States before the national Republican convention at Chicago. He was elected district attorney of Milwaukee
in 1908 and served until 1911, when he went down to defeat because of the
socialistic uprising, although he was ten thousand votes ahead of his
ticket. In Masonry he has taken the
Knight Templar degree in the York Rite, the thirty-second degree in the
Scottish Rite, and is a noble of the Mystic Shrine at
Oakland. A past supreme dictator of the
Loyal Order of Moose, he has held every office in that fraternal organization
and is also affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
Transcribed
by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South
Vol. IV, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 773-774,
Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V.
Gerald Iaquinta.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES
BIOGRAPHIES