AMOS P. CATLIN

    In the review of the history of Sacramento, it will be found that this gentleman figured prominently in connection with the legal and judicial interests of central California, and that he was an active factor in the upbuilding and progress of the city.  He left an indelible impress upon its public life.  No resident of the community has ever been more respected and has ever fully enjoyed the confidence of the people or more richly deserved the esteem in which he is held.  His fellow townsmen, recognizing his merits, rejoiced in his advancement and in the honors  which he attained. Honorable in business, loyal in citizenship, charitable in thought, true to every trust confided in his care, his life was of the highest type of American manhood.

    Mr. Catlin was a native of the Empire state, his birth having occurred in Red Hook, Dutchess county, on the 25th of January, 1823.  The first of the name Catlin of which we have record was Thomas Catlin, who came up this country from the county of Kent, England, in 1646 and took up his abode in Hartford, Connecticut.  His posterity for five generations were born in Connecticut, the date of their births and deaths being as follows: Samuel Catlin born November 4, 1673, died in the year 1768; John Catlin born October 20, 1703, died in 1768, David Catlin born April 6, 1747, died October 13, 1839; and Percy Catlin born September 3, 1789, died July 31, 1872.  David Catlin, the grandfather of our subject, was a captain in the Connecticut militia, and served in the action in which General Wooster was killed--an attack made by the British general Tyron in the town of Danbury.  He died at the age of ninety-two years. His son, Percy Catlin, was a schoolteacher and also, incidentally, a farmer, owning a large carriage factory in Kingston, New York and lived to the age of eighty-four years.

   On the maternal side, the subject of this review was of German lineage, the Winegar family, the original American ancestors leaving the fatherland in the year 1700, and taking up their abode in Dutchess county, New York.

  Judge Catlin spent his boyhood days in the Empire state, and was graduated in Kingston Academy, in Ulster county, in 1840.  Determining to make the practice of law his life work, he began study under the preceptorship of the law firm of Forsythe & Linderman, both of whom were distinguished attorneys of eastern New York.  When he had mastered many of the principles of jurisprudence, Judge Catlin passed an examination before the supreme court of his native state, and was admitted to the bar on the 12th of January, 1844.   He practiced some four years in Ulster county, and then removed to New York city, where he formed a partnership with George Catlin, a connection that was maintained for about a year.  The wide field of California, offering excellent opportunities to young men, attracted him, and on the 8th of January, 1849, he took passage on the bark David Hinshaw, commanded by Captain David Pinkham, and sailed around Cape Horn, arriving at San Francisco on the 8th of July, following.

      After a month spent in that city, Mr. Catlin, like many of the early pioneers, sought a fortune through mining and also practiced law in Sacramento county, near Mormon Island. After spending the winter of 1849 in that locality he returned to Sacramento city, where he entered into partnership with John Currey, which connection was continued but a short time, however, when Mr. Currey returned to San Francisco owing to ill health.  The practice of the judge steadily increased, and his extensive clientage brought him into connection with much of the important litigation tried in the circuit and district courts of San Francisco and Sacramento, the supreme court of California and the United States courts.  Excellent success attended his efforts and his marked ability won him prestige among representatives of the profession.

    He also possessed superior literary ability, and at different times was the editor of the Sacramento Union.  His political editorials were chiefly recognized as fair and impartial, and his editorials written at the time of the execution of Maximillian and headed "The End of the Tyrant," attracted wide notice and were copied by the leading Spanish papers of Mexico.

    In 1891 he was elected judge of the superior court of California, and served on the bench for six years.  His course there won him the highest commendation, and his decisions were regarded as models of judicial soundness.  His legal learning and analytical mind and readiness with which to grasp a point in an argument all combined to make him one of the most capable jurists that have ever graced a bench of the superior court and his colleagues in the profession acknowledge him as a peer of anyone who had ever occupied that position.

     On the 1st of May, 1860, Mr. Catlin was united in marriage to Miss Ruth A.C. Donaldson, a native of Iowa.  The Donaldsons on the maternal side trace their lineage to the well known Butler family, whose advent on this continent antedates the Revolutionary period.  Her mother, Phoebe Butler, became the wife of A.C. Donaldson.  She was daughter of Lord Butler, a son of Zebulon Butler of Revolutionary fame, who served as a colonel under Washington in the war for independence and commanded the right wing of the American forces in the battle of Wyoming.  Mrs. Catlin, a lady of culture and refined qualities, died on the 17th  of February, 1878, and her loss was deeply mourned by her many friends throughout the community. She left four children: Alexander Donaldson, John Conynghame, Ruth Butler and Harry Crispell.

     The Judge has never identified with any secret societies, but was an esteemed member of the Sacramento Society of California Pioneers, the California Historical Society, the Bar Association of San Francisco, and the Sons of the American Revolution.

     As a practitioner he was remarkable among lawyers for his wide research and provident care with which he prepared his cases.  At no time had his reading ever been confined to the limitation of the questions at issue; had gone beyond and encompassed every contingency to provide not alone for the expected, but for the unexpected, which happens quite as frequently in the courts as out of them.  In public life he was an active factor in promoting the welfare of the city.  He was largely instrumental in securing the permanent establishment of the capitol at this place, and at all times his influence was given to reform, progress and advancement along social, material and educational lines.

      For two years just preceding his death his health failed greatly, while his patient endurance and persistent vitality blinded the public to the fact.  Even while he appeared much as usual and attended to the duties of the firm of which he was the senior member, his family suffered much anxiety on his account.  He suffered greatly at intervals.  About the beginning of October, 1900, he was taken with a most severe attack of his malady, and though not confined to his bed, and often well enough to spend an afternoon at his office, he gradually succumbed to the weakness resulting from his intense suffering.  On Sunday November 4th, he suffered greatly and through the night following.  Early on the morning of November 5 he fell asleep quietly, and some time about 9:30 o'clock passed peacefully away while sleeping.  He was buried in the city cemetery of Sacramento on the afternoon of November 8, 1900.