Judge
Samuel C. Denson. The subject of this sketch, although still in the prime of
life, has been so prominently identified with the social, material and
professional interests of Sacramento County---so well known, not only for pre-eminent
legal acumen as a jurist and a member of one of the most widely-known legal
firms on the Pacific Coast, but also for the close, never-failing personal
interest which he has ever manifested in all measures having for their object
the advancement of the community in which he has had his home for more than
twenty years---that a brief page from his life’s history cannot but be
interesting to his many friends and acquaintances, as well as to the student of
history who in after years shall by this means be enable to “point a moral and
adorn a tale.” In both the mental and physical characteristics of Judge Denson
one can trace the rich warm blood of Southern “chivalry” which flows through
his veins, tempered and broadened, it is true by the “vim” and energy of the
early “pioneer,” who held the plow and sowed the seed, and made fruitful the
broad prairie lands of Illinois. Judge Denson’s father was a farmer, a native
and scion of one of the old families of North Carolina, who emigrated to
southern Illinois in the early days, was there married to a Miss Crawford---a
Virginian. They settled in Adams County, near Quincy, and there the subject of
this sketch was born on the 23rd of September, 1839. He was educated
at the well-known Abingdon College, and at an early age determined to enter the
legal profession, but , like many another ambitious youth, his close
application to study impaired his health to such an extent that it was deemed
necessary, for a time at least, that he should seek “other fields and pastures new.”
He joined an emigrant party then just being made up to cross the plains with
teams to new “El Dorado,” hoping in this way not only to find the “promised
land,” but also the golden boon of health, without which all else is naught.
Upon his arrival in Butte County, and after a brief experience in the mines, he
engaged in teaching school and resumed his legal studies in the office of Judge
Thomas Wells at Oroville. Three years later, in March , 1864, he went to Carson
City, Nevada, where he commenced the practice of law, having been admitted to
the bar of the Supreme Court of Nevada soon after his arrival in that
Territory. In November of that year he took his seat in the Assembly of the
first State Legislature of Nevada, serving as chairman on the judiciary
committee of that body. Two years
later, November 1866, he was elected district attorney of Ormsby County, and
was re-elected to that office upon the expiration of the term; but feeling the
importance of a wider field of usefulness, he soon afterward resigned the
office, removed to the capital city, and entered into a law partnership with
Judge H. O. Beatty, a native of Kentucky, whose daughter Mary M. became his
wife. In 1875 Mr. Denson was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of the
United States, and on January 1, 1876, he took his seat as Judge of the Sixth
Judicial District of California, composed of the counties of Sacramento and
Yolo, defeating Judge Louis Ramage and Judge A. P. Carlin in the contest for
that office---a position which he held until 1879, when under the new
constitution it was abolished. He was immediately elected Superior Judge under
the new constitution, for a term of five years, but resigned his position three
years later to form a partnership with Judge W. H. Beatty, which continued
until the elevation of the latter to the office of Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court of California in 1888. But prior to this, in December, 1871, Judge Denson
was elected City Superintendent of Public Schools of Sacramento, holding this
office for two years and when in 1879 the Sacramento Free Library was
established he was selected by the city officials as one of its directors and
was elected president of the board by fellow members. Ever ready to extend a
helping hand in any good work, Judge Denson has become one of the best known
members of the Masonic fraternity in the State; has passed the chair of Union
Lodge, No. 58, F. & A. M., has held the distinguished office of Deputy
Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of California; is a member of Sacramento
Chapter, No. 3, Royal Arch Masons, and
of Sacramento Council, No. 1, and Sacramento Commandery No. 2, Knights Templar.
He is recognized everywhere among his associates as a man of public spirit.
Transcribed
by: Marla Fitzsimmons
An Illustrated History of Sacramento County, California.
By Hon. Win. J. Davis. Lewis Publishing Company 1890. Page 286-287.
© 2004 Marla Fitzsimmons.