.
ELIJAH
CARSON HART.--The legal fraternities is well represented in Sacramento; and
among its members are some of the most intelligent men and most effective
workers of the city's advancement to be found among her citizens. Communities, as individuals, may possess
great material wealth, the accumulated profits of shrewd, keen, commercial
transactions of years, and still have been poorly developed to the best
impulser of the heart,--the greatest powers of the mind, the deep appreciation
of the true, the beautiful, or the good, or the ambition which inspires to
them. The subject of this sketch, Hon.
Elijah Carson Hart, was born in 1856, and first saw the light of day in an
emigrant wagon on the banks of Carson River, while father and mother were
crossing the plains, after which place he was named. His parents were from Indiana, where his father had been a
practicing attorney. After the birth of
young Hart, the family proceeded to Nicolas, in Sutter County, where his father
engaged in various pursuits and where Elijah received his earliest
education. After the age twelve, the
family removed to Colusa County, Elijah securing employment in the office of
the Colusa "Sun", where he learned the printer’s trade. In 1878 he was elected city clerk of Colusa,
but refused the office for the reason that he had been offered editorial
control of the Oroville "Mercury" at about the same time he desired
to accept. He controlled the editorial
chair of the "Mercury" from May, 1878, to December, 1878, after which
he purchased the Willows "Journal" and ran it until 1884. He then came to Sacramento and commenced the
study of law with his brother, ex-Attorney-General A. L. Hart. He was admitted
to the bar in 1885 by the Supreme Court of the State. He was elected city attorney in March, 1886. In November, 1888, he was elected to the
Assembly, receiving the largest Republican majority ever given a Republican in
the Nineteenth Assembly District. At
this session of 1889, just passed, he introduced the celebrated Glenn County
bill and advocated its passage in a most persistent manner. In making his speech on the introduction of
the bill he was heartily applauded and his brilliant speech was a feature of
the occasion. Mr. Hart was married in
Colusa, May 20, 1878, on the same day he left to take control of the Oroville
"Mercury". His wife's maiden
name was Miss Addie Virian, a grand niece of the celebrated Kit Carson. A remarkable coincidence is that he married
the grand niece of the man after whom the Carson River was named, the river on
whose banks he was born and after which he was given his middle name. Mr. Hart is engaged in the practice of law
in Sacramento and has as his associate Judge G. G. Davis. In conclusion we would state that to all who
have had the pleasure of his society he is a most pleasant companion, and to
those admitted to his friendship he is a wise counsellor and a firm friend.
An
Illustrated History of Sacramento County, California. By Hon. Win. J Davis.
Lewis Publishing Company 1890. Page 269
Submitted
by: Nancy Pratt Melton.