HON. ADDISON C. HINKSON

Sacramento County

Biographies

HON. ADDISON C. HINKSON

Hon. Addison C. Hinkson. Many of the pioneers of California are still actively identified with the interests of the commonwealth, some as agriculturists developing the riches of the soil, some as business men enlarging the commerce of the state, and some as professional men devoting learning and mental resources to the good of the people. Not the least conspicuous among the professional men who have been actively identified with the highest advancement of the state may be mentioned Addison C. Hinkson, a pioneer attorney of Sacramento and now one of the Nestors of the bar of the capital city. Though now arrived at a period of life when retirement from professional cares would be justified, his interest in his work remains unabated, and with physical strength unimpaired and mental vigor undiminished he remains in the forefront of the professional men of Sacramento.

Although a resident of California from boyhood, Judge Hinkson is a Missourian by birth and was born in Washington county in 1845, being a son of Cicero W. and Eva E. Hinkson. In 1852 he crossed the plains with other members of the family and settled in Amador county, where at an early age he became identified intimately with public affairs. Having been staunchly Democratic in his political views, he became one of the party leaders of his locality. On the party ticket in 1865 he was elected county recorder and auditor. After having served for one term in that position he was elected county clerk by a larger vote than was given any other candidate in the entire county. At the expiration of his term as county clerk he removed to Sacramento, where he engaged in the practice of the law. For twelve years he was the partner of the late Judge J. W. Armstrong, and more recently he allied himself with C. A. Elliott, a promising young attorney.

In Sacramento, as in his former place of residence, Judge Hinkson has been active in public affairs and has given his support to all movements for the material or educational advancement of the city. For eighteen years he officiated as a director of the Sacramento free library and his service in that capacity was instrumental in the advancement of this worthy enterprise. For three successive terms he was elected superintendent of public schools of the city, notwithstanding the fact that his Democratic views were well known and the city usually gave a large Republican majority. In 1894, when an additional judgeship was provided for Sacramento county, Governor Budd honored him with the appointment to the position. The reputation which he gained in that capacity is illustrated by an editorial in the Sacramento Record-Union, a leading Republican paper of Sacramento, which was published on his retirement from office. It reads as follows:

“With the passing of the old year there retires from the superior court of this county a jurist whose failure to remain upon the bench is the cause of common expressions of regret among all the people. That failure was due to a remarkable and unusual combination of circumstances which in honor bound him to accept the situation. Judge Hinkson came to the bench as the first judge of the third department. It is simple justice to say that when he was elevated to that position the breadth and judicial mind of the man and his special fitness for the place where not realized even by his nearest friends, since he had not pushed himself into notice, while modesty and unpretentious bearing had kept his real ability much in the background. But he proved, when once on the bench, to be one of the best judges. His peculiar fitness for the judicial office was at once made manifest, his breadth of mind, perfect impartiality, his inflexibility of purpose in doing what he conceived to be his duty, regardless of consequence, or of persons, place or station, enabled him to hold the scales of justice on such even balance as to elicit the admiration and praise of even those upon whom the judgments of the court descended. Aside from this Judge Hinkson became known all over the state as the modern exemplar of judicial promptness and precision. His rules and practice in this regard became the terror of the laggard and evil-doer and the admiration of the prompt. He held that the time of the court is the time of the people, and it is no more to be wasted and trifled with than is the money and property of the people. His inflexible demand that respect be paid the court and its processes, as representing the dignity and supremacy of the people, was enforced with such firmness and perfect impartiality as to awaken attention everywhere and win for him the respect of the bar and the applause of citizens. It may be said that those who suffered most under his conceptions of the majesty of the law and the dignity of the people’s tribunal are today loudest in commending his course. Judge Hinkson retires from the bench to a practice awaiting him with the proud distinction of having done an important work in elevating the character of the bench in the estimation of the people. He proved to them it is not always the man who is most pretentious at the bar who is best fitted for the judicial office; that dignity, firmness, impartiality, studious habits and thoroughness are what the people respect in their courts, and will always sustain. Learned in the law, broad-minded in view, sympathetic and tender, inflexible in the discharge of duty, having such profound reverence for the principles of justice that nothing could sway him in its administration to purposely deflect it a hair’s breadth from its true course, Judge Hinkson retires after a brief career on the bench, with the respect, admiration and regard of all the people.”

Transcribed by Kathy Porter.

Source: “History of the State of California and Biographical Record of the Sacramento Valley, California” by J. M. Guinn. Pages 254-257. Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1906.