CHARLES N. POST

   In the legal profession, which embraces many of the most brilliant minds of the nation, it is difficult to win a name and a place of prominence; many aspire but few attain.  In commercial life one may start out on a more elevated plane than others; he may enter into a business already established and carry it still further forward; but this is not true in the case of the lawyer, where one must commence at an initial point, must plead and win his first case and work his way upward by ability, gaining his reputation by success and merit.  Of this class General Post is an illustrious type.  He began as all others do in the practice of law, and his present prominence has come to him as a reward of fidelity to trusts and recognized ability.  He is now occupying an important position as assistant attorney general of California and is a recognized factor in the political circles of the state.

   General Post is a native son of California, his birth having occurred in El Dorado county, March 14, 1853, his parents being Albert Van Vorhees and Cornelia M. (Almy) Post.  The father was born in Peekskill, New York, and was a brassmolder and machinist by occupation.  He received a common school education and learned his trade in Paterson, New Jersey.  In the fall of 1849 he came to California and was first engaged in running a pack train out of Sacramento.  Subsequently, in partnership with John W. Nightingale, he opened a store in Greenwood Valley, El Dorado county, called the Wish-ton Wish.  In 1852 he became proprietor of a hotel situated in El Dorado county, on the Coloma road, near Folsom, called the Rolling Hills, conducting the same until 1864 when he sold out.

    He then came to the capital city and entered the employ of the Central Pacific Railroad Company.  From that time until his death he held official railraod positions in Sacramento and St. Louis, and in 1883 at the age of sixty years, he passed away.  He probably cast his first presidential vote for General Harrison and was a supporter of the Whig party until the organization of the Republican party, when he joined its ranks, continuing affiliations therewith throughout the remainder of his life.  He served as a delegate to many conventions of the party and labored most earnestly and effectively for its advancement and success.

    His wife, who was a native of Schoharie county, New York, died in California in 1863, at the age of thirty-six years.  She arrived in California in 1851.  By her marriage she became the mother of five children, but only two sons and one daughter are now living.  Her parents were George Washington and Gertrude Adelaide (Kittle) Almy, the former being a godson of General George Washington. The Almy family was of French origin, the name being originally D'Almyr.  The first of the name to come to America was a French officer under General LaFayette.

    Charles Nicholas Post, whose name introduces the initial paragraph of the this review, began his education at Mormon Island, Sacramento county.  He afterward attended the public schools in Folsom, California, and subsequently was a student in a private school in Sacramento.  In 1869 he became an apprentice in the Central Pacific Railway shops at Sacramento, California, working in their shops for four years, after which he entered the wholesale grocery house of Adams, McNeil & Company, serving as porter and salesman for two years.  He was then appointed deputy in the office of the county recorder of Yolo county, and about that time began the study of law.  In 1878 he was elected clerk of the Swamp and Overflowed Land Committee of the assembly of the state and served during that session.  He then entered the law office of Colonel Creed Haymond, and in November 1879, was admitted to practice in all the courts of the the state.  In January, 1880, he was appointed deputy clerk of the supreme court, holding the position in 1881-2-3, and was twice elected city justice of the peace of Sacramento, serving in the latter office from 1883 to 1888.  He then resumed the private practice of law, which he continued from 1885 to 1891.  In the latter year he was appointed the city attorney of Sacramento, holding the office one year.  He served as deputy attorney general of the state during the years 1895-6-7-8, and is now serving as assistant attorney general of the state.

     On the 26th of March, 1880, General Post wedded Miss Nellie M. Outten, a native of Mormon Island, Sacramento county, and a stepdaughter of Frederick A. Shepherd, of Sacramento.  Her parents were John and Lucy (Cantlin) Outten.  Her father was a native of Delaware, and in 1850 came to Mormon Island California, where he engaged in mining, and died in 1862.  Her mother was born in Philadelphia and joined her husband at Mormon Island in 1855.  She died in Sacramento in April 1896.  She had five children, three of whom are yet living.  After the death of her first husband she became the wife of F. A. Shepherd.  Mrs. Post holds membership in the Protestant Episcopal church, and the General and his wife occupy a very prominent position in social circles.  He is a charter member of the Sacramento Lodge, No.  328, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and one of the oldest members of Sacramento Parlor, No. 3, of the Native Sons of the Golden West.  In politics he has been a staunch Republican since casting his first presidential vote for R. B. Hayes in 1876.

      As a lawyer he is sound, clear-minded and well trained.  The limitations which are imposed by the constitution on federal powers are well understood by him.  With the long line of decisions, from Marshall down, by which the constitution has been expounded, he is familiar, as are all thoroughly skilled lawyers.  He is at home in all departments of law, from the minutiae in practice to the greatest topics wherein is involved the consideration of the ethics and philosophy of jurisprudence and the higher concerns of public policy.  He is not learned in the law alone, for he has studied long and carefully the subjects that are to the statesman and the man of affairs of the greatest import--the questions of finance, political economy, sociology--and has kept abreast with the best thinking men of the age.  He is felicitious and clear in argument, thoroughly in earnest, full of vigor of conviction, never abusive of adversaries, imbued with the highest courtesy, and yet a foe worthy of the steel of the most able opponent.

 

 

Source: “A Volume Of Memoirs And Genealogy of Representative Citizens Of Northern California” Standard Genealogical Publishing Co. Chicago. 1901. Pages 182-184.

 

 

Submitted by: Betty Tartas.