HON. PERCY G. WEST

HON. PERCY G. WEST. – A distinguished and popular representative of the people in the halls of state legislation is the Honorable Percy G. West, the well-known attorney who is a member of the California legislature as assemblyman from the fifteenth district. He was born at Orange, in Orange County, on March 16, 1883, and his father was Henry West, who had married Miss Sabrina Harriett Austing. They were married in the city of London, December 24, 1871, and in May, 1872, came to San Francisco, Cal. In 1876 they located on a ranch at Orange, Cal., which they eventually improved to an orange orchard. They now both live retired in that beautiful Southern city. They had nine children, six of whom are living, Percy G. being the third in order of birth.

Percy West attended the public schools of Orange County, and in time studied law in the office of Robert A. Waring, state inheritance tax attorney, and J.M. Inman, state senator, and also pursued a special course in the School of Jurisprudence of the State University at Berkeley, and on July 2, 1919, was admitted to the bar in California. He had previously worked for the Southern Pacific system, first as a telegraph operator, and then as ticket agent; in 1904 he came to Sacramento and then became traveling freight and passenger agent for the Harriman lines. In 1918 he was paying and receiving teller in the Capital National Bank, and the following year he became undersheriff. In 1920, after having resigned from his office, he took up the practice of law; and on November 2, 1920, he was elected assemblyman from the fifteenth district. He then began the practice of law, in which he has met with success. In 1922 he was reelected to the assembly without opposition. In the session of 1921 he was chairman of the committee on labor and capital. In that session he was the author of the bill creating the California State Agricultural Education Committee, which investigated all the colleges of agriculture in the United States, while formulating a definite policy to be pursued by the University of California in agricultural education, and as a result the State Farm at Davis has been made a branch of the University of California. In the session of 1923 he was chairman of the committee on claims, and he served as a member of the judiciary committee during both sessions. Republican in matters of national import, Mr. West, through his active participation in the affairs of the Native Sons of the Golden West, seeks to stimulate patriotic sentiments and influence. He is past president in that organization, and he has been secretary of the Native Sons Hall Association for fifteen years, since the organization was formed. He belongs to the American Order, Sons of St. George; Sacramento Lodge No. 6 of the Elks; Capital City Lodge No. 499, F & A.M., and Sacramento Pyramid of the Sciots, and to the county, state, and national bar associations.

At Sacramento, in 1911, Mr. West was married to Miss Ethel G. Trainor, of that city, the daughter of W.F. Trainor, who was for years paying teller in the California National Bank. They have one son, Robert G. West. Mr. West has vested interests in ranch and home property. He believes in getting out into the open and is fond of hunting.

Transcribed by Vicky Walker. 3/6/07.

Source: Reed, G. Walter, History of Sacramento County, California With Biographical Sketches, Page 499. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1923.