San Francisco County
Biographies
HARRY THORNTON CRESWELL
CRESWELL, HARRY THORNTON, Attorney-at-Law, San Francisco,
California, was born at Eutaw, Greene County, Alabama, the son of David
Creswell and Gertrude (Thornton) Creswell, and may thereby count among his
ancestors some of the most distinguished and charming women of the old South,
who were chiefly of English origin.
He was married in
San Francisco to Lucy Crittenden
Nesbitt, and is the father of Harry Innis Thornton Creswell and Gertrude
Crittenden Creswell.
Mr. Creswell
obtained his education in the Greene Springs
School, a famous institution of the South in the
early days, which was conducted by Professor Henry Tutwiler, at Greene Springs,
Hale county, Alabama. Upon completion of his studies there he took
up law, and was admitted to the practice in the State of Nevada
in 1874.
In the year 1870
Mr. Creswell went to California from Louisiana,
and settled first in San Francisco, but moved from there
to Belmont, Nevada,
where, in 1874, his active business and professional career began. After being admitted to the bar, he soon
established a reputation for integrity, firmness, courtesy and skill in the
conduct of his cases, and in the same year was elected to the office of
District Attorney of Nye county, Nevada.
After a
successful term of two years he became State Senator from that county, in 1876.
He then went over
into Lauder county and was elected District Attorney in 1880, and served until
1887. He was a candidate, in 1886, for
the district judgeship of the State of Nevada,
but was defeated.
Mr. Creswell
returned to San Francisco in 1887
and resumed the private practice of his profession. This continued until 1892, in which year he
was elected City and County Attorney
of San Francisco, an office which
carried with it at that time a membership on the Board of City Hall
Commissioners.
He had charge of
all the civil law business of the City and County
of San Francisco, and as a member of the City Hall
Commission always insisted on the use of materials of California
production and manufacture for the new San Francisco
City Hall, at that time in course
of construction.
Mr. Creswell gave
such satisfaction in his public offices that he was re-elected in 1894, and
again in 1896. Two years later, in 1898,
he resigned the post to become a member of the well-known firm of Garber,
Creswell & Garber, composed of John Garber, Mr. Creswell and Joseph B.
Garber.
Following the
earthquake and conflagration of April, 1906, Mr. Creswell was appointed a
member of the “Committee of Fifty” chosen to aid the Mayor of San Francisco in
the government of the city. He was
thereafter made a Police Commissioner of San Francisco,
but resigned the office before the expiration of his term. Since then he has devoted himself to his law
practice, which is chiefly of a civil nature.
Mr. Creswell is a
member of the Pacific-Union Club and the Southern Club of San Francisco.
Transcribed
by Pat Seabolt.
Source: Press Reference
Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page
877, International News
Service, New
York,
Chicago, San
Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta. 1913.
© 2007 Pat Seabolt.
California Biography Project
San Francisco County
California Statewide
Golden Nugget Library