San Francisco County
Biographies
PHILIP G. GALPIN
PHILIP G. GALPIN, a
lawyer of San Francisco, is a
native of the Empire State,
born in the city of Buffalo in
1830. His paternal ancestors settled in Vermont
before the war of the Revolution, and the father of our subject during his
boyhood was within hearing of the guns during battle in the war of 1812. Mr. Galpin’s
mother’s family name was Fitch, of the noted historical Fitch family, of New
England. Of her ancestors,
Thomas Fitch was the last governor of Connecticut
appointed by the king of England
before the Revolutionary war. His
sympathies, however, were with his countrymen, and he presided at the first
meeting held in Norwalk to raise
troops when news came from Boston
of the first battle of the Revolution.
Philip Galpin attended school in New
Haven during boyhood, received his preparatory
education at Russell’s Military Academy,
entered Yale College,
and graduated in the class of 1849. He
entered the law office of Governor Henry B. Harrison, of New
Haven, where he pursued his legal studies, and
attended the New Haven Law
School, and was admitted to the bar
in 1852. Removing to Ohio,
he settled at Findlay, where he
practiced law two years, and in 1854 went to New York,
where he was offered a partnership by Robert G. Pike, which he accepted. He remained in this partnership until
1859. In 1857 he came to the Pacific
coast to attend to important litigation, and remained two years; and again in
1865 he was called here in the interests of
other clients, requiring his attention for two or three years. He remained in active practice in New
York, with the exception of two years in Europe,
until 1875, when he came to the coast and located permanently in San
Francisco. Soon
afterward he formed a law partnership with John T. Doyle, Henry D. Scripture
and William Barber. These three
associates have since withdrawn, and Wilbur G. Ziegler having been admitted,
the firm is now Galpin and Ziegler.
Transcribed
by Cathi Skyles.
Source: "The Bay of San Francisco," Vol. 2,
page 312-313, Lewis Publishing Co, 1892.
© 2005 Cathi Skyles.
California Biography Project
San Francisco County
California Statewide
Golden Nugget Library