San Francisco County
Biographies
HENRY HEMAN HAVENS
HENRY HEMAN HAVENS, a retired lawyer of Oakland, was born in
Moriah, Essex county, New
York, January 2, 1826, a son of John and Orillie
(Pratt) Havens. John Havens, his grandfather, was a farmer in Essex county, a soldier in the Revolution and drew a pension of $4
a month for partial disability. He died at the age of eighty-seven years. Mr.
Pratt, the grandfather died at the age of ninety-six years. Henry’s father,
born in Rhode Island, of English descent, moved to Essex county early in this century,
where he became a farmer, being also a shoemaker by trade; he was a deacon of
the Baptist Church and very highly esteemed in the community in which he lived;
he was in the battle of Plattsbury in the war of
1812, and finally died of cholera about 1835, while traveling in Michigan, aged
about forty-five years. His wife, born in Vermont, lived to the age of sixty or
more, dying in Tioga, Pennsylvania. They had five sons and four daughters, who
grew to maturity, of whom two, John Franklin and Henry Heman,
our subject, came finally to this coast and are both residents of Oakland. John
Franklin, born in 1813, early became a lawyer and arrived in California in
July, 1869.
Mr.
Havens, the subject of this sketch, went to school, did chores for the family and
worked on the farm until the age of eighteen years, when he began teaching
school winters and clerked in a store or helped on the farm in summer, and
continued this for nine years. Then he commenced the study of law under the
instructions of his brother in 1853; he passed examination and was admitted to
the Supreme Court of New York July 5, 1852, and even after that he continued to
teach school during the winter. He practiced his profession in Crown Point, New
York, sixteen years; was also Justice of the Peace over twelve years. He
arrived at San Francisco December 20, 1868, coming by way of the Isthmus and
settling in Oakland. March 26, 1869, he was admitted to the District Court of California, and to the bar of the Supreme Court of this
State November 3, 1870. He was elected City Attorney in 1869, holding that
office until 1872; was also Deputy District Attorney throughout his term as
City Attorney. He practiced his profession until 1882; meanwhile he was
appointed United States Storekeeper, having charge of warehouses, etc., for
over eight years. He was a Notary Public for seventeen years in Crown Point,
New York, and Commissioner of Deeds for New York for several years in this
State.
Mr.
Havens was married in Essex, Essex County, New York, August 16, 1855, to Miss
Elizabeth H. Shattuck, who was born January 29, 1835, at Crown Point, in that
county, a daughter of Weston and Betsey (Mather)
Shattuck. Her maternal grandmother, Mather, lived to
the age of ninety-nine years. The living children of Mr. and Mrs. Havens are:
Henry Roscoe, born October 6, 1856; John Weston, born February 4, 1860; Francis
Jean, January 24, 1862; Mary Justina March 22, 1864,
now Mrs. Thomas M. Robinson, of Oakland (see sketch of Mr. Robinson); Ethel
Millicent, born September 18, 1867; all these were born in Crown Point, New
York; Florence Elizabeth, born in Oakland, California, December 15, 1872.
Henry
R. Havens was twelve years old when the family settled in Oakland, and he
continued his education in the Brayton College School
and in the high school. In 1874 he entered the State University. In 1879-‘80 he
taught school eighteen months in Lake county.
Returning to the university he was graduated Ph. B. in the class of 1880, and
he again taught school about two years. Next he attended Hastings Law College
about a year and continued his law studies in private a second year. In 1884 he
was Clerk of the Committee on Education in the State Assembly, and in 1886 of
the Committee on Corporations. While in Sacramento, in 1884, he was admitted to
the bar, on examination, and then practiced law for a time as a member of the
firm of Chapman & Havens. In 1889 he took his present position as
bookkeeper for A. L. Stone in real-estate and insurance business, having
meanwhile lost interest in the legal profession. John Weston Havens is
collection teller in the Pacific National Bank of San Francisco, and Francis
Jean is an insurance agent.
Transcribed
by Elaine Sturdevant.
Source: "The
© 2006 Elaine Sturdevant.