JUDGE F. A. HORNBLOWER

 

 

JUDGE F. A. HORNBLOWER is a member of a family always distinguished for honor ability in the State of New Jersey.  He is a near relative of Chief Justice Hornblower of that State. He himself was born in London, England, in 1825, but his parents were both Americans.  His father, William Hornblower, was a native of Elizabeth, New Jersey, and a prominent attorney in that city.  His mother, Elizabeth (Dwyer) Hornblower, was a native of New Jersey, of Irish descent.  William Hornblower was in England settling up estate matters when the subject of our sketch was born.  He soon returned to America, and F. A. Hornblower was reared an educated in London, and naturally selected the calling in which his father had become distinguished.

 

The first of the family name of Hornblower who came from England to this country had the good fortune to bring him the first steam pump ever introduced into new the world.  We have not the exact date of this event, but the pump was made historical by forming one of the articles of exhibit at the Centennial Exposition in 1876; and it may be an object of great interest in the Worlds Fair in Chicago in 1893.  That landmark in the passage of time and of the changes in mechanical development, belong to a citizen named Kingsland, in whose interest the first Mr. Hornblower of whom we have record brought it to America.  But Mr. Kingsland also possessed a daughter, and it is presumed that she was charming.  Anyhow, young Hornblower accepted the trouble and responsibility of the historical pump, and afterwards married the daughter.  And here let it be remarked, that there is a peculiar fitness in the events.  The first steam pump introduced into America deserves a place in expositions held a couple of centuries later, not alone because it serves especially to emphasize the remarkable advances which have taken place in mechanics, but also because it recalls the romance of two courageous pioneer lives of nearly 200 years ago, who, though gone so long, are yet of consequence to the well-being of a new State as well as the one wherein the romance culminated.

 

When gold was discovered in California the alluring fields were farther away from New Jersey than that State from England, when the first Hornblower hazarded the dangers of a voyage between those countries.  But the subject of our sketch was not deterred by the distance, nor by the risks and hardships necessarily attending a trip around the Horn in a sailing vessel, landing in California in August, 1849.

 

And here is a good place in which to draw a contrast.  New Jersey was not wilder or more unpromising when the first Hornblower landed upon its shores than California was when F. A. Hornblower reached here.  In New Jersey brain and brawn, backed by money and energy, have been building a prosperous State since 1616, when it was first settled.  Its taxable wealth, in round numbers, is about $650, 000, 000.  California, in the time since F. A. Hornblower reached here, shows, as the result of the labor of Judge Hornblower and such as he, a taxable wealth of about $1,100,000,000, -- or twice as great wealth as New Jersey, and more than any of the thirteen original States except New York, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.  Well may California pioneers be proud of their achievements.

 

There was plenty to do in this infant city when young Hornblower landed, but he determined to take his chances with the hardy throng who were rustling for gold in the mines.  For nearly six years, with the usual varying fortune incident to mining, he was a companion of miners, until, in 1855, he formed a partnership with Charles E. Meredith for the practice of the law at Placerville.  There his admirable qualities were recognized by his fellow citizens, and he was called to the offices of Public Administrator, City Attorney, District Attorney and Associate Justice of El Dorado county, the duties of all which positions he performed with signal ability, and to the marked advantage of the community in which he lived.

 

Judge Hornblower now found himself somewhat circumscribed, on account of failing health, from his insidious habits of studying both day and night, and he had to relinquish his study.  He removed to Sacramento and purchased the Golden Eagle Hotel, but still continued in the practice of his profession.  He, however, did not permit his law practice to engross all his time.  During his entire residence in this State he has been heartily interested in educational matters, and has been foremost in furthering and improving educational methods.  He was an active member of the Board of Education of Sacramento county.  In evidence of the appreciation and earnest approval of his efforts, "the friends of education in the Capital City" presented Judge Hornblower with a costly and reliable gold watch.  As often as inclination required him to know the time he is reminded of the estimation in which his old associates hold his services in this behalf.

 

In time the necessity of his law practice required Judge Hornblower to removed to San Francisco.  From a large and increasing practice he was elected to the office of Police Judge, and filled that troublesome position most satisfactorily and with great credit to his learning and impartiality.  But the Judge comes of the line of brilliant jurists, and what he did was in line with the reasonable expectations of those who knew the man and his antecedents.  But to any active man called to the bench a returned to general practice, is every sense, a vacation, and so it is considered by him.  He has lived an unusually busy life.  His duty to a large clientage has been performed with marked zeal, and their interests have never been neglected under any circumstances.  The calls made upon the time of men of his ability and prominence have been answered with promptness, and in a manner to give universal satisfaction.  During the same time he has filled an unusual number of official positions in the fraternal orders of which he is attached, all requiring time and close application for proper preparation.  He is a prominent member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and has passed all the chairs in that lodge.  In Masonry he has taken all the degrees to that of Royal Arch.  He is an active member of the Improved Order of Red Man and the Ancient Order of Druids, and, as is right, is an honored member of the Pioneer Society of Sacramento, and takes special interest in the Native Sons of the Golden West.  He is a man of generous impulses and decidedly charitable.  It need not be said that not all of his confreres in these fraternal societies are always beyond want, but it is known that Judge Hornblower relieves where it is possible, but in such a manner that his left hand is unconscious of what his right hand has seen fit to do for a distressed brother.  Especially graceful is his action toward such pioneers as have caused to think this a cold and ungrateful world, and by them and all others of his fellow citizens, Judge Hornblower is adjudged an able jurist, an upright citizen and a generous and honorable man.

 

Source: "The Bay of San Francisco" (and Its Cities And Their Suburbs) Vol 1. Lewis Publishing Company 1892. Page 452-454.

Submitted by: Nancy Pratt Melton.