San Francisco County
Biographies
WILLIAM PENN
HUMPHREYS
Among the native sons who have achieved success in the practice of law in San Francisco is William Penn Humphreys, whose office is in the Balboa building. He was born here September 11, 1871, and is a son of the late William Penn and Mary Annemede (Stincen) Humphreys. He is of Welsh and Quaker ancestry, members of his family having first come to Pennsylvania, commanded a company in Colonel William Bradford’s Pennsylvania Regiment, was excommunicated by the Society of Friends for fighting for his country, and subsequently became first chief naval constructor under President Washington, in which capacity he designed the frigates Constitution, United States, President, Constellation, Philadelphia and Chesapeake. His father, William Penn Humphreys, Sr., was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, March 17, 1829, and his wife, Mary Annemede (Stincen) Humphreys, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, October 20, 1844.
William Penn Humphreys graduated at the University of California, in 1892, with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy. He received the degree of Bachelor of Arts at Harvard in 1893, in which year he entered the Hastings Law School in San Francisco. He received his Bachelor of Laws degree in 1896, and since that year, when he was admitted to the state bar of California, he has been engaged in general practice in San Francisco. He has conducted litigation of all character except criminal cases. He has been uniformly successful in his work, and has a clientele of most satisfactory proportions, while his ethical procedure has won the respect of his contemporaries.
Mr. Humphreys has been twice married. His first wife was Miss Paula Wolff of San Francisco, whom he married February 22, 1905. She died August 15, 1928. They were the parents of one daughter, Matilda M., who married James F. Skene on August 1, 1931. Mr. Humphreys was married to Edith A. Beveridge on June 17, 1931. The family residence is at 140 San Leandro way.
Mr. Humphreys has been honored with the position of judge advocate general of the California National Guard, and he is also lieutenant colonel in the judge advocate general’s department of the organized reserves. He is a trustee of the Mechanics’ Institute in San Francisco, and has taken a live interest in all affairs of civic nature. In politics, he gives his support to the democratic party, and is an active opponent of the eighteenth amendment, the Volstead and Wright acts, and all the evil and corruption which he believes they have caused. Mr. Humphreys is a Mason and is a member of the Olympic Club. He indulges in ranching aside from his legal work, and is very enthusiastic in the outdoor life associated with it.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Source: Byington, Lewis Francis, “History of
San Francisco 3 Vols”, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.,
Chicago, 1931. Vol. 2 Pages 332-333.
© 2007 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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