San Francisco County
Biographies
HON. LILE T.
JACKS
Lile T. Jacks, presiding judge of the superior court of the state of California, in and for the city and county of San Francisco, was born in Meadow Valley, Plumas county, California, on March 26, 1877; a son of early pioneer parents, the late Richard Jacks and his wife, Florence Fremont (Bell) Jacks.
His father, Richard Jacks (1831-1899), was born in Howard county, Missour, of early American parents, pioneers of Kentucky, who had later moved to Kansas, where the said Richard Jacks was reared and educated. He came to California in the early ‘50s and was later owner of “Jacks Hill,” “Missouri Flat” and “Golden Enterprise” gold mines; gold-mining ditch-owner, lumberman, inventor and landowner (including Jacks Meadow) of Plumas county, California; business associates of United States Senator George C. Perkins of California, with Platte County Overland Company. His wife, Florence Fremont (Bell) Jacks, mother of Judge Jacks, was born March 17, 1854, in Platte county, Missouri. Her father, James Bell (1831-1915), was a pioneer and large land and slaveholder of Camden Point, Platte county, Missouri. Her mother was Narcissus Coursey Dunlap (1833-62), descended from Captain Alexander Dunlap, and Major William Dunlap (1767-1834), early pioneer family of Rockbridge county, Virginia, of Scotch-Irish descent. The late Boutwell Dunlap, bibliographer, and California historian, cousin of Judge Jacks, was also descended from this same Dunlap family. Four sons and daughters, all of whom are now living, were born to Richard and Florence Jacks.
Judge Jacks attended the public schools of Plumas county, and high school in the town of Quincy, Plumas county. Leaving school, he engaged in agriculture and mining, working a hydraulic mine, which he owned in Plumas county. Although early in life he determined to follow the law as his future career, circumstances made it necessary for him to work days and study nights, in order to continue his legal education. From 1906 to 1908 he studied law under the guidance of his honored preceptor, the late Judge James M. Seawell, in whose court he served three and a half years as deputy county clerk. Judge Jacks took the night courses in the Golden Gate Law College, receiving his LL. B. Degree, and later completed a four-year course of study at the University of San Francisco. He was admitted to the bar in California, November 8, 1908, after which he became associated with William McNair, George Stoker and the late Hon. Frank Brittain, the last named later becoming judge of the appellate court. In 1910 Judge Jacks entered private practice, which he continued until March 7, 1920, when he was elected at a recall election to the office of police judge, having been the choice of the San Francisco Bar Association, for that honor. For eight years he served with distinction upon the bench of this court. In 1927 he was elected a judge of the superior court, and assumed his place on the superior bench January 1, 1928, and on January 5, 1931, he was appointed presiding judge. Until his election to the superior bench, Judge Jacks was a member of the San Francisco Bar Association, the California State Bar Association and the American Bar Association, and has served on a number of committees in the local organization.
In San Anselmo, California, on September 20, 1913, Judge Jacks was married to Miss Ethel A. Kluver, daughter of the late Henry and Emma (Dobbel) Kluver. Mrs. Jacks’ grandfather, Henry Dobbel, was a California pioneer, and was a member of the famous Vigilance committee in the days of lawlessness in San Francisco. He was owner of parts of “Rancho Canada de Verde y Arrouo de la Purisima” and “Rancho Miramontes,” San Mateo county, California, the third largest landowner in San Mateo county, about 1880.
During the World war Judge Jacks was a member of the ‘Four-Minute men,” which organization was brought into existence by the late lamented President Woodrow Wilson, and performed able and useful service for his country in that capacity.
Judge Jacks has always given his support to the democratic party. He is a member of the Scottish Rite bodies, thirty-second degree; Mission Masonic Lodge, No. 169; and Islam Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He is past dictator of the Loyal Order of Moose; past commander of the Woodmen of the World, No. 64; and is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; the Fraternal Order of Eagles; the Ancient Egyptian Order of Druids; the Sciots; the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; and the King Solomon’s Chapter, No. 170, Order of the Eastern Star.
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 154-158.
© 2007 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S SAN FRANCISCO
BIOGRAPIES