GEORGE A. KNIGHT

 

 

GEORGE A. KNIGHT, attorney, was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, but though an Eastern man by birth he is so essentially a Californian that this is regarded more as a misfortune than a fault.  He came to this coast with his parents at a very early age, settling in Humboldt county, they being among the earliest pioneers in Northern California.  Mr. Knight received his education in Eureka, and the old colleges of California, and the first money he earned as a lad, was in the art of setting type in the composing room of the old Humboldt "Times".  Being naturally a pushing, active young fellow, he soon left the case, and, developing a taste for writing, became one of the regular reporters, and subsequently an editor.  His connections as a newspaperman brought him into contact with every prominent person in northern California, and, anxious to enlarge his sphere of usefulness, he undertook the study of law.  In 1872 he was admitted to the Supreme Court of California, and went back to Humboldt county with increased honor.  So confident were the people of Eureka in his ability and integrity, that they elected him three times as District Attorney for Humboldt county.

 

Mr. Knight has been an ardent Republican all his life.  He did the party good service in the northern part of the State, and in 1880 he received the nomination for Congress in that district, and ran ahead of his ticket.  The following year his ambition led him to San Francisco, where he opened a law office, and for five years the name of Clunie & Knight were associated together as one of the best of law firms in the city.  Mr. Knight soon made himself felt in the city, and his brilliant political speeches marked him as one of the ablest man in the Republican party.  In 1884 he was a delegate to the National Convention, where he crossed swords with George W. Curtis over the nomination of Blaine.  In 1889 he was an elector, and receive the highest vote.

 

Mr. Knight is yet quite a young man.  He has a commanding presence, an agreeable manner, and a well-modulated voice, and is especially fortunate with juries, whom he easily captures by his forcible speeches.  He is eminently a jury lawyer, and it is with juries that he has made so great a success as a lawyer, and many have likened him to the late Hall McAllister.  But notwithstanding his wonderful success as a criminal lawyer, he is also a very successful lawyer in civil suits, and of late years he has paid more attention to probate and civil matters than he has to criminal.  In truth, he undertakes no criminal business unless there are huge fees on it.  There is probably no man of his age in the United States who has made so many political speeches, and whose talents have been so much in demand by his party, and been so freely given, as George A. Knight.

 

 

Source: "The Bay of San Francisco" Volume 1. Lewis Publishing  Company 1892. Page 429.

Submitted by: Nancy Pratt Melton