HON. HENRY ALEXANDER MELVIN
One of the greatest ideals of the American
people is that which means equality before the law. In the hands of the
judiciary rests the interpretation of the law. It follows therefore that care,
discrimination, close examination of an individual’s public acts and his
standing in private life is given before he is chosen to hold the power that in
any community civilization demands for orderly living, for civic advance, for
peaceful progress and for general content. A man who is selected for the place
of honor so described must have, together with the record of an upright life,
many other qualifications, and these include a comprehensive knowledge of the
law, a high moral standard with a sympathetic understanding of the frailties of
human nature, ability to evenly balance testimony, and the courage to make
decisions without fear or favor. Such a man was the late Judge Henry Alexander
Melvin, long recognized as the peer of the ablest members who have sat upon the
bench of the court of last resort in California, and a distinguished citizen of
San Francisco.
Judge Melvin was born at Springfield, Illinois,
September 28th, 1865, in the same year that marked the passing of another
distinguished citizen of Illinois, Abraham Lincoln. He was a son of Dr. Samuel
Houston and Sarah Amanda (Slemmons) Melvin, natives of Pennsylvania and Ohio,
respectively. Doctor Melvin was a neighbor and close personal friend of Abraham
Lincoln, of whom he was a great admirer and supporter.
A man of progressive ideas and venturesome
spirit, Doctor Melvin recognized the opportunities offered in the West, and in
1873 brought his family to California, locating at Saint Helena, where he
remained for three years, and then moved to Oakland, California, where he
continued to reside the remainer of his life. He was connected with much of the
civic betterment work of his period; for many years served as president of the
California State Board of Pharmacy; was professor of pharmacy in the University
of California, and framed and had passed the pharmacy act of 1891. Not only did
he attain to a distinguished position in his profession, but his ability as an
educator was equally brilliant, and his name is cherished as that of one of the
most useful and capable men of his times.
Judge Melvin was reared by watchful and devoted parents and his youthful
ambitions were fostered and encouraged. From 1875 to 1878 he attended the
public schools of Saint Helena, and in the latter year he entered the Franklin
grammar school of Oakland, where he continued until 1881. For the succeeding
four years he was a student of the Oakland High School, and then from 1885 to
1889 he attended the University of California, from which he was graduated with
the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy. His professional training was gained in
the Hastings College of the Law of the University of California, from which he
was graduated in 1892, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws, and was admitted to
practice at the bar of California in the same year. Judge Melvin had already
mastered another profession, for when only thirteen years old he was a
practicing pharmacist in charge of a drug store, and could easily have reached
an enviable position in that line had not the law attracted him still more. For
many years he held an active professorship of medical jurisprudence in Oakland
College of Medicine and Surgery, and for some time prior to his death was
professor emeritus of medical jurisprudence.
During his very useful life Judge Melvin
entered with characteristic heartiness into many activities. His knowledge of
military affairs came to him through practical training, for he was first
lieutenant and inspector of rifle practice of the University Cadets when
graduated from the University of California. For many years he was a member of
the Republican Alliance of Oakland, in which he attained the rank of
major.
His connection with the bench commenced in
1891, while he was still a college student, when he was appointed a justice of
the peace of Brooklyn Township, Alameda County, and he afterwards served in
many public capacities, being prosecuting attorney of the City of Oakland,
deputy district attorney, chief deputy district attorney of Alameda County and
a special deputy attorney-general of the State of California. In 1901 he was
appointed to fill a vacancy on the Superior Bench of Alameda County, and in
1902 was elected to a full term of six years. He resigned, however, to accept,
September 28, 1908, his forty-third birthday, the governor’s appointment as an
associate justice of the Supreme Court of California, to fill the vacancy
created by the death of Justice Thomas B. McFarland, and November 3 of that
same year was elected to serve out the remainder of Judge McFarland’s term. In
1911 Judge Melvin was elected for the full twelve-year term, and was still
serving at the time of his demise.
On June 14,1893, Judge Melvin was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Louise Morse, a daughter of the late S. Bradford Morse, at that time one of the prominent insurance men of Portland, Oregon. Judge and Mrs. Melvin had one son born to them namely: Bradford Morse Melvin, who was graduated from the University of California with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, following which he took the bar examinations. During the World war he served in the United States Navy, in which he enlisted as an apprenticed seaman, and when he resigned, after the signing of the armistice, he was an ensign. On May 10, 1922, Bradford Morse Melvin married Esther Langley, born in Monterey County, California. Mr. Melvin is one of the rising young attorneys of San Francisco, where he is carrying on a general practice. He is a Mason, and also belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and Sons of the American Revolution.
Judge Melvin was made a member of Gamma Eta
Kappa while a student of the Oakland High School. He was a charter member of
the University of California chapter of Phi Delta Theta; editor of the Blue and
Gold, the college year book; was one of the organizers of the Glee Club; was
member of Phi Delta Phi, the legal fraternity, and was a member of Golden Bear
honor society. He became a Mason and rose in the Scottish rite to the
fourteenth degree, and was one of the most active members in the state of the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of which he was made grand Exalted
Ruler in 1906. On July 18, 1921, a granite monument was unveiled on the Melvin
plot, Mount View Cemetery, in honor of Judge Melvin, by the Elks of the nation.
Past Exalted Ruler Col. John P. Sullivan, of New Orleans, Louisiana, was the
principal speaker of the day. Another of the speakers, William Mountain,
exalted ruler, said in part of Judge Melvin:
“Justice Melvin was the man, the brother and the American.”
Still another speaker, William M. Abbott, past grand exalted ruler, said in
part:
“There are few friends greater than the late Justice Melvin. I recall with a
certain intangible happiness in my heart the acts of my friend. There is a
spirit of pride as well as sorrow that strikes the heart strings over the grave
of him who was our great friend. We pay this tribute as those who come to the
grave to worship a friend.”
Judge Melvin obtained a unique and prominent
reputation for broad common sense and profound knowledge and application of the
law. His opinions covering the whole field of the court’s jurisdiction bear
unmistakable evidence that they were prepared by a careful, studious and
thoughtful mind. His habitual and intense love of the practical and
unpretentious, and his hatred of all hypocrisy and striving after effect, are
strikingly exemplified in these opinions. They are clear-cut, direct and to the
point. He had no desire to attempt to show forth the voluminous extent of his
reading and learning upon the case in hand. His success on the bench was no
less marked than his success at the bar. He seemed to have an intuitive knowledge
of the common law and was one of its most intense admirers. When death claimed
him one of the most distinguished jurists, ablest lawyers, and best citizens of
the country passed into a new life.
Louise E. Shoemaker, Transcriber February 18, 2004
Source: "The San
Francisco Bay Region" by Bailey Millard Vol. 3 page 86-90. Published by The
American Historical Society, Inc. 1924.
© 2004 Louise Shoemaker