San Francisco County
Biographies
JOHN BARTON
O’BRIEN
One of the successful younger attorneys in the city of San Francisco is John Barton O’Brien, with offices in the Mills building, who is ably carrying on the tradition of a family name known conspicuously in the local bar for many years.
Mr. O’Brien was born in San Francisco, August 4, 1900, and is a son of the late J. P. O’Brien and his wife, Theresa (Anson) O’Brien. His paternal grandfather, Martin O’Brien, crossed the western plains in a covered wagon in 1850, and for many years was in the employ of the San Francisco Chronicle, and in charge of a circulation route. J. P. O’Brien, his son and later distinguished lawyer and jurist in the west, was born in San Francisco. He attended the Lincoln grammar school, and then studied law in the office of that nationally know firm of Delmas & Bull. He located in Sonora, Tuolumne county, California, for seven years, where he was counsel for railroad and banking interests. Later, he went to Nevada and became judge of the fifth judicial district of that state. Subsequently, he returned to San Francisco, where he engaged with eminent success in the practice of law until the time of his death in 1928. He was a member of all the bar associations, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Knights of Columbus. His widow, Theresa (Anson) O’Brien was born in Meridian, California, a daughter of Barton Anson, now deceased, who came across the plains behind an ox-team in 1849. He conducted a hotel in Colusa county, and also operated the famous old Thompson ranch, where he planted the first Thompson seedless grapes in the state. Mrs. O’Brien is also related to the late Captain Pop Anson, famous baseball player of earlier years and head of the noted Chicago baseball club. Mrs. O’Brien survives her husband.
John Barton O’Brien attended St. Joseph’s Academy and Santa Clara College, and then took up the study of law at St. Ignatius College (now San Francisco University). He received his legal degree from this institution in 1926, and in the same year was admitted to the California state bar. His first practice was in association with his honored father, but since the latter’s death he has engaged in legal work alone. Although he has been active before the local bar for comparatively few years, he has made extraordinary progress in his profession and is generally considered to have a most promising future. Fraternally he is affiliated with San Francisco Lodge, No. 3, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, while along strictly professional lines he has membership in the Bar Association of San Francisco.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Source: Byington, Lewis Francis, “History of San
Francisco 3 Vols”, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.,
Chicago, 1931. Vol. 3 Pages 162-163.
© 2008 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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