San Francisco County
Biographies
WILLIAM M. PIERSON
WILLIAM M.
PIERSON.—“When I arrived in San Francisco,
fifteen years ago,” said a well-known citizen to the writer, “I had occasion
one day to visit the courtroom of the old Fifteenth District Court, then
situated at the corner of Montgomery avenue and Montgomery
street. The
late Judge Samuel H. Dwinelle was upon the bench, and
when I entered the room a young lawyer was addressing the court. His tones, as well as his presence, impressed
me, and I listened to his argument; I was at once astonished and pleased. His reasoning was convincing; at times his
language was really eloquent. While his
handsome face and grace of manner would have been sufficient to arrest attention
anywhere, the sound logic of his utterance secured the careful consideration of
the bar as well as of the court itself.
I found upon inquiry that the young lawyer was William M. Pierson.”
Perhaps no higher
encomium could be paid the subject of our sketch so far as it gives the cursory
views of a very close observer of human nature. But Mr. Pierson is more than a showy,
eloquent and logical speaker. He is a
sound lawyer, in the broadest sense of that term. His mind is of an analytical turn, and
beneath the Chesterfieldian grace of his manner there
lies an active, never-slumbering intellect that is
ever ready to avail itself of any weak spot in his opponent’s armor; to meet
with deadly foil any false thrusts from his adversary’s weapon.
William M.
Pierson was born in Cincinnati, in
February, 1842, where his parents were living temporarily. He comes of Knickerbocker
stock, his mother being a lineal descendant of Anneke
Jans, the grantor of real estate to Trinity Church in
New York city, which has made that institution the wealthiest church
corporation in the country. He came to California
via the Horn, arriving here on Independence Day, 1952. For a while he attended a school then kept by
Ahira Holmes at the corner of Broadway and Kearny
streets. There the restless spirit of the lad asserted itself; he left school
and found employment in the picture and stationery store of Marvin &
Hitchcock, located on Montgomery street,
between Washington and Jackson. After eighteen months of this work he attended
a session of the high school, and then entered the office of the late Judge
Nathaniel Bennett as a law student.
Afterward he studied with Frank Pixley, and
completed his studies in the office of Henry H. Haight. He was admitted to the bar in 1862, at the
age of twenty years, a special act of the Legislature being passed for that
purpose. He formed a law partnership
with Mr. Haight, which continued until the latter was
elected Governor in 1867. Mr. Pierson
has a vivid recollection of the Vigilante days, and witnessed from his home on
Broadway the taking from the jail of Cora and Casey, when they were executed.
While Mr.
Pierson’s practice has been general, it is mostly confined to civil cases, his
specialty being corporation law. In this
class of jurisprudence he has been eminently successful. One of the most important litigations in
which he has been engaged was the case of the People vs. Wells-Fargo, where he
appeared for the people. The commercial
banks, when the act creating the Bank Commission went into effect, refused to
submit to examination by the Bank Commissioners, claiming that the act applied
only to savings banks. Half a dozen of
the most prominent lawyers of the city took this ground, and advised the banks
accordingly. Mr. Pierson argued the case
with great ability, and the Supreme Court sustained him, and compelled the
banks to submit to examination. He was
attorney for the plaintiffs in the great case of the People vs. the American
Sugar Refinery, an action brought to dissolve the corporation because it had
joined the sugar trust. This action was
begun simultaneously with one of a like character in New
York city. Judge Wallace recently decided the case in
favor of the People and against the sugar trust, taking the position assumed by
Mr. Pierson in his argument. Later a receiver was appointed by Judge Wallace
and the refinery closed. The proceedings
were sought to be restrained by a writ of prohibition issued by the Supreme
Court, and the whole matter was re-argued by Mr. Pierson in that court.
A member of the
profession has said that a mere lawyer is at most a moiety of a man: heathen and soulless. Mr. Pierson is not a
mere lawyer. Besides having fine
literary tastes, which his means permit him to enjoy, he is a fine amateur
astronomer, and at his residence on Van Ness avenue he has the largest
telescope in the city, the object-glass being eight and a half inches in
diameter. It is mounted in an
observatory attached to his residence, and here of a cloudless night Mr.
Pierson spends many an hour gazing at “the starry cope of heaven.” Mr. Pierson is President of the Astronomical
Society of the Pacific, has free access to the Lick Observatory, has the
largest telescope in the State outside of the observatory, and is an enthusiast
in the science. He is a member of the
Pacific-Union Club and of the Bar Association.
He is married and has a family consisting of a wife, who was the
daughter of Captain I. B. Edwards, and two sons, both of whom are in mercantile
employment.
Transcribed 7-20-05 Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: "The Bay of San Francisco," Vol. 2, Page 248-9, Lewis
Publishing Co, 1892.
©
2005 Marilyn R. Pankey.
California Biography Project
San Francisco County
California Statewide
Golden Nugget Library