San
Francisco County
Biographies
JAMES
MCMILLAN SHAFTER
There are men of high moral courage and great
intellectuality who are the leaders in the great reforms in all countries. Such
has been the life of Mr. Shafter. He was born in Vermont, and was educated at
Wesleyan University in Connecticut, in which he graduated in 1837. He also
attended the law school of Yale College, and was
admitted to the bar in 1840. He commenced to practice law in Vermont, but was
soon elected a member of the lower branch of the Legislature, and from 1843 to
1849 he was Secretary of State. In the sweeping tide of emigration to the great
West in the latter part of the year 1849 he embarked for Sheboygan, Wisconsin.
While a young man he was a strong anti-slavery man, and this has been the
continued battle of his whole life. Although he has been an active politician,
he has never been a political trimmer, nor never known to sacrifice principle
for the sake of official position. In 1851 he was elected to the Legislature of
Wisconsin, and made Speaker of the Assembly. At the next election he ran for
Congress from that State, but was defeated, although he ran one thousand votes
ahead of his ticket. The nomination for District Judge and Member of Congress
was offered him, both of which he declined, as he intended to move on westward.
On his arrival in San Francisco he immediately entered into active practice,
and for a number of years with his brother, O. L. Shafter, who was at one time
one of the Justices of the Supreme Court of California, were leading attorneys
of the Pacific coast. Mr. Shafter served two terms as Senator in the California
Legislature, and was a member of the convention to frame our new Constitution.
He is the owner of large estates,
and has taken a good deal of interest in fine stock and served two years as
President of the State Board of Agriculture. Mr. Shafter is a fine type of physical
manhood, and his mental faculties are of the highest order. He is a good
representative of the good old New England stock of men who have had such a
prominent place in the history of our country.
Transcribed By: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: “Illustrated Fraternal Directory Including
Educational Institutions on the Pacific Coast”, Page 75, Publ.
Bancroft Co., San Francisco. Cal. 1889.
© 2012 Cecelia
M. Setty.
San Francisco County Biographies