San Francisco County
Biographies
WILLIAM THOMAS
THOMAS, WILLIAM, senior partner of the firm of Thomas, Beedy and Lanagan, Attorneys at
Law, San Francisco, was born in Worcester,
Massachusetts, September 5, 1853, the son
of Benjamin Franklin Thomas and Mary Ann (Park) Thomas. Both his paternal and maternal ancestors were
among the early residents of New England, where they won
distinction in various walks of life.
His great-grandfather, Isaiah Thomas, who was a close personal friend of
Benjamin Franklin, was founder of the famous publication, “The Worcester Spy,”
as well as the “American Antiquarian Society,” and for many years was
postmaster of Worcester. Benjamin F. Thomas, the father of William
Thomas, was one of New England’s greatest orators and lawyers, a Justice of the
Supreme Court of Massachusetts, a member of Congress, and President of the
Suffolk Bar Association, in Boston. His son, William, came to California
in May, 1877, and settled in San Francisco,
where he is known as one of the leading corporation lawyers of the State. In March, 1875, he was married in Cambridge,
Mass., to Miss Emma Gay. The children of this marriage are Molly (now
Mrs. Latham McMullin), Helen (now Mrs. Kimble),
Benjamin, and Gertrude Thomas.
After
attending the public schools of Massachusetts Mr. Thomas entered Harvard
University, in 1869, when he was
but fifteen years old. He was graduated therefrom A. B., with the class of ’73, and in 1876 took
the degree of L.L. B. from the Harvard Law School, in the following year coming
to San Francisco.
During
the thirty-four years that Mr. Thomas has practiced his profession in San
Francisco he has been a living illustration of the value of the
training provided by Harvard University,
and the famous Harvard Law
School, to those who care to take
advantage thereof. From the start his
efforts met with a success which has grown steadily with the years, and which
has led to his present prominent position among the attorneys and financiers of
the State. In the latter respect he has
become almost as well known as in the former, heredity and training having
directed him into channels where the greatest opportunities are to be found by
the men capable of grasping them.
His
first important venture beyond the practice of the law was as organizer of the
California Fruit Canners’ Association, of which he was the first president, for
three years. This is today one of the
largest industrials of the State. He was
and is president of the Pioneer Land Company, which was the pioneer corporation
of the Tulare County Citrus Belt, and the promoter and patron of the
flourishing town of Porterville.
He
was also the organizer of the California Title Insurance and Trust Company, and
for many years he was the chairman of its legal staff.
Although
Mr. Thomas’ practice has been of the non-sensational order, confined largely to
corporation law, some of his cases have attracted wide public interest. Among these was that of Waite vs. the City of
Santa Cruz. This involved about $360,000, a defective
bond issue, and eight years of litigation.
It was carried back and forth from court to court, went to the United
States Supreme Court and back to the Circuit Court of Appeals in Seattle,
and was finally won for the plaintiff by Mr. Thomas, who had a writ of mandate issued compelling the Common Council of Santa Cruz
to levy the tax.
After
the great fire of 1906 Mr. Thomas took a prominent position as attorney for the
insured. In this connection, he went to Europe,
accompanied by Oscar Sutro, in the fall of 1906, in
the grim pursuit of four German fire insurance companies, which had “welched.” He
represented on that trip some sixty law firms who turned over to him and Mr. Sutro the claims of their clients. They succeeded in making settlements securing
$7,000,000 for San Francisco.
Mr.
Thomas’ political and civic activities have been limited to a Police
Commissionership, from which he resigned after five days, be cause he “didn’t
like it,” and to his Trusteeship, for two years, of the Home for Feeble Minded
Children. In his practice he has
co-operated with other well-known lawyers of the city, his partnerships having
undergone the following changes of name: Chickering &
Thomas, Thomas & Gerstle, to the present firm of
Thomas, Beedy & Lanagan. He is also a director in many other financial
and industrial institutions. His clubs
and associations are: The University (of
which he was the first President), Harvard of San
Francisco (President for two years), California Water
and Forest Association (first President), Harvard Law School Association (Vice
President), Commonwealth Club (charter member), and the Bohemian of San
Francisco.
Transcribed by Betty Vickroy.
Source: Press Reference Library,
Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page
279, International News
Service, New
York,
Chicago, San
Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta. 1913.
© 2007 Betty Vickroy.
California Biography Project
San Francisco County
California Statewide
Golden Nugget Library