San Joaquin County
Biographies
HON. JAMES H. BUDD.
HON. JAMES H. BUDD. - Among
the members of the bar of Stockton whose talents have brought them name and
fame, none have been more distinguished as lawyers than this gentleman. He was
born at Janesville, Wisconsin, May 18, 1851, and is a son of Judge Joseph H.
Budd, who is mentioned at length elsewhere in this volume. He accompanied his
parents to California in 1859, and since their location at Stockton, in 1860,
he has always made this city his home. He commenced his education at Stockton,
and from 1866 to 1869 attended the Britan College
School. He next attended the State University, and was graduated there in the
class of 1873.
The profession of law was
from an early age marked out for him by his parents’ wishes and his own
inclinations, and in 1869 he commenced preparations therefore by reading in his
father’s office. His legal studies were kept up during the progress of his
college course, and in 1874, the next year after graduation,
he was admitted, at Sacramento, to practice in the Supreme Court of California.
He was associated in practice with his father for some time, and afterward with
Judge Swinnerton. Since the dissolution
of the latter partnership he has had no colleague in his law practice. In 1873-’74
he served as Deputy District Attorney under A. W. Roysden.
In 1876 he received the unanimous nomination of the Democratic convention for
Assemblyman from this district, but declined. In 1882 he was nominated by the
Democratic convention of this Congressional district as their candidate for
Congress, and undertook what was generally considered a hopeless race. It
assumed a different aspect, however, under the vigor
of his canvass, and when it was found, after election, that he was the
fortunate candidate, many persons who thought that the Republican nomination
meant election were surprised. He was, however, the first Democrat ever elected
to Congress from this district. As a member of the National House of
Representatives, he served on the Committee of Education, and the Committee on
Invalid Pensions. He introduced and carried through House Bill No. 100, in the
interest of the settlers on the Moquelemos grant, a
measure which had been pending for years, and which was carried in the House
only by earnest and untiring labor. He also secured an unusually large
appropriation for this district, and the money for the
dredger now at work on the Stockton channel. He brought about the passage of an
amendment to the Indian Appropriation Bill, making the Indians amenable to
State and Territorial laws. He fought for and secured a special date for the
consideration of the Chinese Bill of 1884, after its friends generally had
considered it lost. He took an active part in the discussion on Chinese
matters, on the inter-State commerce bill, on the principal appropriation
bills, and on fortification measures. The path of a Congressman during his
first term in attempting to secure recognition is generally a hard one, but
many veterans did not come out of that Congress with so good a record. During
the progress of his term the State of California was reapportioned, and the
newly-constructed district of which San Joaquin County formed a part was so
composed as to make it as strongly Democratic as it had before been Republican.
When the next Congressional
convention met he was unanimously denominated, and the convention adjourned;
but Mr. Budd felt that a proper regard for his own interests required that he
should forego the certain re-election which his nomination implied, and
declined to accept the proffered honor. This necessitated the reconvening of
the delegates, and a second convention was called, resulting in another
unanimous renomination of Mr. Budd, and the
appointment of a committee to urge upon him the necessity of his acceptance.
The committee failed of accomplishing its object, however, as Mr. Budd firmly
declined to take the renomination. He has, however,
always used his most earnest efforts for the success of the Democratic party. As chairman of the city and county central committees
he carried San Joaquin County for the Democracy at the general election of
1888. He was for six years a trustee of the Stockton city library, and made it
a depository for ten years’ issue of public books and documents. He gave up the
position of trustee of the library in 1889, to accept the office of Police and
Fire Commissioner of Stockton. He became connected with the National Guard of
California as a cadet at the State University, and he was graduated with the
rank of First Lieutenant. Since then he has advanced rapidly to the front, and
has been Major on Bridgade Staff, Lieutenant Colonel
on Governor Irwins’ Staff, Major of the Line, and
Brigadier General.
Mr. Budd has taken an active
and important part in nearly every movement of a public character concerning
this section of the State for several years; yet it is in his profession as a
lawyer that his real success has been made; and the general recognition of this
fact has resulted in bringing him a practice so extended that an ordinary man
could not handle it. His opinion, once given to a client, has come to be
regarded with much of the esteem of a verdict from a court, so successful has
been his practice. He prosecutes his profession in all the courts of the land,
having been admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States in
1884. He is a clear and rapid reasoner, ready and
decisive in his opinions, and sound in his conclusions. His strength of
character is well exhibited by his declination of a certain re-election to
Congress - something that history is seldom called upon to chronicle. In
conclusion, it may be said that no man in central California has a larger
circle of warm personal friends than has James H. Budd.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
An Illustrated History of San Joaquin County,
California, Pages 447-448. Lewis Pub. Co. Chicago, Illinois 1890.
© 2009 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County
Biographies
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County
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