San Joaquin County
Biographies
ARTHUR LEONARD LEVINSKY
ARTHUR LEONARD LEVINSKY, of
the law firm of Louttit, Woods & Levinsky, of Stockton, was born in
Jackson, Amador County, July 9, 1856, a son of John and Mathilde (Lewig)
Levinsky. The father, born in Prussia in 1822, emigrated in his youth to
London, England, and thence to New Orleans, about 1849, and to California in
1850. With two brothers he formed the firm of Levinsky Brothers, who carried on
four miners’ supply stores, at Jackson, Sutter Creek, Rancheria and Dry Town. A
few years later he visited Germany, and on his return was married in New York
city in 1855, to Miss Lewig, born in Hamburg in 1834. Grandfather Lewig lived
to the age of seventy-eight, his wife was eighty-one at her death, and
grandmother Levinsky reached the remarkable age of 105 years.
The subject of this sketch received his
education first in the district school in Woodbridge, and then in 1867, in
Jackson, Amador County, about a year. In 1869 he went to the Lincoln grammar
school in San Francisco, and was graduated from that institution in 1872. He
had spent one year in the State University, when a serious accident to his
father impelled him to earn his own livelihood. He took the position of
traveling salesman for the Pacific Glove Works, and in 1876 went to work for a
whole-sale boot and shoe house, first as book-keeper and later as traveling
salesman, remaining with them until 1880. Meanwhile he had opened a general
store in Lodi, placing it in charge of a manager, and in 1881 he took personal
charge of that business. In April, 1882, he sold out his store, and was about
to return to his former avocation of traveler for a large boot and shoe house
in San Francisco, when he concluded to become a lawyer. He had formed the
acquaintance of James A. Louttit, a prominent member of that profession, and,
securing his release from the contract to travel, he entered the law office of
Louttit & Lindley, as clerk, with a chance to read law. Making an
industrious use of his opportunity he was admitted to the bar August 3, 1885.
Mr. Louttit was elected to Congress in 1884, and the firm of Louttit &
Lindley was dissolved. Mr. Levinsky became a member of the new firm, Louttit,
Woods & Levinsky, September 1, 1885, and is among the more prominent,
industrious and successful of the younger members of the Stockton bar. He is
also a member of Stockton Parlor, No. 7, N. S. G. W.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
An Illustrated History of San Joaquin County,
California, Pages 636-637. 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
Genealogy Databases