San
Joaquin County
Biographies
HON. CHARLES WILLIS NORTON
In the enumeration of the men of the
present generation who have won honor for themselves and at the same time have
honored the state to which they belonged, distinct recognition is accorded Hon.
Charles Willis Norton, for he was one of the distinguished citizens of
California and figured prominently in the affairs of state and county. He was a native son of California and among
those who knew him from his youth up, he won the recognition
which is only accorded to sterling worth and upright American manhood. He was born on his father’s ranch near Lodi,
San Joaquin County, July 18, 1861, a son of Oscar O. and Maria Julia (Elliott)
Norton, born in New York and New Hampshire, respectively. The American branch of the Norton family was
represented by Thomas Norton, who came from Ackley, County Surrey, England, in
1639, and settled at Guilford, Connecticut.
Ebenezer Norton, an ancestor of our subject, was a colonel in the
Revolutionary War and was a member of the general assembly of Connecticut, and Medad Norton, a brother of Mr. Norton’s paternal
great-grandfather, was a soldier and fifer in the Revolutionary War.
The father, Oscar O. Norton, was
reared in his native county of Schuyler, New York, receiving his education in
the public schools and at Starkey Academy.
In his twenty-third year, he went to Illinois, where he remained until
1869 when he started for California, coming via the Isthmus of Panama and
arriving in San Francisco on July 15, and that same year he settled in San
Joaquin County, where he followed carpentering until 1864, when he went to
farming about ten miles from Stockton.
He farmed this place for many years, then the ranch was purchased by our
subject and in 1881, the father purchased another ranch, where he made his home
until 1903 when he located in Stockton.
By his efforts and able management this ranch was brought to a high
state of cultivation and was regarded as one of the best in the country. On October 4, 1860, Oscar O. Norton was
married to Miss Maria J. Elliott, who, with her parents crossed the plains to
California in 1858 and settled near the ranch later owned by Mr. Norton. They were the parents of three children: Charles Willis, Mrs. Alice E. Hurd, and
Arthur L.
Charles Willis Norton grew to
manhood on the farm and attended the public schools of the county and was
graduated from the Stockton high school; later he took up the study of law in
Mr. Minor’s office in Stockton, and in 1896 was admitted to the bar. While studying law he was elected public
administrator of San Joaquin County.
From 1899 to 1902 he was deputy district attorney for the county and
from 1906 to 1916 he was district attorney, his most famous case being the
trunk murder mystery known as the Le Deux case, and
it is the consensus of opinion that Judge Norton was the leading criminal
lawyer in the county. Elected Judge of
the Superior Court, he served until he resigned on account of ill health. In his twenty-sixth year, Judge Norton
planted a vineyard on the home place near Lodi and as the years went by he
became one of the leading viticulturists of that section, owning and operating
one of the largest vineyards of the district.
In partnership with Mr. Angier, under the firm name of Norton &
Angier, he conducted a general fruit shipping business.
Near Lodi, on January 1, 1885, Judge
Norton was married to Miss Nellie F. Staples, also a native of San Joaquin
County, the only child of Capt. John F. and Mary Emma (Simpson) Staples, natives
of Maryland and Missouri, respectively, who crossed the plains to California in
early days. Captain Staples located at
Staples Ferry, established by his brother, D. J. Staples, and there he was
married to Miss Mary Emma Simpson. He
was a captain in the Civil War and came of Mayflower stock. Some years after Mr. Staples’ death, his
widow married Dr. J. L. Sargent, a prominent physician, and later a successful
cattleman in this county. Dr. Sargent
has passed away, but Mrs. Sargent makes her home with Mrs. Norton. Judge and Mrs. Norton were the parents of
four children: Oscar Sargent served in
the tank corps in France during the World War, now in charge of his mother’s
ranches; Lillian is Mrs. Eric Brandstad, wife of a
successful rancher; Sylvia is the wife of Brace R. Davis of San Francisco; and
Willis S. is deceased. Judge Norton gave
no small degree of credit for his success to his faithful wife who so bravely
encouraged him in his ambition to reach the highest place in his profession, as
well as aiding him in his business enterprises by her able co-operation and
counsel. Judge Norton rose to the
highest office in the gift of the people of the county, that of Judge of the
Superior Court, and all of his decisions while on the bench, were fair and he
was faithful to every case committed to his charge. He spent his whole life in San Joaquin County
and was well known and highly esteemed throughout the state.
Judge Norton was very prominent in
fraternal orders, being a member of Lodi Lodge No. 250, F. & A. M.;
Stockton Chapter, No. 28, R. A. M.; Stockton Commandery No 8, K. T.; Islam
Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., San Francisco; Lodi Chapter No. 150, O. E. S;
Stockton Lodge No. 218, B. P. O. E.; and Stockton Parlor No. 7, N. S. G. W. He was the recipient of many honors in
fraternal circles, having served one year as illustrious master of the Grand
Council of Royal and Select Masters and one term as grand high priest of the
Grand Chapter, R. A. M., of the state of California. In politics he was a staunch adherent of the
Republican Party platform and his religious views were that of the
Congregational Church. He was the
founder of the First National Bank of Lodi and served as a director; he was
also a director in the Lodi Investment Company, owners and builders of Hotel
Lodi and the Lodi theater building.
Judge Norton passed away on July 11, 1918, and since his death, Mrs.
Norton has planted more land to grapes, so that that there is now 360 acres
under cultivation. Well known throughout
California where his entire life was spent, Judge Norton took great pride in
the achievements of the state, in its marked and rapid progress, and he was
numbered among those who always upheld its professional status.
The remarks of George F. McNoble speaking for the court out of respect to the memory
of the late Judge C. W. Norton are as follows:
“If the court please, it is with deep regret and genuine sorrow that we
are called upon this day to learn of the passing of our late distinguished
brother, Judge C. W. Norton. Although
his death has been daily expected, his departure is none the less keenly
deplored. Few men of his time, in our
midst, have been more universally respected, honored and admired than he. High honors and public favors fell to his lot
and more than this was the great personal respect in which he was held by all
the people. He won and held the esteem
of all classes of men by his probity of character, his even-handed fairness and
his uniform courtesy. It was his good fortune not only to be honest in all his dealings with men, but
also to have all men believe in his sense of justice and honor. As an advocate and public prosecutor, he
showed great poise and absolute fairness and often won by the very faith that
men had in him, without waiting to scan too closely the complex details of the
case. As a judge, he went on the bench
in middle life with a mind ripened and broadened by varied experiences and from
the very beginning he won and held the esteem and admiration of the bench, bar
and litigants generally, by the calmness and fairness with which he disposed of
the business of the court. While not
quick to make new acquaintances, or to ingratiate himself
into the favor of men, yet he had the quiet faculty of earning the respect of
all whom he met and of retaining that respect untarnished throughout his
lifetime. In early life he had the
practical experience of the field and farm.
He served one term as public administrator, one term as an assistant in
the district attorney’s office, one term as head of that office and the last ten
years of his active life were spent on the bench. Scarcely has it fallen
the good lot of any man to have gone through as much of combat and of struggle
in times of strenuous opposition, both professionally and politically and to
have come out of the fight with a character unassailed and a reputation
unblemished. His sympathies were many
sided. He enjoyed athletics even until
late in life and participated in many helpful games. As a traveler, he spent his vacations in
tramping through the high Sierras and was very familiar indeed with the beauties
of California’s mountains and valleys.
As a farmer and grape grower he was a success and the products of his
vineyard sold with his name on the outside of the boxes without interior
inspection in foreign markets. In a
fraternal way, he was unusually honored and if his life had not been cut short,
it is clearly within the line of truth to say that no man in the state scarcely would have held more fraternal honors. However, it was a jurist and arbiter of the
disputes of men, that he won his most signal honors. It is safe to say that no man within our
memory had a better all-round equipment for judging
and deciding the disputes of mankind coming into court, more fairly than
he. He had the friendship of all the
members of the bar and more than that he had the respect based upon the
appreciation of his genuine merits.” He
was an honored member of the American, State, and San Joaquin County Bar
associations.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
356-359. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden
Nugget Library's San Joaquin County Biographies
Golden
Nugget Library's San Joaquin County Genealogy Databases