Judge John Ellsworth, who in January, 1913, declined to be a candidate for reelection to the position of judge of the superior court of Alameda county, which he had filled with credit and distinction for twenty-four years, has had a long and varied career in public service, his worth and fidelity in positions of trust and responsibility being indicated by the wide-spread confidence and esteem in which he is held today. For forty-six years he has resided in Alameda county and may be termed the dean of the legal fraternity of the county. He is now engaged in the general practice of law in Oakland.
Mr. Ellsworth was born at East Windsor, Connecticut, on the 7th of January, 1842, a descendant of one of the old and prominent families of New England, who settled in Connecticut in 1646. He is a son of Abner Moseley and Lucy W. Ellsworth. His early labor was that of the farm boy and the public schools of his native community afforded him his first educational opportunities. He was afterward a student in Phillips Academy, but he responded to his country's call for troops in the great Civil war, enlisting in the Twenty-fifth Connecticut Regiment, and proceeded to the south. He served nine months under General Banks in Louisiana and was present at the surrender of Fort Hudson, which had been besieged for six weeks. After his honorable discharge from the army he returned to Phillips Academy at Andover, Massachusetts, and there pursued such studies as would prove advantageous to his subsequent study of law, as he had decided to devote himself to that profession. He was graduated in 1864, but although he had fitted himself for Yale University financial conditions prevented his going there, so after spending one year in Williams College at Williamstown, Massachusetts, where he took senior work, he began to study law, entering the law office of Hubbard & McFarland in Hartford, Connecticut. He read there for two years, winning his admission to the bar in October, 1867. In the same year he came west to California, establishing his residence in Alameda county, his home being at Alameda and his office in San Francisco, where he engaged in a general legal practice until 1876, when he moved his office to Alameda. The same year he became city attorney of that community. This position he resigned in 1886, after ten years of able and effective service, in order to accept a seat in the state assembly, to which he had been elected. After two years of progressive work in that capacity he was elected in 1888 and in January, 1889, took his seat as judge of the superior court of Alameda county and by reelection he served four terms, holding the office in all twenty-four years and accomplishing during that period a great deal of constructive, beneficial and far-reaching work and leaving the impress of his personality and ability upon the judicial history of this section of California. His last term expired on the 5th of January, 1913, and he declined to be a candidate for reelection, turning his attention to the general practice of law in Oakland. He is known in this city as a strong and able practitioner, well versed in underlying legal principals, able in his appeals before the court and concise in his presentation of a case.
On the 17th of April, 1892, Judge Ellsworth was united in marriage to Miss Ada L. Hobler, of Alameda, and both were well known in social circles of this city until April 15,
1906, when the wife died. Fraternally Judge Ellsworth is identified with the Odd Fellows, the
Masonic order and the Grand Army of the Republic, and he is a member of the Athenian Club. His political allegiance is given to the republican party, which he has served capably and well throughout his entire public life, upholding always its principles and policies, in which he firmly believes. Throughout a period of residence in Alameda dating from 1867 he has securely entrenched himself in the respect and esteem of his fellow citizens, his public career having been varied in service and faultless in honor, and his professional and personal life beyond reproach. It has been said of him that "He has established a record that few public men can equal, not only for continued public service, but for the able and faithful manner in which he has performed the duties entrusted to him."
Past and Present of Alameda County California, Vol. II
Published in Chicago by The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company
1914
Transcribed by Linda Jackson 5/22/2008, Pages 20-24
Alameda County Biographies ~
Archive Biography Index ~
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