The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-07-06

'tnatives and to the manner born" and of
ancestry identifi ID for generations with the
history of South Carolina. The elder
PRESLEY was a successful planter of the
district and a man of great personal worth
and influence. The son enjoyed the adj
vantages of early moral and religious
training, and after preparatory course in
the county schools of the neighborhood
received an appointments in January, 184s,
to the State Military Academy at Charles
ton, al institution whose system and
course of instruction was very similar to
that of West Point. There he graduated
in November, 1851. The career of young
Presley at the "Citadel Academy" as it
was generally known, was marked by rigid
truthfulness, manly self-respect, diligence
in study and conscientious observance of
the stringent military rules and regula-
tons of the institution.
On leaving the academy he entered as
law student the Office of his relative, B. G.
Presley Esq, who was at that time lead
ing member of the bar of Charleston, and
now an honored Circuit Judge of the State.
There he pursued his studies, and by
special dispensation of the Court of APP
peals of South Carolina was accorded an
examination in May, 1854, while still I'M
der age, and received his commission as
attorney upon attaining his majority,
few weeks later.
This is the only instance of a law student
being accorded an examination under the
age of q by that court.
He then opened law office at Kings
tree, the county seat of Williamsb urg Dis
trict, and entered on the practice of his
profession, which he pursued with dill
gence and marked success in the districts
of Williamsburg, Marion, Darlington,
Georgetown and Clarendon, until January,
1861, when the war destroyed his large
business and almost closed the doors of his
Office for five years.
In those early years of his professional
life he represented his district in the State
Legislature during the sessions Of 1S58-59
and was the youngest member but one of
that body. This of itself shows the
influence that he had acquired ard
the confidence in his judgment and
fidelity which he had inspired in a
constituency which was noted for selecting
its best citizens for positions of public
trust. Then came the war. He gave him
self wholly to the cause of the South, and
rendered it loyal and efficient service.
Entering the service in January, 1861, as
captain of infantry, he soon rose to the
rank of lieutenant-colonel of the Twenty
fifth Regiment, South Carolina Volunteers,
and in an engagement near Petersburg in
1864 he received dangerous wound, from
the effects of which his arm was partially
disabled.
Having regard for the interests. of his
family he sought home in California,
arriving in the State on the oath of April,
1863. He first resided in Suisun, Solano
County, where ne practiced law, and after
ward at Fairfield, the county seat. The
people of Solano County soon began to ap-
preciate the sterling worth of the stranger.
He was City Attorney of Suisun for three
years, when, In January, 1873, he removed
to Santa Rosa and became a partner with
Judge A. Thomas, an old and respected
lawyer. In the fall of the same year he
became City Attorney of Santa Rosa and
at the judicial election in 1875 was ap-
pointed County Judge of Sonoma County.
From this time until 1880 he continued
upon the bench OF the County Court, and
at the same time practiced at the bar OF
the District Court and engaged as counsel
in some of the most important civil cases
tried in the county.
The cons titution of 1879 reorganized the
Judicial system of the State abolishing
the District and County Courts and sub
stituting for them a Superior Court for
each county.
At the first election in Sonoma County
under this new system John G.. Presley
and Jackson Temple, now of the Supreme
Court, were elected Judges of the new
court and took their seats on January /,
1880. The wisdom of this selection has
been justified by the able and efficient
services of those Judges, who have earned
for Sonoma County the ranI1tatinn of hay