Elisha W. McKinstry

Elisha Williams McKinstry (April 10, 1824 – November 1, 1901) was a California jurist of the nineteenth century. He served as a justice of the California Supreme Court from 1874 to 1888.

Elisha Williams McKinstry
Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court
In office
January 5, 1874 – October 1, 1888
Appointed byDirect election
Preceded byIsaac S. Belcher
Succeeded byJohn D. Works
Assemblyman from Sacramento to the California State Assembly
In office
January 1, 1849 – December 31, 1850
Appointed byDirect election
Preceded bySeat created by California Constitution of 1849
Personal details
Born(1824-04-10)April 10, 1824
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
DiedNovember 1, 1901(1901-11-01) (aged 77)
San Jose, California, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse(s)
Annie Hedges
(
m. 1863)
Alma materKenyon College (B.A.)

Biography

McKinstry was born April 10, 1824, in Detroit, Michigan.[1] He moved to Kinderhook, New York, read law and in 1847 was admitted to the New York bar.

In 1849, McKinstry came to California on the steamship Panama.[2] and was a member of the first California State Assembly representing Sacramento.[3][4] In 1851, he opened a law practice in Napa, and was elected in 1852 as judge of the Seventh Judicial District Court for a term of six years, and in 1858 was re-elected.[5] In August 1860, he visited Paris, France, returning to California the following month.[6][7] On November 13, 1862, he resigned from the district court.[8] In January 1863, he moved to Mono County, California, and practiced law.[9] In August 1863, during the American Civil War, he was nominated for Lieutenant Governor by the Copperhead Democratic Party, but lost the election.[10][11][12][13] Afterwards, he moved Nevada, where he practiced law and ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Nevada Supreme Court.[4] In October 1864, he attended the Copperhead Democratic convention held in Carson, Nevada.[14]

In October 1867, having returned to California, he was elected San Francisco county judge for a term of four years, but before his term expired he was elected as an independent candidate as a judge of the 12th District Court. In October 1867, during the election, a Catholic priest accused McKinstry of leading the Aurora Vigilance Committee, a quasi-lynch mob, in 1863 in Esmeralda County, Nevada, and refusing to accommodate the request for last rites by four men who were condemned to hang.[15][16][17][18][19]

In September 1873, he was nominated by the People's Independent Party and elected on October 15, 1873, to the California Supreme Court, where he served from January 1874 to October 1, 1888.[20][21][22] McKinstry filled the seat of former Chief Justice Royal Sprague, who died in office, and whose appointed successor, Isaac S. Belcher, did not run for election.[23] In 1879, when adoption of a new constitution required elections for all seats on the Supreme Court, McKinstry was nominated by both the Democratic Party and Workingman's Party and was re-elected.[24][25] The newly elected judges drew lots to determine the length of term, and McKinstry drew an 11-year term. His notable cases include Lux v. Haggin, holding riparian rights prevailed in California. He resigned from the court on October 1, 1888.

After stepping down from the bench, from 1888 to 1895 he was a professor of law at the University of California's Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco.[4][26] He also engaged in private practice with his son, James C. McKinstry, and later with John A. Stanly and H. W. Bradley in the firm of Stanly, McKinstry, Bradley & McKinstry.[4]

McKinstry died on November 1, 1901, in San Jose, California.[27]

Honors and awards

On December 20, 1899, McKinstry delivered the oration to the Jubilee Celebration at San Jose, California commemorating 50 years of statehood.[28]

McKinstry was awarded an honorary LL.D. from the University of Michigan.[29]

Clubs

McKinstry was president of the Society of California Pioneers.[29]

Personal life

On July 27, 1863, McKinstry was married to Annie L. Hedges at Marysville, California, and they had two sons and two daughters: Capt. Charles H. McKinstry, Laura L. McKinstry, James C. McKinstry, and Frances McKinstry.[29]

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See also

References
  1. Johnson, J. Edward (1963). History of the California Supreme Court: The Justices 1850-1900, vol 1 (PDF). San Francisco, CA: Bender Moss Co. pp. 124–127. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 27, 2016. Retrieved August 14, 2017.
  2. "Re-union of the Pioneer Panama Passengers on the fourth of June, 1874: Being the twenty-fifth anniversary of the arrival of the steamship Panama at San Francisco". San Francisco, June 1874. California Bound, S.F. Genealogy.
  3. Reed, G. Walter (1923). History of Sacramento County, California. p. 108. ISBN 5882301335. Retrieved September 23, 2017. Chapter XVI, Sacramento County Assemblymen: The first assemblymen, members of the Legislature of 1849-1850, were...E. W. McKinstry
  4. Shuck, Oscar Tully (1901). History of the Bench and Bar of California: Being Biographies of Many Remarkable Men, a Store of Humorous and Pathetic Recollections, Accounts of Important Legislation and Extraordinary Cases, Comprehending the Judicial History of the State. Los Angeles, CA: Commercial Printing House. pp. 490–494. Retrieved September 23, 2017. e. w. mckinstry oscar tully shuck.
  5. "Meeting of the Courts". Marin Journal (6). California Digital Newspaper Collection. April 27, 1861. p. 1. Retrieved July 25, 2017.
  6. "Our Paris Correspondence". Daily Alta California (12 (223)). California Digital Newspaper Collection. August 12, 1860. p. 1. Retrieved September 23, 2017. Californians are thick in Paris. Hon. E. W. McKinstry, of Napa...Men every day, after dinner, discussing their coffee beneath the flowering orange trees, in the court-yard of the Hotel de Louvre.
  7. "By Pony Express: Letter from New York by Our Own Correspondent". Sacramento Daily Union (19 (2961)). California Digital Newspaper Collection. September 22, 1860. p. 1. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
  8. "Resignation". Sonoma Democrat (4). California Digital Newspaper Collection. November 6, 1862. p. 2. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
  9. "Nevada Territorial Items". Marin Journal (2 (44)). California Digital Newspaper Collection. January 17, 1863. p. 3. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
  10. "Democratic State Ticket". Los Angeles Star (13). California Digital Newspaper Collection. August 1, 1863. p. 2. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
  11. "Copperhead Meeting in Mono County". Sacramento Daily Union (25 (3883)). California Digital Newspaper Collection. September 1, 1863. p. 3. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
  12. "Vote of Sacramento County". Sacramento Daily Union (25 (3897)). California Digital Newspaper Collection. September 17, 1863. p. 2. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
  13. "California Legislature". Sacramento Daily Union (26 (3968)). California Digital Newspaper Collection. December 9, 1863. p. 4. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
  14. "Copperhead Convention in Nevada Territory". Sacramento Daily Union (28 (4228)). California Digital Newspaper Collection. October 8, 1864. p. 2. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
  15. Cotter, Pastor James S. (October 10, 1867). "Letter to the Editor: Record of E. W. McKinstry". Daily Alta California (19 (6417)). California Digital Newspaper Collection. p. 1. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
  16. "Letter from Father Cotter". Daily Alta California (19 (6418)). California Digital Newspaper Collection. October 11, 1867. p. 2. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
  17. "A Question of Humanity". Daily Alta California. California Digital Newspaper Collection. October 12, 1867. p. 2. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
  18. "The Cotter-McKinstry Controversy". Daily Alta California (19 (6420)). California Digital Newspaper Collection. October 13, 1867. p. 1. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
  19. "Note from Father Cotter". Daily Alta California. California Digital Newspaper Collection. October 14, 1867. p. 1. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
  20. "Judge Elisha W. McKinstry". Red Bluff Independent (12). California Digital Newspaper Collection. October 4, 1873. p. 2. Retrieved July 25, 2017.
  21. "The Convention Completes Its Work". Sacramento Daily Union (46 (7014)). California Digital Newspaper Collection. September 26, 1873. p. 2. Retrieved July 25, 2017.
  22. "The Independent Convention". Marysville Daily Appeal (74). California Digital Newspaper Collection. September 26, 1873. p. 3. Retrieved July 25, 2017. Judge E. W. McKinstry was unanimously nominated as candidate for Judge of the Supreme Court.
  23. Bancroft, Hubert Howe (1890). The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, vol XXIV, History of California. San Francisco, CA: The History Company. p. 236. Retrieved September 23, 2017. Royal T. Sprague, who died in February 1872, when Isaac S. Belcher was appointed in his place, his successor, E. W. McKinstry, being chosen in 1873.
  24. "The State Election". Mariposa Gazette. California Digital Newspaper Collection. September 6, 1879. p. 12. Retrieved July 25, 2017. E. W. McKinstry, Democratic and W. P. C. for Associate Justice, is undoubtedly elected.
  25. "Official Returns of the Election". Sacramento Daily Union (8 (191)). California Digital Newspaper Collection. October 20, 1879. p. 2. Retrieved July 25, 2017.
  26. Sprague, William Cyrus (1895). The Law Student's Helper: A Monthly Magazine for the Student in ..., Volume 3. Collector Publishing Company. p. 384. Retrieved September 23, 2017. Law School Notes, Hastings College of Law, California
  27. Hulaniski, Frederick J. (1917). The History of Contra Costa County, California. Elms Publishing, 1917. p. 203. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
  28. "Fifty Years of State Government, The Semi-Centennial Anniversary of Its Establishment Appropriately Celebrated at San Jose, the Old Capital City". Sacramento Daily Union (98 (122)). California Digital Newspaper Collection. December 21, 1899. p. 1. Retrieved September 23, 2017. Text of oration by Elisha W. McKinstry.
  29. "Noted Jurist Passes Away". Los Angeles Herald (32). California Digital Newspaper Collection. November 2, 1901. p. 4. Retrieved September 23, 2017.

Sources
Legal offices
Preceded by
Isaac S. Belcher		 Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court
1874 – 1888		 Succeeded by
John D. Works
Preceded by
Seat created by California Constitution of 1849		 Assemblyman from Sacramento to the California State Assembly
1849 – 1850		 Succeeded by
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