Butte County

Biographies

JUDGE CHARLES FAYETTE LOTT

            JUDGE CHARLES FAYETTE LOTT.  As a representative of the men whose lives have become a part in the foundation of the western statehood, Judge Charles Fayette Lott occupies an honored position.  A resident of Oroville, Butte county, he has long been connected with public affairs in this vicinity and from the strength of an earnest and forceful manhood has given liberally to the material upbuilding of the country, through the pioneer days proving his ability in the effort and loyalty to the cause which induced him to cast in his lot with the pioneer element.  Born July 1, 1824, a native of Pemberton, N.J., he comes of English ancestry, his grandfather, Peter Lott, having emigrated from England to America before the Revolution, and settling on the New Jersey shore, near New York, at what is now the town of Cranbury, then called Maidenhead.  A loyal patriot in the cause of his adopted country, he served as captain of a regiment of light horse cavalry during the Revolutionary war.  His son, Charles F. Lott, the father of the judge, was then only a child but he remembered the battle of Princeton as well as that of Trenton.  In manhood this son became a prominent physician and was medical director and assistant adjutant general in the war of 1812.  Through his union with Edith N. Lamb, a native of New Jersey, he had eight children, only one of whom survives.

            When only five years old Charles F. Lott was left motherless, at which time his father removed to Quincy, Ill., there remaining until the spring of 1836, when he located in St. Louis, Mo.  The son received instruction from Elihu H. Shepherd in the latter city, attending for a time St. Charles College, in St. Charles county, whither his father later removed, and eventually completing his education at the St. Louis University, from which institution he was graduated in 1846.  Returning to Quincy, he studied law in the office of Williams & Johnson, and was admitted to practice in the supreme court of the state June 5, 1848.  About this time his brother, Peter Lott, also a lawyer, went to the Mexican war as captain, and Charles F. had charge of his business during his absence.  This brother succeeded Stephen A. Douglas on the judicial bench in that district.  Becoming interested in the opportunities presented by the opening up of the west through the discovery of gold, Mr. Lott crossed the plains in 1849, leaving in March and arriving in the Sacramento valley six months later.  Like the great majority of those who sought the west at that time he engaged in mining for a time, every effort being put forth to attain success.  He also early assumed an important position in public affairs, as soon as the state began to take steps for organization being consulted and largely depended upon to select the first officers.  At various times he served as district attorney, clerk of the court, etc., in the absence of the regular officials, at the same time establishing himself in a legal practice.  In 1851 he was elected to the state senate, but declined a re-nomination, having served efficiently in the third and fourth sessions of the legislature, being nominated by the first Democratic convention held in Butte county.  On returning to a practice of his profession he became associated with Judge Warren T. Sexton, being located first at Hamilton, then at Bidwell’s Bar, and later at Oroville, following the county seat.  During his association with Judge Sexton they erected the first fire-proof office in the town.  Always occupying a prominent position in political affairs in his section of the state, Judge Lott was elected chairman of the Democratic county central committee, a position maintained with great credit to himself throughout the Civil war, for he was a stanch supporter of the Union.  In 1869 he was elected judge of the second judicial district, composed of the counties of Butte, Tehama, Plumas and Lassen, and served with distinction for six years.  Since that period he has given his time and attention to his constantly increasing practice, as well as being interested in mining lands in Butte and Plumas counties.

            In 1856 Judge Lott was united in marriage with Susan F. Hyer, a daughter of Alexander Hyer, wholesale glassware and china merchant, and a grand-daughter of Col. William Hyer, a Revolutionary patriot.  To the judge and his wife were born three children, two of whom, Charles F. and Cornelia, survive.  Mrs. Lott passed away in September, 1902.  In addition to his legal duties the judge owns a large ranch of several thousand acres, located on Butte creek, given over to the cultivation of grains.  He has also been much interested in the horticultural development of his section, being one of the organizers and the first president of the Oroville Citrus Association, which planted the first orange grove in this portion of the state.  Fraternally he is associated with the Masonic order, belonging to the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Commandery, in each of which he has filled the highest position, once having been Grand Commander of the state, by virtue of which he holds membership in the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the United States.  He is Past Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter of Masons of California.  An admirer of the character and the principles advocated by Douglas the judge has been a Democrat all his life, and though active for the advancement of his party’s best interests he has never allowed politics to interfere with his best endeavors for the general welfare of the community.  No man has been more unselfishly devoted in his efforts to promote all movements calculated to advance the general welfare; no man stands higher in the esteem and respect of his fellow townsmen, nor more justly merits the position accorded him.  As one of the last of the men whose names are written high in the annals of the state, he stands as a link between the days of hardship, privation and trial, and the present prosperity, his life a part of the past which made to-day’s greatness.  He is a life member of the Society of California Pioneers.

History of the State of California and Biographical Record of the Sacramento Valley, California

by Prof. J. M.Guinn, Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1906

Judge Charles Fayette Lott, pages 371-372

(Transcribed by Betty Wilson)