Sierra County
Biographies
Judge A. J. Howe
was appointed to the judgeship in 1875, and at the same time was elected to the position. He served until 1879, when the county court ceased its labors. Judge Howe was born in Attica, New York, March 28, 1818, where he lived till 1844, when he removed to Wisconsin. There he studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1846. He conducted a law office at New Diggings for two years and then went to Missouri and practiced law there for five years. In 1853 he came to California, arriving at Nevada City in September, and mined there until the spring of 1855. He then came to St. Louis, Sierra county, practiced law a number of years, and in 1863 removed to Plumas county, where he was soon appointed district attorney. In the fall of 1864 he returned to Sierra county. After the expiration of his term as county judge he was elected superior judge, a position he still holds. He was first married January 1, 1855, to Mrs. C. Johnson, who died at Downieville, March 30, 1880. He again married in February, 1882, to Mrs. Ryan.
Illustrated History of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties, with California from 1513 to 1850. - Fariss and Smith, San Francisco, 1882. p 430
Transcribed by Craig Hahn, Nov. 2004
Judge Alanson Smith
was the know-nothing candidate for the office of county judge in 1855, his democratic contestant for the position being Robert H. Taylor, afterwards district judge. He succeeded by a goodly majority, and took his seat in January, 1856. Prior to his arrival in this state, Judge Smith was a New York school-teacher, had run some kind of academy, and claimed to have studied law with Judge Cowan of the Empire state. Though a well-educated man in some respects, he was not an able jurist, and his knowledge of the dead languages was somewhat defective. He was rather severe in his court discipline; on one occasion, while presiding over the court of sessions, having fined County Clerk Nicholson one hundred dollars for being absent from his post of duty, which, however, he afterwards remitted for “satisfactory reasons.” Judge Van Clief, at another time, felt the weight of his displeasure to the tune of fifty dollars, for having differed from his honor on a point of law. This was also remitted, when Van Clief proved in defense that the court was wrong. Judge Smith served out his full term of four years.
Illustrated History of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties, with California from 1513 to 1850. - Fariss and Smith, San Francisco, 1882. p 429
Transcribed by Craig Hahn, Nov. 2004
Judge D. H. Cowden
succeeded Judge Harris, having been elected the fall previous on the republican ticket. Judge Cowden was a man well qualified, and made an excellent judge. In 1867 he had been elected district attorney, but refused to take that office again, because during his term the salary was cut down from $2,400 to $1,200 per annum. He served all but two months of his judicial term, when he resigned. He died in Downieville in the winter of 1881.
Illustrated History of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties, with California from 1513 to 1850. - Fariss and Smith, San Francisco, 1882. p 430
Transcribed by Craig Hahn, Nov. 2004
Judge Ferdinand J. McCann
was a resident of Kentucky before coming to California, and was of Irish and Spanish descent. He has always been considered a very accomplished gentleman, and an able and popular jurist. He was educated in Maryland, came to California in 1850, practiced law a few months in Marysville, and in 1851 came to Downieville. At the first election, June 14, 1852, he was elected county judge, holding the office for two years, when he resigned, and went back to Kentucky. There he married into a distinguished family, and again came to California. From 1871 to 1873 he was in partnership, at Marysville, with Judge Peter Van Clief. From there he went to Santa Cruz, where he still resides. Judge McCann has always been a strong democrat in politics.
Illustrated History of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties, with California from 1513 to 1850. - Fariss and Smith, San Francisco, 1882. p 429
Transcribed by Craig Hahn, Nov. 2004
Judge Garland Harris
was elected to the office of county judge in the fall of 1867, on the republican ticket. He was a Missourian before coming to the Pacific coast, and had been sheriff of a Missouri county. He brought with him the peculiar dialect of that region, which invariably tinctured his language with strange and outlandish figures of rhetoric. He was a very good man, but not sufficiently versed in the law for the position he held. In 1851 he was a constable at Downieville, under Justice Graham, at which time he bore the title of “Pap Harris”; and afterwards he became justice of the peace. He served until 1872.
Illustrated History of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties, with California from 1513 to 1850. - Fariss and Smith, San Francisco, 1882. p 430
Transcribed by Craig Hahn, Nov. 2004