California, U.S., History of the Bench and Bar of Southern California, 1909

This database contains biographical details on legal professionals in Southern California in 1909.

What You’ll Find in the Records

Willoughby Rodman’s History of the Bench and Bar of Southern California is a history of the legal profession in early Southern California. Published in 1909, the book contains both a historical section and short biographical sketches of lawyers and justices in Southern California at the time, including some obituaries for recently passed or prominent judges and attorneys. Most of the subjects described in the biographies were interviewed personally, and the sketches typically contain genealogically significant details such as these:

• name
• birth date
• birthplace
• father’s name
• mother’s name
• spouse’s name
• marriage date
• death date

The entries may also provide an address, a photograph, and facts about education, career, family, moves, clubs and associations, politics, and achievements.

Names from the historical section of the book have not been indexed, but the entire book is available in the Browse.