Silas Woodruff Sanderson (April 16, 1824 – June 24, 1886) was the seventh

Chief Justice of California The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacra ...

Biography

Born in Sandgate,

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the ...

, Sanderson attended Burr Seminary,

Williams College Williams College is a private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a colonist from the Province of Massachusetts Bay who was kille ...

, and

Union College Union College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, ...

, graduating from the last in 1846; he was soon admitted to the bar in New York state. He then moved to Florida where he went into practice with his older brother, John, in

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the c ...

. In December 1847, Sanderson was named assistant secretary to the president of the

Florida Senate The Florida Senate is the upper house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida House of Representatives being the lower house. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of Florida, adopted ...

. In August 1850, he visited Washington, D.C. Later in 1850, he sailed to California via the

Strait of Magellan The Strait of Magellan (), also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to the north and Tierra del Fuego to the south. The strait is considered the most important natural pa ...

and settled in Coloma. As a Democrat, Sanderson was elected district attorney in

El Dorado County El Dorado County (), officially the County of El Dorado, is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 191,185. The county seat is Placerville. The County is part of the Sacramento-Roseville-Ar ...

. In June 1861, during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...

, he spoke against the secessionist sentiment at the Breckenridge Democratic Party convention. He became a Republican and backed

Leland Stanford Amasa Leland Stanford (March 9, 1824June 21, 1893) was an American industrialist and politician. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 8th governor of California from 1862 to 1863 and represented California in the United States Sen ...

for

Governor of California The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard. Established in the Constitution of California, t ...

in the November 1861 election, serving on a committee to organize the inaugural ball. In November 1862, Sanderson ran on the Union branch of the Democratic Party ticket and was elected to the California State Assembly from El Dorado. The following year, under a constitutional amendment reorganizing the courts, all of the seats of the

Supreme Court of California The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacra ...

were open for election. In June 1863, Sanderson was nominated by the Republicans. In October 1863, he was elected, and by the drawing of lots among the new justices he received the short, two-year term. Under the rules of the court, the justice with the shortest term served as Chief Justice, and so he held the position from January 2, 1864, to January 1866, when his term expired. In November 1865, he beat Democrat H. H. Hartley, and was re-elected to the Court as an Associate Justice, serving from January 1866 to January 4, 1870. In 1870, he resigned from the court to head the legal department at the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was ...

, a post he held for the next 16 years. Sanderson died June 24, 1886, at his home in San Francisco. He was buried at

Laurel Hill Cemetery Laurel Hill Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery in the East Falls neighborhood of Philadelphia. Founded in 1836, it was the second major rural cemetery in the United States after Mount Auburn Cemetery in Boston, Massachusetts. The cemetery ...

, however by 1941, most of the remains had been moved to Colma,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

Personal life

On March 3, 1858, Sanderson married Margaret Beatty Ormsby (c. 1839 – October 21, 1913) of

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

. They had four daughters, including

Sibyl Sanderson Sibyl Sanderson (December 7, 1864May 16, 1903) was a famous American operatic dramatic coloratura soprano during the Parisian Belle Époque. Biography She was born in Sacramento, California, in the United States. Sibyl's father Silas Sanderson ...

, a notable operatic soprano.

Footnotes

External links

*

California State Courts. Retrieved July 19, 2017.

Biography

Personal life

Footnotes

Further reading

External links

See also