William Jefferson Hunsaker

William Jefferson Hunsaker
4th Mayor of San Diego
In office
January 3, 1888 – November 13, 1888
Preceded by George P. Tebbetts
Succeeded by Martin D. Hamilton (acting)
Personal details
Born 21 September 1855
Contra Costa County, California
Died 13 January 1933
Los Angeles, California
Political party Workingman (until 1896), then Republican
Spouse(s) Florence Virginia McFarland
Children 4

William Jefferson "Will" Hunsaker (1855–1933) was an American lawyer and politician from San Diego and later Los Angeles, California. Hunsaker was the San Diego County District Attorney from 1882 to 1884, 4th Mayor of San Diego from 1887 to 1888[1] and president of the California Bar Association from 1913 to 1914.[2]

Early life and career

William Hunsaker was born 21 September 1855 in Contra Costa County, California to Nicholas and Lois E. (Hastings) Hunsaker. Nicholas Hunziker settled in California in 1847 and was sheriff of Contra Costa County from 1851 to 1853 and from 1855 to 1857.[3][4] Lois's uncle was Lansford W. Hastings, author of "Emigrant's Guide To Oregon and California", captain in Frémont's California Battalion, and participant in California's constitutional convention.[3][5] Nicholas Hunsaker moved his family to San Diego in 1869, where he served as the 10th sheriff of San Diego County from 1875 to 1876.[6]

At 16 years of age, William Hunsaker began to learn the printer's trade, starting as a printer's devil on the San Diego Bulletin, then working as a journeyman printer on the Bulletin and the World for two and a half years.[3][5] Hunsaker next trained as a lawyer with Major Levi Chase and Albert C. Baker and was admitted to practice law in 1876. In 1879, Hunsaker married Florence McFarland in San Diego and the couple moved to Tombstone, Arizona.[6] In 1881, Hunsaker assisted his law partner, Thomas Fitch, in defending Wyatt Earp from murder charges resulting from the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.[5][7][8][9] When Earp died in 1929, Hunsaker was one of the pall-bearers at Earp's funeral.[10]

Elected office

Hunsaker's first elected office was San Diego District Attorney, from 1882 to 1884. After being nominated, Hunsaker ran an aggressive campaign touring most of San Diego County. At the time, this included all of what are now San Diego County and Imperial County, as well as most of Riverside County and parts of San Bernardino County.[5][8]

In 1887, Hunsaker ran for the newly reestablished office of mayor of San Diego, after 35 years of the formerly-bankrupt city being run by a board of trustees. Hunsaker ran as the candidate of the Workingman's Party. The party's platform supported the interests of laborers, arguing for a larger share of wealth for laborers, promoting businesses to hire native-born workers rather than the primarily Chinese foreign-born workers. Hunsaker was elected to a two year term, defeating his opponent D.C. Reed of the Citizens party by 1041 votes to 867.[11] He was sworn in on January 3, 1888.[12]

Although Hunsaker won his election, the city council was dominated by members of the Citizen's Party. Hunsaker felt that he lost a power struggle with the rest of the council, and resigned from office on November 13, 1888 after a period of poor attendance at council meetings. After stepping down from office, Hunsaker resumed work in the field of law.[8]

Later career

In 1889, William Hunsaker unsuccessfully defended the killer of the Oceanside marshal in a well-publicized case.[13] In June 1892, the Hunsakers moved to Los Angeles. From 1893 to 1896, Hunsaker was counsel for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Upon leaving the AT&SF, Hunsaker entered private practice, eventually re-joining with Eugene W. Britt, Hunsaker's partner when located in San Diego. In 1896, Hunsaker switched nominal political affiliation to the Republican Party. However he remained largely independent — from 1896 to 1906, Hunsaker chaired the Committee of One Hundred, a group of leading citizens who published non-partisan ballots for local elections.[14]

In 1901, Hunsaker was elected to be "junior vice-president" of the Los Angeles Bar Association and appointed as a delegate to the 1901 American Bar Association convention to be held in Denver.[15] In 1904, William J. Hunsaker was present at the American Bar Association annual meeting in St. Louis as vice-president of, and delegate appointed by, the California State Bar Association.[16] Later in 1904, Hunsaker was elected to be president of the Los Angeles Bar Association.[6][17] In 1913, Hunsaker was elected president of the California Bar Association, 1913-1914.[2]

References

  1. ↑ "ELECTION HISTORY – MAYOR, CITY OF SAN DIEGO" (PDF). City of San Diego. June 2008. p. 8. Retrieved 14 Sep 2010.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Convention, California Bar Association" 4. San Francisco, CA: California Bar Association. 1914. pp. 166–168. Retrieved 15 June 2013. I have the great honor and pleasure in introducing to you the new President of the Association, the Honorable William J. Hunsaker. President, 1913-1914, Wm. J. Hunsaker, Los Angeles Title Insurance and Trust Bldg.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 McGroarty, John Steven (1921). Los Angeles from the Mountains to the Sea 2. Chicago: American Historical Society. p. 221. LCCN 21003908. OL 13489763M. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  4. ↑ Munro-Fraser, J. P., ed. (1882). History of Contra Costa County, California. San Francisco, CA: W. A. Slocum & CO. pp. 240–242. ISBN 0914418017. Retrieved 14 June 2013. See Table showing the Officers of Contra Costa County, as compiled from the Records of the COurt of Sessions and Boards of Supervisers, from 1850 to 1882 inclusive. Re-print Brooks-Sterling Company, 1974, Oakland
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 "Press Reference Library" (Southwest ed.). Los Angeles, CA: The Los Angeles Examiner. 1912. p. 88. LCCN 12008422. Retrieved 15 June 2013
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Lummis, Charles Fletcher; Moody, Charles Amadon, eds. (1909). "Makers of Los Angeles". Out West 30 (Los Angeles, CA: Out West Magazine Co). p. 365. ISBN 9781153075565. Archived from the original on 2008-01-29. Retrieved 14 June 2013
  7. ↑ Press reference library (Southwest ed.) Notables of the Southwest. Los Angeles: The Los Angeles Examiner. 1912. p. 88.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 "William Jefferson Hunsaker (1855-1933)". Biographies. San Diego History Center. Retrieved 14 Sep 2010.
  9. ↑ Earp, Josephine Sarah Marcus (August 1994) [1976]. Boyer, Glenn G., ed. I Married Wyatt Earp. University of Arizona Press. ISBN 978-0816505838.
  10. ↑ "Gunfigher Earp's Rites Tomorrow". Los Angeles Times. January 17, 1929. Retrieved April 14, 2011.
  11. ↑ Larson, Thomas (28 October 2004). "Elections San Diego Style". San Diego Reader. Retrieved 22 December 2012.
  12. ↑ "The New Government". The San Diego Union. January 4, 1888. p. 5. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  13. ↑ Crawford, Richard (24 March 2011). "Slaying of City Marshal Left an Impact". San Diego Union-Tribune.
  14. ↑ "Non-Partisan Ticket Delayed". Los Angeles Herald. 27 Sep 1906. p. 4. Hunsaker resigns as president of the Committee of the One Hundred.
  15. ↑ Smith, Frank Charles; Proctor, Lucien Brock; Chapin, Heman Gerald et al., eds. (Jan 1901). "The American Lawyer" 9 (1). New York: Stumpf & Steurer. p. 341. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  16. ↑ "Report of the Twenty-Seventh Annual Meeting of the American Bar Association". Annual report of the American Bar Association (Philadelphia, PA: Dando Printing and Publishing Company) 27. 1904. Retrieved 15 June 2013
  17. ↑ "Past Presidents of LACBA". Los Angeles County Bar Association. Retrieved 15 June 2013. 1904 William J. Hunsaker
Political offices
Preceded by
George P. Tebbetts		 Mayor of San Diego, California
1888 		Succeeded by
Martin D. Hamilton (acting)