Charles A. Shurtleff
Charles Allerton Shurtleff (April 4, 1857 - April 14, 1941) was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California from July 2, 1921 to December 1922.
Born in Shasta County, California, Shurtleff was the second of three sons of pioneer physician Benjamin Shurtleff.[1] He was educated in the public schools of Shasta County, and received an A.B. from Napa College, later affiliated with the College of the Pacific, in 1879, and an LL.B. from the Hastings College of the Law in 1882. He commenced the practice of the law in San Francisco, first with Morris M. Estee, a distinguished lawyer who later was appointed United States District Judge for the Territory of Hawaii, and then in 1883 or 1884 with Judge Waldo M. York, the father of Judge John M. York, and with distinguished attorney John M. Whitworth.[1]
Waldo moved to New York, and Whitworth died, leaving Shurtleff to continue his practice with Robert B. Gaylord until 1909, and then with Joseph G. DeForest. On July 1, 1921, Shurtleff was appointed by Governor Stephens to a seat of the Supreme Court of California vacated by the resignation of Judge Warren Olney, Jr.[1] When first offered appointment to the state supreme court, Shurtleff, who was noted for his loyalty to his employees, initially declined because it would cause him to abandon his secretary, who had served him faithfully for many years. The Chief Justice prevailed on Shurtleff by permitting Shurtleff to bring his secretary to work in that capacity at the court.[1] Shurtleff was also noted to have a Japanese servant, Frank Sasagawa, who was allowed while living in Shurtleff's home to obtain a picture bride from Japan, and eventually to raise four children in that home with his wife.[1]
Over the course of his life, Shurtleff was a member of the bar of San Francisco, a member of the first Board of Bar Examiners, a president of the Legal Aid Society, a member at large of the National Board of Stanford University, a member of the Board of Trustees of Hastings College of the Law, a member of the Board of Trustees of San Francisco's Children's Hospital, a graduate of Napa College (now a part of the College of the Pacific), a member of the Board of Trustees of the College of the Pacific, a president of the Bar Association of San Francisco, an organizer of the self-governing bar of California, and an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California.[1]
Shurtleff was married to Ada G. West from October 14, 1886 until her death on November 29, 1925, and then to Nellie V. Crockett from July 25, 1927 to her death September 14, 1934. They had no children of their own.[1]