Name Addison Niles Role Attorney | Died January 17, 1890 | |
Addison Cook Niles (July 22, 1832 – January 17, 1890) was an associate justice on the Supreme Court of California from 1872–1880.
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Biography
Niles was born in Rensselaerville, New York to John Niles (1797 – 1872) and Mary Cook (1803 – 1873). Niles had two younger brothers: John Hamiton Niles and Charles Mumford Niles; and six sisters: Laura Niles, Cornelia Deborah Niles, Mary Corinthia Niles, Henrietta Amelia Niles, and Emily Harriet Niles.
In 1852, Niles graduated from Williams College and began reading law in the office of Increase Sumner at Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and with Rufus King at Catskill, New York. In 1855, Niles was admitted to the New York bar, and then came to Nevada City, California, the center of gold prospecting.
Niles entered into private practice with various attorneys, including Thomas Bard McFarland, John R. McConnell, Aaron A. Sargent, and Niles Searls, his cousin and brother-in-law.
In 1862, Niles won election as a Union party candidate for Nevada County judge. In October 1863, he was nominated by the Union Party and was elected to a four-year term on the county court. In October 1867, he was re-elected to the trial court on the Union party ticket.
In 1871, Niles was nominated by the Republican party and won the election as a justice of the California Supreme Court. In the election, he defeated Jackson Temple for the unexpired term of Silas Sanderson, who had retired in 1869. In 1879, all seats of the Supreme Court were up for election due to the new constitution, and Niles chose not run for re-election.
After stepping down from the court he struggled with a drinking problem. In 1884, he suffered a serious bout of illness but recovered. He died on January 17, 1890, in San Francisco at age 57.
Honors and legacy
The town of Niles in Fremont, California is named after Addison Niles, who was once an attorney for the Western Pacific Railroad.
Personal life
On April 13, 1859, Niles married Elizabeth Caldwell in Placer County, California, and they had one son, Addison Perkins Niles.
His first cousin, Niles Searls, Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court from 1887 to 1889, was married to Addison's sister, Mary Corinthia Niles (1830–1910).