Role Attorney Name Silas Sanderson | Died 1886 | |
Silas Woodruff Sanderson (April 16, 1824 – June 24, 1886) was the seventh Chief Justice of California.
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Biography
Born in Sandgate, Vermont, Sanderson attended Burr Seminary, Williams College, and Union College, 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. In 1850, he sailed to California via the Strait of Magellan and settled in Coloma.
As a Democrat, Sanderson was elected district attorney in El Dorado County. Dismayed at the secessionist sentiment in the Democratic party, he became a Republican and backed Leland Stanford for Governor of California in the next election. In 1862 he was elected to the state legislature.
The following year, under a constitutional amendment reorganizing the courts, all of the seats of the Supreme Court of California were open for election. In October 1863, Sanderson 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 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, a post he held for the next 16 years.
Personal life
On March 3, 1858, Sanderson married Margaret Beatty Ormsby (c. 1839 – October 21, 1913) of Sacramento, California. They had four daughters, including Sibyl Sanderson, a notable operatic soprano. He died June 24, 1886, at his home in San Francisco.