Notes |
- Lawyer.
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E. H. HOAR. In the mental attributes of the
district attorney of Merced county may be noted
the influences of heredity. Members of the Hoar
family have always displayed intellectual gifts of
a superior order and have possessed a culture fre-
quently observed among descendants of the colon-
ial residents of New England. To a striking de-
gree his father, Rev. Samuel Everett Hoar, ex-
emplified these traits and mental attainments, and,
had his physical strength equaled his intellectual
acumen, his would have been a life of rare use-
fulness and success. However, notwithstanding
the handicap of ill-health, he accomplished much
in the brief period that destiny spared him to fam-
ily and friends. Born near Boston, he was a
cousin of the late United States Senator Hoar,
who is recognized as one of the most distinguished
and conservative statesmen in our nation. As a
boy his acuteness of perception, fine mind and re-
ligious temperament led him to prepare himself
for the ministry, and after having graduated in
belles-lettres at Dartmouth College he was or-
dained as a Presbyterian minister. A constitu-
tion none too robust became impaired through
overwork in the discharge of his ministerial
duties, and he came to the Pacific coast in the
hope that the genial climate might prove bene-
ficial, but after preaching for a short time he was
obliged to seek another occupation. He then
opened a successful mercantile business in San
Francisco, which he carried on for some time,
meanwhile suffering: loss by fire, but rebuilding
and continuing; in business. Some years later he
sold out, and after a few vears spent in farm-
ing in Kern county, went to Arizona for his
health, but the change failed to benefit him and he
died in Tucson when the subject of this sketch
was nine years old.
After coming to California Rev. Samuel Ever-
ett Hoar married Martha Jane Price, who was
born in Fort Smith. Ark., and accompanied her
parents across the plains with ox-teams during
the '50s, settling among the pioneers of Placer
county. After the death, of Mr. Hoar she was
again married, becoming the wife of Edward
Jackman, a leading and successful attorney of
Merced. Mr. Jackman was born and reared in
England and received exceptional advantages as
a law student in London, but was led to seek his
fortune in the mines of California in 1849, com-
ing from England via Cape Horn to San Fran-
cisco and working in mines in this state and the
south of Oregon. Success, however, failed to re-
ward his persistent efforts, and he then returned
to- the law, gaining admission to the bar of Cali-
fornia and engaging in practice at San Rafael.
From there he removed to Merced and conducted
a large general practice until his death about
1894. Since then his widow has made her home
in San Francisco.
The eldest of three children, E. H. Hoar was
horn in San Francisco, December 3', 1871, and at
the age of eleven years accompanied his mother
to Merced, where he- was a student in the gram-
mar and high schools. Later he took a commer-
cial course in Heald's Business College at San
Francisco. In 1894 he received an appointment
as official reporter of the superior court of Merced
county and continued to fill this responsible posi-
tion until 1902, when he resigned to accept the
nomination for district attorney. During the
years of his service as reporter he had devoted
all of his leisure hours to the study of law and
had been admitted to practice before the supreme
court in 1896. Having gained a wide acquaint-
ance and many warm friends during the period
of his service as reporter, he proved an admirable
candidate for the office of district attorney, to
which he was nominated in 1902 by the Demo-
cratic part His election with a majority of six
hundred and fifty is a striking proof of his
popularity among the people, and the efficient
manner in which he discharges every duty as
district attorney justifies his selection for the
post.
The marriage of Mr. Hoar united him with
Jane Elizabeth Berriman, who was born at Grass
Valley, Nevada county, this state, and is a grad-
uate of the schools of that county. Her father,
Nicholas Berriman, a native of England, came to
California at the time of the discovery of gold
and was one of the early miners in Nevada coun-
ty. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Hoar consists
of three sons, Fred Emerson, Lawrence Bradley
and George Everett. Fraternally Mr. Hoar is
connected with the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, the Woodmen of the World, and is a
member of Yosemite Parlor No. 24, N. S. G. W.,
of which he is past president. Through his serv-
ice on the board of trustees, he has been active
in the work of the Merced Methodist Episcopal
Church. It is often said that every man has his
hobby, and if Mr. Hoar cannot be classed among
the exceptions to this rule, he would probably
acknowledge having a special fondness for the
study of psychology. When at leisure from pro-
fessional and official work he enjoys spending a
few hours in the study of this science, to the in-
telligent mastery of which he is admirably quali-
fied by reason of his keenness of perception and
breadth of intellect.
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