DAVID
M. BURNETT
-Santa Clara County Pioneer
Surnames: CASEY, WILCOX, SUTTER, ARQUES
A Distinguished representative of the California Bar
of more than ordinary interest because of his relation, as a
descendant, to one of the illustrious forefathers of the Golden State,
is David M. Burnett, son of John M. and Ellen (Casey) Burnett, and
grandson of Peter
H. Burnett, California's first governor. He was born in San
Francisco the day after Christmas, 1870, and at the age of twelve
matriculated at St. Ignatius College, from which he was graduated on
June 3, 1891, with the Bachelor of Science degree. In the fall of
the latter year he entered the Hastings College of Law in San
Francisco; and while reading law, he was for a year an instructor in
Mathematics and English in St. Ignatius College, and also for a year in
Santa Clara College. In August, 1894, he was admitted to practice
at the California Bar; and on the first of September he began the
practice of law in the office of the late Charles F. Wilcox.
Three years later, in March, Mr. Burnett and H. E. Wilcox formed a
partnership which continued until February, 1917.
While in the law school, Mr. Burnett joined the fraternity of Phi Delta
Phi, made up of law students; and since then he has become a member of
the Young Men's Institute, Knights of Columbus, the Native Sons, the
National Union, the Sainte Claire Club and the California
Pioneers.
The story of the Burnett family tree is particularly interesting. Peter
Hardeman Burnett was born in Nashville, Tenn, in 1807, and grew up to
be a trader and a lawyer. In 1843 he made the overland journey to
Oregon, and soon after took a prominent part in the organization of the
territorial government. He was sent to the legislature in both
1844 and 1848, and then became a judge of the Oregon Supreme
Court.
The great excitement about the discovery of gold in California led him
to abandon everything in Oregon and to hurry south, and for a short
time he himself worked in the mines; but when the affairs of the Sutter
family and estate at New Helvetia became so complicated, he accepted
the responsibility of their agent. In 1849 he rose to prominence
in actively urging the formation of a state government in advance of
Congressional authority; he energetically opposed the military
direction of the territory by the U. S. Government; but he yielded to
the calling of a constitutional convention, and under the new
constitution was at once elected governor, and assumed office ahead of
all Congressional action in September, 1850. He resigned the
governship in 1851, practiced law, and then became one of the supreme
judges of California in 1857-58. For seventeen years, from 1863,
Judge Burnett was very prominent in San Francisco as the president of
the corporation known as the Pacific Bank; and in 1878 he published a
volume entitled, "Recollections of an Old Pioneer," which is regarded
as a very valuable contribution toward an understanding of the early
political and constitutional history of the Pacific Coast. In
1880, Judge Burnett retired and spent the balance of his life in the
family circle of his son, John M. Burnett, where he passed away
on May 16, 1895, aged eighty-seven years.
(He is buried in
the Santa Clara Mission Cemetery, Santa Clara, California,
Location: 5 Old, Space 111.)
John M. Burnett, the father of our subject was born in
Missouri in 1838, and for awhile was went to private schools.
Later, he entered Santa Clara College, from which he was graduated in
1858 with the A. B. degree. A year later, that honored
institution gave him the Master of Arts degree. He studied law,
was admitted to practice in 1865, and then opened a law office in San
Francisco.
On July 2, 1902, David M. Burnett was married to Miss
Mabel Arques, the daughter of Luis Arques, a prominent attorney; and
their son, John M. Burnett, born May 1, 1903, has lived to represent
the fourth generation of the Burnetts and their enviable association
with California history. They also have a daughter, Martha Arques
Burnett, a student in the San Jose high school.
Transcribed by Joseph Kral, from Eugene T. Sawyers' History of Santa Clara County,California, published by Historic Record Co. , 1922. page 342
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