Charles A. Leland
Charles Asbury Leland (November 23, 1859 – February 18, 1901)[1][2][3] was an American lawyer and politician who served as a justice of the New Mexico Territorial Supreme Court from 1898 to 1900.[4]
Biography[edit]
Born in Noble County, Ohio, Leland was raised on a farm, was educated in the public schools, including the high school, and read law while teaching school to gain admission to the bar in 1881.[1][5] He entered the practice of law in Caldwell, Ohio, eventually partnering with J. M. McGinnis, who had been a member of the firm with which he studied law.[2][5]
Leland was elected to a three-year term as prosecuting attorney for the county in 1887, and re-elected in 1890.[1][2][5] In 1895 he was elected as a Republican to represent Noble County in the seventy-second legislative assembly of Ohio, and strongly supported Joseph B. Foraker for the senate. Leland was re-elected in 1897, to the seventy-third legislative assembly, and made the nominating speech and led the fight in the house for Mark Hanna for the senate.[5] A bout with pneumonia left him with weak lungs, and required help to take him to Thomasville, Georgia, where he regained sixteen pounds in six weeks.[5]
On May 20, 1898, President William McKinley nominated Leland to serve as an associate justice for the fifth district of the territorial supreme court of New Mexico,[1] for which Leland was endorsed by Senators Foraker and Hanna.[5] Leland hoped that the climate of New Mexico would prove beneficial to his precarious health, saying that if it did, he would "make it his permanent home".[5] Leland was popular in New Mexico, and "his prospects of being one of the first Senators when New Mexico received Statehood, were very bright as he was a favorite of both parties".[1]
However, Leland and his family only remained in New Mexico for two years and three months, until his failing health caused them to return to Ohio in September 1900.[1][2]
Personal life and death[edit]
Leland married Cora McKee on December 21, 1889,[1] with whom he had one daughter.[5]
Leland died from consumption (tuberculosis) at his home in Caldwell, Ohio, at the age of 41.[2][3]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f g John Augustin Charles Leland II, The Leland Family of Virginia, 1740-1940 (1953).
- ^ a b c d e "Judge Leland", Cambridge Jeffersonian (February 21, 1901), p. 3.
- ^ a b "Hon. Charles A. Leland Dead From Consumption", Los Angeles Evening Express (February 18, 1901), p. 1.
- ^ Anderson, George B. (1907). History of New Mexico: its resources and people. Vol. 1. Los Angeles: Pacific States Pub. Co. OCLC 1692911.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "The Judge Appointed", The Pecos Valley Argus (May 20, 1898), p. 6.