Addison Cook Niles
Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court
In office
January 1, 1872 – January 5, 1880
Appointed byDirect election
Preceded byJackson Temple
Succeeded byElections under new constitution of 1879
Personal details
Born(1832-07-22)July 22, 1832
Rensselaerville, New York, U.S.
DiedJanuary 17, 1890(1890-01-17) (aged 57)
San Francisco, California, U.S.
Spouse
Elizabeth Caldwell
​
(m. 1859)​
RelationsNiles Searls (brother-in-law)
Alma materWilliams College (BA)

Addison Cook Niles (July 22, 1832 – January 17, 1890) was an attorney and served as Nevada County judge in California from 1862–1871 and as associate justice on the Supreme Court of California from 1872–1880.

Biography

Addison Cook Niles was born in Rensselaerville, New York to John Niles (1797 – 1872) and Mary Cook (1803 – 1873).[1][2] 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.[3]

In 1852, Niles graduated from Williams College[4] 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.[5]

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.[1]

In 1862, Niles won election as a Union party candidate for Nevada County judge.[6][7] In October 1863, he was nominated by the Union Party and was elected to a four-year term on the county court.[8][9] In October 1867, he was re-elected to the trial court on the Union party ticket.[10] In November 1867, he ruled against the Chinese and extended the California Statute "forbidding Chinese to give evidence against any white person", in the light of U.S. Civil Rights Law, to "against any citizen without distinction of color" [11]—indicative of the struggles of judges in trying to adhere to equal justice while applying an inherently racist law.[12]

In 1871, Niles was nominated by the Republican party and won the election as a justice of the California Supreme Court.[13][14] In the election, he defeated Jackson Temple for the unexpired term of Silas Sanderson, who had retired in 1869.[15] 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.[16] In 1884, he suffered a serious bout of illness but recovered.[17] Financial setbacks swept away his fortune: "during the last few years of his life he was what the world calls poor."[18]: 668  He died on January 17, 1890, in San Francisco at age 57.[19][20]

Honors and legacy

In April 1870, Central Pacific Railroad activated a new junction near Vallejo Mill to service trains on the first transcontinental mainline and those on the branch to San José. It was known as Niles for Addison Niles, who was then an attorney for the railroad as well as Nevada County judge.[21][22] Later that year, Central Pacific added a railroad depot with a restaurant and saloon there. Concomitantly, the settlement Vallejo Mill became known as Niles.[23][24] However, the settlement did not develop commercially until the 1890s, by which time Judge Niles had died.[25] Since 1956, Niles is a district in Fremont, California.[26]

The Niles railroad station was situated at the mouth of the Alameda canyon, which was the major course of Alameda Creek. After 1870, the canyon became known as Niles Canyon and the section of the railroad therein the Niles Canyon Railway,[27] which was part of the westernmost leg of the First transcontinental railroad.

Personal life

On April 13, 1859, Niles married Elizabeth Caldwell in Placer County, California, and they had one son, Addison Perkins Niles.[16][20]

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).[17][28][3]

References

  1. 1 2 "Pacific Coast Items". Sacramento Daily Union. Vol. 42, no. 7415. California Digital Newspaper Collection. 19 February 1872. p. 2. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  2. ↑ Johnson, J. Edward (1963). History of the California Supreme Court: The Justices 1850-1900, vol 1 (PDF). San Francisco, CA: Bender Moss Co. pp. 118–120. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 27, 2016. Retrieved August 14, 2017.
  3. 1 2 Niles, Allen (November 20, 2008). "Abraham Sarls/Searles of NY/ONT". genealogy.com. Retrieved 2009-05-25.
  4. ↑ "Zeta Chapter, Williams College". p. 23. Retrieved August 17, 2017. 1852, Addison C. Niles, Died
  5. ↑ "Departures". The New York Herald. Library of Congress Historic Newspapers. January 6, 1855. p. 40. Retrieved August 18, 2017. For California via Aspinwall in the steamship George Law...A C Niles
  6. ↑ "Nevada Union County Convention". Sacramento Daily Union. California Digital Newspaper Collection. 5 August 1862. p. 2. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  7. ↑ "District Judges". Sacramento Daily Union. Vol. 24, no. 3619. California Digital Newspaper Collection. 3 November 1862. p. 8. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  8. ↑ "Nominations in Nevada". Marysville Daily Appeal. No. 20. California Digital Newspaper Collection. 24 July 1863. p. 2. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  9. ↑ "Interior Items, County Judges Elected". Daily Alta California. Vol. 15, no. 4987. California Digital Newspaper Collection. 24 October 1863. p. 1. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  10. ↑ "State Election Returns". Daily Alta California. Vol. 19, no. 6425. California Digital Newspaper Collection. 18 October 1867. p. 1. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  11. ↑ "JUDGE NILES' DECISION". cdnc.ucr.edu. Marysville Daily Appeal, Volume XVI, Number 118, 16 November 1867. Retrieved 3 April 2023. I do not know how the provision of our Statute, forbidding Chinese to give evidence against any white person, in criminal cases, can be otherwise construed, than as a law for the security of the persons of the class named. It is a privilege given by our Statute to a single class of citizens. The Act of Congress extends its benefit to all classes. In tbis view Chinese evidence is inadmissable against any citizen without distinction of color. Let an order be entered setting aside the indictment and discharging the defendant. A. C. NILES, County Judge. November 13, 1867.
  12. ↑ Chin, Gabriel (2013). ""A Chinaman's Chance" in Court: Asian Pacific Americans and Racial Rules of Evidence" (PDF). law.uci.edu. UC IRVINE LAW REVIEW, Vol. 3. pp. 965–990. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  13. ↑ "Our Nominees". Marysville Daily Appeal. No. 156. California Digital Newspaper Collection. 1 July 1871. p. 2. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  14. ↑ "Inauguration of Gov. Booth". Sacramento Daily Union. Vol. 42, no. 7355. California Digital Newspaper Collection. 9 December 1871. p. 5. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  15. ↑ Bancroft, Hubert Howe (1890). History of California: 1860-1890. History Company. p. 235. Retrieved August 17, 2017. addison c. niles williams college.
  16. 1 2 "Nevada County Namesakes: Nile(s) Street". TheUnion.com. 23 August 2014. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  17. 1 2 "Personals". Daily Alta California. Vol. 36, no. 12374. California Digital Newspaper Collection. 3 March 1884. p. 2. Retrieved August 17, 2017. Hon. A. C. Niles, formerly a Justice of the State Supreme Court, is seriously ill at Nevada City. He is at the residence of his sister, Mrs. Niles Searles.
  18. ↑ "In Memoriam: Addison C. Niles" (PDF). California Supreme Court Historical Society. Cal Reports, Vol. 82, p.661-669. 7 March 1890. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  19. ↑ "Addison C. Niles, Unexpected Death of the Well-Known Ex-Justice of the Supreme Court". Daily Alta California. Vol. 82, no. 19. California Digital Newspaper Collection. 19 January 1890. p. 1. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  20. 1 2 "Death of Judge Niles". Sacramento Daily Union. Vol. 62, no. 129. California Digital Newspaper Collection. 20 January 1890. p. 1. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  21. ↑ "Railroad Matters". cdnc.ucr.edu. Daily Alta California, Volume 22, Number 7342, 28 April 1870. Retrieved 23 September 2023. The station known heretofore as San José Junction, will no longer be a stopping place for the trains either way. Passengers for San José will change cars at Niles.
  22. ↑ Wong, V. K. (December 2020). "A tale of two junctions: the birthing of Niles, 4 June 1869 to 28 April 1870" (PDF). Washington Township Museum of Local History. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  23. ↑ Hoover, Mildred Brooke; Douglas E. Kyle; Hero Rensch (2002). Historic spots in California (5 ed.). Stanford University Press. p. 18. ISBN 0-8047-4482-3.
  24. ↑ Cain, Julie (May 2, 2010). "Niles - Home, Sweet Home!". Niles California blog. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  25. ↑ Holmes, Philip; Singleton, Jill M. (2004). Niles - Fremont. Charleston, SC: Arcadia. p. 20. ISBN 0738529125.
  26. ↑ Weinstein, Dave (2004-09-17). "Fremont: Silents golden at Niles' new film museum". San Francisco Chronicle. Hearst Communications. Archived from the original on 2012-09-11. Retrieved 2009-03-11.
  27. ↑ Mosier, Page; Mosier, Dan (1986). Alameda County Place Names. Fremont, California: Mines Road Books.
  28. ↑ "Judge Searles is Dead". Sacramento Union. California Digital Newspaper Collection. 30 April 1907. p. 8. Retrieved August 17, 2017. Judge Searls married in his native county, in 1853, Miss Mary C. Niles, sister of his late law partner, Addison C. Niles.

See also

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