Charles Albert Storke (November 19, 1847 – December 6, 1936) was a prominent lawyer in 19th century

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American Civil War

Charles Albert Storke was a soldier in the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...

. He survived "the terrible slaughter of

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, where, out of four companies, sixty-nine percent were killed, and the rest captured. The prisoners were sent to Libby, Andersonville, Savannah, and other prisons ...." Storke was discharged on May 26, 1865. He graduated from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

in 1870.

His early career

Teaching

After teaching for two years in

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, Storke moved to

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Co ...

, as a teacher on the bequest of T. Wallace More, a cattleman who had made his fortune during the California Gold Rush selling food to gold miners. Storke taught mathematics and Latin to local children, including More's daughter, Mattie. Impressed with fourteen-year-old Mattie's good looks and her family's wealth, Storke proposed to her, and the two were married September 10, 1873. Storke lost interest in teaching once he realized he would never make much money in the occupation.

Newspaper publishing

Having worked as a

printer's devil A printer's devil was a young apprentice in a printing establishment who performed a number of tasks, such as mixing tubs of ink and fetching type. Notable writers including Ambrose Bierce, Benjamin Franklin, Walt Whitman, and Mark Twain served ...

while attending Cornell, Storke understood that publishing was a lucrative and growing field. He borrowed money from his wealthy father-in-law to start a newspaper in Los Angeles. When the enterprise failed, he returned to Santa Barbara. He did not have money to start a new business and he owed his father-in-law a large sum of money. Having run out of options, he devoted his time to reading the law and became an attorney. He handled his father-in-law's legal affairs including drafting his will. Storke saw to it that upon More's death, the majority of his estate would go to Mattie.

Political career

Storke was elected to the California State Assembly in 1882, serving from 1883 to 1885, and elected again in 1888 for the 74th district, serving from 1889 to 1891. He opposed the Southern Pacific Railroad because he was not a part of the so-called political machine. Storke explained:

The railroad refused to pay its taxes. So, during 1884, a special session of legislature was called, for the purpose of devising ways and means to enforce payment. ... Various measures were introduced, including one ... which provided that, ... stocks and bonds of railroad corporations were to be assessed on market value as shown by state stock exchange quotation. This was intended ... as a method of arriving at the real worth of the railroad, so it could be properly assessed. ... The estimate cost ... was more than $20,000.00 in bribes. Then we went home. The people of California were disgusted with us, and seemingly the railroad's grip was as strong as ever.

When Storke discovered that Luther Ingersol was compiling a biographical book about the prominent citizens of Santa Barbara and nearby counties, Storke was pleased to be interviewed by the well-known writer Yda Addis. Storke was attracted to Addis for her quick mind, her good social standing and her fame as a writer. Addis, on the other hand, saw Storke as a man who could offer her financial security. They were married on September 10, 1890. The marriage was not a good match. A divorce followed, and in the subsequent lawsuit Addis accused Storke of "sexual perversion". Storke was acquitted. Later Addis tried to kill her attorney believing him to be working with her husband against her. After an eight-month sentence she was released from prison, found a new lawyer to defend her, and demanded alimony from Storke. Subsequently, Storke had Addis committed to an insane asylum where she later escaped never to be heard from again. Charles A. Storke later remarried. He continued to practice the law and helped his son

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to enter the publishing of the '' Santa Barbara News-Press'', then called the ''Santa Barbara Post.'' He died in 1936, at the age of 89.

Notes

External links

Guide to the Charles Albert Storke Papers
at

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Storke, Charles A. 1847 births 1936 deaths California lawyers Cornell University alumni Mayors of Santa Barbara, California Union Army soldiers Democratic Party members of the California State Assembly 19th-century American politicians