Curtis Dwight Wilbur (May 10, 1867 – September 8, 1954) was an American lawyer, California state judge, 43rd

United States Secretary of the Navy The secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the United States Department of Defense. By law, the se ...

and a

United States circuit judge In the United States, federal judges are judges who serve on courts established under Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. They include the chief justice and the associate justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, the circuit judges of the U.S. C ...

of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts: * District o ...

Early life and education

Wilbur was born May 10, 1867, in Boonesboro,

Iowa Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...

, to Dwight Locke Wilbur and Edna M. Lyman. His family moved to Jamestown,

Dakota Territory The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of N ...

(now

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, South ...

), where he graduated high school. In 1884, he was appointed to the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy is ...

, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1888. Shortly after graduation, Wilbur resigned his commission, a common practice at the time, and moved to

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, California. He

read law Reading law was the method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship under the ...

at night while teaching mathematics during the day, and was admitted to the California bar in 1890.

Career

Wilbur associated with the firm of Bruson, Wilson & Lamme, and engaged in private practice for eight years in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, California. He was active in Republican politics, and in 1898 was president of the Fourth Ward Republican club. In 1898, he served as

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the List of the most populous counties in the United States, most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, ...

Deputy Assistant District Attorney in the office of John C. Donnell, and by 1899 he was the Chief Deputy under District Attorney James C. Rives. In September 1902, the Republican Party nominated Wilbur for the post of judge of the

Los Angeles County Superior Court The Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, is the California superior court with jurisdiction over Los Angeles County, which includes the city of Los Angeles. It is the largest single unified trial court in the United States. The L ...

to the take the seat of Lucien Shaw, who was running for Supreme Court. Wilbur won the election and in November 1902 began to hear cases ''

pro tempore ''Pro tempore'' (), abbreviated ''pro tem'' or ''p.t.'', is a Latin phrase which best translates to "for the time being" in English. This phrase is often used to describe a person who acts as a ''locum tenens'' (placeholder) in the absence of ...

''. He was especially interested in promoting children's welfare: on the Superior Court, he was presiding judge of the juvenile department; in 1906 he was a director of the Bethlehem Benevolent Board; in 1910, he was a founding director of the Juvenile Improvement Association; in 1912, he was president of the Social Purity League, which offered religious lectures to the public; in 1915, he helped organize the

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in Los Angeles, and was named permanent chairman of the executive committee; and he served as president of the state Sunday School Association, organizing evangelical gatherings for young people. It was during his time on the California Superior Court that he wrote and first published (in 1905) his popular "Bear Family" stories for children. He taught at the newly-founded law school of the University of Southern California from about 1904 until 1917, while he sat on the Superior Court. Annually, he taught one course, extraordinary legal remedies. In 1917, Governor William Stephens appointed Wilbur to the

California Supreme Court The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sac ...

, where he served as an associate justice from January 1, 1918. In September 1922, Wilbur defeated

William P. Lawlor William Patrick Lawlor (September 17, 1854 – July 24, 1926) was an associate justice of the California Supreme Court from January 3, 1915, to July 25, 1926. Biography Lawlor was born in Manhattan, New York City, New York, on September 17, ...

in the primary election, and in November was chosen as the 19th

Chief Justice of California The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sac ...

, holding the position from January 1923 to March 19, 1924. When Wilbur resigned, Governor

Friend Richardson Friend William Richardson (born William Richardson; December 1, 1865September 6, 1943) was an American newspaper publisher and politician, most famous for supporting a 1923 gun control bill aimed at Chinese and Latinos. A member of the Progressi ...

appointed Louis Wescott Myers to take the post of chief justice.

Secretary of the Navy

On March 19, 1924, Wilbur was sworn in as

. The first appointee of President Calvin Coolidge, Wilbur came into the position with a reputation as a man of high intellect and a character of "unimpeachable integrity." However, one critic called Wilbur "a good Sunday school teacher who wants to make the Navy safe for boys." In July 1925, he accompanied three battleships on a cruise of the Pacific coast, stopping in

Marin County Marin County is a county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and largest city is San Rafael. Marin County is acros ...

for a picnic of 600 midshipmen with a group of more than 100 society women on

Mount Tamalpais Mount Tamalpais (; ; Miwok: ''Támal Pájiṣ''), known locally as Mount Tam, is a peak in Marin County, California, United States, often considered symbolic of Marin County. Much of Mount Tamalpais is protected within public lands such as Moun ...

. In August 1928, he again accompanied a fleet to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, California on its way to Pacific training exercises. By the end of his term, Wilbur had achieved success in enlarging and modernizing the fleet and established a

naval air force The Naval Air Force ( vi, Binh chủng Không quân Hải quân) is an armed service of the Vietnam People's Navy that has the function of performing tasks at sea or along the coast and islands by means of the air force such as aircraft combat a ...

, which would grow to become a potent component in the war with

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

during World War II.

Federal judicial service

On March 1, 1929, in the last hours of his presidency, President Coolidge nominated Wilbur to the

in San Francisco. However, when the 70th Congress ended that week, the Senate had not acted on the nomination, so it expired. Wilbur was nominated by President

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gre ...

on April 18, 1929, to the

, to a new seat authorized by 45 Stat. 1414. He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and power ...

on May 2, 1929, and received his commission the same day. He was a member of the

Conference of Senior Circuit Judges The Judicial Conference of the United States, formerly known as the Conference of Senior Circuit Judges, was created by the United States Congress in 1922 with the principal objective of framing policy guidelines for administration of judicial cour ...

(now the Judicial Conference of the United States) from 1931 to 1944. He assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at least ...

on May 10, 1945. His service terminated on September 8, 1954, due to his death in

Palo Alto Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. The city was esta ...

, California.

Legacy

The guided missile destroyer USS ''Curtis Wilbur'' (DDG-54) is named for him.

Personal life

Wilbur was married twice. On November 9, 1893, Wilbur married Ella T. Chilson. She died on December 10, 1896. Next, on January 13, 1898, he remarried to Olive Doolittle. They lived in a grand home completed in 1904 on Frederick Knob in San Francisco. Following retirement, Wilbur spent time with his wife and their three surviving children: Edna, Paul C. and Lyman Dwight. In the summer of 1933, one of Wilbur's children, Dr. Leonard F. Wilbur (March 2nd 1907, Los Angeles – March 24th 1940, China), travelled to China with his wife Jean B. Spaulding. He studied at the College of Chinese Studies in Beijing in 1933–1934, achieving relative proficiency in Chinese. From the autumn of 1934 he worked at the American Board Mission Hospital in Taigu in the province of

Shanxi Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level ...

, becoming its superintendent in 1936. He died of a typhus fever on March 24th 1940 at the age of 33, shortly after having returned from a furlough he spent at the

Stanford University School of Medicine Stanford University School of Medicine is the medical school of Stanford University and is located in Stanford, California. It traces its roots to the Medical Department of the University of the Pacific, founded in San Francisco in 1858. This ...

, and after having been ill for two weeks. He was survived by his wife and a daughter named Ruth. Wilbur's brother,

Ray Lyman Wilbur Ray Lyman Wilbur (April 13, 1875 – June 26, 1949) was an American medical doctor who served as the third president of Stanford University and was the 31st United States Secretary of the Interior. Early life Wilbur was born in Boonesboro, Iowa ...

, was

United States Secretary of the Interior The United States secretary of the interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior. The secretary and the Department of the Interior are responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land along with natura ...

under

, and a president of

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

References

Sources

*
Image of Zola Vredenburgh watching Judge Robert Kenny playing chess against Judge Wilbur Curtis, Los Angeles, 1934.
Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles

External links

* *
Photo of Curtis Wilbur
and anothe
photo
January/February 1925. Library of Congress.
Photo of Curtis Wilbur and wife
Getty Images. * — Cypress Lawn Memorial Park, Colma, San Mateo County, California, USA
Curtis D. Wilbur
California Supreme Court Historical Society.
Opinions authored by Curtis D. Wilbur
Courtlistener.com

California State Courts. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilbur, Curtis D. 1867 births 1954 deaths Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit United States court of appeals judges appointed by Herbert Hoover 20th-century American judges United States Secretaries of the Navy California lawyers United States Naval Academy alumni American Congregationalists Chief Justices of California Coolidge administration cabinet members 20th-century American politicians People from Boone, Iowa California Republicans United States federal judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law U.S. state supreme court judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law Burials at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park