Frank Sabichi (October 4, 1842 – April 12, 1900) was an attorney and developer of extensive properties who sat on the Los Angeles, California, Common Council, the legislative arm of that city, from 1870 to 1874 and again from 1897 to 1899. He was council president in 1873–74.

Biography

Sabichi was born on October 4, 1842, to Mathias Sabichi of Austria and his Mexican wife in the Pueblo de Los Ángeles, then within

Alta California Alta California ('Upper California'), also known as ('New California') among other names, was a province of New Spain, formally established in 1804. Along with the Baja California peninsula, it had previously comprised the province of , but ...

, Mexico. At age eight, he was taken to England and placed at the Royal Naval Academy in Portsmouth, England. He saw service related to the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and the 1854–55 Siege of Sebastapol during the Crimean War.Los Angeles Public Library reference file (see original sources there)
/ref> He returned to Los Angeles, in the U.S. state of California, in 1860 at about age 18 and began the private study of law in the offices of Glassell, Smith & Patton. He practiced law for a time but gave it up to manage and develop his extensive land holdings. He was credited with opening and developing East 7th Street on his family properties. He was a charter member of the Pioneer Society of Southern California and the Native Sons of the Golden West. A Catholic, Sabichi was married to Magdalena Wolfskill, the daughter of pioneer settler

William Wolfskill William Wolfskill (1798–1866) was an American-Mexican pioneer, cowboy, and agronomist in Los Angeles, California beginning in the 1830s. He had earned money for land in a decade as a fur trapper near Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he had become a ...

, on May 4, 1865. They had thirteen children. Those who survived were Frank W., Agatha (Mrs. J. J. Fay), Joseph Rodney, George Carlos, William Wolfskill, Louis S., and Beatrice (Mrs. S. Mitchell). Sabichi died at the age of fifty-eight on April 12, 1900, in his home at 2437 South Figueroa Street. A doctor in attendance said the cause was probably "due to a stroke of apoplexy."

Public service

Sabichi was elected to one-year terms in the Los Angeles Common Council in 1870 to 1874 and again from 1897 to 1899. He was council president in 1873–74,''Chronological Record of Los Angeles City Officials,1850-1938,'' compiled under direction of Municipal Reference Library, City Hall, Los Angeles (March 1938, reprinted 1966). "Prepared ... as a report on Project No. SA 3123-5703-6077-8121-9900 conducted under the auspices of the Works Progress Administration." and he was on the city Fire Commission between 1897 and 1900.

References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sabichi, Frank Businesspeople from Los Angeles Landowners from California Lawyers from Los Angeles 1842 births 1900 deaths Los Angeles City Council members 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American businesspeople 19th-century American lawyers