Myer J. Newmark
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Myer Joseph Newmark (1838–1911) was the youngest city attorney in the history of Los Angeles, California, and was active in the affairs of that city in the 19th and early 20th centuries.


Personal


Background

Newmark was born in 1838 in New York City, the son of
Joseph Newmark Joseph Newmark (1799–1881) was a Prussian-American businessman in New York City and Los Angeles and a member of the Newmark family of Southern California. He helped found Jewish congregations in both cities and later became an ordained rabbi. A ...
of Germany and Rosa Levy Newmark of England. The second of six children, Myer Newmark received his primary education first in New York and then in England, where he lived with his mother's parents. He returned to New York at age 13. He attended Columbia College in New York, and he also spent 18 months in a lawyer's office, studying law."Angelenos of Note," ''Los Angeles Herald,'' May 20, 1900
/ref> In December 1852, the family of two adults and six children followed the
Gold Rush of 1849 The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California fro ...
by way of
Cape Horn Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramírez ...
to California and arrived there in April 1853. The Newmarks moved to Los Angeles in 1857, but young Myer, at age 16, returned to San Francisco until he was 19, when he went back to Los Angeles. He and Sophie Cahen, a "recent French emigrant," were married on June 7, 1874, in the San Francisco residence of the bride's parents. The ceremony was "conducted by Joseph Newmark.
Esq. Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentleman a ...
, father of the groom, assisted by
the Rev. The Reverend is an honorific style most often placed before the names of Christian clergy and ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and church traditions. ''The Reverend'' is correctly ...
Dr. Eckman." The couple had three children, the first being a daughter, Sophie, born in Los Angeles in 1879 and married on September 11, 1902, to Alfred Sutro, nephew of Adolph Sutro of San Francisco. They also had a son, Henry M.(Myer) Newmark, and a younger daughter Rosa Newmark. For three years, he and his family lived in
Nice, France Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...
. Newmark died in San Francisco on May 10, 1911 after an illness of two days."In High Office at Twenty-One," ''Los Angeles Times,'' May 11, 1911, page II-1
/ref>


Attributes

A ''Los Angeles Herald'' reporter wrote in 1900 that Newmark at the age of 62 was "under medium height," with "clear, gray eyes," who "betrays nervous energy in every movement. He is a restless being—one of those high-strung men who must ever be on the move. Five minutes of actual repose would be actual punishment to him. . . . That he ever managed to hold himself down to the plodding drudgery of his books long enough to master the dry details of law is a mystery . . . ."


Avocation


Private enterprise

As a young adult in San Francisco, Newmark "embarked, in a boyish way, in mercantile pursuits," then sold his business for enough cash to enable him to study law independently in Los Angeles. He was admitted to practice in the local courts when he was 21 and to the California Supreme Court at age 22. He formed his first partnership with Edward J. C. Kewen and his second with
Joseph Lancaster Brent Joseph Lancaster Brent (November 30, 1826 November 27, 1905) was a lawyer and politician in California, Louisiana and Maryland and a brigadier general in the Confederate army. Personal Joseph Lancaster Brent was born on November 30, 1826, in P ...
, but Brent left to fight with the Confederates at the outbreak of the
U.S. Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, so Newmark linked up with
Volney E. Howard Volney Erskine Howard (October 22, 1809 – May 14, 1889) was an American lawyer, statesman, and jurist. Career Volney Erskine Howard was born in Oxford County, Maine on October 22, 1809, to Richard Howard, a prosperous farmer. At the age of ...
. In May 1862, Newmark was elected Los Angeles city attorney; he thus became the youngest person who would ever serve in that position. He resigned in September 1862 to open a
law practice In its most general sense, the practice of law involves giving legal advice to clients, drafting legal documents for clients, and representing clients in legal negotiations and court proceedings such as lawsuits, and is applied to the professi ...
in Nevada.Anna Lisa Posas, Finding Aid to Myer J. Newmark Journal, 1852–1853 MS. 725, Autry National Center, Braun Research Library
/ref> Newmark next practiced law in San Francisco, with Henry J. Labatt and Robert T. Payne, until 1865, "when he retired because of pressing business interests," those including a six-year stint in New York City, where he bought and sold goods for California enterprises. In 1871 Newmark went into business in Los Angeles with Harris Newmark, and in 1874 he was operating a wholesale grocery and hardware establishment on Los Angeles Street near
First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
. By 1895, Newmark had returned to Los Angeles and joined with Kaspare Cohn in a firm that handled wool and hides on commission.


Public service

When Newmark was in Los Angeles in 1857 at age 19 he was active as a member of the Mechanics Institute, and he "was instrumental in organizing the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce," becoming its president in 1900. Newmark, along with
William H. Workman William Henry Workman (January 1, 1839 – February 21, 1918) was an American politician, banker and businessman. He served two terms as the 18th Mayor of Los Angeles, California. Early life Workman was born in New Franklin, Missouri, the son o ...
, Samuel Foy and others, helped to open a public reading room of donated books at Arcadia and Los Angeles streets, which became the forerunner of the
Los Angeles Public Library The Los Angeles Public Library system (LAPL) is a public library system in Los Angeles, California. The system holds more than six million volumes, and with around 19 million residents in the Los Angeles Metropolitan area, it serves the large ...
. He was on the
board of trustees A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...
of the library from 1899 to 1901. A
Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...
, Newmark was appointed United States
consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throug ...
in
Nice, France Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...
, in 1888 under the
Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...
administration and remained there three years. In July 1898 Newmark was elected one of the fifteen members of a commission to draft a new
city charter A city charter or town charter (generically, municipal charter) is a legal document (''charter'') establishing a municipality such as a city or town. The concept developed in Europe during the Middle Ages. Traditionally the granting of a charter ...
for Los Angeles, and in 1903 he was appointed by the county
Board of Supervisors A board of supervisors is a governmental body that oversees the operation of county government in the U.S. states of Arizona, California, Iowa, Mississippi, Virginia, and Wisconsin, as well as 16 counties in New York. There are equivalent agenc ...
to be a member of a commission to investigate the possibility of merging the city with the county. He declined, stating that he was "in sympathy with the movement" but could not attend the organizational meeting. In 1902 he was part of a movement for a state
constitutional amendment A constitutional amendment is a modification of the constitution of a polity, organization or other type of entity. Amendments are often interwoven into the relevant sections of an existing constitution, directly altering the text. Conversely, t ...
that would provide for "a system of
direct legislation Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the electorate decides on policy initiatives without elected representatives as proxies. This differs from the majority of currently established democracies, which are represen ...
, state, county and municipal." In 1900 Newmark was on a committee working to establish a Children's Hospital in Los Angeles, and three years later he was working to find a site for a proposed convention hall in the city."Up to the Governor," ''Los Angeles Herald,'' March 14, 1903
/ref>


Diary

When Newmark, then about 12 years old, sailed to California with his family from New York City, he kept a diary he titled "Incidents of a Voyage from New York to San Francisco around Cape Horn in the good ship Carrington, F.B. French Commander. Commenced Dec 15, 1852. Ended April 20th 1853." The work was donated to the
Southwest Museum The Southwest Museum of the American Indian is a museum, library, and archive located in the Mt. Washington neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, above the north-western bank of the Arroyo Seco (Los Angeles County) canyon and stream. The muse ...
by Henry M. Newmark before 1931. The original pages were pasted onto
linen Linen () is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant. Linen is very strong, absorbent, and dries faster than cotton. Because of these properties, linen is comfortable to wear in hot weather and is valued for use in garments. It also ...
and tipped into a leather-bound volume.


References and notes



{{DEFAULTSORT:Newmark, Myer J. 1838 births 1911 deaths American people of German-Jewish descent Jewish American people in California politics Los Angeles City Attorneys Lawyers from New York City Columbia College (New York) alumni California Democrats 19th-century American politicians American lawyers admitted to the practice of law by reading law Newmark family 19th-century American lawyers