Fresno County, California Biographies

Source: History of Fresno County, California, with biographical sketches of 
the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with 
its growth and development from the early days to the present (1919)

History By Paul E. Vandor 
Illustrated, Complete In Two Volumes 
Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1919
 
Notes: Missing+page1185-1186

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives 
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm



JAMES A. BURNS. � We do not know that the senior member of the 
well known law firm, Burns and Watkins, of Fresno, is any relation to the 
renowned poet, Bobby Burns, but he has a good old Scottish name that he 
may well be proud of. 

James A. Burns is a native of Richville, Washington County, Ill., born 
August 12, 1852. Quiet, unostentatious, and of studious inclinations, he at- 
tended the Washington Seminary in his native city and followed the occupa- 
tion of a pedagogue in his native state and eastern Missouri, then, his inclina- 
tions leading in the direction of the law, he became a law student in the 
office of John M. Breeze at Richville, Ill., and was admitted to practice No- 
vember 6, 1880. Allured by California's charms and the possibilities of a 
future, in that state, in his chosen profession, on December 5, 1880, one month 
after his admission to the bar, he arrived at Lemoore, Kings County (then 
Tulare County"), where he began the practice of law. He met with success, 
and after serving for two years in that place as Justice of the Peace, removed 
in 1884 to Hanford, where he continued the practice of his profession until 
1886, when he came to the bustling town of Selma, in the center of the fruit 
section of Fresno County. In 1902 he removed to his present home, Fresno, 
and again opened a law office. 

His marriage with Annie Lewis, a native of Kentucky, was consummated 
August 12, 1879, two children being the result of this union: Nannie, who 
is the wife of Mr. Burns' law partner, W. J. Watkins ; and Robert, well known 
in Fresno musical circles as an excellent cornetist. 

Fraternally Mr. Burns is a member of the B. P. O. Elks, and the Inde- 
pendent Order of Foresters. Mr. Burns has built up a large practice in the 
valley and is familiarly known among his intimate friends as "Jimmy" Burns. 
He has never aspired to any public office.