San Francisco County Biographies

LINCOLN SHERIDAN CHURCH

Transcribed 11-21-04  Marilyn R. Pankey

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

	Assistant District Attorney of Alameda County, was born 
in Alvarado, in this county, May 12, 1865, the youngest of the nine children of 
Augustus M. and Ellen (Cronkhite) Church, both natives of New York.  The father, 
born in Allen's Hill, Richmond township, Ontario county, June 19,1816, a son of 
Lovett and Sally (Boyd) Church, arrived at Bear river, California, August 13, 
1849, and after an eventful and honorable career on this coast, died in Oakland, 
September 1, 1889.  (For a full sketch of his career from boyhood to old age, 
see Wood's History of Alameda County, pp.862-4.)  The mother, born  February 13, 
1822, a resident with her parents of Berrien county, Michigan, at her marriage, 
in May, 1839, after a married life of over fifty years, is living in this city, 
which has been the home of the family since 1876.  She came to California in 
1852 with her five children to rejoin the husband and father.  Of their nine 
children, three sons and two daughters are living, in 1890, all residents of 
this city except one daughter, Sarah, now Mrs. John Gill, of Oceanside, San 
Diego county. The other living children are:  Helen, now Mrs. Helen Salisbury, 
the widow of B. J. Salisbury, late of Santa Ana, Orange county; William H., 
employed in the Hall of Records of this city; Rod. W., Recorder of this county 
(see preceding sketch); Lincoln S., the subject of this sketch.  Grandfather 
Lovett Church, a native of Vermont, a shoemaker by trade, moved to St. Joseph, 
Michigan, where he died at the age of sixty-five.  His wife, by birth Sarah 
Burns, died in middle life, leaving three children.  Her son, William Church, a 
Captain of artillery in the civil war, died in Michigan, aged over sixty years. 
Grandfather Cronkhite, at one time a merchant in New York, and afterward in 
Michigan, died of cholera on his way across the plains in 1849. His wife, by 
birth a Miss Springstein, a descendant on her mother's side of 
Abraham Clark, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, died in St. Joseph, 
Michigan, at the age of seventy-four.
     Lincoln S. Church, educated in the public schools of this city, entered the 
law office of J. C. Martin in August, 1883, and after three years' study was 
admitted to the bar in August, 1886.  He continued in Mr. Martin's office until 
January 1, 1889, when he was appointed Assistant District Attorney, a position 
he fills with marked success and general approbation.

Source: "The Bay of San Francisco," Vol. 1, page 603, Lewis Publishing Co, 1892.


	Lincoln S. Church, a member of the firm of Snook & Church, general legal practitioners 
in Oakland, was born in Alvarado, Alameda county, California, May 12, 1865, a son of Augustus M. 
and Ellen (Cronkhite) Church. He acquired his education in the public schools of Oakland, and 
after he was graduated from the high school studied law with J. C. Martin. In 1886 he was 
admitted to the bar and began the practice of his profession. He rose rapidly to a position of 
prominence and a short time after beginning his independent career, or in 1889, was appointed 
prosecuting attorney for the police court, serving for four years under District Attorney 
George W. Reed, and being assistant district attorney for two years, 1895-97, under District 
Attorney Charles E. Snook.  He was afterward for four years chief deputy in the district 
attorney's office. In 1899 he formed a partnership with Mr. Snook under the name of Snook & 
Church, and this has since become one of the sound and reliable legal firms in the city, 
connected through an extensive clientage with a great deal of important litigation. Mr. Church 
handles all of the criminal cases and has made a wide reputation as a criminal lawyer.
	Mr. Church married Miss Rosalia Clark, an accomplished musician, a native of California 
and a daughter of Marion Clark, who came to this state in 1851. Mr. and Mrs. Church have a 
daughter, Esther. Mr. Church was for four years prior to January, 1903, attorney for the public 
administrator. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, having taken the fourteenth degree 
according to the Scottish Rite, and he is identified also with the University Lodge of Odd Fellows 
and the Commercial Club. His record since starting upon the practice of law has been marked by 
consecutive progress, and his natural qualifications indicate that he will win still higher 
advancement in his chosen field.

Past & Present of Alameda County, California � Vol II, S. J. Clarke Publ. Co., 1914, p. 221 

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler