Alameda County Biographies

WILLIAM H. L. HYNES

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

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

 

	William H. L. Hynes, as district attorney of Alameda county, has discharged his duties 
with a sense of conscientious obligation, combined with ability that has made his record a 
notable one. He is an able and learned lawyer, whose progress has been continuous and 
gratifying, since his admission to the bar. He was born in San Francisco, June 12, 1874, and is 
a son of Patrick and Alicia M. Hynes, who in 1877 removed to Oakland, so that the son became a 
pupil in the public schools. He passed through consecutive grades until he graduated from the 
high school, with the class of 1893, after which he attended the University of California and was 
graduated in 1897. He next became a student in the Hastings College of the Law, in which he 
completed his course with the class of 1898, and in January, 1899, he entered the office of the 
district attorney in Oakland, in the capacity of deputy. He was gradually advanced in that 
connection; until 1907, when he became first assistant, and on the and of December, 1912, he was 
elected district attorney, which position he is now capably filling. He has prosecuted all the 
important civic cases during the past six years and has made a splendid record, standing stanch 
and firm in support of the legal interests of the district. His cases are prepared with 
thoroughness and care and the strength which he manifests in their prosecution is evidenced in 
the favorable verdicts which he has won. Aside from his active duties as prosecuting attorney, he 
is now professor of medical jurisprudence in the Oakland College of Medicine.
	Mr. Hynes was married in Alameda, California, to Miss Pauline Merle on the 5th of 
February, 1902, and they have one child, Adrien M., who is eight years of age. In religious faith, 
Mr. Hynes is a Catholic, and his political belief is that of the republican party. He is 
prominently identified with various fraternal and social organizations, being a member of 
Piedmont Parlor of the Native Sons of the Golden West and member of the grand parlor; a past 
exalted ruler of the Elks lodge; a member of the Moose; of the University of California Club; 
the Unitarian Club of Alameda; and the Alumni Council of the Newman Club of the University of 
California.
	His social qualities and personal worth, have won him wide popularity, while his 
professional ability ranks him with the representative citizens of Oakland.

Past & Present of Alameda County, California � Vol II, S. J. Clarke Publ. Co., 1914, p. 79