Tuolumne County Biographies

JUDGE CHARLES H. RANDALL

Submitted by: Nancy Pratt Melton

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

JUDGE CHARLES H RANDALL
Judge Randall, now the editor of the Union Democrat, and a resident of Sonora 
during some thirty years, and, withal, one of the most widely known and honored 
of all those who have owned Tuolumne as their home, has kindly put the publisher 
of this book in possession of a few plain facts relating to his life, of which 
of the following are subjoined:
The Judge was born in Providence, Rhode Island, June 7, 1824.  Went from there 
to New York City in 1844, from New York City to Tennessee in 1846, coming to 
Cal�ifornia around Cape Horn, landing in San Francisco Sep�tember 9, 1849.  In 
that year he mined at Weber Creek, a tributary of the American River.  In 1850 
he went to Cen�tral America, spent the Winter in Nicaragua, returned to 
California in 1851, and came to Chili Camp, Tuolumne County in that Spring.  
Followed mining in the county until the Fall of 1853.  In October, 1853, he 
entered the Sheriff' s Office, under Major P. L. Solomon, continuing with him 
during the term, or until the Spring of 1856.  Solomon was appointed United 
States Marshal in 1857, and Mr. Randall was Deputy in his office until the Fall 
of 1858, when he returned to Sonora, and entered the mercantile business with 
the late James Lane, doing business under the firm name of Lane & Randall until 
1862.  In 1861 he was elected Supervisor, and served six years.  In 1867 he was 
elected County Judge, serving from June 1, 1868, to January 1, 1872.  In 1869 he 
bought the Union-Democrat, conducting it until August, 1875, when he sold it and 
moved to San Francisco.  In two years he came back, and bought into the Democrat 
again, where he now is.  In politics he was originally a Whig.  After the 
Presidential election of 1852 he was identified with no political party until 
1856, since which time he has supported the Demo�cratic party.  Most of the time 
since 1856 he has been an active partizan, and has taken much interest in the 
welfare of the county.  The Judge was one of the mass in early times, and saw 
many of the exciting scenes of those days.  He says: �I hope to always live in 
the county, for it is my home, and all other places are strange to me compared 
with it.�  It may not be out of place to say that he has been an active Odd 
Fellow since 1846; was Grand Master of the State of California in 1878-79, and 
has represented the Grand Encampment of California in the Sovereign Grand Lodge, 
I. 0.  0. F., for five sessions.

�A History of Tuolumne County, California� B.F. Alley, 1882.  Pg. 418-419.