California Biographies Source: History of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura Counties, California by: C M Gidney - Santa Barbara. Benjamin Brooks - San Luis Obispo. Edwin M Sheridan - Ventura Volumes II - Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, ILL., 1917 This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.ht JUDGE ELDERT A. RIZOR. Devoting his time and energies to his professional and official duties. Judge Eldert A. Rizor, of Santa Barbara, who has a broad and comprehensive knowledge of law, and an inherent love of justice, has achieved success as an attorney, and as a police judge is performing the duties devolving upon him in a most worthy and satisfactory manner. A son of Jacob S. Rizor, he was born August n, 1869, in Columbus, Ohio, of honored German ancestry. His great-grandfather on the paternal side was born and reared in Germany, and as a young man was there engaged in the manufacture of fire arms. Subsequently becoming involved in the Franco-Prussian troubles, he was forced to leave the fatherland, and immigrated to this country. The United States Government becoming aware of his knowledge of arms, took advantage of it and placed him in charge of armory located at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, during the Revolutionary war. Jacob S. Rizor, a retired promoter and business man of Santa Barbara, which has been his home since 1891, enlisted as a soldier during the Civil war, doing brave service for 3 years as a member of the Fifteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The ensuing 2 1/2 years he continued in the employ of the Government, in the meantime assisting in the building of the "Granny White Pike" at Nashville, Tennessee. During the reconstruction period he was employed in the quartermaster's department. The maiden name of his wife, who died in 1908, was Matilda Trindle. She was born in Newark, Ohio, in 1839, coming from Irish ancestry. Brought up in Kansas, Eldert A. Rizor acquired his business college. Coming to Santa Barbara in the fall of 1891, he read law with ex-Senator John J. Boyce until the spring of 1893, when, with fifteen other students, including among others Oscar Lawler, United States district attorney, and Joe Scott, he formed the law classes that subsequently became the nucleus of the University of Southern California. These sixteen ambitious and studious young men conducted the classes in the Los Angeles Law Library, and fourteen of the number were admitted to the bar. Judge Rizor being admitted on April 3, 1904. Beginning his professional career as a clerk in the office of Judge D. P. Hatch, where he attended to the corporation practice, Mr. Rizor met with encouraging success, and was afterward associated for a time with Horace H. Appell, of Los Angeles. When Summerland was opened he and a friend, H. L. Williams, established a law office in that place. In the spring of 1896 Mr. Rizor assumed charge of the office of Mr. Boyce, who was serving as state senator, but during Mr. Boyce's second term as senator he went to Sacramento, where he served as a journal clerk in the Senate until Mr. Boyce closed his Sacramento office, having accepted an appointment as district attorney for the Southern District of Alaska, going from there to San Francisco, Mr. Rizor was connected with the law department of the Mutual Life Insurance Company for a time. Returning to Santa Barbara in 1900, Mr. Rizor was special census agent for the Government for population and products, and later compiled the asphalt and oil statistics for the Government. During the same year he and J. W. Smith, who had also been a census worker, became associates in the same office, but not as partners, and have maintained the same relation until the present time. In 1908 Mr. Rizor was appointed judge of the police court to fill out the term of the late Judge Price, who died while in office, receiving his appointment in November from Mayor Boeseke, and the following year he was elected to the same position, being the only member of that administration to be so honored. The judge has been continuously re-elected every term since that time, his efficiency and popularity as a public official being recognized and appreciated. Judge Rizor married, October 3, 1899, in San Francisco, a Santa Barbara girl, Miss Mabel E. Kiler, who was born in San Rafael, California, a daughter of the late Edmond F. Kiler, who was for many years a successful rancher in Santa Barbara County. Five children have blessed the union of Judge and Mrs. Rizor, namely: Clifford F., Francis, Paul E., Ruth Elizabeth, and Quinten. A stanch republican in politics, the judge has represented his party in county and state conventions, and has served as a member of the executive committee of the Republican County Central Committee. Fraternally he is an active member of the Knights of Pythias, being keeper of the records and seals, and is likewise a member of the Uniform Rank which carried off the drill prize at the San Francisco Exposition, and secured the second prize at the San Diego Exposition. The judge served as first sergeant for two years in the National Guard of Kansas. He is a member of the preliminary education at Fort Scott, there attending the public and high schools, and later Santa Barbara Chamber of Commerce, and takes an active interest in all things pertaining to the welfare of the community. Broad in his religious views, Judge Rizor is affiliated with the Unitarian Church.