Arthur H. McCurdy, who has the distinction of being the youngest justice of the peace ever elected in Sacramento county, is one of the rising and brilliant young attorneys of the city of Sacramento. He is just on the threshold of his career in the legal profesison, but his talents and his past performance justify the highest anticipations of his friends. He showed himself to be a leader during his school days, and has ever since been able to mingle with men and influence them in various ways. He is one of the popular young men of the city in social and professional circles, and has shown the energy and public spirit and determination which always win success.

Mr. McCurdy was born in Winnipeg, Canada, July 21, 1871. His father, James McCurdy, who was of Scotch descent, was at that time building the Canadian Pacific railroad bridge at Winnipeg, which accounts for the fact that Mr. McCurdy is not a native son of the United States. His father was born in the United States, and was a successful bridge contractor and builder. He died in 1882. His wife was Helen Prescott, who is still living and makes her home in Oak Park, Sacramento. She is a granddaughter of the Colonel Prescott of Bunker Hill and Revolutionary fame, and she is also a direct descendant of the Martha Winslow who came over with the Mayflower Pilgrims, and she has some heirlooms from that famous ancestor in the shape of some silver spoons. She is of pure English descent, and has an ancestry which numbers some of the most noted names in American annals. Mrs. McCurdy has three children: Arthur H.; Walter J. N., who is an attorney at law in Nogales, Arizona, and has extensive mining interests in Sonora, Mexico; and Miss Clara Maude, who resides with her mother.

Mr. McCurdy was educated in the public schools of Sacramento, to which city he came with his mother shortly after his father's death. He graduated from the Sacramento high school with the class of 1901, and then entered the law office of Frank Brown as a student. Two months later he continued his studies in the office of ex-Superior Judge J. B. Devine and Frank D. Ryan, present commissioner of public works. At the age of twenty-one he was appointed a notary public by Governor Gage. He has been active in the Republican party, and has attended state and county conventions. At the last state convention he was assistant secretary, and wrote out the minutes, and he served in the same capacity at the last county convention. He was elected justice of the peace in Sutter township in November, 1902, by a flattering majority, and, although the youngest justice of the county, his administration has been remarkably good and only one decision has failed of confirmation by a superior court.

He served on the signal corps of the militia until the war with Spain, but was not allowed to enlist on account of his youth. He is a past chief ranger of the Foresters of America, and is a member of the California State Grange. While in high school he took a leading part in athletics, and was captain of the football team for two years. He was also a clever bicyclist, and took part in the state amateur races. At the last legislative assembly he served as sergeant at arms.

Source: History of the New California - Its Resources and People, Volume II

The Lewis Publishing Company - 1905
Edited by Leigh H. Irvine