An Illustrated History of the State of Washington, by Rev. H.K. Hines, D.D., The
Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, IL., 1893, pages 393
	
	HON. I.J. LICHTENBERG, Judge of the Superior Court, Equity Department, of
King county, Washington, was born in New York city, June 5, 1845.
	His parents, Jacob and Caroline Lichtenberg, were of German and English
descent respectively. Jacob Lichtenberg was a manufacturing jeweler of New York
city. From there he moved to Callao, Peru, and later to Valparaiso, Chili, where
he passed the closing years of his life.
	I.J. Lichtenberg was the first born in a family of four children, three of
whom survive. He attended public school and college in his native city until he
was seventeen, when he dropped his studies and joined the ranks of the Union
army. He enlisted in 1862 in the Fifth New York Cavalry, and served in the
cavalry corps of the Army of the Potomac. He was wounded in the battle of the
Wilderness in May, 1864, and, being unfitted for further service, was discharged
in the fall of that year. Until January, 1889, he carried the ball in his leg,
suffering almost continuously, and as a last resort had his leg amputated.
	After the war he followed a mercantile life in New- York city for some time.
From there he removed to Pottsville, Pennsylvania, where he began reading law
under the preceptorship of Hon. O.P. Bechtel, a lawyer of considerable
prominence and now one of the judges of common pleas in Schuykill county. Mr.
Litchenberg was admitted to the bar in 1874, and at once engaged in practice at
Pottsville, where he remained until 1887. Then he came to Seattle, continuing
his professional career here. His ability as a lawyer at once advanced him to
the front rank in his profession, and, with the admission of Washington to
Statehood in 1889, he was honored by being elected the first Superior Judge of
King county, and this, too, on the Democratic ticket, when the Republican
majority was about 1,200. Up to March, 1890, he was the only Superior Judge in
the county. Then the business of the court had reached such vast proportions
that the Legislature appointed two additional judges, and Judge Licntenberg was
assigned to the Court of Equity. His mode of conducting court being one of much
dignity, rapidity and justice, his service was highly appreciated and he was the
unanimous choice of his party for nomination in convention assembled in the fall
of 1892. Among the profession he is highly honored and respected for his firm,
decisive, yet impartial rulings. Quick in discerning points of law and equity,
and rendering his verdicts according to the facts, without fear or favor, he is
considered one of the ablest jurists upon the Superior Bench of the State.
	Judge Lichtenberg was married in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, to Miss Emma
Barr, a native of that State. One child, Benjamin, has been born to them.
	The Judge has been an active supporter of the G.A.R. since the earliest
organization of that body. He was formerly a member of Gowen Post, No. 23, of
Pottsville, and now belongs to Stevens Post, No. 1, of Seattle,
	
Submitted to the WA. Bios Project in September 2003 by Jeffrey L. Elmer
	
	
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Notice: These biographies were transcribed for the Washington Biographies
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individual featured in the biographies.