An Illustrated History of the State of Washington, by Rev. H.K. Hines, D.D., The
Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, IL., 1893

CHARLES D. EMERY, United States Commissioner at Seattle, and for many years one
of the representative members of the legal profession of that city, was born in
Wellsborough, Pennsylvania, May 17, 1833. His father, Josiah Emery, was a native
of Concord, New Hampshire, descended from John Emery, who landed in Boston, from
England, on June 3, 1635. The mother of our subject was Miss Julia Beeher,
daughter of Hon. John Beecher of Connecticut, a family distinguished in
literature and the church, for its able writings and profound expositions of
divine truths. Josiah Emery was educated at Dartmouth and Union Colleges,
graduating in 1828. He then went to Pennsylvania and read law, and was admitted
to the bar in 1831. He immediately engaged in a general practice which he
continued up to 1871 when he retired and spent the closing years of his life at
Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Charles D. Emery was educated at Wellsborough
Academy and at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He then
returned to Williamsport and to civil life, and was admitted to the bar in
December, 1853. He at once engaged in a general practice in Williamsport, and
continued this until 1872, within that time performing efficient service as
District Attorney for his county, for a period of three years. In 1872, he came
to Seattle and at once opened an office for the practice of law, the town then
being composed of a little settlement of about 1,500 inhabitants. As a man of
literary attainments and a judicial mind, he soon came to the front in his
profession and enjoyed a very representative clientage up to 1887, when he
retired from active practice upon his appointment, by the Supreme Court of the
Territory, to the position of United States Commissioner, which appointment was
extended by the United States Circuit Court, after the Territory was admitted to
Statehood in 1889. Since his appointment to the above office the Judge practices
only in the United States Courts. He was married in Philadelphia in 1858, to
Miss Lavinia P. Evans, native of  Pennsylvania. To this union have been given
four children: Rae, widow of Judge Henry E. Hathaway, deceased; Mary, wife of
James P. Lowman, of Seattle; David and Frances.

Submitted to the WA. Bios Project in January 2004 by Jeffrey L. Elmer

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Notice: These biographies were transcribed for the Washington Biographies
Project. Unless otherwise stated, no further information is available on the
individual featured in the biographies.