Nevada Genealogy Trails Carson City Hon. James R. Judge Biography

HON. JAMES R. JUDGE, ex-attorney general and ex-lieutenant governor of Nevada, is not only one of the representative men of the state, but also a lawyer of national reputation. He came to Nevada in 1877. He is a native of Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, where he was born September 9, 1849, coming of Irish ancestry. His parents, James and Mary (Smith) Judge, both were born in Ireland. His father was a farmer and railroad man, and lived to be seventy-five years of age, while his mother was seventy-four when she died, the two passing away within a year of each other. Three sons were born to these parents, James being the only one to come to Nevada.

General Judge was reared in his native state and educated in St. Francis College, where he learned civil engineering, and he followed that calling for a number of years. For a short time after arriving in Nevada he was engaged in surveying for a railroad, and then entered upon the study of law in the office of Colonel Ellis and his partner Mr. King, and was admitted to the bar May 5, 1881, by the supreme court of the state. Immediately thereafter he entered upon the practice of his profession. In December, 1896, he was appointed attorney general of Nevada by Governor Sadler and served in that office until 1899. In the fall of 1898 he was elected lieutenant governor, and entered upon the duties of his office January 1, 1899, and filled the office with credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction of all concerned until January 1, 1903, when his successor assumed charge, and General Judge returned to his large practice. He has been a life-long Democrat and has always taken an active part in local and state affairs, being a prominent factor in the organization of the silver party. He has also been identified with various mining interests, and is to-day a wealthy man, although he has never forgotten the days when his income depended upon his own exertions.

In 1893 General Judge was united in marriage with Mrs. D. R. Upton, a native of Maine, who came to the Pacific coast in 1870 and thereafter made her home in California. She is a lady of high education and culture, and in religious faith is a Presbyterian. It is scarcely necessary to say that General and Mrs. Judge are accorded a very high position socially, and that they have a host of warm friends to whom they dispense a very gracious hospitality at their beautiful home in Carson City.