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Antonio Abad Sedillo, attorney at law at Socorro and ex-district attorney of Socorro county, was born April 15, 1876, in the city where he yet resides. He is descended from Antonio Jose Sedillo, the original grantee of the Antonio Sedillo land grant, lying partly in Valencia and partly in Bernalillo counties. His son, Antonio Abad Sedillo, Sr., grandfather of our subject, was school commissioner of Socorro county when it included Sierra county. The parents of our subject were Rufino Sedillo and Donaciana Montoya Sedillo. Mr. Rufino Sedillo was probate clerk of Lincoln county in the years 1877 апd 1878 and was afterwards deputy probate clerk of Socorro county for many years. Mrs. Sedillo is a direct descendant of two well known and influential families of Spanish extraction in the Territory of New Mexico, namely, the Montoya and Baca families. Antonio A. Sedillo acquired his education in the public schools and the night school. He is practically a self-made man. He pursued his law course under the direction of the Sprague Correspondence School of Law Edward Medier, father of Edward L., was at one time a prominent contractor of Albuquerque, coming to this city from Washington, D. C., in 1880. The building of the town had just been started and he erected many of the most important business structures, as well as many handsome residences during the period in which he made his home in the territory. Among these were the famous San Felipe Hotel, which occupied the site on which the Elks Opera House now stands ; the N. T. Armijo block; the Cromwell block; the First National Bank building; the Fergusson building; the Bernalillo county court house and several of the city school houses. In 1901 he removed to Los Angeles California, where he now resides. He was admitted to the bar of El Paso, Texas, April 5, 1899, and began practice here in 1900, while in 1901 he was admitted before the supreme court of New Mexico. He had previously done hard manual labor at a smelter, and had also been employed as clerk in several stores and as a sewing machine agent in Socorro county, and in a curio store in El Paso, and he was deputy probate clerk for three years, while for one year he was deputy county assessor of Socorro county. He taught school in Socorro and Sierra counties, and was principal of the public schools in the city of Socorro for a few months. For one year he acted as city clerk and was chief interpreter in the house of the territorial legislature during the thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth general assemblies. In 1903 he was appointed district attorney and served for one term, during which time several important cases came up before the courts, one in regard to the settlement of the finances of Socorro county, in which, associated with Mr. Fergusson, he secured eighteen thousand dollars judgment for the county. Since retiring from office Mr. Sedillo has engaged in private practice and has been connected with much of the important litigation tried in the courts of his district. Quite a number of notable cases have been conducted by Mr. Sedillo, who as counsel for the defense or prosecution, has shown marked ability in handling his cause. On the 22d of April, 1901, was celebrated the marriage of Air. Sedillo and Miss Gertrudis (Tulita) Vigil, of Socorro county. Their children are: Juan Antonio, Manuela Cupertina and Rufino Rodolfo. In his political affiliation Mr. Sedillo is a stalwart Republican, well informed on the issues of the day and recognized as a leader in the local ranks of his party. He was secretary of the Republican central committee of his county for six or eight years, and has edited Spanish papers during the campaigns in support of the principles of the party. He made his first political speech at the age of twenty years and has since delivered many public addresses in support of political principles and candidates. William C. Heacock has resided in Albuquerque since the spring of 1881 and was the first police judge of the city. He was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1850 and was graduated from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, in 1872. He served for eleven years in the navy, attaining the rank of master, equivalent to the present rank of lieutenant. While in the naval service he took up the study of law and was admitted to the bar in Reading, Pennsylvania, in 1880. In the spring of 1881 he came to Albuquerque and compiled the first ordinances of the city and also acted as its first police judge. He has enjoyed an extensive and successful practice in criminal law and is recognized as one of the most able advocates at the New Mexico bar, with a comprehensive knowledge of jurisprudence and a keen analytical mind that enables him to correctly apply his knowledge to the points in litigation.
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