Finding aid of the Robert Ferral Letter C058847
Finding aid prepared by Michael Lange
Society of California Pioneers
01/17/2014
300 Fourth Street
San Francisco, CA, 94107-1272
(415) 959-1849
pkeats@californiapioneers.org
Title: Ferral, Robert Letter
Identifier/Call Number: C058847
Contributing Institution:
Society of California Pioneers
Language of Material:
English
Container: B001392
Container: C058847
Physical Description:
1.0 folder
(1 letter)
Date: 1885
Abstract: One letter from former judge, Robert Ferral, to B.G. Haskell Esquire, dated 01/23/1885. Judge Ferral gives his regrets at
being unable to be an active member of the Central Committee of the International Workingmen's Association due to the time
he has to put into his private law practice.
creator:
Ferral, Robert, Judge, b.1841
Conditions Governing Access note
Collection open for research.
There are no restrictions on access.
Robert Ferral Letter. The Society of California Pioneers.
Gift of Mrs. M.L. van Gessel, 5/30/1972.
Robert Ferral was born in Philadelphia on October 13, 1841. Coming to California a boy, in 1852, two years later he arrived
in Tuolumne, in 1854. His active life began with the commencement of his labors in the printing office of the Sonoma Herald,
edited at that time by J. J. O'Sullivan. After a few months he left that employment and entered the office of the Union Democrat,
published by A. N. Francisco, and so acquired his trade of a practical printer. In 1862 he went to Aurora, Nevada, and became
editor of the Daily Times of that town, taking the place of E. D. Draper, who had been shot in a duel by Dr. W. E. Eichelroth.
During his stay in Aurora, Mr. Ferral was admitted to practice law by the Hon. George Turner, Chief Justice of the Territorial
Supreme Court. In the year 1865 he removed to San Francisco, and became editor of the Irish People newspaper. In 1866 he went
to Sonoma County and edited the Sonoma Democrat, at Santa Rosa. In 1871 Mr. Ferral was chosen Chief Clerk of the Assembly,
and shortly after the expiration of his term he proceeded to San Francisco and was appointed Assistant District Attorney,
and afterwards nominated by acclamation District Attorney; but was defeated in a close a contest. Next chosen Secretary of
the Senate, and again Chief Clerk of the Assembly, Mr. Ferral was finally appointed, by Governor Irwin, Judge of the City
Criminal Court of San Francisco, and was afterwards elected by the people to the same office.
Burnette Haskell was the founder of the local version of Karl Marx's First International. Born June 11, 1857 in the Sierra
foothills, he went to several universities, graduating from none, passed the California bar in 1879 but quickly came to detest
the law. Haskell's wealthy and ambitious uncle gave him editorial control of his newspaper Truth. Haskell offered the paper
to the Federated Trades Council as house organ, which they accepted. Haskell continued on as editor, and became a prominent
local radical, passing through incarnations as a socialist, communist-anarchist, and finally an Edward Bellamy-inspired cooperativist.
The San Francisco branch of the International Workingmen's Association was organized in a classic cell-form, based on successive
hierarchies of groups of nine people, each holding a distinctive membership card. And though it intended to be a clone of
Marx's group in England, it actually took positions more akin to the Black International (anarchist) associated with Bakunin.
After peaking in popularity in 1886, Haskell's IWA collapsed soon after, partly because the depression of 1883-85 ended, and
partly because Haskell and other activists left to form the Kaweah Cooperative Commonwealth, a utopian experiment, in California's
Central Valley (which in turn failed by 1891).
One letter from former judge, Robert Ferral, to B.G. Haskell Esquire, dated 01/23/1885. Judge Ferral gives his regrets at
being unable to be an active member of the Central Committee of the International Workingmen's Association due to the time
he has to put into his private law practice.
Existence and Location of Originals note
The Society of California Pioneers, 300 Fourth Street, San Francisco, CA, 94107.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Haskell, Burnette G., 1857-1907
International Workingmen's Association (1864-1876)
Law firms--California--San Francisco County.
San Francisco (Calif.)--Societies, etc.
San Francisco Bay Area (Calif.)--History