John Witherspoon Breckinridge

Breckinridge was born on December 22, 1850, in Lexington, Kentucky, in the prominent Breckinridge family.[1] He was the fourth child of John Cabell Breckinridge (1821–1875), who served as Vice-President of the United States under James Buchanan, and Mary Cyrene (née Burch) Breckinridge (1826–1907). Among his siblings were Joseph Cabell Breckinridge, Clifton Rodes Breckinridge,[2] Frances Viley (née Breckenridge) Steele, and Mary Desha (née Breckinridge) Maltby.[3] He was named after his great-great-grandfather, John Witherspoon, who signed the Declaration of Independence.[3]

Known as "Owen" in appreciation of the heavy vote his father received in Owen County,[4] he attended Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia.[5]

Around 1877, Breckinridge moved to California eventually settling in Merced in the northern San Joaquin Valley section of the Central Valley.[6] Breckinridge was a member of California State Assembly from 1884 to 1885.[7] He also served as District Attorney of Merced County, California, until his death in 1892. In his obituary, it was said:[7]

"Mr. Breckinridge was one of the most talented men in California gifted with all that goes to make up a brilliant lawyer and gentleman. Although still a young man, he had climbed high in his profession and was known in many cities and towns of California as a lawyer of unquestioned ability and of unquestioned integrity in business matters."[8]

In 1877, Breckinridge was married to Florence Louise Tevis, a daughter of Lloyd Tevis, the President of Wells Fargo Bank. Together, they were the parents of:

• Lloyd Tevis Breckinridge (1878–1901), who attended Harvard and later killed himself at the family home in San Francisco, where he lived with his grandmother and uncle, Dr. Harry Tevis.[9][10]
• John Cabell Breckinridge, Sr. (1879–1914), who married Adelaide Murphy, a daughter of Samuel Green Murphy, president of the First National Bank of San Francisco, in 1902.[11][12] He later became ill and was confined to a mental asylum outside of Paris.[13]
• Florence Louise Breckinridge (1881–1956), who married Thomas Fermor-Hesketh, 1st Baron Hesketh.[14][15]

Owen and Louise divorced and she remarried to Frederick William Sharon (a son of U.S. Senator William Sharon)[16] in 1883 with whom she had four more children. Owen remarried to Harriett Dudley.[3]

Breckinridge died on May 9, 1892, in Merced, California.[1]

• John Witherspoon “Owen” Breckinridge at Find a Grave