#james budd biography 29 may born

                         James Budd

James Herbert Budd (May 18, 1851 – July
30, 1908) was an American lawyer and
Democratic politician. Involved in federal
and state politics, Budd was a member of
the U.S. House of Representatives for the
2nd California district from 1883 to 1885,
and served as the 19th Governor of
California from 1895 until 1899.

James Herbert Budd
19th Governor of California
In office
January 11, 1895 – January 4, 1899
Lieutenant Spencer G. Millard
William T. Jeter
Preceded by Henry Markham
Succeeded by Henry Gage
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from California's 2nd district


In office
March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1885
Preceded by Horace F. Page
Succeeded by James A. Louttit
Personal details
Born May 18, 1851
Janesville, Wisconsin
Died July 30, 1908 (aged 57)
Stockton, California
Political party Democratic
Spouse(s) Inez A. Merrill
Profession Lawyer, politician


Biography

Budd was born on May 18, 1851 in
Janesville, Wisconsin, to Joseph H. and
Lucinda (Ash) Budd. While in Wisconsin,
Joseph was a lawyer and ran Western
Novelty Works, a company which put out
farm machinery. When Budd was seven
years old, he and his family emigrated to
the West, settling in Stockton, California in
1858. Budd attended local grammar and
high schools before attending the
University of California, Berkeley, where he
was admitted to the Zeta Psi fraternity,
graduating in 1873.[1] Following his
graduation, Budd returned to Stockton to
study law, being admitted to the California
Bar the following year. His public career in

the courts began after being appointed the
San Joaquin County deputy district
attorney.
[2]
During the 1884 elections, the Democratic
Party nominated Budd as its candidate for
the 2nd California district in the U.S.
House of Representatives. His campaign
for the House was based on fighting
railroad corruption, going as far as to
refuse any travel on railroads altogether
during the campaign, earning Budd the
nickname "Buckboard Jim."
[3] Budd won
the election, becoming the first Democrat
to win the district since the Civil War


Once in the U.S. Congress, Budd was
influential in gaining enough congressional
support for appropriating federal money to
fund the dredging of the Stockton Channel,
assisting shipping into the Port of
Stockton along the San Joaquin River.
[2]
Budd served a single term in the U.S.
House of Representatives, refusing the
Democratic Party nomination for the 1886
elections.
For the 1894 state general elections, Budd
was nominated by the state Democratic
convention as the party's nominee for the
governorship. During the campaign, Budd
targeted the growing influence of the

Southern Pacific Railroad and rail
monopolies in general, proposing that the
"only solution to the railroad question was
that the [state] government own a line"
with slight nationalization, as well as
reducing railroad fares by 25%.[4] Budd
also advocated a property assessment
ceiling cap of 45 cents per $100 in order to
save state expenditures with the looming
Long Depression.
During the often bitter campaign for the
governorship, Budd faced serious
allegations brought forth by Republican-
sympathizing newspapers that he had
raped a teenage maid, Nancy Neff, in

1876. The papers alleged that Neff had
become pregnant, giving birth to a child
that shortly died afterwards. After giving
birth, Neff was alleged to have contracted
smallpox and sent by Budd to a hospice to
die, but not before Budd had forced her to
relinquish all her property to him. Budd
fully denied all the allegations, branding
his betrayal of Neff as an "infamous
falsehood" imagined by Republican party
machines.
[3] Budd did not deny he knew
Neff, yet claimed instead that he had
always acted as a brother to Neff and in
no way harmed her.