Albert Hoskinson

ALBERT HOSKINSON. The name Hoskinson has been continuously and honorably identified with the history of the legal profession in Finney County for over thirty years. Garden City has one of its ablest and most successful attorneys in the person of Mr. Albert Hoskinson, who came to this county when a boy with his father, who was also a prominent lawyer.

Albert Hoskinson was born in Putnam County, Missouri, January 31, 1874. His grandfather, Isaac Hoskinson, was a farmer both in Ohio and Missouri, and died in Putnam County of the latter state. His children were: J. M., who became a lawyer and died in Kansas City, Missouri; Mrs. Rebecca Davis, living at Unionville, Missouri; and Andrew J.

Andrew J. Hoskinson, father of Albert, was born in Licking County, Ohio, had only the advantages of the common schools and grew up on a farm. Part of his early manhood was spent in the Union army. He enlisted from Illinois in the Sixty-third Regiment of Infantry and saw active service as a private. He was in Grant's army during the siege of Vicksburg. Immediately after the close of the war he moved to Putnam County, Missouri, where he was admitted to the bar in 1866 and became a man of influence in that community. In 1885 he removed to Finney County, Kansas, and established himself at Garden City. He was a hard working lawyer, gave the closest attention to the business that engaged his time and abilities, and for some years was a partner of the late Col. William R. Hopkins under the firm name of Hopkins & Hoskinson. Politically he was a republican but never entertained political ambitions. He was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. In Caldwell County, Missouri, he married Miss Nettie Orr. She died in Missouri, leaving two sons, Ralph W., who was born May 13, 1872, and is living in Garden City, and Albert. Andrew J. Hoskinson married for his second wife Mrs. Anna B. Shorb. She is now living in Colorado Springs.

Albert Hoskinson was about eleven years of age when his father came to Finney County. He attended the high school at Garden City, and began the study of law under the direction of his father. At the age of twenty-one he was admitted to the bar before Judge Hutchison. He was admitted at Lakin and began his independent practice there. His father died in 1899, and he then moved his offices to Garden City.

Mr. Hoskinson's first law suit was a replevin case, one of the most difficult and uncertain as to outcome, but he secured a verdict for his client. His practice has been of a general nature. Some of the better known law suits which he has conducted were the prosecution of Scott for murder; as attorney for the defense of the Gilmers, charged with murder, in 1917; and on the defense in the McCue case, one of the largest and most important civil cases tried before the courts of this jurisdiction. This case is known as McCue v. the Commonwealth Trust Company of St. Louis.

In 1903 Mr. Hoskinson began his public service as county attorney of Finney, serving two terms. In 1914 he was elected a member of the Legislature from this county and gave some valuable service during the session of 1915. He succeeded James Tyler in the House, and his service was under Speaker Stone. In the Legislature he was chairman of the committee on county lines and county seats, member of the judiciary committee, judicial apportionment committee, congressional apportionment committee and elections committee. Besides other work Mr. Hoskinson introduced and had passed a bill for the modification of the criminal code, amending it so that a criminal case could be appealed in the same manner as a civil one. In his election to the Legislature Mr. Hoskinson scored a notable triumph, since he is the only democrat who has ever been elected to the Legislature from that county.

Mr. Hoskinson is a Mason in the Lodge and Royal Arch Chapter and belongs to the Brotherhood of American Yeomen. In Finney County September 10, 1903, he married Miss Zella Pyle. Her father, Fred Pyle, who died in 1910, was an early settler of Garden City and acted as a contractor and builder and also in real estate affairs. Mr. and Mrs. Hoskinson have two children, Fred and Glenn.