Frank Sigel Dietrich

Dietrich was born near Ottawa, Franklin County, Kansas in 1863, at the Dietrich Cabin. His parents had immigrated to the United States from the German Confederation (now Germany) in 1855, and his father, Jacob Dietrich, became a farmer. Jacob Dietrich died less than one year after the birth of his son Frank, whose name was chosen to honor American Civil War general Franz Sigel.[1] Dietrich received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from Brown University in 1887 and an Artium Magister degree from that institution in 1890. He taught Latin, history, and political science at Ottawa University in Kansas,[2] and read law to enter the bar in 1891, and was an attorney for the Union Pacific Railroad from 1899 to 1907.[3]

Dietrich received a recess appointment from President Theodore Roosevelt on March 19, 1907, to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Idaho vacated by Judge James Helmick Beatty. He was nominated to the same position by President Roosevelt on December 3, 1907. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 17, 1907, and received his commission the same day. His service terminated on January 18, 1927, due to his elevation to the Ninth Circuit.[3]

Dietrich was nominated by President Calvin Coolidge on December 22, 1926, to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit vacated by Judge Wallace McCamant. He was confirmed by the Senate on January 3, 1927, and received his commission the same day.[3] His service terminated on October 2, 1930, due to his death of a heart attack in Boise, Idaho.[2] Dietrich and his wife Martha (1873–1958) are buried at Morris Hill Cemetery in Boise.

The town of Dietrich in rural Lincoln County, Idaho was named after him shortly after he became a federal judge.[4]

• Frank Sigel Dietrich at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
• Frank Sigel Dietrich at Find a Grave