George H. Burnett

George Burnett was born in Yamhill County, Oregon on May 9, 1853, as the son of George W. and Sidney Younger.[1] His parents had immigrated to Oregon over the Oregon Trail in 1846.[2] George junior attended public schools in Yamhill County before starting his college education at McMinnville College where he attended until 1871.[2] He then enrolled at Christian College in Monmouth, Oregon where he graduated with a bachelor's degree of arts in June 1873.[3] Burnett then moved to Salem, Oregon and began learning the law in 1873 from Rufus Mallory and J. J. Shaw at their law practice.[2] In December 1875 he was admitted to the Oregon bar.[3]

Then in June 1876 Burnett was elected as district attorney for Oregon’s third judicial district, serving until 1878.[3] From that year until 1886 he partnered with Shaw before opening his own practice where he worked from 1886 until 1892.[2] In 1892, he was elected to the circuit court for the third district of Oregon where he stayed until 1910.[2] During this time he was also a professor of medical jurisprudence at the Willamette University College of Medicine,[4][5] and a law professor at Willamette's law school.[6]

In 1910, George Burnett was elected to the Oregon Supreme Court to a new position when the court was expanded from three to five justices.[7] He re-elected in 1916 and 1922.[7] He served as Chief Justice of the state’s high court from 1921 to 1923, and again in 1927 until his death on September 10, 1927.[7] His nephew Harry H. Belt served with him on the court starting in 1925, whom George had taught the law to.[3]

George married Marian Belt in 1879. She died in 1924, and he remarried in 1925 to Frances Wise.