Representative Orange Jacobs

Orange Jacobs (May 2, 1827 – May 21, 1914) was an American lawyer, newspaper publisher, jurist, and politician whose public career was closely associated with the Pacific Northwest, particularly the Territory of Washington. He served as a delegate to the United States Congress from Washington Territory, as chief justice of the territory’s supreme court, as mayor of Seattle, and in several other territorial and local offices. His life spanned the era of westward expansion and territorial development, and he played a notable role in the legal and political foundations of what would become the State of Washington.

Jacobs was born near Geneseo, Livingston County, New York, on May 2, 1827. In 1831 he moved with his parents to the Michigan Territory, where he spent his youth on the American frontier. He attended the common schools and later pursued higher education at Albion College in Michigan and at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. After completing his legal studies, he was admitted to the Michigan bar in 1851 and commenced the practice of law in Sturgis, Michigan, establishing himself as a young attorney in the growing Midwest.

In 1852 Jacobs moved further west to the Territory of Oregon and settled in Jacksonville, in Jackson County. There he continued the practice of law and became involved in journalism, editing and publishing the Jacksonville Sentinel until 1859. His work as a newspaper editor and publisher placed him at the center of public discourse in a rapidly developing region. Sometime after 1860 he relocated to the neighboring Territory of Washington, where he continued his legal career and entered more directly into public service as the territory grew in population and political importance.

Jacobs’s judicial career in Washington Territory began with his appointment as an associate justice of the territorial supreme court in 1869. In this capacity he helped shape the early jurisprudence of the territory. He was subsequently elevated to chief justice of the supreme court of the Territory of Washington, serving in that position from 1871 to 1875. His tenure on the bench coincided with a period of institutional consolidation in the territory, during which the courts played a critical role in resolving land, commercial, and governance disputes in a frontier setting.

Transitioning from the judiciary to elective office, Jacobs was elected as a Republican delegate from Washington Territory to the Forty-fourth and Forty-fifth Congresses, serving from March 4, 1875, to March 3, 1879. As a territorial delegate, he did not have a vote on the House floor but participated in debates, served on committees, and advocated for the interests of Washington Territory, including issues of infrastructure, land policy, and the advancement of territorial governance. He chose not to be a candidate for renomination in 1878 and, upon the conclusion of his congressional service, returned to Seattle to resume the practice of law.

Jacobs remained active in public life in Seattle and the territory after leaving Congress. He served as mayor of Seattle in 1880, guiding the city during a period of early urban growth and commercial development. He was a member of the Territorial council from 1885 to 1887, contributing to legislative deliberations in the final years before Washington achieved statehood. In 1889 he served on the Seattle charter revision commission, participating in the reorganization of the city’s governing framework, and in 1890 he was appointed corporation counsel for the city of Seattle, acting as its chief legal officer. From 1896 to 1900 he served as judge of the superior court of King County, extending his judicial influence into the early statehood era.

In recognition of his contributions to the legal and civic life of the region, the University of Washington awarded Jacobs its first ever honorary degree, a doctor of laws, underscoring his stature in the developing intellectual and professional community of the Pacific Northwest. In his later years he also authored an autobiography, “Memoirs of Orange Jacobs,” published in Seattle in 1908, in which he recounted his experiences in law, politics, and frontier life. Orange Jacobs died in Seattle on May 21, 1914, and was interred in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in that city, leaving a legacy intertwined with the early history and governance of Washington Territory and the city of Seattle.