Sevier-Utah County UT Archives Biographies.....Erickson, Joseph H. 1864 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 23, 2011, 7:39 pm

Source: See below
Author: S. J. Clarke, Publisher

JOSEPH H. ERICKSON.

    Joseph H. Erickson, of Richfield, is a well known representative of the Utah
bar whose practice is extensive and of an important character and who has always
been remarkable among lawyers for the wide research and provident care with
which he prepares his cases. The ability which he displayed as a lawyer before
the court led to his selection for judicial preferment and for a number of years
he served upon the bench. He was born in Norway in December, 1864, and in 1866
was brought to Utah by his mother, who settled first at Provo and afterward
removed to Sevier county. Judge Erickson pursued his education in the schools of
Utah and Sevier counties and in the Brigham Young University, thus completing
his literary training. His law course was pursued in the University of Michigan
at Ann Arbor, from which institution he was graduated with the class of 1898.
Returning to Sevier county, he was almost immediately elected county attorney
and in 1900 was reelected to serve for a second term. Upon beginning his law
practice in Richfield he became the associate of Henry N. Hayes, now judge of
the sixth judicial district. In 1902 Mr. Erickson was appointed district
attorney to fill out the unexpired term of John F. Chidester, who had been
elected judge, and through the succeeding ten years Mr. Erickson filled the
position of district attorney, being elected at every succeeding election during
that decade. In 1912 he was chosen judge of the district court and served upon
the bench until 1916, when he was succeeded by his old-time associate, Judge
Henry N. Hayes. It was during, his tenure of office as district attorney that
Mr. Erickson prosecuted Heaton for the murder of Mary Stevens, a young girl.
This case created much excitement in the district and throughout the state.
Arrayed against Mr. Erickson as counsel for the defense were such lawyers as
Samuel R. Thurman and Colonel Wedgewood of Salt Lake City and E. E. Hoffman of
Richfield. Heaton, however, was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment but
was recently pardoned by Governor Bamberger. While upon the bench Judge Erickson
also made a most creditable record. His decisions indicate strong mentality,
careful analysis, a thorough knowledge of the law and an unbiased judgment. His
course indicated that broad-mindedness which not only comprehends the details of
a situation quickly but which also insures complete self-control under even the
most exasperating circumstances.

    In 1888 Judge Erickson married Miss Mary Johnson, a daughter of C. F.
Johnson, of Elsinore, and their living children are: Mrs. C. H. McEntyre, of
Richfield; Mrs. Milton Gentry, of Beaver, who as Ivy Jane Erickson won the grand
piano at the state fair in 1914, given as a prize to "the most beautiful girl in
Utah;" Vernon, who conducts his father's farm of three hundred and sixty acres
at Monroe; Mrs. J. R. Chipman;  Wendell;  Franklyn;  Maurine;  and Maxine.

    Judge Erickson has always been an active member of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints and has been a member of the high council of the
Sevier stake, president of the Quorum of Seventy, president of the Young Men's
Mutual Improvement Association at Elsinore, secretary of the Sunday school and a
home missionary for many years. He is also prominent in the councils of the
republican party and is an active campaigner. Aside from his other interests he
Is the president of the Golden Reef Mining Company. Thoroughly versed in the
technicalities of the law and a convincing speaker, he is regarded as a most
fitting representative of the bench and bar of Utah. That he has made a success
in the discharge of his multitudinous delicate duties shows him to be a man of
well rounded character, finely balanced mind and of splendid intellectual
attainments.


Additional Comments:
UTAH SINCE STATEHOOD
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL

ILLUSTRATED
VOLUME IV
CHICAGO-SALT LAKE: THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY
1920


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