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After graduation our classmate enjoyed travel and engaged in school teaching for a
few months, but the school was suspended by a contagious illness among the pupils,
consequently he gave up this work and entered upon study preparatory to his future
profession, in the Albany Law School, and was admitted to the bar in New York State; and
from this school he removed to St. Joseph, Missouri, where he spent about a year, when he
removed to Henderson, Sibley County, Minnesota, where by 1873, according to Atwood's
report, he had become "a bright and shining light." Curiously one has to go anywhere and
everywhere except to himself to find out anything about this man. What he furnishes
himself about himself is as dry as the driest heap of bones in the skeleton pile of books of
genealogical records. This, undoubtedly, is due to his environments, as you will infer when
you come to the end of this sketch. He lives, moves, has his being in abstracts.
In Henderson, where Pickit resided for eighteen years, he was continuously in the
practice of his profession, and also he served his town and county for two years as
superintendent of schools; for four years as county attorney; for eight years as register of
deeds.
From Henderson he removed to Los Angeles, California, in 1884, where he has since
resided, and is in the practice of his profession, the examination of titles being his specialty.
He is at present the secretary and treasurer of the Pomona Abstract and Trust
Company, incorporated March, 1902, and he gives his whole time to the examination of
titles, that is, to the preparation of abstracts of land titles for the owners and buyers and
sellers of real estate. As with his titles, so he abstracts the following items in answer to the
queries in the Class circular: "A lot more questions you ask, just like a census taker. Born?
Yes, a good while ago in Edwards, New York. Married? Yes, January 14, 1870, Miss
Catherine E. Kelley. She made her first appearance in this world [very delicate way of
ascribing to her an angelic origin], at Perth, Canada. Children? Sarah Grace, born May 6,
1871; died February 26, 1891; Justus Brayton, born January 2, 1873; Charles Patrick, born
March 17, 1874; Catherine Jasmine, born April 1, 1880. None married. This history is
short, but it covers a period of more than sixty-two years." Fortunately, Merwin comes to
the rescue, in one of his recent letters, with a few additional items. He "has two sons, one
in San Francisco, the other at home; both expert stenographers; daughter with him
(Pickit) in the abstract business. Pickit looks venerable, long white beard, kindly face not seamed
with worries. Much interested in this report." The Historian is delighted to be assured on
that last point. What measure of increase of interest would have produced a fuller abstract?
Source:
Class of Sixty-Three Williams College Fortieth Year Report, by
the Class Historian, Thomas Todd Printer, Boston, 1903
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