Church, Denver S.

Denver S. Church, born at Folsom on December 11, 1864, was a successful lawyer and a native son who later served as a Congressman from California. His father, E. J. Church, crossed the plains with ox teams in 1852 alongside his brother M. J. Church, the prominent founder of irrigation in Fresno County. After pursuing mining and blacksmithing in various areas, his father farmed in Napa County before retiring to Fresno in 1898. His mother, Catherine Rutan, had also crossed the plains in the early fifties with her father, Samuel Rutan, but she passed away in 1868 when Denver was only four years old.

As the youngest child in his family, Denver attended the public schools at St. Helena and completed his higher studies at Healdsburg College. He permanently settled in Fresno and took up the study of law, earning his admission to the bar in 1893 to run a successful independent general practice. He expanded his political influence by serving as deputy district attorney under O. L. Everts from 1899 to 1903 and was later elected to Congress on the Democratic ticket. In his personal life, he married Louise Derrick in Reno, Nevada, and actively participated in local fraternal organizations like the Fresno County Bar Association, the Native Sons of the Golden West, the Elks, and the Woodmen of the World.